Cecilie

I was born and raised in Kristiansand, at the southern tip of the Norwegian coast. Although meeting the first Indian yogi at the age of 17, it was a long winding road before yoga became an integrated part of my life. The path went through a turbulent youth, working in bars and restaurants while living my passion for music through managing a punk band (which also included being a substitute pyrotechnician), and then becoming a part of a team who started and ran what became Norways biggest music festival. A degree in economics and marketing caused an encounter with the corporate world before moving to Spain and ending up, getting a teaching degree combined with development studies. This led me to Yoga Thailand for the first time, as I wanted to have a different holiday when was on my way home from doing an internship at a school in Pakistan.

By then I had already taken various yoga classes, but it was the exposure to the Mysore approach, with the everyday practice and individual adjustments that sparked the fire, and from there the focus of my life shifted to figuring out how much I could get away from everything else in life I had to do and to spend as much time as possible practicing and learning about yoga. So for a while, when I didn't travel to study, I combined teaching languages with teaching yoga. But there was no doubt what was the strongest pull. When not teaching the school children savasana or breath work, instead of conjugating verbs, I was teaching yoga at the complimentary health and therapy centre, VillaVitalis, which I helped establish and run.

Before I started to practice yoga, circumstances in life had made me choose the strategy to live more outside than inside my body. However, I always had some sense of an inner voice guiding me, especially in rough times. When I did my first asana class I experienced some kind of recognition and instantly knew that this was it, although it took some time before I found what really called me.

I have met many teachers along the way, both yogis and non-yogis, who have helped me either through direct guidance or just by being examples. Swami Nityamuktananda has challenged me and introduced me to meditation techniques in the lineage of Swami Rama, and I will always be especially thankful to Paul for being my link to the Ashtanga approach to asana and Sri O.P Tiwariji, his lineage of pranayama and guidance, through which I have found the approach which really resonates with my inner voice.

The basis for teaching is your own practice; and although I see myself primarily as a student of yoga, it has provided me with a powerful tool for development through which I have re-connected with myself, and I hope to be able to pass on what I have gained as well as to keep studying, learning and deepening my understanding of the yogic practices.

To my many teachers guiding me, both with and without intention; and to the teacher within :

Om, Sri gurubhyo namaha

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