We interviewed our Ashtanga, Yoga Nidra, Hatha and Restorative teacher Nataša Mojsilovic for you. She also organises the workshop “Healing Breath” October 22nd. Nataša teaches at Yoga Spot since the opening in February 2015.
Dear Nataša, you have been practicing yoga for many years. Do you feel that yoga has had a transforming effect on you?
When I started practicing yoga over 15 years ago, I immediately felt its power to bring me into the state of calm and ease, in ways it was not possible to reach before. Yoga has been, and still is, an agent of inner and outer change: visible and subtle ones, over all these years.
Can you tell us something about the different levels in which yoga transformed you? In your body, your mind, spiritually?
The changes are manyfold! It started with the most tangible ones in shifting my moods, feeling better and more relaxed after a yoga class through a more constant feeling of well being in the body with a regular practice, to creating more space and openness in your mind. It helps me to get centered in the space of being with whatever is arising, instead of jumping onto the wagon of every thought, impulse or emotion –I step out of reacting to life and just allow it to unfold as it is.
How did that transformation evolve over time, and where are you now on that path?
The changes in my body and mind did happen, but they were not the aim of my practice. They just came along to shed what is not needed any more. There is no need to change anything in the way you are right now… In most cases, all is perfectly well with our bodies and minds and we do not need to become more “acceptable” version of ourselves. If you keep up the practice, and keep looking within, transformation will happen in the most natural and unexpected ways. I try to take every day as a new, clean slate and to be open to whatever the yoga practice and the day may bring. I see the changes in me as an agent in making a change in the world around me in the ways I share my practice and who I am in my daily life.
Can you recall a moment or experience that has been very transformative for you? What was the experience, and how did it change you?
Studying with my teachers Katiza Satya and Kevin Sahaj has been and still is a great journey in shedding the layers of my conceptual mind, my fears and expectations and just bringing more clarity and trust into the ways things are.
Taking up a regular Ashtanga yoga practice, slowly falling into a serious commitment has had (and stil has) a transformational effect on my habits, strenghtening my discipline and dedication that has translated into my daily life as well.
On October 22nd you will give the ‘Healing breath’ workshop at Yoga Spot. Why is the breath such an important ’tool’ in yoga and how can ‘working’ with the breath allow transformation?
Breath is a silent magic at play in our bodies 24 hours per day, 22000 thousand times a day. Yet nobody has ever taught us how to use our breath to its fullest potential which is truly hard to believe. Bringing some awareness to our breathing patterns can help us get rid of unnecessary tension and tap into the power it has to create more space and joy in your life.
Who will benefit from this workshop?
Everyone who breathes. Everyone choosing to join in. It is a workshop for all generations, no pre-knowlegde of yoga theory or practice is needed: just a willingness to get to know your breath, the invisible life time ally.
Any advice to the reader or story you want to share to end this interview with?
Breathe in the light and space, breathe out tension and darkness. Happy to get the chance to breathe with you!
Thank you Nataša, for sharing your experience with us!
