I came across yoga asana over a decade ago when my friend took me to my first Ashtanga led class. It was an instant love-hate experience on a blue rubber mat from Decathlon. There was something undeniably special about the opening chant, the Sanskrit count and the repetitive rhythm of breath meeting movement. Yet, at the same time, it felt intensely challenging, uncomfortable and required discipline - none of which I welcomed in my life. In hindsight, the practice was already holding up a mirror and showing me something was calling for attention - I just wasn’t ready to look.

I continued avoiding discomfort, occasionally stepping on and off the mat, living completely disconnected from my own body and chasing the next shiny external things whilst swinging between high highs and low lows. Until one August, when life pulled the rug from under my feet one too many times, my body also pulled the plug. Burned out from years of disconnection, an eating disorder and stricken by unprocessed grief, my nervous system collapsed and my soul crushed. I found myself under a pile of rubble that was my life, crippled with debilitating anxiety and unable to breathe. I did not know much about anything anymore. Except for one thing.

The Ashtanga sequence. That, I knew. What once felt rigid and challenging suddenly became my anchor. I just had to show up on the mat - the only place where I knew how to breathe. From that moment I kept on breathing and asana practice became my safe space, my daily ritual to cultivate both the body and the mind.

I was hooked because it 'worked'. I was healing.

I wanted to dive deeper, hence over the years I completed more than 800 hours of formal yoga teacher training across Europe and India in Hatha, Ashtanga, Yin and Restorative methodologies. My Ashtanga path led me to study and practice under the likes of David Swenson, Eddie Stern and Nick Presser, eventually bringing me to my second home - Mysore, India - and to my teacher, Vijay Kumar. It was Vijay who first introduced me to the Sutras and lifted the veil on what Yoga really is and the science behind it. Asana practice became one of the Eight Limbs of Yoga and Yoga became a life philosophy.

My analytical and relentlessly curious mind still could not rest. I wanted to understand why yoga possessed such a profound capacity to heal. Ancient scriptures were not fully cutting it for me, hence I started looking into modern science. Polyvagal Theory provided the answers. I dedicated over two years to study the nervous system at the Polyvagal Institute under Dr Stephen Porges, Arielle Schwartz and Deb Dana, blending ancient yogic wisdom with somatic practices and neuroscience to decode what helps us regulate, recalibrate and recover. Vagal Toning is the result.

My journey continues and as I explore different realms of the body, mind and spirit through the lens of Yoga and the magic of vagus nerve, I share what I have learnt to help others make the connection and hopefully adopt the most valuable currency in life - a calm and peaceful mind.

Yours Truly,