Christina
I am the founder of Ynanna yoga and breath coaching. Ynanna was born out of my mission to help you find your happiness and well-being by connecting with yourself. I believe this connection with yourself is the key to happiness. If our relationship with ourselves is healthy, healthy relationships with others will naturally arise as well as the ability to take better care for our environment and the earth. As the saying goes: ‘’it all starts with you.’’
My path
Yoga has been an essential part of my life for the past thirty years. It helps me to keep finding myself in the hectic pace of life.
I was working as an account manager at an advertising agency when I first tried yoga. What I found in yoga I had not found anywhere else: a moment for myself, to really feel how I was doing. A way to get out of my head, to stop my endless thoughts for a moment.
Everything at 100%
When my children were small, my weekly yoga class was what kept me going. I gave and gave. Once a week I would stumble to my yoga class completely drained and would emerge recharged. I had never learned to give a little or do something just a bit. I do everything at 100+ percent. That’s what my mother did as well. She could do anything, did anything, and always kept smiling. That was my role model.
Burned out
When I became overworked around the age of 40, I realized that I could not match this. My drive for perfection had caused me to set the bar so high for myself that it was never good enough. I had no idea how else to function. I kept running and was getting less and less done. I completely burned out.
The answer of the breath
I went looking for alternate answers. I understood my patterns and where they came from. But that didn’t automatically lead to different behaviour. I found the answers I was looking for in my training as an embodiment coach and yoga teacher. By focusing on the body and gradually more on the breath, I really began to understand. I learned that the breath responds to every emotion and thought. And that by training the breath, you can once again influence those same emotions and thoughts. Such a simple principle. Of course, in execution, it’s not always that simple. To help people do that, I became a breath coach and yoga teacher.
It took a while
I started my practice Ynanna yoga and breath coaching in 2014. At that time I was still working part-time in communications, I had a young family, taught yoga classes and gave coaching sessions while completing my yoga training. With a social life on top of that, this was quite a mix. I found that through my own yoga practice and breathing exercises, I was always able to bring myself back to a base level of calm. However, I realized that I having trouble learning my own lessons. I could not sustain this level of activitiy, I was really doing way too much. I had to choose. At the end of 2018 I quit my job and shifted my focus entirely on my own practice. This helped me to regain my balance.
Goal-oriented
As you may have noticed from my story, I am goal-oriented and decisive. It might have something to do with my American mother’s upbringing. She taught me that if you want something you have to go for it. As the child of a Dutch father and an American mother, I grew up between two cultures. This left me with a lot to explore when it comes to basic truths and what really matters. After some wandering I settled and have now lived most of my life in the Netherlands. I have seen and experienced a lot in my life. This makes me a better coach and teacher.
Understanding and respect are the foundations of all my work and all I do.
I am sure your life path has unfolded with all kinds of choices along the way as well. Where are you now? Where do you want to go from here? Physically, mentally, emotionally – it all works together.
I am happy to support you in your search for personal answers – with respect, empathy and commitment.
