Charli Van Ness
How did you first become interested in yoga?
This is a lifelong career starting from the tender age of 2 1/2 with my 1st tap & ballet lesson followed by acrobatics at 5yrs. Music, dance, flexibility ran through my veins, my daily life force. This provided a great foundation for my body-mind-spirit movement connection.
I was first introduced to yoga when I was seventeen years old, but didn’t experiment with Yoga on a regular basis until I lived in Canada several years later, I was practicing yoga on the beach every morning and I started to incorporate the dance aspects of music with postures from acrobatics and yoga. I found a blend that had the most amazing spiritual and physical effect on me, I had found my calling! In 2005, Yoga Rhythm was born.
How has yoga helped you in your life?
Where do i begin! Yoga is my passion, my hobby, my vocation…. ‘my life’! Yoga helps me in everyway possible whether it’s to keep my MIND clear, focused, positive & calm, or to keep my BODY strong, supple, toned & cleansed, my SPIRIT alive & free to just be. I find I learn to truly be present with Yoga, especially with my children they are my greatest lessons, daily meditation & joy!
What is the greatest lesson yoga has taught you?
Yoga has taught me how to be truly conscious of my actions and mindful of others. We are all human and we all make mistakes, but we learn from those mistakes and Yoga helped me to deal with those lessons with an open minded perspective and how to avoid this from happening again in the future. I am constantly learning on a regular basis and new lessons will always arise but it’s how you learn to deal with them, that is the key….living your life with honesty, integrity and pure love.
When people ask me ‘where do you get your inspiration from and how’, I listen to my inner voice and follow guidance with open arms. The Yoga Rhythm Journey has been wonderful and right so far, I follow my intuition and find opportunities opening anywhere and everywhere I go. Be open minded to what the world has to offer. Be positive, be bright, be light in your step and enjoy life with ease.
How would you help someone improve their practice?
By reminding them to be KIND to their body when practicing postures that are challenging. To listen, be gentle and respect their body, encourage the body to flow with ease. To remember you do not need to be flexible to practice Yoga, individuals who are not flexible are at an advantage as they are able to recognise their limits far easier than those who are ‘super bendy’. Encourage students with perseverance and self belief, the impossible can be achieved on and off the mat!
