Welcome to Guide Talk, an exploratory column to converse in the quest for ease for ourselves and the tingling desire we all have to share and help as many as we can. I’ve been dreaming to start a place to share the awesomeness that the Strala Guides do out in the world.
We ultimately give others the experience of how we feel about ourselves, making our number one job getting really great at getting to know ourselves, improving our wellbeing, and a heavy dose of constant self care. As we expand, do our thing, express our individuality, and live out our intentions to help and serve, we share a common message and practice of ease, whether the situation is simple or challenging.
We celebrate uniqueness in ourselves and each other. It’s a wonderful state of mind knowing we all desire to be healthy, happy, strong, and crave a life of meaning and purpose, and free to express our unique selves. Our true power rests in being comfortable in who we are as we grow and thrive in this world. I’m in awe of this community of Super Guide, ease makers. It’s been several years of watching this tribe expand and create such awesome work in the world, help people along the way, and have fun in the process.
I’m blessed to be a part of this shift from no pain no gain to natural movement, and accomplishing with ease. The Guides are my heroes and friends and everyone is invited to the party.
Continue to watch this space for inspiring interviews, raw conversations and all around good vibes.
I’m so proud and inspired by my friend, Sandrine Bridoux,@frenchyogagirl Super Guide, Yoga Teacher, Former Lawyer, Retreat Leader, and Author of her first book, Yoga Sculpt.
Sandrine came to Strala a few years ago (from Paris) for Ready-to-Lead 200 hour Training and it was impossible to miss her spark and her presence. She went above and beyond and came to pretty much every open class in addition to the training and practice time. Her determination and spunk are obvious ingredients to her personality and drive to do good things in this world. Something special about Sandrine I love is her genuine care for people.
You can work hard and achieve, but without the intention to serve, success will never feel great, and it won’t be able to fully express. We’ve got our scientists friends now showing what happens with stress and ease and how we practice stråla allows us to gain capability and drop tension. (As apposed to a practice of end point poses and rigidity fanning chaos and more mental and physical tension) The next frontier we’re waiting for research in is what we know through experience, without the heart, caring, and living with intent, potential is flattened and it never feels like enough.
Sandrine, is enough, and has been enough all along the way. Her new book, Yoga Sculpt is out today and we’re excited to dive in (and brush up on our French!) Enjoy the convo.
TS: I think it surprises people to learn you used to be a lawyer. Tell us about that journey for you and how you decided to gravitate toward practicing and eventually teaching yoga?
SB: Ha yes i know the transition is surprising! As a mater of fact i never expected to turn into a yoga teacher, I kinda always knew that being a lawyer was not my calling but i had no clue what I was meant to do and be . When i arrived in Paris for work at the age of 23, i started doing a lot of sports cause i wasn’t used to stay seated on a chair all day long. But then i realized that i was doing too much. I was pushing my body way too much with all kind of sports (running, gym class) i realized that my sleep was bad, my mood was bad and that i was exhausted.. this is why i decided to try something soft and smooth ..and this is how i ended trying a yoga class!
The experience of the first class was big, i was so bad during the class and realized that my body was super tense and stiff. in fact all the workouts i was doing without stretching put a lot of tension in my body. The first class was super hard for me but i decided to not give up and keep practicing. People who know me know that I love challenges, and being bad at something is offering me the opportunity of a new challenge and give space for progress and improvement. so i kept going and going to yoga classes, and i completely felt in love with the practice. I was practicing at home every morning for 20 minutes and I realized how this could affect my work day in a good way. I felt super calm, relaxed, more focus and centered.
I literally felt in love with the process that was happening to me.
It also made me realized that i was not happy in my job , that we only live once and that loving what you do is the key of happiness in life. I realized that the more yoga i was doing the happier i was, so why not trying to do something about it? So this is how everything started. In july 2013 i quit my job. i heard of Tara Stiles and her Strala Yoga from my previous and first Yoga teacher. I checked the website, tried one video, and i immediately loved the practice. It felt really different from tall he different yoga classes i tried in the past and i started to become curious about it. Then my decision was made: i’m going to do Tara Stiles TT.