Wellness is the way to sustainable living

Yoga Teacher, Founder of Angel Yoga, and Event Organizer - Angelina Shapovalova

"Growth is not only external, but it is also about developing your body, stabilizing the mind, and calming the soul ". -Angelina Shapovalova

From inspiration to realization!

Inspiring interview with Angelina Shapovalova!

Angelina, I am glad we are having this conversation about wellness and Sustainable Living. As one of the Wellness Contributors, I would like you to expose us to everything that relates to health and wellness.

I always say to myself that if you value your health and know what health means for you, you understand how everything is interconnected with you. It is like building a relationship not only with your state, health, and body but with everything around you. By that I mean, you start to know how your body functions, and from that point, you begin to build your habits of consuming tangible and intangible things. From here you can build your own lifestyle. So I hope we can now touch on this topic as well.

Tell us a little bit about yourself and your journey in the wellness industry.

My journey in wellness industry started from the idea and desire to keep myself young regardless of age. Since I reached a certain age, I started to be more concerned about my health. Not only that, but my lifestyle and social responsibilities like working in a corporate environment also led me to shift to the wellness industry. Especially when you live in megapolises you tend to live in a rush, eat in a rush, encounter stress, and just don't have the time or energy to exercise. This pace makes your life disorganized, your mind becomes unstable, which puts you in an anxiety state. It makes your life uncontrolled. After experiencing such a lifestyle, I wanted to find a balance between everything. I was always looking for a way to look healthy internally and shine externally.

Yoga came my way. It became my life-changing treasure and solution to all that unstable way of living. I have experienced two different lifestyles and I know the difference. There are many people who are living the same pace of life, who are working in toxic environments and living in industrial places, and who are going through the same challenges to find a healthy work-life balance. I wanted to create a positive environment where I can bring people together to grow a mindful community. Society and media have forced us to live a fast life that contradicts the nature of our abilities and growth.

Yoga is a lifestyle and definitely helps your body to remain fit, healthy, flexible, and lean. Yoga is not only bodywork but also a work of the mind and soul. Yoga is about looking inside yourself. You slow down and focus inside yourself. This is the key and first step to knowing who you are, how you want to live your life, and what your purpose is. You just discover yourself. Your journey will begin with self-awareness, self-development, and self-understanding.

I look younger than my age, feel healthy and have learned how to control my emotions thanks to yoga.

How long have you been practicing Yoga?

I was always interested in trying new activities. First I tried yoga in 2009 and the first practice of asanas I found interesting and weird. But I knew there was something more than just holding an uncomfortable pose. Yoga caught my interest and then took my whole heart and transformed my life. In 2019 I completed a multi-style Yoga teachers training course 200 RYT in Rishikesh, the motherland of yoga in India. I wanted to build my expertise in yoga and started to professionally practice Vinyasa, Hatha, and Yin approaches. Yoga practices helped me to manage my anger, dissatisfaction and some emotions that were uncontrolled. These emotions will certainly be felt during the practice sessions. First, you don't understand why you feel certain emotions. But the more you keep doing the more releases of those emotions you will get, and you will feel at ease. You start to notice that you find comfort in holding asanas, and you notice how each part of your body reacts. It is important to remember that your breath is the most important factor in each Asana you hold. You have to keep breathing.

As I know, especially the hip area is apt to hold and store negative emotions. And after you do Yin Yoga or any other type of stretching you feel released emotionally and physically.

It is true. Many emotions tend to be stored in our tissues. Yoga Asanas help to stretch those tissues and remove negative tension from your body. But yoga is not only about stretching and holding postures. There are many aspects. Asanas and sequences are created in a way that activates our body, blood flow, lymphatic and nervous systems. Importantly they should be in the right sequence. There are many different types of yoga and it is not gym training, it is nothing to do with competitive sports and it is not the stands you see on Instagram. What is important is to learn about your body, mind and soul. Steal and steady poses are the basics of yoga.

Tell me about the arguments going on among the gym trainers and Yoga. I heard a lot that some people underestimate Yoga.

Again, I want to underline that yoga is not a gym exercise, it is not a sport where you compete or build muscle mass. What you will get is a toned body using your own body weight. You will develop muscles you never targeted before. It is possible that certain muscles will not be developed even in the gym. The key thing is to activate each muscle of your body. All of them are therefore put to work by yoga. It helps you to maintain your posture, your internal organs work well. There are certain twisting poses that serve to improve digestive system, boost metabolism, and detoxify your body naturally through fresh blood flow. Also, it stabilizes your hormones. Practices include meditation, which is a way of working with your mind and soul. When you combine all of them you will feel harmonized and connected with your body, mind, and soul.

Do gym practices help release emotional tensions from the body and mental state as Yoga does?

Any kind of exercise is healthy for your body and physical state. Of course, you will release a variety of emotions through certain sports activities. But there are some cases, when stressed or under depression, people start to lose physical strength and physical power. They feel unable to do any sports activities. In this case, you can't force yourself to go to the gym. In such a condition, you need to first work on your mental state. So yoga works deeply with these emotions and stresses. If you really want to understand what is transpiring in your body, yoga is the right solution.

What was the most transformational part when you started your Yoga journey?

I can say that yoga helped me be more observant and pay attention to details. It is really helpful because sometimes we are overreacting or throwing away emotions. Yoga teaches how to slow down and look at the situation from another angle so we can choose how to react adequately. This means you are turning on your awareness. The biggest benefit I got from yoga is to balance mind and emotions, be more flexible and healthy in your body and mind.

Can you tell us how it feels to be a practitioner and a teacher?

I like teaching, I feel more energized when I teach. I like teaching yoga classes for individuals and groups, plus organizing trips and events. It brings me so much joy. I was also deeply impressed with the results my students got. I had a student who was fit and physically well-trained. During the yoga classes, she almost cried. Later on, I discovered she had a hard time in life, and yoga helped target that spot and she could release her emotions. Another example, I had a student who was a cabin crew attendant and she was also surprised to be able to relax her body and mind through yoga. For the first time, they may feel uncomfortable or may feel angry, and this is a normal reaction that they need to pass through.

I work with people over 40 who find simple exercises challenging because their body is stiff due to lack of training. So it is important to develop a habit of sustainable living from a young age.

What advice would you give to others when it comes to sustainable living?

My main advice is to put all your attention and awareness on yourself. Our generation is called an anxiety generation. We live in a technologically advanced world. It is supposed to help but actually, it is the opposite. We live so fast and don't have time to ask ourselves how do I feel. You should be honest with yourself.

"We are so unfocused, and distracted by media, the latest trends and sometimes we are led by other people's behavior" -Angelina Shapovalova.

Just do what you really want to do. Every answer is within ourselves. We already know what is right for us and what doesn't work for us. Act accordingly to how you feel despite other people's opinions and circumstances.

The most emphasized thing I would add to this is that we need to be helpful to each other to live a better and healthier life.

Angelina, it was inspiring to discuss this topic with you. I think it is useful to raise such topics about sustainable and mindful living. Some people are unaware of such deep topics, but as soon as they hear such kinds of stories, they feel connected and not alone.

There are some people who might also think, "Oh these topics have become trends nowadays". You might ask why? Because we live fast, we became less active and less in touch with nature itself. Subconsciously, they feel a trigger that warns them about their own natural and physical needs being compressed. This includes enough sleep, proper rest, or simple activities that bring joy. This naturally makes people seek this kind of community and they want to be a part of it. We have only 24 hours overloaded with errands, all sorts of responsibilities and worries, and at the end of the day, you feel exhausted. We often live in the illusion created by society, the corporate environment and the media about what productive life is. We underestimate the damage these factors can cause to our lives.

These Episodes are to encourage others, spark their curiosity, inspire and build a thriving community. No matter what you do, we are here to exchange knowledge and experience through the "Stories of others".

Visit Angelina's pages for more information about her training, events, and classes:

MeetNTrain App Referral: AngelYoga

MeetNTrain: MeetNTrain

Instagram: @angelyogaonline