Mikaela Soldan is a 24-year-old student of Media and Communication Studies who practices and teaches yoga in her spare time.
How have you mentally prepared for the holidays?
Well, I think it’s important to finish everything before going to the holidays, so that you don’t have anything bothering your mind. Therefore, I’ve been finishing off my school stuff and working a lot. I have also bought presents and maybe I’ll bake something too.
I used to be more of a “Christmas-person” but nowadays when I live alone, I don’t get that feeling in the same way anymore. I don’t do any decorating in my home, so it doesn’t feel so christmas-y. And the university doesn’t support Christmas feeling since there is no Christmas ball or anything like that. But why not, I consider myself as a medium Christmas person.
You practice and teach yoga a lot, how did you get into that?
It was in 2007 when I first heard more about yoga. I had many friends who were practicing it and encouraged me to do it too. I was told that it makes you feel more energized and calm at the same time, and it’s great both for your physical and mental health.
But it was not until 2010 that I tried it. I started with Ashtanga yoga which is the most popular one in Finland and Western Europe, since it was one of the first yoga styles which was brought here in the 60s’. Ashtanga yoga classes are very structured and the practice involves the same poses every time. At the time I was very stiff and I didn’t have strength because I hadn’t done anything of the sort before. Actually, Ashtanga made me feel even more inflexible and weak. But I kept practicing and I started to feel the positive effects in my body and mind, which made me realize that there is something special about yoga.
Then I moved and near my new place there was this yoga studio where I familiarized myself with different kinds of yoga like Flow, Hatha and Vinyasa style yoga. I felt that those styles were more suitable for me and that I could practice them in spite of time or situation in other aspects of life.
How often do you practice yoga?
Well, it depends. And it is hard to distinguish yoga practices from other life, because yoga is much more than the physical practice. Once you get to the level that you really “face yourself” on the matt, you start to bring the yoga outside of that matt. It’s hard to describe it but you just begin to use what you have learned in yoga in other situations too.
But basically I practice 3 to 7 times per week depending how busy I am and also how much I feel I need to do it. Especially when life seems very hectic I practice more to calm me down. You could say that yoga has become like sanctuary to me, a place where you can escape anything else. It’s like a toothbrush for your mind, it’s a small thing but you can really feel the change when you clear yourself up!
Sometimes I practice less, for example, if I am really tired. And in a way I see that as a practice too, listening your body and not pushing it. I rarely take group classes and mostly I practice at home. I also teach yoga, so I get to do it in my classes too, of course.
How did you end up teaching it?
Everything worked out so smoothly. My friend has been teaching yoga in NYC for almost 10 years now. Two years ago I was planning to spend a summer with her there. I had no special plans for those two months but then I heard about an intensive yoga teaching training. Usually those take up to 3-4 months but this one was for 5 weeks so I could take the training during my stay. In addition, it turned out that one of the trainers was a friend of mine, which made me think that that was the thing to do.
It wasn’t a no-brainer for me to attend the teacher training. I was wondering if I was ready for it. But everyone was supporting me and said that taking a yoga teaching training didn’t necessarily mean I have to teach yoga later. It could be just a way to deepen my own practice. And I learned a lot there. It was 5 weeks of just yoga! We had classes for almost 10 hours a day and I learned a lot about the philosophy and how to instruct the poses to others and so on. It was a life changing experience because of all the information. Still after almost 2 years I’m digesting it!
Then in the autumn I came back to Finland and one yoga studio had this post on their Facebook site that they are looking for new yoga teachers. I emailed them and got the interview. Many yoga people know each other across the world, and it turned out that the studio owner in Finland knew the teacher I was trained with. She knew that we shared the same values and I started teaching there. At first I had 2-3 classes a week and then they increased to 6-7. Since this autumn, I have had 10 classes each week. Couple of them are private groups, which some company has hired for their employees and the rest are basic courses which anyone can attend.
I teach Hatha yoga. Hatha means literally sun-moon, which refers to bringing two opposites together. Basically all yoga is about bringing two opposites together to create balance. There is no particular structure but it varies in every class what I teach. I like to have constant flow in my classes. We do poses, breathing exercises and meditation. To me it’s very important to teach what you practice. I’m convinced that, if you teach what you love and believe in it, it shows.
How do you prepare classes?
Well I have become a lot more confident which has made me prepare my classes less. I think you could compare it to learning to drive. The course gives you the basic skills and the license but the real learning happens after that. It was quite scary at first to go in front of everyone and be the authority and be responsible of them. I used to plan in advance what I would do and say, but nowadays when I have more experience and classes almost every day, I am more relaxed. I don’t plan the structure of the class that much but I try to sense what is the energy of my students that day. For example, right now people tend to be quite stressed so I try to figure out exercises which would balance them. It’s all about balance, as I said earlier! In this cold, grey and hectic season I do more heating exercises and, on the other hand, meditation too. In the summer when people are already warm and energetic, I teach poses which calm down. So I think to be real yoga teacher it requires adopting and sensing the energy of the class. You can’t just tell people what to do, but you have to be yourself in the situations and with the people you are about to teach.
You will be doing your bachelor’s thesis this spring, how do you feel about that?
I’m feeling both excited and nervous. As I said earlier, to me it’s important to complete things. I have been studying for 4 years already so it’s nice to get something done. But at the same time, I am not definitely sure about my topic and I don’t know personally my instructor because I haven’t taken any of his lectures. But I’m sure everything will work out!
Do you have any special projects or plans in the near future?
I am going to this yoga retreat to the small island called Roatán, which belongs to Honduras in the Caribbean Sea. It’s in the first week of March and I just can’t wait for it! Before that I’m going to New York to take some yoga classes. NYC is my favorite city, I could move there any minute! I look forward to getting away for a while.
There are so many open questions in the year 2015, like where will I do my master’s degree and if I should do more yoga teaching training. But I’m sure that all my dreams will become true in the end! Things happen if they are meant to!