My story and values, Who is Magu Holistic Yoga
Hello and thanks for reading! I will present myself and walk you through who I believe I am and share in my teaching.
I was given the name of Magdalena and my family name is Basualdo.
Born in Buenos Aires, Argentina in 93's, currently living in Byron Bay, Australia.
My passions, Yoga, photography/video, astrology, art, music, books. Gemini, if you know what I mean.
Yoga. Definitely my favourite, if you don't believe me ask any of my friends. If I am not practicing or teaching, I am reading a book, or watching some documental or talk of a Guru or Yoga teacher. I really believe in Yoga and I would say I am very dedicated to it.
My Yoga love story
My first contact with yoga was in 2014. Since I discover it, my life changed. I noticed it was a one way ticket and that is was going to be aligned with the path of discovering myself. But it was since I started to read more about it that I got really into. The help of the books and my teachers would clarify me what I was feeling and experiencing, and that the limits of growing in this self awareness science is just yourself.
So very intrigued, I did my first teacher training in Espacio de YOGA Luz Etchehon (Hatha Yoga), beautiful first experience. As most of yoga teachers, starting a YTT is caused by a thirst of understanding. Yoga can be really touching at the beginning, where lots of things are happening and heaps of questions arises. So having more answers, I started to connect with Yoga from another view, understanding it a lifestyle, not just a practice on the mat.
My second teacher training was in Matria (Swasthya Yoga, Satyananda Yoga, Integral Yoga), in where I completely submerged myself in this science. I was very dedicated to my practice and I was very lucky that my teachers Luciano and Erika saw that commitment and gave me a one on one two years discipleship. I learned much more that I expected, they are very serious and committed yoga teachers as practitioners. I was really inspired to see the deeper and spiritual side of Yoga and I' ve had very intense experiences. It hasn't changed today, they are still my teachers.
Very grateful to receive the gift of this sacred knowledge, my teaching experience started.
I traveled to Australia and I did my third teacher training in Byron Yoga Centre (Purna Yoga). I wanted to incorporate a more anatomical views and other ways to improve my teaching. As well to improve my teaching in English. I had a great experience and met wonderful yoguis and yoginis.
My experience continues nowadays, always reading, learning and exploring the yoga world and others esoteric sciences as well, not just for teaching but for my personal experience.
My motivation
My main motivation is that we can live in a world of consciousness and love towards nature. Where humans are independent from other humans, taking off their veils of ignorance and internally acknowledging their immense powers. We need a change of perspective. Today is the moment. And Yoga is THE TOOL, believe me. While there are other techniques, I haven't find any as holistic as yoga. From step one to the deepest philosophy of being, there is always progress, there are always things to work on and steps to overcome. The greatest goal is live and learn from the process, reaching every day a better version of yourself, the one you will decide to be. Steps of awareness, stairway to freedom.
My promise
First and foremost, everything I teach comes from my heart and from my personal experience. I am very passionate about Yoga, I think people underestimate it a lot when they only focus on the physical postures. It disappoint me how much has been lost today, leaving only the tip of the iceberg uncovered. My students obtain a different point of view from that seen elsewhere, (although there are many yoga schools that are seriously committed to the discipline), I think that my plus with these old schools is that I bring a bit of youth and modernity. I empathise and explain the more advanced technics of yoga in a basic way. Practicing with me is going to bring you at first body awareness. I am very concerned of all the physical and emotional injuries created nowadays with traditional yoga (completely different body and culture), or inexpert instructors. We work patiently on the understanding of the muscles, joints, glands. From there we move forward to more introspective sensations as energy channels, chakras, koshas, and other subtle energies. Body awareness, relaxation, meditation. I teach a complete Integral Yoga practice.
My students know that they can count on me and that I will always be there to answer questions or personal concerns. Either from physical, emotional, or spiritual issue. Always with humility and understanding objectively my limits as a teacher and human being.
My values
Although Yoga has its own moral / ethical principles, I can highlight the ones that I work the most personally in the classes.
Consciousness
Consciousness is the first thing I promote. Be an imparcial observer. From consciousness is that any other value can be claimed. If, for example, we are not nice with the people around us, or we are selfish, when we are aware of it, we realize that being selfish with others brings us personal suffering. Yoga is not following commandments, but understanding how we are in order to be free from all emotions or thoughts that tie us to our ego. Our mind is an automatic machine that constantly feeds a fake being. The less control we have, the more our ego grows, and the less we are aware of it. The idea is to learn how to practice awareness on the yoga mat but then bring this practice to all aspects of our life. From consciousness arise other values that I promote:
Love towards the physical body
Go slow. From stillness and softness is where we can observe. Taking the example of a waterfall in constant movement, it is almost impossible to observe what is behind it; but on the other hand, a calm lake allows us to see in more detail what is in the bottom, the rocks (the structure of the body) , the movement of the fish (the mind), etc. If we want to understand the mind through our body, it is useless to do difficult postures just to satisfy our ego. Without body awareness, we get hurt, injure, and even stopped practicing yoga out of frustration.
Be patient
There is no other way to progress in the discipline of yoga. There are no shortcuts. Build a good base and discover new ways, little by little. We all have different times. As I said before, yoga is the path, the process as the goal.
Be disciplined and consistent
In order to understand the mind, you have to be constant. Understanding the structure of the mind can be one of the most difficult things to learn in our life, but very possible to do if you have constant practice. Cold, hot, sick, or happy you always have to practice.
Be detached
The practice of letting go. Nothing is good or bad, that is judged by the ego. Everything simply IS. Let things be and observe impartially, as if the mental space was a laboratory where the conscience observes, tests, draws conclusions, without emotions, without judging. If I surrender to the result, there will be no expectations, therefore there will be no frustration. When we are attached to the mind - and we all are - there is no control in our lives, we depend on our memories, our patterns and configurations. We get carried away by all external influences. Taking charge of our life is the practice of consciousness, it is a union between what we feel, do and say, it is a connection with the spirit, in short, it is Yoga.
Yoga is a philosophy of life
Bring the practice into your daily life. Not only understanding the body as if it is flexible or strong in the class. Generate a communication language, understand what you need. For example when we get sick we must feed it with foods that nourish us, that have prana (vital energy). Keep it clean (inside and outside). Returning to the waterfall analogy, the cleaner and healthier the physical body is, the easier it will be to observe the more subtle bodies. Also, recognise that we feed ourselves intellectually. How we spend our free time. What we do in our life and for what purpose. If what we do is helping the world or is only for selfish purposes (we all do what we can, but with the practice of yoga we begin to rethink everything)
We are union with the whole
If we understand this, everything we do is going to have an effect somewhere. What happens to the others is going to affect me. Be compassionate. We are the same but with a different form, the form is illusory, the real is what unites us. To raise our state of consciousness is to feel this union.
Be humble
Leading life with humility is a hack to the ego / mind system. We must learn from our own mistakes. Open ourselves to all possibilities, always be impartial. By taking one "idea" as the only true one, we are denying many possibilities for growth and self-development. To grow on the spiritual path you have to be humble.
Everything is a learning
Everything that surrounds me is in my life to learn something. The people around me are mirrors of my own being. If something bothers me about the other, examine what it is that I am not able to accept in myself. If there is something that is not happening in my life, or on the contrary, some tragedy happens to me, recognise what purpose this has for me, what I have to learn, what path I have to take to make it an apprenticeship. Capture the purpose of things in a detached way but with personal understanding. The outer world gives us as many messages as the inner world. The greatest tragedies, illnesses, and people who hurt us the most may have been our greatest teachers in this life.
Love is the greatest force there is
When we vibrate in love, and practice the path of letting go (detachment) nothing can throw us out of alignment.