Yoga teacher: Xuan Lan
Yoga style: Vinyasa and Dharma Yoga
Teacher training: Vinyasa, Ashtanga, Dharma yoga
Yoga guru(s): No gurus , many great teachers I respect
Where do you teach: Mainly in Barcelona
Future retreats: Rafa Nadal Sport Residence, Mallorca. May 5th-7th 2017
Web page: xuanlanyoga.com
– COFFEE OR TEA?
Tea during 15 years and now latte, espresso with plant-based milk.
– WHICH ASANA DO YOU WANT TO SHARE WITH US TODAY AND WHY
Half pigeon pose, it’s a good hip opening pose that prepares to many others. If you rest on it bending forward, using the gravity to lower the hips to the floor with no resistance, it can become pretty intense but so satisfying, it is like a yin pose and you can stay there 5, 15 or 30 breaths. It can be adapted to all levels using props. And it is a very elegant pose.
– WHAT DO YOU LIKE THE MOST ABOUT TEACHING (BESIDES WHATCHING US SUFFER)?
Adjusting, sharing and giving. Teaching is an act of transmitting knowledge but also energy. And at the same time I receive from my student, it’s my personal therapy. I don’t like to see students suffer but enjoy so much when they smile during effort.
– WHO/WHAT INSPIRES YOU?
Someone like Matthieu Ricard, a French scientist who became a Buddhist monk 40 years ago. He lives in Nepal but has written many books and participated in many conferences to spread the practice of mindful meditation and living with compassion. He is an example of altruism, a concept which is missing in our individualistic “developed” society.
– A MOVIE/BOOK THAT MOVED YOU
Since I have started to work on my spiritual path I can’t or don’t like to see movies with violence or true dramatic situation like war. On a personal level I am deeply in love with my husband and have been happily married for more than a decade and believe in true love like the the movie: The Notebook.
There is beautiful film documentary by Yann Arthus-Bertrand, (photographer) called Human. He had interviews hundreds of people in more than 40 countries. “It’s a collection of stories and images of our world, offering an immersion to the core of what it means to be human. Through these stories full of love and happiness, as well as hatred and violence, HUMAN brings us face to face with the Other, making us reflect on our lives”. It just an amazing project which can’t leave you indifferent.
– WHICH HAS BEEN YOUR MOST SPECIAL TRIP AND WHY?
It’s hard to say, I have travelled a lot and each of my trips have brought me a special feeling, memory and experience. Last year I have been trekking in Laos and had the opportunity to stay in a remote village and were invited to sleep at the chief of the village’s house. It was a very simple wooden and bamboo house with no windows, no bathroom, no water nor electricity, heated by the unique fire that serves to cook. We couldn’t really communicate and slept with all the family on the first floor after brushing our teeth at the unique water point in the center of the village with other people showering, washing dishes and laundry, etc. When you realize that a large part of the planet still live in these precarious conditions, you feel so privileged and a bit ashamed of living in capitalistic countries who base their economy on financial markets far from real people realities.
– ARE YOU A VEGETARIAN? AND IF YOU ARE, DO YOU MISS BACON?
I am not a vegetarian but don’t bacon either. I have not eaten meat for months and sometimes I miss it a bit. I eat fish and seafood sometimes. For the last couple of years I have learnt a lot about vegan food and now integrate new recipes and vegan ingredients in my day to day cooking. And it is actually more diverse and yummy as people think.
– WHICH IS THE MEAL YOU ARE ALWAYS IN THE MOOD FOR?
I love all veggies, and eat them boiled, steamed, oven baked, stir fried, raw, in soup… Recently I am into for beetroot in smoothies, salads, soup, etc.
– IF YOU WERE AN ANIMAL, WHICH WOULD YOU BE?
Hard to say. I would say an eagle, because it can fly at any altitude flowing with the winds and the hot air currents. I saw a lot in India and they fascinated me by their freedom and elegance.
– IF YOU WERE A TREE, WHICH WOULD YOU BE?
A bodhi tree of course! The sacred ficus in Bodh Gaya under which Buddha has attained enlightenment.
– WHAT DRIVES YOU CRAZY OR MAKES YOU GO INSANE?
Lack of respect, in a general term, at all levels. People who throw their cigarette in the street, who speak badly to a vendor in a shop or a kid to his teacher, companies who pollute the environment. Respect is not just about your relationship with your parents, the law or the community rules, it’s also about the earth resources that belong to all human beings and do not depends on the boarders and politics.
– SHARE A QUOTE WITH US
I read this one lately and like it very much: People were created to be loved, and things were created to be used. The world is in caos because things are loved and people are used.
– WHAT OR WHO MAKES YOU LAUGH OUT LOUD?
Lately, James Corden, a TV host of the Late late Show in the USA. I would love to be able to sing and dance (and drive) like him.
– A MAGICAL PLACE TO PRACTICE YOGA WOULD BE…
A suspended wooden platform in front of a calm sea with a little breeze and sunrise light in a quiet place, anywhere in the world (with no mosquitos). It doesn’t need to be far away.
– TELL ME ABOUT YOUR CURRENT PROJECTS OR DREAMS
I want to keep on learning and teaching yoga, enjoying making new projects around yoga, traveling, healthy lifestyle… and write my second yoga book. I am so fortunate in my life, I don’t dream about anything in particular, but if one day I do, I’ll do my best to make it happen. I don’t want to pursue a dream, I want to live a happy reality.
– WHAT DO YOU WANT TO BE WHEN YOU GROW UP?
I am a grown up, I think… This is my second career, I chose it, I like it, I enjoy it very much. I don’t want to change anything, just continue my spiritual path to evolve in a good way and use yoga to do great things for others.
– IF YOU COULD START AGAIN, WOULD YOU CHANGE ANYTHING?
Nothing!
– LAST BUT NOT LEAST, WHICH TIP CAN YOU SHARE WITH US, THE LEARNING YOGIS
Yoga is a long and beautiful path, don’t be in a hurry to do this or that difficult pose, it’s not the point, it’s just fun. And a message to yoga teachers: we’ll always be students, learning with humility from masters, teachers, students and from our own practice.
NAMASTÉ!
