Yoga with Yordanka

I wanted to write a short blog in August about outdoor yoga in 2020, but I never finished it. Before the year is over, I should have this done, what do you think?

This post meant to share some pictures and some moments from the yoga summer. What happened was that we continued the outdoor classes till October (we were lucky with the weather this year). I wanted to add some more pictures and then post them, but then I was overwhelmed by organizing indoor classes, then the sudden lockdowns again destroyed all my plans. Even if I expected it, and it was just a matter of time, still hearing the final decision was not pleasant. Living with all of this uncertainty was hard for most of us. Here comes the biggest lesson for me: don't be a control freak.

Let's go quickly through the whole year - my first year as a yoga teacher. I started teaching in February at the Cultural Space of The Vienna Academy of Visionary Arts. That was a cozy place in the seventh district, and I loved the location so much. The Academy was in a historical Otto-Bauer's building. Thick walls, a lot of windows, big spaces. The yoga classes were taking space in a gallery. I was not very aware of what visionary art was but had the honor to visit the exhibitions during teaching. Both rooms had this overwhelming energy, calm, and relaxing.

Sadly, this lovely location couldn't make it through the first lock-down, as they were mainly relying on international students. They took the heavy but maybe a wise decision to close down forever. I've been only teaching there for a month and a half, but I was already attached to it. Choosing the right place for me was a long process. Searching was longer indeed than I was using it! At least I had the opportunity to start B.C-19 (before COVID-19). See that picture. Yogis just coming and throwing their mats on a random spot, not measuring a social distance, but having enough space to spread their arms without hitting their neighbor. It was even possible to sneeze, cough, clean your nose if you need, without been thrown! (Just don't read if you don't have any sense of humor).

I started by giving two weekly classes Hatha Yoga for beginners. By the end of the first month, the style was already resembling Hatha Flow and Vinyasa. I had mainly student visitors who seemed to like more the dynamic yoga, so I was adapting fast to their needs. Plus, the groups were mixed, and I had to provide a challenge for the experienced yogis. 

Initially, I wanted to teach traditional yoga. I must say I had the opinion that Ancient knowledge was better than our understanding of yoga nowadays. But even in India, we've been told that yoga is to serve people and not the other way around. So, yoga also adapts to the needs of people. It depends on the teacher you find. I know some people return from the East completely brainwashed. They listen and repeat without ever doubting what they say. That is what I wanted to avoid. I also didn't want to become like the commercial western yogis who treated yoga as a good workout and a great business opportunity. I decided that I would give myself one year to develop my style, and I will not rely on yoga as my head income. At the end of the year, I am happy with that decision. That allows me to measure results in happy people and not in numbers.

Anyway, the first lockdown found me unprepared and gave me a lot of time to overthink. My mind was so not ready for this. I can't even go back to the blog I posted at that time. Sure I will be shocked by the written. 

As you can imagine, there were not so many studio classes as virtual and outdoor this year, so this is why I kept the name of the Facebook group of my community Yoga in the park & Online @yogawithyordanka.

I've been giving classes on WhatsApp, Messenger, Skype, Zoom, Youtube. Only on Instagram, I didn't stream live. I didn't find the motivation for this. There were so many teachers going live (and some still do). I understand it is also a good promotion for them and a great tool to expand their network, but it seems like most of them were doing it out of good human nature. They just wanted to spread yoga knowledge and to help people feel better in those difficult times. What happened was that there were so many yoga classes for free that nobody wanted to pay for virtual yoga classes anymore. That left a lot of yoga studios, who were relying on their customers, without any income. People who believe in good causes and want to spend their money with awareness, not thinking about what they get and if they could get it any cheaper or even for free, those rare individuals will still choose to support their favorite brands. Thanks to them, yoga can go on. 

During the first lockdown, it was a bit early for me to understand it, but during the second and the third, I had a supportive community my own, for which I am so grateful!

That was my second class in the Park. Full house. There was a limit of ten people at that time (including the teacher).

My first professional yoga photo-shooting was made by Anna Metton soon after the first lockdown was finally over.

The Yoga brunch at Das Brunchhouse am Irissee- was a highlight! Incredible location, outstanding kitchen. They opened during the crisis in 2020, and they were exploding! You can imagine why - they are so good.

Having the opportunity to collaborate with them in my first year as a teacher still warms my heart. I am so grateful that they put trust in me. They gave me a lot of freedom to choose the teaching language, the style, and even the schedule, and the exact spot.

Yoga Brunches can be an incredible opportunity to expand your network, meet people with similar interests, and have a tasty breakfast. The contemporary yogis can have different jobs and backgrounds, but they are all united by yoga and the need for a healthy, conscious life. That is what makes the yoga community so charming, the opportunity to grow together.

Besides the outdoor classes, I was also giving indoor Hatha in Atelier Innere Mitte. Much smaller location than the Cultural space, but the size is not all that matters. The Atelier is a very well designed and equipped boutique studio. I just fell in love with it. In the Summer was not a queue for indoor yoga (not only because of Corona), but in Autumn I, had to deal with a limited number of participants. I was giving three classes in a row to fit everyone. I had even already planned the fourth one when they announced the next lockdown. All the time, new restrictions, new rules. It was harsh, but they say challenges make you grow. Plus, all of those restrictions made us go out in fresh air and reconnect with nature.

If it was not the Corona, I assume I would not put my classes outdoors, but since we didn't have any other choice, everyone went to the park. The studios remained closed for two months and a half, and till the last moment, we didn't know if we will be eligible to reopen soon at all. 

Somehow, I have never before taken the outdoor yoga classes seriously. I thought you could go to the park, and you could do yoga, but why together? I always liked doing some stretch outside from time to time, but I can't call it yoga. There was usually somebody staring, somebody discussing, making noises. 

Outdoor yoga in a group? That I didn't even consider as an option. It was interesting to me. I have never before even joined an outdoor class. I started teaching in the park because I didn't have another option, and for me, this was a substitute for the yoga studio. Soon, I began to understand why so many people would prefer to do yoga in the park in summer rather than staying indoor.

It's so beautiful to do yoga while being surrounded by greenery, birds twitting, the smell of fresh grass under the feet.

Sometimes, I even do yoga without the mat. Nature provides the best yoga mats.

I thought that in a yoga studio, you had a more intimate and private atmosphere. Candles, scents, lights, background music, the whole atmosphere, everything contributes to your well-being.

I also thought wrongly that outdoors you couldn't find your balance, and you couldn't look so deep inwards as in the yoga studio.

It's easy to find and to keep your balance when you have the perfect circumstances. Enough sleep, healthy food, friendly colleagues, good family atmosphere, paid bills. You come on your mat, and the only thing that bothers you is if you can touch your toes in Trikonasana and if you could do one more of this Chaturanga.

However, when you are out of your comfort zone it is the real challenge to find your balance, and then you will need it the most.

Maybe you heard the stories about Indian Gurus meditating in caves. First of all, this brings me to the memories of my trip to India. Flashback to the Sunday when we visited the Vashishta Cave on one Sunday. I've just closed my eyes and dived into the meditative atmosphere (or at least I thought so). That was the cave where Vashishta Sage reached Samadhi (enlightenment briefly said.) It has significant importance for the Hinduists. Everything went smoothly until the moment when somebody started to laugh for no reason. To make it more difficult, some more people from our group started to laugh. That was very challenging for me, as I knew if I open my eyes, I will start laughing with them. If somebody is laughing, I can't help myself. We spent in the cave maybe 10-15 minutes. Somewhen, I lost idea about the time. I made it to focus inwards, even though I was just so curious about what is going on. It turned out that my dear friend Solange couldn't hold her laughing when she was looking at the chanting Brahman. She said he had those big eyes, and he was staring at her, as she was exactly next to him. Luckily, I closed my eyes immediately as we entered the cave, and I tried to be spiritual. I was so proud of myself that I made it to keep them closed during all this intensive experience. Sitting with closed eyes and doing nothing is difficult. It is not meditation, though. 

I don't want to know what our teacher experienced with us. He was either too polite to share or just used to experiences like this.

Krishnamacharya (1888 –1989) is the founder of contemporary Vinyasa yoga. He was the teacher of Pathabi Jois (who spread the Ashtanga yoga), Iyengar, and Indra Devi. He has spent many years meditating in a cave, but then he was advised by his guru to get married and create a family. He has been told only by living in the material world he could understand better the needs of humanity. It must have been more challenging for him to meditate when the kids were crying, his wife needed attention, and so on. It must have been easier to meditate in the cave, what do you think? Besides, he needed to cover the bills and ensure the food for the family. Finding inner peace within those circumstances was not so easy as in the cave, I imagine. The result was that Krishnamacharya became one of the most influential yoga teachers, often referred to as "the father of modern yoga." Well, he married an 11-old girl, so here is where my desire to deepen in spirituality fishiness. Please forgive me. 

So, finding this inner peace outside of the ideal circumstances is more difficult, but it should still be possible, no?

Our classes took place at Jesuitenwiese, which happened to be one of the most popular Wiese (meadow). Everything happens there. 

At first, I thought this spot was unique as I just chose it randomly. That was the middle of my running track, and I thought it was a proper location as there was a shadow under the trees like a lot of sunny meadows around. As you already know, I am not the typical park-person, so I didn't even suppose this is a very popular meadow where everything happens. In particular since Corona.

I was running in the morning, so it seemed very peaceful and quiet. However, the evening was not the best yogi atmosphere. Different kinds of music are coming from all edges of the park, and you need to have fast reflexes to escape on time from the landing balls around.

What a surprise for me when once, at the end of a yoga class, some students told me it was so relaxing. "Wait, what about the noises, wasn't disturbing for you?". "What noises? I didn't hear anything." Then I knew outdoor yoga worked well.

Guess what, you naughty students, who were paying attention to the disturbing surrounding atmosphere. See now, that was all your fault! (just kidding, again)

Do you love nature, or you take it for granted? For somebody who grew up in a small village, nature is a must, part of the exterior, nothing special to look for in your free time, which defined my hobbies. In the cities, I always wanted to use the privileges of urban life. There is so much to explore living in a big city. My attitude towards the big parks was like for any random sightseeing where I am both an inhabitant and a tourist- been there a couple of times, have seen it, very nice. Since the lock-down, I experience urban nature in a completely new way.

I began to run only not to be locked at home all day. The first run to nature felt like a paradise on earth for my eyes. Soon I brought my self yoga practice in the park, and the lock-down had a new dimension for my consciousness. I was enjoying it, no kidding!

The connection to mother Nature is crucial. 

You can see plenty of pictures on FB and IG

The yoga studios were closed from mid-March till the beginning of June. Two days before reopening, we still had no clue when we will be able to do so.

Then, at the beginning of November, followed the second lockdown, followed by the third. No yoga-reopening in between. That means, four months and a half in 2020, there was no indoor yoga in Vienna.

That made us appreciate even more every in-persin class, I believe. Good, we got some photos. Some experiences are becoming special once they become memories.

"Yoga Wheel Fun" also took a place a couple of times.

Most people don't like virtual yoga classes so much. They prefer YouTube because it's for free. I understand this point of view, but I also see great potential in online yoga. For example, this allows me to take online classes with my Indian teacher from my living room. There is no need to travel for a month and spend a shit lof of money. Of course, it's not the same, but it is an extra opportunity to improve. That's an additional service, is not a substitute. For example, I also took online workshops about the yoga wheel. I have joined my favorite Kino's classes. Without Corona, not everyone would even reconsider online yoga as an option.

I find it very cool that some of my students join my Zoom classes from their home countries. 2020 made everyone more open to opportunities on the Internet. I see that as a pro.

I am grateful to get to know so many beautiful souls in 2020. All of this is thanks to yoga in the year of self-isolation. Can you believe that?

I finish the year being grateful for all the support from all the people who decided to give me a chance. That means the world to me! Thank you, guys!

Let's see what 2021 is going to bring us! Are you excited?