Yoga boottocht met yogi Tara Stiles + interview
Afgelopen weekend organiseerde W Amsterdam Hotel een weekend vol yoga masterclasses met Tara Stiles als host! Het yoga weekend werd afgetrapt met een rooftop FIT with Tara Stiles sessie. Daarnaast organiseerden ze op zaterdagochtend een exclusieve yogasessie op de grachten van Amsterdam en wij waren erbij! Ken je Tara nog niet? Tara is de oprichter en eigenaar van Strala, een unieke vorm van yoga voor het begeleiden van gevoel en beweging. De flagship studio van Strala is gevestigd in New York en andere internationale partnerstudio’s gaan in de loop van dit jaar open. Tara is ook de designer en het gezicht van de eerste yoga lifestyle lijn van Reebok.
Samenwerking W Hotels
Hoe cool is deze samenwerking tussen W Hotels en Tara! Zij startten een samenwerking met haar en ontwikkelden een dynamisch programma dat goed is voor het lichaam en 24/7 toegang geeft tot een interactieve workout die eenvoudig te combineren valt met een drukke levensstijl. Interview
Wij mochten haar, na de heerlijke en bijzondere yogasessie op de boot, in de W Lounge van het prachtige dynamische hotel gaan interviewen. Ze staat erom bekend authentiek te zijn en dat hebben wij ook zo ervaren. Haar visie delen we graag middels een interview. Be inspired! A lot of us are dealing with a lot of stress. How does yoga help you react in healthy ways and have healthy desires? Well, the goal of the class today is to drop stress and to drop the tension from all over your body. You should be moving your body in a way that feels good to you. In yoga, if you are spending all that time on your body and how you feel it almost goes automatic after class, you will learn the ways to feel better. You want to keep that feeling after the class, so you will have a better relationship with yourself and others, eat better, have a better worklife. It's almost like a healthy addiction to take care of yourself. But do you sometimes drink wine or eat unhealthy snacks? Yeah, well, yes, but I enjoy cooking at home more. Of course I will go out and eat pizza sometimes. It's just not in my system to eat junk food and to just eat mindlessly, it's not for me. But I am going for icecream of course! Haha! In a lot of books you’re discussing meditation. What are the benefits of meditation for you and do you think it’s there for everyone? Yes! I think it's for everyone. I mean, if you can breathe you can practice yoga and meditation. Nowadays we are all so busy. So yeah: I guess we all need it in some kind of way. In the beginning it's hard for people to sit down, quiet the mind and to see a calming ocean like you think you are supposed to. Haha! But it's not about that. The goal is watching your thoughts. I love the idea where you sit and you just breathe, and notice all of your thoughts. You have a choice to always come back to yourself, and focus on your breathing. That's the goal and not to be 'perfect' at practicing meditation. You have a choice. You can wake up and jump in your to-do lists or you can start with some meditation (and/or yoga) to help you start your day more energized and focused. You shared your personal story of drifting away from your own intuition and how it threw you off balance. Could you give our community some helpful tips to start following your intuition? All the things that you guys are doing are helping. Anything that helps you to take care of yourself helps. Practicing yoga, or just 5 minutes of just breathing. Taking time to go for a walk, or taking time to go to your friends, cook food in your own kitchen, have people over you care about. Anything that gives you energy. That's a great way to come back to yourself. So find the things that give you energy and turn them into daily habits. In the end you feel good and who doesn't want to feel good?! A lot of people describe you as authentic. How do you stay true to yourself? Well, I'm just me. I can't image how to be someone else. I mean, everyone is so interesting and fascinating but I wouldn't want to try to be someone else. It just doesn't make sense to me. So I guess that's it. Spending a lot of time on myself, doing yoga, taking care of myself and doing the things I enjoy. I guess that comes out as authentic and different. If we would just take the time to be authentic, and appriciate eachother more instead of wanting to be that person. For example; pink hair is so cool but it's just not for me. ;) In your book 'Make your own Rules Diet' you explain the importance of letting people know that they are their own expert, that you are just a guide along the way. Why is it so important to let people know they are their own expert? I think it's empowering first of all, and you know, a guide is there to show you the process so you can get back to yourself. Without it, people just don't know what to do. If I am the teacher and you are forever the student then you can never exist on your own. You'll always need to come back to that teacher to get all of the answers. It's better to be your own expert in that process and eventually you'll start figuring everything out. We see a lot of trends coming along. First it was all about being skinny, now it’s about being toned/muscled. What do you think about these trends? Are you effected by those images? Yes of course, and how can you not be, there are images everywhere. What you guys are doing is awesome, because you are keeping the message going to take care of yourself and feel good about who you are and how you look. I'ts an eternal journey. We need to embrace and accept that everything on the outside will be how it needs to be for whatever period of life you are here. Do you have tips for girls who compare themselves with the ‘picture perfect’ images they see online? Please stop. I want to shake them up a little bit. I mean, spend time with the things you will enjoy, and you'll have so much power and you will be very interesting to other people too! Whatever you are seeing and what interests you in other people, is because they are themselves and do the things that make them happy... And if you get stuck on 'Oh I wanna be like her and look like that girl' ... You want to look like you! If you take care of yourself, everyone will be drawn to you and for the right reasons too! What is your soft spot? Chocolate obviously hahaha! (Well we couldn't agree more lol) We have a lot of readers who have some kind of problem with food, eating and making the right choices for themselves, how does yoga help you make healthier choices? It all comes back to you. Instead of being obsessed with food, start being interested in yourself. The food will work its way out. We all think: I shouldn't eat that bag of cookies. Or I shouldn't be restricting in one week and not eat well and take care of myself. I think if you start yoga in the morning, even ten minutes, you will feel better and you will eventually make better choices for yourself. Whatever your habits are, it will reflect in your food choices... Helaas was onze tijd snel om, we hadden nog wel uren met haar willen praten. Wat een inspiratie is Tara. Haar visie en lifestyle is alles waar het leven om gaat en waar wij voor staan! Je hoeft echt geen yoga goeroe te worden maar bewust even tien minuten per dag in jezelf keren om dichterbij jezelf te staan, zal het verschil gaan maken in alles keuzes die je gaat maken voor jezelf. Wij hopen Tara gauw weer eens te zien! Wil je haar volgen dan kan dat via Instagram @tarastiles. Geniet nog even van de sfeerimpressie van de afgelopen week en geniet vooral van je dag! Sfeer impressie Yoga door de Amsterdamse Grachten