Call it luck or faith, I happen to live about a 7 min walk from Münchenbryggeriet, where the Yoga Games took place on the weekend of the 10-12 of February. Such a luxury to step out of my apartment and have access to so much yoga knowledge !
I truly appreciated that when my alarm didn’t go off on Sunday morning and I woke up at 7:28 for a class at 8am. I jumped into my tights and made it on time for Celest Pereira’s class called Off Balance.
It was one of those mornings when the air was cold, the streets were silent, and the sun was shining, casting that gorgeous light only Stockholm seems to be able to offer, over Mälaren‘s water and the City Hall giving the atmosphere a magic feeling.
Celest really pushed us to challenge our balance and brought us to do things we usually avoid, but in such a gentle, fun and relaxed way we did not mind falling and just laughed it off. I left the class full of energy and ready to conquer the world with my newfound balance. Days later, during my morning practice I could feel the benefit of her advice to feel stronger in a pose, more grounded and balanced. Lesson learned.
Matt Giordano’s class the day before was also keeper. I was so excited to attend The secret to handstand it did not even occur to me that he might ask us to partner up and try to stand on our hands, forcing us to trust total strangers to make sure you would not fall on your face. Weirdly enough I enjoyed it very much. Matt’s positive energy really was communicative and he somehow made us all feel we too could stand upside down. Maybe not then, not tomorrow, but eventually. And that’s good enough for me now.
I also attended an interesting presentation by Sophie Bohnstedt about the best food for you and the planet. Sophie started Sophie’s Raw and shared with us her passion for healthy, nourishing food that does your body and our planet good.
She presented some scary facts and numbers about how our modern ways of eating (more and more fast and processed food) are not only slowly destroying our habitat but also our health: destruction of the Amazon rainforest, increase in allergies and diabetes…not a very joyful picture. Definitely inspiring to keep trying to eat green and fresh!
Honestly I wish I had the time to do more, the schedule for the three days was quite impressive and if you had asked me which superpower I wished I could have at that moment, ubiquity would be the answer.
I must say however, that The Yoga Games felt a little bit like a great gift in a not so great wrapping paper. I am totally with the whole “it is what’s inside that matters the most”, but when you pay a fair amount for tickets, your expectations are quite high. But when it comes to the Hälsomässan and the use of the beautiful space that should have been putting Yoga in the spotlight, it kind of felt like any other fair: a line up of stands waiting for the customer.
I was looking for the little plus. It’s an awesome concept to give us, to have access to so many teaching styles and talented caring teachers, great sponsors, but it felt like it could have been enhanced in a totally different way, it failed to federate.
All in all, my first Yoga Games have been an very interesting experience, filled with a lot of positive vibes, and passionate people with a thirst for knowledge. You could tell that passion for Yoga was the driving force behind the event, a passion that brought dedicated teachers and diligent yogis together, but maybe next year it could take us to the next level, make us feel like we are more than just customers but belong to something bigger, a real community.
More pictures on the Yoga Games’ Facebook page https://www.facebook.com/yogagames/
