YOGIC AUTOBIOGRAPHY

I approached Yoga at the age of 26 during 1997, a sabbatical year where life took me from Argentina to San Diego, California. My first encounter with this discipline was through the Iyengar method. After 3 months of practice, I was ready to embark on an adventure that would take us on a road trip from San Diego to Argentina. I bought my first Yoga book by Geeta Iyengar and together with my book, my two dogs and my partner, we set off. In the most remote places of America, I took out my book, my yoga mat and — contemplating oceans, mountains, volcanoes,  jungles – I practiced. Iynegar gave me my first deep, profound body experience; discovering and exploring corners of my body I had never before: muscles, joints, tendons.

A year later, the five of us arrived in Buenos Aires: my partner, my two dogs, my yoga and me! Since that sabbatical year, I have never stopped practicing. Buenos Aires welcomed me with the airs of Aṣtaṇga and so the journey with this style began, a relationship that would last 10 years! In the early days, I was guided by  Marcela De La Llave, a beautiful teacher and friend.

At the age of 30, I moved to London, where I had the privilege of taking workshops with Lino Miele, John Scott and the guru of the Aṣtaṇga, Śri Pattabhi Jois. Aṣtaṇga challenged my body and showed me the heart of Āsana practice: the conscious breath, the sound of Ujjāyi.

I returned to my country after living for two years in London, closing a chapter of my life and ready to open a new one, at that moment when the page was still blank, is when I knew that I wanted to share with others the benefits that I had experienced in my seven years of practice. That’s when I decided to study this discipline in order to be able to teach others.

In 2003, I had my first daughter, Violeta. In the midst of breastfeeding and nappies, I started my first two-year Yoga Teacher training; which left me thirsty for knowledge and longing to dive deeper into the world of yoga.

Between that and the birth of my second child Jaime, who was born in 2006 and he is the second love of my life, I began to teach and to find out where I could quench my thirst for learning about Prāṇāyāma and Yoga Sutras. That was when I founded the Krishnamacharya School and with the help of my teacher Juan Pablo Martin, I began my second Yoga Teacher Training. This marked an era of enrichment and personal growth for me.

Krishnamacarya’s lineage gave me a deep understanding of the practice of Āsanas and Prāṇāyāma. It showed me the importance of daily practice, even if it is 15 minutes; that intimate, personalised space that one creates every day to connect with the body, the breath, the emotions, is more powerful than an hour and a half of Āsana practice twice a week.

It opened the door to the Yoga Sutras, pillars of this discipline. A philosophical treatise written 500 years BC. The study of this text, so sacred to yogis, is a journey towards the understanding of the human being, of how the mind works; the understanding of our obstacles, our suffering and our journey from a state of constriction to a state of plenitude, expansion.

In those years of learning, Juan Pablo brought teachers from our school in India:

  • Dr. N. Chandrasekaran, with whom we did a module on Yogatherapy.
  • Kausthub Desikachar, with whom we did a module on Meditation and Bandhas.

If we talk about Meditation, it is essential to talk about Mantras. This is how I discovered a great tool: SOUND. Mantra repetition during Asana practice, the way Mantras sustain breathing patterns during Prāṇāyāma practice, the use of Mantras as a focus point in meditation, the use of Mantras to achieve deep personal change.

I am eternally grateful to Juan Pablo for showing me the way to Vedic Chanting, for seeing it in me before I could, for showing me my affinity to SOUND and how, through sound, I made and I am still making my deepests transformations.

In the following years I began my studies of Vedic Chanting with Ana Merelles, Vedic Chanting teacher and friend. I still remember her words when I was taking my first steps: “You have the aptitude to teach this tool”. I am eternally grateful to Anita for showing me that possibility, that virtue in me.

I was fortunate enough to do workshops with Radha Sundarajan, a great Vedic Chanting teacher from our school in India.

 

In 2011 I joined Yogabaires (yogabaires.com.ar), a project initiated in Argentina by Gonzalo Rico Peña and Lilita Engelmann, both Yoga Teachers and Yogatherapists from the KHYF. Yogabaires is today one of the most recognised houses of study in Argentina, where Yoga Teacher and Postgraduate courses are taught, following the tradition of the Krishnamacharya School.

I started teaching in their Teacher Training in 2012 and remained involved until the end of the year 2021, where life took me back to Australia, where I lived in 2015 during a family sabbatical we enjoyed as a family.

During that year I was lucky enough to work with Barbara Brian’s teaching staff at Agama Yoga Centre (agamayogacentre.com.au). Barbara is a senior KHYF teacher and Yogatherapist, direct student of T.K.V. Desikachar.

In my years of training Yoga Teachers together with Gonzalo, I taught:

  • Āsanas: theory and course planning
  • Prāṇāyāma: theory and course planning
  • Yoga Sutras Chapter I and II
  • Vedic Chanting
  • Teacher Mentoring

Since 2016 I have been teaching Postgraduate courses in Postnatal Yoga, at first with Lilita Engelmann, and then on my own.

This is my Yogic journey until today, it is what defines me as “Denise the Yoga teacher”. However, this journey also defined me beyond my profession, because Yoga is the mirror in which I choose to look at myself, to understand myself. Through Yoga I seek to connect with my essence and with the world around me. The practice serves me  as an  anchor when there is a storm, when everything changes. It is through my yoga practice that I can always find a source of light to illuminate my path when I get lost, it is the light that  shows me the way back home.

In January 2022 we returned to the land of kangaroos and koalas, the country that attracted  us with its beaches and stunning nature. This time we are here to stay, Violeta is now 20 and Jaime 17, I’m now 52 …almost 53. Life never ceases to surprise me with its challenges!    

This change is forcing me to review myself, find myself again…to look for that light inside me that shows me the right path for me. Light that I find when I practice, when I open my yoga mat, stand in Samasthiti, listen to my Ujjāyi breath and start moving, allowing the sound to guide me. Light that I find when I recite the Gayatri as I move following the vibration of the sun, or when I simply open my Vedic Chanting book and tune into the Universe.

Light that deepens when I can share it with my students, with my family, with my friends.