About Winnie Winnetu
How I Lost A Dream And Found Yoga
Before I became Winnie Winnetu yoga teacher I lived a very different life. I had a prestigious career in political science which was a dream come true for me at the time. My hope was to be able to contribute to positive change in the world through publication of my research. However, instead of my work being a catalyst for change, what I saw was ever-increasing greed and destruction. So many people living in fear of each other.
My high pressure career was also taking a toll on my health and on a personal level I was stuck in unhealthy relationships. I was unaware of just how much stress was building up in my body in those years, but I had begun to feel a urgent need to find a new way forward.
In short, I wanted more freedom, more love and joy in my life. So, I took a huge risk. I put my political science career behind me and left for India to study yoga philosophy.
Winnie Winnetu In India
Going to India was about seeking a deeper dimension of life, finding a philosophy with deeper values.
Initially I went to learn yoga, then took training as a yoga teacher, eventually teaching my own yoga classes. I travelled to and from India many times. I moved to-and-fro between the orderliness of Sweden and the crowds, chaotic marketplaces, vibrant colors and temple songs that are India.
India became a second home for me. What I brought back with me changed my life. India was where Winnie Winnetu was born.
The knowledge of Indian philosophy I had learned made me take a long look at myself, my attachments and my relationships. I began to see them in an entirely different way. The years of accumulated stress had completely left my body. Gone was the pain and inflammation I had known and my friends said I looked 10 years younger. I felt that way too.
Winnie Winnetu In Sweden
After holding yoga teacher training courses in India for 5 years I felt a strong pull to open my own yoga center, here in Sweden. This impulse led to the creation of Yogi Living Ashram where I now do most of my yoga teaching.
I had never considered myself to be a healer. As a result, I was surprised when people began telling me they felt my yoga teaching was very healing. What a wonderful and very satisfying discovery! And it is what still drives me to teach today. Healing people creates a profound sense of happiness in me.
Looking at the world of yoga, I see images of perfect yoga postures, perfect yoga bodies and branded yoga accessories. Yoga is not about how we look, it is about connecting mind and body. That is a process that takes place inside of you. The least flexible student in class can be the one who is most truly practicing yoga. Turning your attention inwards you will start to notice the subtle energy currents. Let them guide your practice and you will be amazed at the difference it makes!
Teaching Yoga
I teach original forms of yoga that I learned first-hand from Indian yogis and Tibetan monks. I integrate this ancient knowledge with modern scientific research into yoga.
There is a large body of research confirming the health benefits of yoga and how yoga practice works on the root cause of most diseases: chronic stress.
More About Winnie Winnetu
As a yoga therapist I know yoga can potentially harm when not used correctly. It is important to know which yoga practices to use for your physical condition and for what result. The different yoga forms work on your body in specific ways.
For instance, certain pranayamas increase your blood pressure while others calm it down. Doing a forward bend with a spinal problem may worsen an already-existing difficulty with your back. You do not take a sleeping pill for a headache!
Typically my yoga classes are improvised and experimental. By sensing the needs of my students I intuitively give what is most needed.
Yoga Therapy
Yoga therapy is for stress release, anxiety and depression. Classes are based on an easy set of commonly-used practices taken from Hatha and Yin Yoga. Additionally, I take my students on a deep trance Yoga Nidra journey that helps replace negative energy with positive and bring a smile to peoples faces.
Recent science on activating the parasympathetic nervous system (the one that makes you relax!) supports the methods used.
I bring into class whatever my students need. Some need anger release and so I teach the tantrum kriya. Some need to release stress through laughter and so I teach laughter yoga. The needs of the class are what matters most.
In my experience, students who are really open to receive healing experience near-instant stress release. Moreover, students engaging in longer processes often experience a long-term healing effect.
Kundalini Yoga
Kundalini yoga kriyas consist of ancient practices that involve sitting in asana and focussing your mind to move energy through the chakras.
I can say with confidence, if you practice Kundalini yoga every day, in time you will certainly experience a level of Kundalini awakening. I have had my own awakening through Kundalini yoga practice. It is a magical experience that I would love to facilitate in other yoga practitioners.
I chose Kundalini yoga as it promised a deeper and more lasting balance in life. The knowledge I gained allows me to create a protective shield around myself, keeping me emotionally stable, regardless of the situations I face each day. I can feel the difference if I forget to practice for a few days. I am less stable, more prone to fear and anger, and more sensitive to other’s moods and projections.
Tantra Heart Yoga
My life experience has led me to conclude that love is the only thing that really matters. I believe that it is not knowledge that we lack when trying to build a better world. It is love.
Consequently, I have set out to teach tantric techniques of love and connection. The kind of tantra I teach transmits a fundamental love connection between people. There are many techniques for this.
I do not teach the distorted version of tantra defined as uninhibited sex.
The most fundamental technique is the tantric hug. This is a wonderful technique for opening up the heart. Using synchronized breathing and feeling into each other’s heart center, it is possible to connect and share love energy. This is something you can practice with your partner to reach a higher level of love. It is also a practice that can be shared with anyone.
About Winnie Winnetu
My Yoga Philosophy
Yoga for me is personal transformation. I believe that controlling and opening up for your energy flow is essential to curing prolonged periods of accumulated emotional stress, and career stress, finding self-love, and even restoring youthfulness (as age is determined more so by your energy flow and less so by your physical age).
In my classes, I like not to be confined to any style, but to blend these styles for the ultimate result in order to maximize the healing effect on the energy flow of the body and balance heart and mind.
I firmly believe that Yoga can positively contribute to a society based on love and compassion for all living beings rather than a society based on material possessions and greed.
I have a profound fate in humanity – and in our ability to change our self-destructive patterns caused by too much greed and too little love.
Head over to the blog to read more about Winnie Winnetu and her yoga journey.
