Yoga Stories with Matt and Monica Matt & Monica

OK, so January is almost over, but that doesn't mean we cannot still develop some new habits and work on those resolutions we made at the beginning of the year! Monica tells us it only takes 21 days to develop a new habit - so why not use that power to achieve something wonderful?

Our idea (and we don't claim it's original!) is to encourage you to start a personal (yoga) practice. Something simple. Something sustainable. Something you will do every day, and will see and feel a benefit from. So we suggest a very simple practice that starts with Savasana! Along with practicing yogic breathing and some "Proto-Pranayama", you may even begin some simple exercises to help you enter a meditative state. All while lying on the floor. We're serious - and it couldn't be easier.

We share our stories about how much personal practice has helped us (The Testimony section!). And finally, we pick one of the Yamas and one of the Niyamas that we are going to pay special attention to during this time of new resolutions. So maybe we don't quite pick just one of each, but we hope the conversation will inspire you to think about what could do with your special attention right now. 

How quickly and dramatically can things change? In a global pandemic, the answer is "VERY"! In the last episode Monica was looking forward to Christmas in Slovakia and her birthday (and New Year) in Sicily. However, Monica is now in splendid isolation at home after testing positive before trying to take the flight to Sicily. Matt was busy preparing for a Christmas for seven family members, but in the end it was three people and one dog - everyone else at home also having caught Covid...

We continue our conversation about the things we remember from all of our guests, lessons learned, sparks of inspiration that encourage us to try something new, or find a "better" way to practice (or perhaps just one more appropriate for right now).

We are blessed to know so many artists and dancers and to hear how closely linked the need for self-expression is to the need to discover the real self; how understanding and occupying the body can help us to see that we are not our bodies. 

Of course we wander off on a tangent - the focus on tantra from Michael and Tara inevitably led to Matt getting a new book (one which Monica of course has). And we talk about being a channel or a vessel for a higher consciousness. It happens to all of us more often that we think.

On the day of publishing, the last day of 2021, it is Monica's birthday and she is in isolation at home with Tomas, her husband. They won't be allowed back out into the world until the end of next week. So if you have the opportunity, please wish her a Happy Birthday via @yoga.stories.matt.monica on Instagram, or via Twitter @StoriesYoga.

HAPPY NEW YEAR! We will have many more stories to share in 2022. Please join us, and share, share, share!

We decided to celebrate the end of the year by listening back to the guests we had over the last year; to share the impressions we had, the lessons we learned, the beautiful stories  shared. However, we were really only half way through when time was up (a booster vaccination appointment was calling!). So this is just part 1. We will talk about everyone before the year is out... (hopefully!)

What have we learned? CHANGE. Everything changes, and we are certainly not the people we were at the beginning of the year. Some of us are very aware of this, others need some time to think about that. We learned that you don't have to believe in God to live a yogic life. The outdoors is good for the spirit. Everything, in the end, works out for the good. And reading should be a part of your practice! (We have a little "debate" about the value of reading something all in one go, as opposed to taking time to study what you're reading...)

Matt gets passionate about gender in yoga... Just because we only heard about male yogis from the past, does it mean there were no yoginis? And how does this relate to today's yoga world, where it's overwhelmingly women who practice?

It may be a cliché but we both feel wonder, awe and gratitude for having spoken to these amazing people. And you're just as amazing - wherever you are, whomever you are.  

For those who celebrate it, Happy Christmas. 

Born in the US Pacific Northwest, Michael was a bookish child, not so comfortable in his body. He grew up in a loving family, but one that had no specific religious or spiritual practice. Realising he was good at school work, he decided to be really good at school. This eventually led to a full ride scholarship to University.

It was while at college that he discovered dance, and took his first yoga class. Soon he was a regular at the local Bikram studio, as well as adding dance to his degree programme, resulting in a double degree - in Dance and Community & Environmental Planning. He was soon off to New York City to live the life of an artist (and working a number of jobs at the same time, as many do).

Michael followed his partner to Brussels and has been there for ten years. A graduate of the Conscious Living yoga teacher training course at Yyoga, he now teaches there (and Matt has taken one of his classes). Join us to hear about Michael's journey to become comfortable in his body, his life as an artist, what he thinks of Tantra, and "spiritual activism". A delightful guest, Michael is engaging and enlightening. See more of him at michaelhelland.com

Born in South Africa, Shannon had an idyllic childhood including time at a catholic boarding school. Sensing the world was bigger than what she saw of it in her home country, she moved to London and enjoyed all the big city can offer.

Along the way she became acquainted with yoga and meditation, but it wasn't until she went on a month long Buddhist meditation retreat that her life turned a corner and she set out in a different direction. Eventually she ended up working in France at a meditation retreat centre based in a chateau, where she met current partner, Vajrayana lama Brian.

Ready to move back into the "world" Shannon and Brian moved to Brussels. They now run www.crystalsingingbowlseurope.com in Brussels, where they hold yoga, meditation and sound bath classes and where you can receive advice on the bowls and perhaps purchase one of your own. Shannon will train you in how to use it!

Tessa is half-Belgian, half-American and is a teacher at Yyoga in Brussels. Monica and Matt chat to Tessa about when and how she discovered yoga - as a student in Florida. Tessa seems to have taken a very different course through life after her introduction to yoga than the one she had envisaged when she went to the USA to complete post-graduate studies.

Tessa found yoga (or yoga found Tessa) after she had already instigated a spiritual practice. Her yoga practice helps to put her in a place that allows her to continue this practice. Although she very much enjoys the physicality of yoga, one of the greatest values it has for her is enabling a "moving meditation".

Tessa talks about her family's love of nature and animals, especially her father's fondness for taking random animals into the home. Listen out for tales of Mr Wiggles! There's also some discussion about mindful eating and vegetarianism. 

Where is Tessa now in her yoga practice and her spirituality? Listen to the episode to find out.