Sofia is a Core Strength Vinyasa (CSV) yoga teacher accredited with Yoga Alliance Professionals. She is a passionate health advocate, a fun and fiery yogi, a loving and generous mum. She is wild but gentle, practical but passionate and brings a wealth of knowledge, experience and dedication to all of her classes and offerings.
Sofia is an inspiring promoter of freedom of movement in an intelligent anatomically focused framework. Her yoga classes are inclusive, balancing, energetic and uplifting. She will be taking you mindfully through creative, informed and philosophy-infused yoga sequences transforming your body, mind and spirit; preparing you for all of life’s challenges.
Read her background story below of why she became a CSV yoga teacher:
I decided to become a CSV yoga teacher at a point in my life where I was questioning what was important to me, if my choices with regards to where I work, what I do for a living, where I live and what makes me happy were all up in the air.
At the beginning, I didn’t intend to start teaching. All I wanted is to know how to do yoga “right”. I had been practicing yoga for a few years by this point and joined classes of various styles with a range of different teachers in the gym, on DVDs and YouTube. However, I still was not confident that I was performing the yoga poses correctly. Thoughts such as “Am I not flexible enough for yoga? Did I work the right muscles? Was my stance and posture aligned as it is supposed to be?” were always flying around my head making me feel as if I wasn’t good enough. With the result that even after years of practicing yoga my knees and back were often hurting after sessions. Once I hurt my back so badly, I had to stay in bed for a week because I couldn’t move due to the pain. Either yoga was not for me or I was doing it totally wrong. I decided that I was wrong because yoga is supposed to help when your muscles are weak or injured. Also, in the meantime I was exploring the mental and emotional benefits of practicing yoga and meditating. Having worked in a very stressful and pressured environment including a complete burnout, panic attacks and anxiety, yoga seemed to balance me and calm me down. Therefore, I wanted to know more about its philosophy, its origins and how I could bring that balance into my daily life. When I started my teacher course, I thought that this is my chance to make a difference to my life and finally do yoga the “correct” way!
I quickly learned that there isn’t a right or wrong way of doing yoga, everybody will find his or her own unique path and that is totally fine. It is not a competition about who can go deeper into a forward fold, into the stretch or can touch the mat with their hands. The point is to practice yoga in an anatomically optimized way. Our bodies are different; we are individuals, not only in our personality but also in our anatomy. This means that we need to listen to our body and honour it and its limits. I found out that I didn’t have to practice yoga in rigid straight lines anymore, but could let my body be fluid and move the way it felt right to me. It was not only about the destination, the final pose, but the journey, the transition, to it that was important. There was nothing wrong with me having tight hamstrings and having to keep a bend in my legs and not being able to reach the mat with my heels in Downward Facing Dog. The focus suddenly shifted. Not being able to do these things didn’t mean anymore that I was incapable or not flexible enough to do yoga. With this realisation, a big weight was lifted and I suddenly felt confident and empowered. Supporting and protecting my joints and spine with the help of the CSV breath and the activation of the deep core line became my most important lesson leaned. So much so that I wanted to teach yoga myself and share this feeling of empowerment with others who are going through the same self doubts and have suffered from physical injuries during classes as I did in the past.
On the other hand studying yoga resulted in a journey of self-discovery, exploring my inner truth. It made me feel more tolerant and more accepting of myself. It emphasized what I have always known deep down that to be able to love and take care of others I need to start with myself first. Self-love, self-care, self-centering and surrounding myself with positive loving people are the key for my happiness and health. I learned that I don’t need to be guilty about taking time for myself to find my balance. It also changed my outlook on life events, taking them as they come and not interpreting certain events as obstacles to true happiness but as part of life’s challenges to make room for growth.
Not all my life questions have been answered by embarking on this adventure and that is fine as I have now the tools to face them and to not feel overwhelmed by them. This is the Asana Soul journey and I am ready to share it with you.
