“How Breathwork helped Lee as a Yoga Teacher”

Q: How did you get to know about the Life Awareness Project?

A: I first found out about the course, when I was doing another breathing course at the time and I met one of your ambassadors, Nina. She introduced me to the course and she was very passionate about it. Nina was the one that connected me with Michaël and the course. Furthermore, she mentioned all the techniques and it sounded like something I'd like to do.

Q: What was your first experience like? What was the first course that you've done from the Life Awareness Project?

A: I started with the Pranayama & Breathwork course "Breath is Life". The prerequisite course of the Breathwork Instructor Course. I went all the way through it and thought it was a wonderful course, even when I hadn't even finished yet. At that stage, I was already thinking to sign up for the Breathwork Instructor Course and before I knew it, there I found myself signing up for it.

Q: How was the journey for you? Like how did it change your life? Like anything else, you'd like to share on that?

A: So I have already had quite a lot of experience with Pranayama. I've been to India a few times and I've studied Yoga out there quite a lot, and Pranayama was something I wanted to deepen myself in. If I'm honest, I was very apprehensive about online learning. It was when I started getting into the videos, I realized it just fits with me. The videos seem to work really well for me and so I had an amazing experience.

Q: Nice then like, do you, do you think that it's important for people to, to make it like a daily practice to practice Pranayama and like to train the mind on a daily basis? And if so, why?

A: I always meditated beforehand. I did like to have a meditation practice, but by including breathwork, I found myself way more centered. And I've always thought that's very important because we tend to be in our minds so much and it's really nice to just quiet that voice down, that voice in our heads is telling us what to do all the time or that we're talking to all the time. It's really nice to switch that off and go into the place where we all belong, in that soul space where we can just be peaceful. Therefore, yes, I think it's really important to make it a daily practice.

Q: Okay. What do you love most about the Life Awareness Project?

A: I love the clarity. It really appeals to me that there was nothing on the course that shouldn't doesn't need to be there. There's no waffle, there's no extra information that is just very, very concise, very clear. And that's why it really appeals to me. It was very easy to absorb the course material. I believe it's the way it's been crafted is, very clear and very good.

Q: Then the last question: We at the Life Awareness Project call it the ripple effect.. Did you notice that by starting your practice, it had an influence on other levels and your environment as well?

A: My life has changed a lot since I've been doing breathwork. My yoga practice has changed. My confidence has really gone up. I'm teaching my own classes a lot more and I've been adding breathwork sessions to all the yoga classes that I’m guiding. Subsequently, others are now really starting to enjoy breathwork and they're doing their own breathing exercises. It's starting to ripple out. My friends and my small yoga community are really starting to see the power in the breath and how it can get you into deep meditation and stuff. It's having a really, really good effect on my very small community so far. And then hopefully when I'm very close to creating my own website and, you know, sort of putting myself out there with a few more classes and stuff.

Q: All right. And when are you planning to travel again? Or are you planning to do retreats or are you planning to, for your future, if you, if you want to, if you would like to share?

A: Yeah. I'd love to do all of those things. So at the moment I'm still working online and I am developing my skills, but I would love to learn a lot of these other techniques from all the work that I've done. I'd like to bring it all together. I love to come and work or go and spend some time over at Yogalap. Not only that, but I'd just like to become part of the wider community and share what I've learned. I think, one of the skills that I'd like to bring is this real human contact aspect because I find it really important. After all, it doesn't matter what you're learning, but if you can really break down the barriers between people, I think it really improves the learning experience.

Lee Fernandez