Yogi38

16/10/2025

The Eye of the Beholder.
Paradox.

If you’ve been to my classes, likely you’ve heard this story:

There was a wise king who asked for an elephant to be brought to his courtyard. He then invited a group of blind men (unfamiliar with the animal) to touch different parts.
The man who touched his leg said: ‘it is a pillar’
The man who touched the tail said: ‘it is a rope’
And so on.

The way I see it (a blind man myself), it is like all religions in the world. All trying to describe the same ‘elephant’ = LOVE.
All sharing (willingly or unwillingly indoctrinating) their ‘truth’. Perspectives.
Sarcasm aside, I truly believe that all (human) beings are doing their best to be happy and find peace. Genuinely. Herein lies my faith in humanity.

Religion, etymologically, comes from the Latin word ‘Religare’ which means ‘to reunite’. Things now get interesting, minding that you are in a ‘Yogic IG page’: Yoga comes from the Sanskrit root ‘yuj’ which means ‘to yoke’, ‘to reunite’.

Do you get it?

I do not follow religions but I am a religious man.
Yoga is not (just) asana. Yoga is lifestyle.

I digress.
Back to the main topic: perspectives.

Let’s say you’re not into ‘wuwu’ spirituality (I’m neither btw).
Ever heard of the double-slit experiment and/or the observer effect? In quantum physics, this proved that things are not only ‘one’ way, though they are. Hence the paradox. Light and matter can behave both as waves and as particles. But it depends on the observer. Interference is key.

Based on your life experience (+ previous ones), on your samskaras (energy imprints) you’ll have tendencies, likes/dislikes. You believe that you are perceiving the tree, the ‘elephant’. But IT is perceiving ITSELF, THROUGH you. Read it again.
Infinite perspectives. Hence the beauty.

Everything is subjective, though objective.
Opinions are like as****es, everyone’s got one.
Two-sides of the same coin.
Agreeing on disagreeing.

But you have a choice. You do not need to wish or dream about it.
It is a choice. How do you see your cup?
The way I see it: half is water, half is space.
So it’s always full.

You are never Alone.
You are All-One.

24/06/2025

You (mind) can’t be still.
The body can.

If you want to be still, make sure you make absolutely no effort in being still, then you’ll be still. Because, only then, will you be able to know that stillness was already there.

Remember that meditation is not about seeking or doing it perfectly - there is no such thing. It’s about the openness and sincerely that you apply it.

You don’t ‘do’/practice meditation. Meditation is already there.
Meditation is.

29/04/2025

Maha Mrityunjaya Mantra

20/03/2025

Birth. Death. Rebirth. Death. ∞
In a single lifetime (and previous lifetimes!).

I’ve been a metalhead/goth, filmmaker, pl***oy, gym fanatic, plant medicine ‘shaman’, new age spiritual… An ignorant. A fool.
Even now, a Yogi (in truth, wannabe…).
Above all I’ve always been a seeker. Looking for (my) answers. Searching.
So many layers, so many masks.

But, behind all of them, there has always been something there, in the center.
You know it, you’ve felt it.
Pure, unbiased, unobstructed. Present.
Watching, feeling, experiencing.
Without judgements.

Who/where/what is this ‘I’?

In the Yogic tradition it is called आत्मा (Atman).
The great sage and jivanmukta (liberated being) Ramana Maharshi would invite his followers to meditate on: ‘Who Am I?’ (self-inquire).

I don’t have his wisdom (how ridiculous a ‘comparison’!).
The more I live the more I realize how little I know.
I actually don’t know anything.

However, like a koan, I leave you with this: I > i

25/02/2025

Weekly group class schedule

01/01/2025

“…that’s how you know. How do you know that you are really doing something radical? Because you can’t see where you are going. That’s how you know. And everything you have lent on for your identity has gone. And so you are going to enter the black contemplative splendours of self-doubt, at the same time as you are setting out on this radical new path.”

07/11/2024

‘Wei-wu-wei’ = action through inaction.
Lao Tzu

29/09/2024

10/09/2024

‘Change is a psychological event; transformation is a spiritual gift.

~

Transformation, unlike change, cannot be achieved; it happens. Transformation means love, wisdom and healing in thought, word, and deed so that an equation results between the inner Self and our healthy ego choices. We begin to display in our daily routine the timeless powers of our psyche. In this sense, transformation is a holy communion of our psychology and our spirituality. it always goes beyond the narrow limits of psychological change; for example, I change when I drop my need for revenge against this person here now. I am transformed when I reach out and create reconciliation here and everywhere. Transformation is not limited to this instance here and now but widens to include all behaviour.

~

What I give is love, the letting go of my soap opera ego for you. When I really love you, I drop my ego defenses. When I love myself, I have the resources to match. This is because letting go of ego fear and ego attachment empowers me to realise my capacity to love you and everyone.

~

I am still what I always was so I must also already be what I will become.‘

David Richie ‘Shadow Dance’

10/08/2024

Throughout the years, when I was asked what was I doing in London, why wasn’t I in Portugal or if I imagined myself returning, my answer was always a redundant NO.

Funny enough, it was on the (1-way ticket) plane to Bali, that I got a calling: go home. So, after 12 years in London and 7 months in Asia, last June, I came back to Lisbon.

A month later, with nothing really flowing, I began to question that calling. What was I doing here? I needed to get out of here!

…the Universe had other plans. I wasn’t going anywhere:

Fatidic 10th August: I had no idea what I was about to experience.
In that afternoon, I had a motorbike accident that almost took my right leg.
I stayed in the hospital for the whole month, as Summer was in full bloom, waiting. Eventually I had a 7h surgery.

I remember coming out of the hospital in September, sobbing just by being outdoors and by watching others walk. How oblivious are we to the miracle that it is our body? It’s like we only give value to things once they’re no longer there.

My body is slowly recovering. Child’s posture is one of the most simple postures and yet the most difficult for me atm. In the first picture I was getting into lotus, in the second asana you see me in one-legged squat. Will I ever be able to practice them again? Who knows. I’m surely working towards it!

This has been, by far, the most challenging year of my life. In all levels.
If you were to ask me now if I could go back, I’d 100% wish I didn’t have the accident. But the lessons I’ve been given this year? My knee has been THE teacher.

It doesn’t matter how much knowledge you get, how many books you read. It is all in the knowing, in experiencing life.
This is where Yoga and Meditation enter.
Trust me: these ancient tools, these sciences (!), can do miracles!
I am the living proof.

I don’t know what the future holds. However I know that everything happens for a reason.
Many would call me stupid, naïve. I am utterly afraid but I keep jumping into the unknown. Into the abyss. I don’t know any other way.
Herein lies the easiest thing to do and yet the hardest: surrender.
Trust. There is a higher force looking out for you.
LOVE.

29/07/2024

13/07/2024

Reminiscing over Arunachala.
At the footprints of Lord Shiva ॐ