Yoga stories: Veronica a yogini in love with the mountain

We are often asked why do yoga? There are many reasons and paths that lead to yoga or that yoga allows you to take. 

We want to share Veronica's experience 

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( @vero_yoga_ ) a yogin, who as we like to do, has a particularly intense connection with nature.

We hope this story will inspire you.

"My name is Veronica, I am a curious soul and researcher. Seven years ago a knowing hand put yoga in my path.

I was at a standstill in my life, I had just finished my college studies and was looking for a job. I was experiencing a great inner transformation and I was questioning all my certainties.

Something inside of me was speaking a different language that I didn't know and couldn't interpret.

I started a yoga program at a gym in my hometown to devote more time to myself and to bodywork, which I had put aside after dropping out of dance school at nineteen.

 

Yoga opened a door through which I saw a warm and alive light. I still remember how I struggled during the first lesson, how I felt inside a body that was not mine, rigid and armored. Since that first lesson I have never stopped practicing. The more time I spent on the mat, the more the desire to know deeply this discipline increased; so three years later I undertook my first training as a teacher.

From that point on, the journey of yoga became deeper, more complex, and more fascinating; my practice changed a lot as well.

 

I have always been a great lover of Nature, especially I feel at home in mountain landscapes, where the wind blows hard and my legs grind out miles.

Since I was a child I have been used to shun city environments and seek the company of butterflies, horses and clouds; the wind is my favorite music and I love walking in the green woods. The relationship I have with the mountains, in particular, is based on a strong respect for the environment in which I find myself and the creatures that inhabit it. Mother Earth, from the mountains to the sea, gives us the gift of her richness and abundance and we are immersed in this gift every day. This is such a powerful thought!

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We walk and are supported by the Earth, which with its cycles, always shows us what the direction is and what we need to do.

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You may be asking yourself what does this have to do with yoga?

 

I start from my own experience to explain this concept to you. Ever since I stepped on the mat, the practice has developed in me a tendency to let go of the superfluous, to get to the gist of things; it has unhinged certain mindsets and automatisms. And I've had several experiences that have given me the opportunity to get closer to the true Self: what we are by nature and what we unlearn as we grow up.

When you find peace in your body, which is part of the Nature of this wonderful Cosmos, you find peace in natural environments, where there is silence and no asphalt. When you learn to listen to your breath and the Prana that animates you, you observe it in other creatures and perceive its power.

I believe that the relationship between yoga and nature is very close and interdependent and comes from the empirical study that the first yogins made of nature to replicate its different expressions through the Asana.

 

If you pause to consider the names of the Asanas you will find that most are associated with animals or natural elements, for example

• Bhujangasana (cobra pose)
• Ardha Chandrasana (half moon pose)
• Tadasana (mountain pose)

 

These are all elements that we know and see in Nature, but the thing that amazes me the most, is how yoga allows you to live these elements, entering into them and becoming Cobra, Half Moon or Mountain, with codified gestures and full of meaning.

 

Asanas are archetypes.

 

Symbols that allow us to experience Nature within ourselves; each position has its own meaning and peculiarities. While practicing Yogasana my body replicates the connection to a certain aspect of Nature and this enriches the Sadhana of the practitioner, exponentially.

 

Nature is the meditative place par excellence, where there are no things to do, deadlines to meet or bills to pay, but it is the place where just existing is enough. The discipline of yoga teaches just that, to drop into the present, stripping away from attachments and the whirlwind of thoughts.

 

Nature exists and manifests, animals do not know time and everything is lived in the here and now. Therefore, I often find refuge in nature which welcomes me as a teacher and I, as a humble pupil, offer it my practice.

Thank you for the time you have spent reading these lines and thank you to Ilaria and Gabriele of Natmat26 for giving me space on their blog.

Good practice and with love,

Veronica"

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