Portrait of a yogini mom blogger: Carole
Let me introduce you to Carole, a yoga teacher and blogger in her spare time.
Carole (aka Smootheries) is a thirty-something mom who runs the blog Smootheries . When she has a few hours to herself (which aren't very many, given that she likes to do a lot of activities!), she likes to update her blog around the themes of yoga and lifestyle. She teaches Vinyasa Yoga, as well as Yin Yoga in Paris. And since the beginning of 2018, she has chosen to leave her career in economic regulation and law to devote herself to her passion, teaching yoga.
It was only natural that I asked him a few personal questions about his yoga practice, which I am sharing with you today.
How did you get into taking care of yourself?
In 2008, I was starting my professional life and had just met my current partner, when, at the age of 24, I was diagnosed with cancer. At the time, I was living on pizza and steak tartare, smoking a lot and drinking gallons of coffee and beer. During my chemotherapy treatment, which lasted 9 months, and especially at the end of it, I discovered yoga, stopped smoking, and began to take an interest in the effects of diet and physical exercise on my health, my body and my morale. 10 years later, I am a sports instructor, yoga teacher, vegan… and I still enjoy wine!
What practice for your well-being?
Yoga! I like to combine complementary practices: I like Vinyasa Yoga above all, for its fluidity, freedom, and movement (even if I practiced Ashtanga Yoga and Vinyasa alternately for years before turning more frankly to Vinyasa), but I make sure to maintain a physical practice that is not yoga, because I do not want "my yoga" to become "my sport". I really like Circuit Training for that (I also teach an intensity called HIIT Yoga, in which we exert ourselves, we laugh, we do inversions, to be able to return more peaceful and without this need for energy expenditure to our yoga practice). I also practice and teach Yin Yoga, which allows, in my opinion, to reconnect with stillness, with oneself, far from the distractions of movement, postures, and even breathing. And then meditation, too, is essential for me (even if it’s sometimes only 3 minutes a day!).
What is the ritual of your practice?
When I still had an office life, I was 100% “Morning Yoga”: I would wake up earlier than everyone else at home, put on a pair of leggings, go to my mat in the living room and do between 15 and 60 minutes of yoga, depending on the morning. It could be very gentle yoga, or Ashtanga, or a Vinyasa adapted to my energy of the day.
Now that I devote myself to teaching, the ritual is harder to find: I regularly leave home at 6:45 am, regularly come home after 9 pm and my schedule is different every day of the week… so I don't have much of a ritual anymore, but I practice whenever I can! Some days, it's at 10 am between two classes, in a studio, others, after my daughter goes to bed at 8:30 pm in my living room, some still, 30 minutes at the end of the afternoon… I have tried to detach myself from the ritual, because unless I get up at 5 am (non-negotiable!) it is no longer possible for me, and I have to seize every opportunity to practice, when it presents itself!
What do you get out of it?
Without wanting to exaggerate, yoga has completely changed my life! I was an insomniac, not in great health, super anxious and Madame Impatience. Over the years, these characteristics obviously remain, they are part of me, but I feel much calmer, serene, composed, I never take more than 15 minutes to fall asleep and I just feel like I find fulfillment in everyday life, which I had trouble finding before.
What do you carry in your yoga bag?
A Yuj mat, a roll-on with essential oils, a bottle with water for after practice. And for teaching: my notebook, a small speaker for music, my phone for playlists.
What is your favorite object/accessory?
I am less and less attached to objects... but I don't practice without a clean, non-slip yoga mat (that is to say, I only use my mats, and never the ones on loan where I go, that's my manic side!).
What would be your advice for Tayrona Yoginis?
Take the time to find YOUR own practice: far from dogmas, standards, just do what feels good on your mat (or elsewhere). Not doing yoga because you feel like if you haven't done 1h30, it's useless, is a trap that we all succumb to one day, or because it's too hard, we're not flexible enough, or we're bored... By testing lots of things, we realize that we can all find what suits us in yoga, and get the well-being and joy it can provide.
Where/how do you practice?
When I can, where I can! I try to go to the studio to practice once or twice a week: letting someone else guide me, without thinking, for a whole hour, is enriching and continues to nourish my practice (and my teaching!). The rest of the time, it's often 10 to 30 minutes, here and there, when I have a little gap in my schedule, but I try to make it happen at least once a day!
What is your mantra/favourite phrase?
"How Soon Is Now?"
This title of the Smiths song, printed on a yoga t-shirt that I have had for years and love, reminds me to focus on the present moment, me who has this tendency to anticipate and get impatient!
