Yoga Infinity

03/08/2024

A few weeks ago, we had a fantastic and wonderful (small) holiday. We spent a few days in Valencia and a few days in Barcelona. It was my first time in these both beautiful cities. I truly enjoyed it. Valencia kind of stole my heart. I really liked the vibe/energy. Barcelona was.. intense. Everywhere i looked, i was captured by all the beauty and magic.
Manuel had been there before, so he knew where to take me. And... i was so glad to be like this little girl being taken by his guide. ("Moon, looking forward to all these sweet and lovely trips with you").
And of course my yoga continued. And thanks to my online live yoga classes, my students didnot have to practice alone; selfpractice was a great option).

❤️

03/04/2024

"In a gentle way, you can shake the world"
-Mahatma Gandhi-

17/05/2023

28/02/2023

This beautiful woman is Micky Hoogendijk (). About a year ago she called me telling she is willing to do yoga everyday, preferable at home, but still getting adjustments; someone telling her how to grow in her process, but especially getting motivated in becoming a dedicated yogini: ‘’What can you offer me?”

I replied: ‘’Do you have a moment? I might have exactly what you are looking for”.

I am so thankful that Micky understands my way of teaching, and that she sees the value of getting on the mat anyday she likes.

And….. she was sooo sweet to make a post with my hand-made scarves. How beautiful she is, isnt she?

Thank you, Micky❤

(if interested in my yoga teaching and/or hand-made scarves, check my website www.yogainfinity.nl or send a message)

14/01/2023

Standing poses as supposed to? Some of my students and friends say that i should post ‘’simple’’ stuff. Meaning that all those handstands and other stuff i am posting might scare future students away. Well, i really do not know. Cause honestly, 15years ago seeing others lifting themselves so easily into handstands made me start doing ashtanga. And also the ease in bending or stretching the body was magic to me. Therefore, i started the hard work every morning. It is good to stretch the body, ‘’to (as yogi_robert_boustany say) lenghten the spine’’. I am grateful i put into the hardwork, where i am right now, although (as you all know now) i am still willing to learn more stuff, still want to get stronger, want to grow. But of course i want to follow the advice of others, and here it is: a piece of the standing sequence of the ashtanga system. Two things: 1. As you can see, i never really approached the poses as is supposed to in the ashtanga method. I practice as Robert taught me, for example how i enter Trikonasana. And i should have listen to him more, cause i only recently stopped doing ‘’Pvritta Parsvakonasana’’. Will you believe me that i always disliked that pose, when doing the left side my left hip would cry because of the pain? Why on earth i kept doing it? So, in later posts i will show you how i replaced this pose. And for those who think that you should keep follow the traditional system (hence the title Dance of the masks), no matter what: i think that after 15years of having the same pain due to a certain pose i am so allowed to NOT do that anymore. 2. It might seem simple, but as the wonderful strong woman () says: ‘’simple does not mean easy’’. I think these poses are one of the hardest poses to do and to teach those correctly!!! Beautiful music thanks to Andreas Vollenweider
Dance of the Masks on the Album Dancing with the Lion
Music composed and arranged by Andreas Vollenweider.
All Rights reserved by AVAF-Music Switzerland & Andreas Vollenweider (Member of SUSA & GEMA)

30/11/2022

Progression Jump Back from seated. Here, my humble, but still very serious hard work of attempts for jumping back from seated. My goal is-once-being able to liftup into handstand. I can assure you that this tiny little movement, or ‘’vinyasa’’, has caused me lots of frustrations. After almost 15years of doing ashtanga, i was not be able to do it.
End of 2021 i followed some courses by , and see the difference at the end. Of course, i am still not there. Due to , i learned how to use the correct muscles, and how to make them stronger. Some of it i already learned from my great teacher . I still have a long way to go. But what i want to say, is that if you are stuck, or not progressing, look out further. Do not continue doing stuff you have been doing for a long time, especially when it takes more then 2hours a day.
This year i have become, well at least physically, so much wiser. I am not a fast learner, never have been. My progress is slow. Not being able to do the Jump Back from seated was one of the reason i lack(ed) confidence. I couldnot understand why i could not do it properly (and , because of you, now i know). But the struggle is still there: i so hope i can once push it into a handstand. But as say: ‘’there is nothing to compare. It is only you versus you’’. And yes, me-january has grown into stronger me-november. And i cannot wait what is yet to come. So, keep putting the hard work; never give up-it does not matter where you are: you can grow, you can get stronger. Just find the right way to learn it. It will pay off, it will make you smile.. even when it is ‘’petit’’. Again, thank you and


Beautiful music thanks to Andreas Vollenweider
Petit Smile on the Album Cosmopoly
Music composed and arranged by Andreas Vollenweider.
All Rights reserved by AVAF-Music Switzerland & Andreas Vollenweider (Member of SUSA & GEMA).

23/11/2022

64 seconds Handstand.
I am not good in posting stuff on social media. Exposure always had been a tricky thing for me. There are several reasons why. One of them is, and i am going to be very bravily honest here: Am i good enough?
Yes, i mean that. I turned 50yrs in begin of september, and it is insane that i am still struggling with this fact. And then i read her words () ‘’There is nothing to compare. It’s only you versus you’’. And i read these words a while ago, and finally i get in the wide open. I still need to get used to Insta. It is so not me. But let me try again.
Then another reason to be in the background is my journey getting out of the strict, rigide and hierarchical ashtanga. People think i stopped ashtanga. But of course the real question is: ‘’have i ever started the real ashtanga?’’
Actually, i only liked the fixed sequence of the series. And although i never attended mysore classes often, i hated the physical adjustments. (And yes, i too taught that way, but still, I just never liked doing it). I hated the strict atmosphere in a mysore class being filled with others doing their practice. They said it was good to feel the energy and that it would help you getting deeper into the poses (as if that is the goal?).
I thought it was just me, i was a stranger. Cause, i loved, and i still love to do my practice alone at home. Me versus me. And call me stupid, but i think that yoga is all about that. The journey within; the journey to find out ‘’you’’…
And due to the global circumstances, i can finally offer that, guiding your practice while being on your mat at home. Yes, still mysore style and not strict ashtanga, let us say 'ashtanga-based'.
Cause online LIVE yoga teaching is a perfect way… to teach and to learn.


Beautiful music thanks to Andreas Vollenweider
Hippolyte on the Album Dancing With The Lion
Music composed and arranged by Andreas Vollenweider.
All Rights reserved by AVAF-Music Switzerland & Andreas Vollenweider (Member of SUSA & GEMA)

11/01/2022

Vasisthasana after lifting up feet between hands!!

It has been awhile i have done this pose. If one would have told me that there will be a time that i would not practice the traditional ashtanga system anymore, i would and could not have believed it. But, nothing is permanent. So, is your yoga practice, and honestly, i think it should change. Ok, maybe i will make some traditional ashtangi’s very angry, so therefore i will say: Changing my yoga practice has been a really big thing. For once (and finally) i am stepping outside my comfort zone, and doing something completely different. And yes, although it feels weird, it also feels completely necessary. Cause i want to keep on learning, and for a long time i feel i need to get stronger. Cause after 14years of daily practice i still cannot do a nice and correct jump back, cannot lift from Karandavasana, cannot lift into Kakkutasana. So simply, that is my goal for this moment. And since i didnot grow any further while doing the ashtanga series for more then 2,5hours daily, it is time for me step aside and focus on the things i want to achieve.
And making me wonder: why does anyone practice for 2,5hours daily, every 6days a week, year in, year out. I have been doing ashtanga for more then 14years now, and slowly slowly i got exhausted. Truly exhausted. The last few years, even my boys kept saying to me that i looked too tired, they even wanted me to go to bed during the day; they wanted me to rest as much as possible. And not to mention the pain i felt during the day in lower back and left hip because of the deep backbendings.
This is not healthy, right?? And the paradox: doing your yoga practice is meant to be healthy!
So yes, it is time to do it differently, to broaden my horizon. So, yes… although i miss my solid ground, the fixed order of the asana’s (cause somehow that really suits me well), … it is good to do something completely different (wait: i do start with the sunsalutations), … to be in chaos, so… in future i will have it all,.. well (at least and hopefully) most of it, figured it out… meaning: i want to use use the good things of the ashtanga series, and leave out the severe and ridiculous rules.
So here, a little progress: i could lift up while having my feet between my hands…

(btw: it doesnot mean i stop teaching ashtanga mysore. I still do, i have a very different mindset about ashtanga;... ashtanga without the severe and hierarchical rules. Believe me: it IS possible).


Beautiful music thanks to Andreas Vollenweider
Sera Stanjena on the Album Caverna Magica
Music composed and arranged by Andreas Vollenweider.
All Rights reserved by AVAF-Music Switzerland & Andreas Vollenweider (Member of SUSA & GEMA)

26/10/2021

Sunsalutation B --- doing it differently! for Do less, gain more

I do not post much. Social Media is just not ‘’my thing’’, but slowly i will make it my own. Cause as the title of this song says, we all go through phases. And that is a very good thing. As i mentioned before, i am changing and my practice is too. I struggled with this change a lot. Hence, my silence. But then, we all know the following saying: ‘’The only constant thing in life is … change’’. Therefore, we need to change in life, we need to embrace that one moment… that very second when your mind thinks ‘’why am i keep doing the same thing over and over again for sooo long… even when there are so many signs not to do it anymore.?’’
Of course, it so very nice to hold on the same routines everyday. You know what to do. But ‘’hellooooo….wake up’’.
Yoga is meant to be for growth, for looking ‘’inwards’’ (Svadhyaya), for (as my teacher Robert Boustany always said) ‘’lengthening the spine’’.
So, if your spine has stopped being challenged to lengthen, or in my case (literally) it started complaining more and more after all these deep backbends (btw: deep backbends do not lengthen the spine anyways!!), then you need to hear the signs. Cause it does not mean the end. It means that a new phase has began. And i am so grateful!!
I have done ashtanga for almost 14years. I truly thought that i had found ‘’my thing’’, that this will be my everlasting thing. And there is the paradox, nothing is meant to be ‘’everlasting’’. Cause, if life means growth, then maybe my yoga needs to grow with me as well. Of course, the traditional ashtanga has served me well in a certain period of my life. But i am entering a new adventure. Because i am tired, totally exhausted, while yoga is meant to be for ‘’lengthening…..’’, right??
I want to lengthen/grow, and not being tired anymore after my 2hours ashtanga practice. I think it is time to transform my traditional ashtanga system into a nice, mild, but more efficacy and especially SHORT system!
Beautiful music thanks to Andreas Vollenweider
Phases of the Three Moons on the Album White Winds
Music composed and arranged by Andreas Vollenweider.
All Rights reserved by AVAF-Music Switzerland & Andreas Vollenweider (Member of SUSA & GEMA)

24/09/2021

Mocht je moeite hebben om je Yoga (Ashtanga) practice in de vroege ochtend te doen, dan mag je het altijd samen met mij doen.
Wil je werken aan specifieke houdingen, sluit dan gewoon aan bij de les.
In mijn lessen maakt het niet uit hoe vaak je mee wilt doen, of je nu een hele practice doet of een halve... wat wil je graag leren?
Ik sta 6 dagen in de week (of 5dagen) klaar om jou te helpen met jouw yoga.
Doe je een keertje mee?
Stuur maar een bericht als je interesse hebt.
Heel veel liefs, sas

22/09/2021

Mayurasana
I am changing, my practice is changing…. Trying to deal/’’digest’’ my experiences, my choices in the past, …. But also curious what will come / will happen next.
But maybe it is not change, it is becoming what i am meant to be?? It is about having faith that i (and we all) will ‘’digest’’ our experiences (especially the difficult ones) in a good way.
Reminding me about the story of ‘’Mayurasana’’. As i could tell you all my insights right now, i will reduce it to the lines here below.
The Hatha Yoga Pradipika tells us that ‘’Mayurasana will give you invincible digestion’’. By doing our yoga we will get so strong that even our poisonous experiences in life will not averse us or let us get afraid. We will ‘’digest’’ spiritually, and this will be god-like. We will integrate all our life-events easily into our views of ourselves and our world. Life-events, and particularly negative or bad experienced ones, will not give us any stomach pain, and eventually no any pain or upset at all.
I think this is a beautiful goal to strive for.

Beautiful music thanks to Andreas Vollenweider
Sunday on the Album Behind The Gardens
Music composed and arranged by Andreas Vollenweider.
All Rights reserved by AVAF-Music Switzerland & Andreas Vollenweider (Member of SUSA & GEMA)

26/08/2021

…. And then there was LIGHT!

I cannot emphasize enough how happy i am with my new windows in my practice room/bedroom. It truly feels as i am a little princess, getting so much luxury. Everyday when i wake up i look at my windows, and how much it has changed the sphere in my room. And now, everyday i get the chance to practice while looking at the sky, the clouds, the birds flying,.. the morning sun coming through. It feels like… yeah, like heaven.
And then every night when i go to sleep, again i look through the windows. And even when it is dark, still enough sparkles of lights shining through to see my little palace… i am such a lucky little girl!! Truly feeling blessed.
But then i realised the following: your LIGHT, your inner light is always present. Even when you feel sad, down.. or dark. Believe me, it doesnot matter how dark you feel, how dark your life or situation might be at this moment… There will always be a slightly little crack, or a little opening .. somewhere in you, in your soul… that your LIGHT will shine through. Even when you get so emotional, and you just want to push the light back, or away. Forget it, it will not happen. That light will always shine.
Believe me when i say that the passed years were pretty dark for me…. Just couldnot let my light shine through. At least it felt that way. But when moments of resignation (‘’santosha’’)… my light never stopped shining. It was that energy (and i like to believe that it might be the Universe, Love, or God…) that kept me going, and dragged me all the way up …here. Where i am NOW. And it is beautiful. Just surrender, …. No matter how bad things are, there is always some beauty around, something to be grateful of, something to be happy about….. Santosha!!

Beautiful music thanks to Andreas Vollenweider
Passage to Promise on the Album Book Of Roses
Music composed and arranged by Andreas Vollenweider.
All Rights reserved by AVAF-Music Switzerland & Andreas Vollenweider (Member of SUSA & GEMA)