My yoga journey truly began in 2003, when I was living in Sweden. My mother had already been teaching yoga for years and had been encouraging me to try it for a long time, partly as a way to help manage my scoliosis.

In Sweden, I eventually found yoga for myself – with my mother’s encouragement still in the back of my mind – and at first I approached it from a very physical perspective. I quickly noticed how good the practice felt in my body and how much it also helped me relax. That was the beginning of a journey that has continued ever since.

Later, while living in Australia, my own practice also led me to study to become a yoga teacher. I qualified as a Hatha and Yin Yoga teacher and have been teaching yoga since 2015. (500h Hatha Yoga Teacher Training & 100h Yin Yoga Teacher Training.)

Over the years, yoga has taught me a great deal about my body and about myself. Perhaps the biggest change, however, is that yoga has gradually moved beyond the mat and become part of my life. In recent years, my practice has also become increasingly about treating myself and what I do with more kindness. I do not always need to do more, do better or practise for longer.

As a mother of three, my own practice does not always fit into a full hour on a yoga mat – and sometimes it does not make it onto the mat at all. There are days when yoga does not happen. Often, those are exactly the days when I realise I probably needed it most to cope with everyday life and the occasional circus that comes with it.

That is why I have also learned to let go of the idea of what a yoga practice is supposed to look like. Sometimes it is a full hour on the mat; sometimes it is just a few movements or a few conscious breaths. Sometimes it is carving perfect turns on a snowboard in rhythm with my breathing, or going for a walk or bike ride in the forest. Sometimes it is being fully present with my child, and sometimes it is lying on my back on the living-room floor while the children balance on the soles of my feet, acro-yoga style.

Yoga has become something I carry with me beyond the mat – and that is also at the heart of how I teach. To me, yoga is not about performance or achieving perfect poses. What matters more is the connection between movement and breath, listening to your own body, and allowing the practice to look different for different people and on different days.   

Some days, everything flows. Your breath feels easy, your body feels strong, light and capable, and the practice seems to come naturally. Other days, you wobble, struggle with a pose or find that something simply doesn’t work the way you want it to. You learn to breathe, adjust, try again – or sometimes let it go.

Just like in life.