Reflections on Nomad Yoga
NOMAD YOGA IS SÒNIA ISART’S APPROACH TO THE YOGA TEACHINGS. HER MOTTO BEING “EXPLORE THE INNER LANDSCAPES”.
The subtle round.
In times when most yoga studios emphasize solely on yoga postures, the more complicated the better (as we can see on instagram’s yoga teachers accounts), my interest resides on the subtle round, the inner deep experience.
When reading the ancient texts of yoga, emphasis was never on achieving difficult yoga postures but on using asanas, amongst other techniques, as a way to achieve a quiet mind, a purified mind that could allow for an experience of something subtler than the mind.
Nomadic lifestyle.
On the other hand, after few years of teaching and training to become a yoga teacher, i found myself travelling again and i became a nomad yogini and teacher. Connecting with nature and relating with new-others from all over the world in a mindful way, opened myself to a new dimension of the practice, a more insightful way of practicing, gaining self-knowledge, and co-creating a new reality each moment.
Nature influence and outdoor yoga.
Nature has become also an amazing teacher, i found myself influenced by seasons and landscapes in a deep way, and my discipline or practice changing with them. Recognizing the constantly changing entity that i am, and allowing for a bigger space to intuition, freedom and creativity when it comes to my practice, teaching, and life, is what keeps me interested in, and aware of, each moment. That’s why i teach as much as i can in an outdoor studio surrounded by the beauty of the landscapes i choose to be inspired.
MY TEACHING STYLE
It has been said about my practice and teaching to be
Sonia's being is an invitation to rest deeply within ourselves. Her rich and textural teaching and exploration of the inner landscape draw us into a more sensual experience of all that is occurring. She demonstrates the rare skill of courageous and rigorous self study. Her offering shimmers with tender vulnerability.
I feel deeply at ease when in the presence of sonia's being. Her vibrant relationship with the truth allows for a penetrating quietude of the heart. Sonia's teaching is an invitation to find our own deep waters and she skillfully helps us learn how to swim.
Kira Sloane (director at yogaanytime.com)
If you ask me: I love to improvise, be creative, listen to the energy of the room to create something meaningful in each session. I do it not only through the sequencing but also through sharing yoga philosophy teachings while you are holding postures, through guiding you from the surface to the inner landscapes, through silences and singing, through speaking up my truth of the moment and making myself vulnerable if needed, through respecting your experience and mirroring you the same way you mirror me, through not having any expectations from you, through letting you know that yoga is available to you because it is in you already...well as you can see i could keep on going so i would leave it at that for the moment.
WHY HATHA
Hatha yoga is my main practice, I am a certified hatha yoga teacher. What i love about hatha besides being the fundamental physical practice from which all others (vinyasa, ashtanga, power, yin, iyengar…) spring off, it is the freedom you got within the framework. other styles of yoga with their trademarks have created a concrete sequencing within which there is almost no freedom, but with hatha once you understand the principles of the yoga practice and philosophy, you are totally free both in your practice and teaching. To me that means i found a space to listen to my inner voice, and include in my practice everything i learn from my meditation teachers, my gñana yoga teachers (yoga of wisdom or knowledge) or even my bhakti yoga teachers (devotional yoga) as well as from y life experiences.
Already in my first hatha class i connected with something subtler in me (and it felt so good), i started having subtle sensations in my body and i intuitively knew that was a fundamental change and a path to self-knowledge that would bring clarity and would allow me to live fully in my own body. An experience that kept me connected to myself.
This state of presence has been my guidance ever since, and luckily i had teachers , both in my teacher training and lately in my adventures in California, who helped me go even deeper, giving me newer tools and inviting me to trust my own experience.
Yoga is a science in which we are both the object of study and the subject studying it. we become our field of study. And hatha yoga gives us the time and tools to study ourselves beyond the pure physical aspects.
