Meet Olga – a firecracker girl! She runs, teaches snowboarding, practices yoga every day and studies clothing design. She greeted us with a freshly squeezed juice and z warm smile at her family house in Warsaw, while her lovely doggies greeted us at the front door. Take a look at what we talked about!

Do you feel that yoga impacted your life? For example by changing your attitude towards food or people?

I started to practice yoga to loosen and stretch the muscles after the gym and running. Later on, I switched my training to practice yoga. I try to find at least 20 minutes each day to do the asanas; when I have a bad day or need to relax this time extends up to two hours. Yoga teaches me to remain calm, which I later use in my daily life; thanks to yoga I met a number of magnificent people. The workshops and classes help me to meet new people. Talking to them is very valuable to me and after such meetings I often find that some aspects of my life need to be reevaluated.

Tell me about your typical morning.

It depends on the season. I get up around 8 a.m. in the spring. I start with the morning hygiene then head to the kitchen. I feed my dogs and then prepare my own tea, I cannot imagine my mornings without it. I usually choose green or red tea, sometimes I drink water with mint, lemon, honey and turmeric. After brewing the tea I take it with me to the yoga mat. 10 minutes of morning practice have to do when I’m chasing deadlines; on more relaxed mornings I spend about 40 minutes practicing.

In the spring I eat my breakfast on the terrace in the company of my doggie Blacko. Usually, I prepare a fruit porridge or I choose sandwiches on the particular day when I bake the bread. If I have a lot of time, and the weather is favorable, I run about 5 km. Recently, I started running in the company of Blacko, it is the ultimate reward for him.

Is someone in your family practicing? If not yoga – maybe something else??

My brothers go to the gym, do ice skating and roller skating. I try to infect them with my love for yoga and I slowly start to succeed, mainly because I offer them back massages after practice. We like to spend time together actively. We live in the countryside; there are always plenty of things to do in the yard. We also go for walks together, for us, this means more than 10 km of hikes in the surrounding forests. In the winter we go snowboarding and skiing, in the summer we choose wake-boards. Despite the 7-year age gap I like spending time with them. My mom sometimes chooses to go to the gym or fitness classes with me, but the garden is her true love and she likes to use her energy there.

You started your yoga practice at home. Do you have any warnings or advice for those who want to try yoga but choose not to go to classes?

I started with yoga classes in the local fitness club. Later on, I visited a few yoga schools, however due to a distance to such places I generally practice at home. To absolute beginners I would recommend to go to a few classes to get the hang of the basics. Yoga teachers help mainly with adjusting the positions, which is very important. Recently I began taking part in a project called “Healthy society” – thanks to it I found about ways in which yoga can help those who suffer from physical or mental disorders. I become more and more aware of the self-harm risks associated with individual yoga practice among those who do not have a good sense of their own bodies yet. Recording my workout helps me when I practice alone; this is how the videos I upload on Instagram are made. Thanks to the recording I can see what needs to be improved, what I need to work on. If people who are just starting their adventure are reading this – regular practice gives results and you can achieve a lot by making small steps. It is astounding how there seems to be no progress on a daily basis, but when you take a step back and look at the whole perspective you can see that you’ve come a long way and achieved a lot.

Photos by Aleksandra Loska

OYou can follow Olga on her Instagram – @yolaholic

 

A Yoga Girls Society t-shirt that she’s wearing can be purchased here!