I started doing yoga when I was 20 years old. I felt very stressed and anxious at that moment and thought that yoga may help with that. First result that it had was that I could fall asleep easier. And offcourse I got more flexible. When I was younger I was never even able to touch my toes when I bended forward. I was even 20 cm away from them. I also bought a book about yoga so that it was easier to practice at home too.
When I got pregnant when I was 21, I stopped taking lessons but I practiced at home with my book. I just did the poses that were still possible. And even after my son was born I quickly restarted my practice.
I decided to do a four year yogateacher training when my son was 4 years old because my health was a bit weak and I really thought I would benefit from it. And maybe even teach yoga besides making art later. I loved the lessons very much. Especially zen meditation, ayurveda and yoga offcourse.
I started teaching in my third or fourth year because first I had to practice and secondly because I could take over someone’s class. And I kept teaching yoga for about 6 years.
Then I decided to go for making art.
So why yoga in my art? Well I did some wondering about what I wanted to create and what I wanted to share with the world. I learned that it’s important to make things you enjoy making because people can see that in your work. So I started wondering what I loved and what I loved making. Because that are two different things sometimes.
First I recognised that I loved drawing animals. Secondly I loved abstract art because with that I can experiment most. And thirdly I already used to draw human figures in a bit abstract, a bit graphic ways. And I thought it would be fun to draw yoga poses in that way. So not too realisticly. First I only drew the animals and yogaposes separately but then I thought: ‘why not combine them?” And I started thinking about what that would mean? What would I be expressing with that?
Well, the translation of yoga comes from the word Yuj which means yoking or union. And it totally fitted my vision of my animal art. Because I already had the wish that my drawings and paintings of animals would give people more love for animals. I really think we should protect and nourish animals more. So by adding a person in a yoga pose I even more explicitly “say” that we are connected with animals and that we should honor them more.
So that’s the story about yoga in my art. I want to emphasize that this is not a static concept. I could as well use yoga in my art for other reasons or meanings in the future. I love to develop myself and my art and to keep an open mind. And if someone else sees something different in my art I’m curious to their vision as well.
Namaste
