my life, spirituality, travels and more
Your yoga teacher is not your guru
Your yoga teacher is not your guru
If you haven’t watched Kumaré yet, it’s about time. This is hands down one of the best documentaries of our time.
There is a number of reasons for people to go to yoga classes. Some do it to exercise, some to get a good stretch, some for the spiritual benefits, others to reduce stress, some to feel part of a community and some possibly for all of those reasons. The list goes on. I love meeting new people and I also love my dedicated students, so wether you’re coming to my classes, workshops or retreats, I am honored and grateful to have you share your time with me and I am thrilled I can share some of my knowledge with you.
In my bio I state that one must always stay a student and I truly emphasize this. Unless you’re Gandhi, the odds are you’re not an enlightened being just yet. That being said, the fact that you are practicing yoga and the fact that you want to become more connected with yourself and your surrounding world is an amazing first step towards the right direction and something worth celebrating. What is key to understand though is that yoga teachers don’t have it all figured out (hell nah!!). Sometimes actually they might even have more issues than the average Joe and this is what perhaps initially led them to yoga (take this with a grain of salt). So to fully lean on them with your problems and expect them to have solutions is not the best idea. I guess this must be why now they don’t really allow the terminology of “Yoga Therapy”. See, we yoga teachers are just as messed up as you. We get down on ourselves, fuck up and get lost in life. I guess the big difference from the average non yogi is that even though we also fuck up, we MIGHT (caps lock here) be more aware of it and we more importantly might be working on changing that behavior. And yoga can be an excellent tool to become more aware, awake and in tune with yourself. I can truly say that thanks to the world of yoga and its broad field of teachings, I am becoming more aware of my own patterns and issues. And recognition is a hella good first step in this long journey towards a better version of me. Cuz at the end, that’s what a lot of us want, to grow, to learn and to connect.
We can learn from each other. Pic of me and Abi.
Unfortunately we live in a time where people are getting sick. Sick and tired of being sick and tired. Sick from working too much, sick from stress and unrealistic expectations. This sickness and tiredness leads to us feeling stuck and unaccomplished and very often lost. Are we on our right paths? Are we doing what we are supposed to be doing? Perhaps we feel like we need a change but are just too tired, too exhausted and blocked from finding the solutions ourselves. Add some relationship issues or a broken marriage and bam! You’re open AF to having someone else steer your ship and take control. This is of course is okay if that person is a) your therapist or b) actually knows what the best solutions for you are and c) truly has your best interest in mind and works from the goodness of their heart and not for a financial gain. Don’t get me wrong, guidance and mentoring is not wrong and even in yogic philosophy we are taught that once the student is ready, the master will come. But the thing is, you are the master and you will always be your own guru. You hold all the answers to all your problems and what a teacher or a guide can do is, to aid you to see that, but at the end of the day, YOU are the guru. And this is super important to assimilate. The same thing goes for your asana practice on your mat. If something does not feel good in your body but the teacher is telling you to do it, hell nah! Get outta that pose! You know the best what feels food and what works for your god given temple, never forget that. And as a teacher I am only here to give you ideas and suggestions on how to move. If it does not feel good for you, if it doesn’t relate to you, you are more than welcome to skip.
To close the circle I want to say that you can learn a lot from your yoga teacher and they can serve as an excellent guide on your journey, but always remember that you are the captain and you navigate the ship, even if your teacher can sometimes work as the compass on giving you some direction on where to go. I am blessed and grateful to be sharing my teachings and what I’ve learned, but boy, I am still and I will always remain a student.
Namaste,
Eva
Vision boarding and the Law of Attraction
VISION BOARDING AND THE LAW OF ATTRACTION
I want to write about something that is very close to my heart and about a practice I do using the universal laws and this is creating a vision board. Law of attraction is real and for those of you who has experienced it, know exactly what I mean. Like attracts like and thoughts become things. Where you put your focus will appear in front of you. Energy flows where intention goes.
Think about it the other way around too, imagine you’re having one of those sucky days where everything simply goes south. One thing after the other, it’s almost like a joke and at the end of the day you’re not even surprised when something else shitty happens to you. This too, is the result of the universal law of like attracts like. When you constantly focus on the negative, guess what you’re attracting more of: more negativity. So this luckily works both ways. When you focus on the good stuff guess what you’re drawing to you, yup, more good stuff. And this universal law is the key that works with creating a vision Wether you believe in the law of attraction it is constantly working. Every thought, action and word has a frequency and is sent out to the universe. The universe will then respond by matching your thoughts, intentions, words, affirmations or actions. The thing is, time is a tricky one to understand, so there might not be an immediate result, but at some point that energy you put out will come back to you in a way or another.
So what is a vision board. A vision board is first and foremost a tool you can use to your benefit that uses this universal law. It is a collection of images, words and phrases that you feel drawn to or that somehow represent what you want to bring forth in your life. I’ve made several vision boards in my life and I am always surprised at how the universe will find interesting ways on how it brings forth these things in my life. It’s a magical feeling when you notice that something you’ve put in your board suddenly presents in your life. What do you have to loose really? Give it a try!
So how do you make a vision board? If you didn’t join me and Jonna Monola for our vision board workshop, worry not, I will spill the beans and share this magical little practice with you. All it takes is a little bit of time, some dedication, a pair of scissors, glue and a big pile of magazines. Before you start your little arts and crafts extravaganza I recommend getting quiet, putting on some relaxing music, meditating so that you can get clear on your hearts deepest desires and what is it that you want to bring forth in your life. Ask yourself; “If I had a magic wand, what would my life look like”? Other questions might be; what would your days look like, how would you feel, what would your living situation be, what would your home look like, what about your relationship, your body? Then I recommend writing these things down and then lastly start browsing through your magazines and looking for images and phrases that speak to you or that somehow match what you want to manifest. When going through the magazines you’ll very often even find more images and words that you want to include. Let this part be fun and intuitive. Once you feel like you’ve gathered enough material you can start gluing them on to a piece of cardboard. Once you feel ready with your board I recommend placing it somewhere you can see it as often as possible. The more visible it is to your brain, the more you’re sending these signals to your brain subconsciously and consciously and of course to the universe and somehow these creating magical situations and things of your dreams start becoming reality. What are you waiting for? Start now.
A vision board example, not mine.
Go make yours now!
Con amor,
Evita
Chakra 101 (Chakras for Dummies) and an infographic
CHAKRA 101 (CHAKRAS FOR DUMMIES) AND AN INFOGRAPHIC
Everything is Energy ✨ The thoughts you think, the words you speak, the actions you take, the food you eat...
Your physical body is just one layer, but beneath this 3D dimensional domain, lies a subtle body and a complex system of energetic centers, lines and sheaths.
I have always been curious about the unseen and into the energetic realm of things, which is why I am so passionate about the Chakra System. Energy does not lie and vibes speak louder than words. Think about it...Ever felt certain vibes of someone? Yup, that’s when you pick up their ”vibe”, I’m sure you’ve had moments you’ve for example felt someones bad mood, even if they didn’t express it in words.
Many are still clueless about what chakras are, how they function and what they govern. So, I decided to make an infographic (take it with a grain of salt and humor) and wrote this simple guide for you to get a basic idea and understanding.
Perhaps you’ve heard the term chakra but are still quite unfamiliar with the concept of it or don’t know what it does, how it functions, where it is (or where they are). Let’s dive in:
Let’s start with the actual word ‘chakra’. Chakra literally means wheel or circle and is a word from the Sanskrit language. What that refers to is the wheel like movement of the chakra.
So what is a chakra? A chakra is an energy center, a vortex and the focal point of subtle energy in your energetic body. Like i mentioned in the beginning: Everything is energy. How that energy presents itself in this physical realm, is what we call matter. But when we look at the body from an energetic perspective, there are certain ways the energy flows and certain places where that energy gathers and these are your Chakras.
You have seven primary chakras in your body. Each Chakra is connected to certain aspects of your life and certain areas or glands and organs of your body. Each Chakra is associated with a specific color, an element, a tone, a frequency and so forth. Below is a list of the seven primary Chakras and their elements, color and functions.
1. The Root Chakra (Muladhara)
Muladhara (“root support”) is located at the base of your spine. It is often depicted as a red four-petaled lotus, and it governs what are considered the four primal urges: food, sleep, sex, and self-preservation, but also money. It is the foundation of your being. Its energetic function is to help us maintain a sense of groundedness and inner stability.
Element: Earth
Color: Red
Affirmation: “I am here.”
Tone: LAM
2. The Sacral Chakra (Svadhisthana)
Svadhisthana (“her own abode”) is located at the pelvis by your reproductive organs. It is often depicted as an orange lotus with six petals, and it’s associated with creativity, sensuality, pleasure, fluidity, adaptability, emotions, sexual energy, and the unconscious. The second chakra’s energetic function is to help us regulate our emotions and desires, so as not to be driven by them.
Element: Water
Color: Orange
Affirmation: “I am a creative.”
Tone: VAM
3. The Solar Plexus Chakra (Manipura)
Manipura (“city of jewels”) is located at the navel center. It is commonly depicted as a downward or upward-facing yellow triangle. This energy center is your personal power, your ego and it’s function is to navigate our lives with strength and determination.
Element: Fire
Color: Yellow
Affirmation: “I am strong”
Tone: RAM
4. The Heart Chakra (Anahata)
Anahata (“unstruck”) is located at the heart center. Anahata is typically depicted as a green six-pointed star surrounded by 12 lotus petals. On a spiritual level, it’s said to be the home of the higher “unstruck” or indestructible self. Anahata governs our joy, love (not just romantic love, more importantly self-love), compassion and openness. Energetically, anahata helps us tap into unconditional love.
Element: Air
Color: Green
Affirmation: “I am loving”
Tone: YAM
5. The Throat Chakra (Vishuddha)
Vishuddha (“to purify”) is located in your throat. It is often depicted as a blue downward-facing triangle inside a lotus with 16 purple petals. This energy center is associated with speaking one’s truth. Its energetic function is to help us find authentic self-expression and honesty.
Element: Ether or space
Color: Blue
Affirmation: “I am honest.”
Tone: HAM
6. The Third-Eye Chakra (Ajna)
Ajna (“command center”) is located between the eyebrows and is.represented by a transparent lotus with two white petals. It is your wisdom center and the seat of the mind, your conscious and unconscious awareness. It is not associated with any element, as this chakra is considered beyond the physical elements. This is the center for intuition, vision, imagination, inner knowing, and self-assurance. The energetic function of ajna chakra is to help us learn to know ourselves on a spiritual level.
No element
Color: Purple
Affirmation: “I am seeing.”
Tone: OM
7. The Crown Chakra (Sahasrara)
Sahasrara (“thousand-petaled lotus”) is located just above the crown of the head. This is the doorway into pure consciousness, it is often depicted as a thousand-petaled lotus with a pinkish aura, and in a similar way to the third eye chakra, nor is this chakra associated with a physical element. This chakra serves as a way of connecting to divine energy and is associated with our highest self. Sahasrara helps us function in a more enlightened way, cultivate self-mastery, and find a sense of connection with all.
No element
Color: White
Affirmation “I am connected”
Tone: MMM
Now that you have a basic idea of these energy centers, it’s key to understand that this energy is constantly changing. Energy flows in and out of these centers all the time and your chakras can either be balanced, unbalanced, over active, under active or even blocked (oh nooo!!). Luckily there are various methods to unblock, align and balance your chakras and these include nutrition, yoga, healing, rest, various activities, crystals, colors and so forth. This all depends on which of the chakras it is that is not in harmony. So how do you know if a chakra is inactive or blocked you might ask? Well, usually after getting an understanding of the chakras you might already have an idea in your mind. Perhaps you’ve gone through heart ache lately (maybe there’s a blocakge in your heart chakra) or did you just lose your job (first chakra) or maybe you never speak your truth and always hold your opinions to yourself, even if you should speak up (throat). But if you’re still completely clueless, there are ways to test your chakras and one method is using a pendulum or a dowser. The dowser is simply placed above your chakra and if the pendulum is spinning in a circular way, the chakra is in harmony, if it’s not moving at all or if it’s going back and forth, there’s a blockage or it’s under active, if it’s making a crazy big circle, yup you guessed it: it’s over active. Below a list of feelings that might be present if a chakra is overactive or under active.
Root Chakra
Overactive
Fearful, nervous, insecure, not feeling grounded; materialistic or greedy, resisting change
Underactive
Lacking a sense of being at home or safe anywhere, codependent, unable to get into one’s body, fearful of abandonment
Sacral Chakra
Overactive
Overemotional, very quick to attach and invest in others, attracted to drama, moody, lacking personal boundaries
Underactive
Stiff, unemotional, closed off to others, lacking self-esteem or self-worth, possibly in an abusive relationship
Solar Plexus Chakra
Overactive
Dominating, aggressive, angry, perfectionistic or overly critical of oneself or others
Underactive
Passive, indecisive, shy, lacking self-control
Heart Chakra
Overactive
Loving in a clingy, suffocating way; lacking a sense of self in a relationship; willing to say yes to everything; no sense of boundaries, letting everyone in
Underactive
Cold, distant, lonely, unable or unwilling to open up to others, grudgeful
Throat Chakra
Overactive
Overly talkative, unable to listen, highly critical, verbally abusive, condescending
Underactive
Introverted, shy, having difficulty speaking the truth, unable to express needs
Third Eye Chakra
Overactive
Out of touch with reality, lacking good judgment, unable to focus, prone to hallucinations
Underactive
Rigid in thinking, closed off to new ideas, too reliant on authority, disconnected or distrustful of inner voice, anxious, clinging to the past and fearful of the future
Crown Chakra
Overactive
Addicted to spirituality, lack of bodily needs, having difficulty controlling emotions
Underactive
Not very open to spirituality, unable to set or maintain goals, lacking direction
So, no that you have a basic idea about the chakras you can learn to work with these subtle energies and become more aware of your energetic body. If you want to study more, I highly recommend picking up the book “The Anatomy of The Spirit” by Caroline Myss.
You feeling aligned AF yet? ;)
Con amor,
Evita
The magic of a good playlist (sharing is caring)
THE MAGIC OF A GOOD PLAYLIST (SHARING IS CARING)
Music is magic. Simply put.
I mean think about it. What is music? One could say that music is an artful arrangement of different sounds creating a vibration that’ll change your mood, frequency, trigger a memory, create feelings of joy, sadness, grief, love, longing, you name it, the list goes on and on. Music is said to be the language of emotions. Studies have shown that listening to music releases dopamine. So why not combine music with yoga? Bulletproof. Duh.
I spend hours and hours discovering new artists and new music on Spotify. Playing an amazing playlist during yoga class is the shit. It gives me energy and inspires me and simultaneously I can see how that energy amplifies when the students get into the flow with some good tunes. I play music on my way to work, on my way home and always when I’m driving. My friends know that I won’t start the car if I don’t have a good tune on, no matter if we’re late.
Anyways, when I first started practicing yoga I started with Ashtanga, which I guess some people would argue to be quite ascetic. It’s rigorous, always with the same movements and no music. Oh, with the exception of the Ashtanga mantra in the beginning, if that counts. I remember back in the day when I would religiously practice mysore style with my good friend Elisa that we were even quite serious about the mantra. Lolz. How times have changed. And please ashtangi yogis, don’t get me wrong I still enjoy Ashtanga, BUT I love vinyasa flow and one of the reasons is: you can add music to your classes. And that adds an extra dimension of joy, so why not.
So to circle back to the magic of music I wanted to share with you guys what my students often ask me post yoga class, which is some of my favorite yoga playlists for you to enjoy.
These are my top 3 playlists currently (I made them public on my Spotify Account):
Con Amor,
Evita
2019, a year to manifest your dreams
2019, A YEAR TO MANIFEST YOUR DREAMS
It’s been forever and ever since I last updated my blog and A LOT has happened since. First and foremost, happy New Year (a little late as we are almost thru Jan)!!! I think I had almost given up on this fun little side thing I used to do, but oh well, here I find myself typing yet again. Happy that you found your way here too and are reading my scribbles.
In a nutshell 2018 was a crazy year. It’s hard to even recap everything that happened and honestly a lot of it is very private & sensitive information and not to share with the world wide web. That being said, with great growth comes some growth pain and what I can say is holy shit I’ve grown this last year. In some circles people refer to the years 2016-2018 as a metamorphosis and explain how the year 2016 was the cocoon year, 2017 the caterpillar year and finally 2018 the butterfly year. When I think about my own past it makes a lot of sense as last year was when I finally spread my wings and flew. Not just figuratively speaking, but I actually flew away from Mexico that’s been my home for the last 6 and a half years. This was a tough transition and something I’m still struggling with. Even if Finland is a great country, holy shit, lack of light is a bitch, I’ll tell you that much. Also, moving from the other side of the world to a new location, even if it’s your old home country, is challenging, on many levels. I feel like I am not the same person I used to be before and I don’t perhaps fully fit in. Yet.
Mexico holds a huge place in my heart and I will always keep going back. And perhaps this is just a lil breather, I mean who knows. Life tends to surprise us in many unexpected ways. Either way I feel that I am where I should be right now and that I’ve made some really smart and healthy changes. That being said, there’s still many things to conquer, manifest and master. BUT I’ve decided that this will finally be the year I step outside my comfort zone and actually make shit happen. If not now, then when!? I guess each January we get a spurt of inspiration and feel more driven, for me especially being a Capricorn and having my bday just a few days after New Year’s it truly feels like I’ve turned a new page in my life. And today I took the first step. I understand all of this might seem a little cryptic as I am not revealing what it is, but I promise you, if you stay tuned, eventually I will reveal and show you guys my new project.
To come back to the metamorphosis I’d say that 2016 was a brutal year in many ways. It felt like I was dragging myself forward and everything around me was collapsing. If some of you understand Tarot cards I’d compare the year to the Tower card in the deck. I guess the year 2016 was only preparing me for the the following year, which was even worse. All this while living in a beautiful paradise surrounded by warmth, the sun and happy people. I guess it’s true what they say that paradise is a state of mind and not a location. The following year, which is now last year, was when I finally made some changes. But the changes didn’t come smoothly. I guess they never do. I remember a teacher of mine always referred to the process of a seed sprouting and how violent the actual transition is as it breaks thru and that this comparison also goes with real life growth.
All in all life is full of mystery and I find that this time of the year it’s a good moment to pause, assess the last year (or perhaps even last couple of years), get clear about what it is you wish to manifest for the new year and do some goal setting. I am a huge fan of vision boards and truly believe in their manifestation power, if you’re unfamiliar with the concept a quick google will do the trick even here. I also love writing things down and journaling about what I wish to accomplish and again highly recommend this practice too. So finally, what I wish to say to you is, let’s truly go after those dreams, cuz if we don’t they’ll come and bite us in the butt on our death beds.
That’s all for now. Go get em tiger.
Con amor,
Evita