Bluff yogi seeks to stretch her passion further

YOGA is not to be performed, yoga is to be lived.

This can be said of local yogi, Marlise Els, who has found joy and purpose in the holistic exercise. She discovered her love for yoga back in 2015. “I was already living a physically active lifestyle, partaking in Zumba classes and then later on took up running. In 2016, I enrolled at a fitness academy to obtain my qualification in becoming a certified yoga instructor,” she said.

She has lived on the Bluff all her life so one can say it only made sense to share this new found knowledge and love with her community. She started teaching yoga classes at the Bluff Eco Park, with the encouragement from a friend and fellow instructor.

“I was quite nervous about teaching classes and I wasn’t planning on starting that right away. But Tarryn Coetzee really motivated me to get into it and I haven’t looked back since. It’s been going well in general, regardless of the challenges posed by Covid-19. Before lockdown, I held free sunrise yoga sessions at Ansteys Beach, available to the community once a month. With a sense of normalcy slowly being restored, I’m planning to host one on Saturday, 13 March. Hopefully the attendance will be good,” said an excited Marlise.

Yoga is a systematic practice of physical exercise, breath control, relaxation, diet control, and positive thinking and meditation aimed at developing harmony in the body, mind, and environment. Marlise shared that most people are familiar with the physical poses but don’t know that yoga involves so much more. The unique exercise has a wealth of health benefits and has proven to be a great activity if you have diabetes, high blood pressure, insomnia, high cholesterol, or heart disease. It provides you strength, flexibility, and stimulates mind-body awareness.

“Yoga is derived from the sankrit word ‘yuj’ which means ‘to unit’ all elements of the mind, body and soul. I just love yoga so much. I have nothing bad to say about it. It strengths and tones the body and literally keeps you young. The meditation aspect of it keeps you calm. We live very busy lives and it’s important to have that moment to ourselves, even if it’s just 10 minutes. This also helps you heal from the inside-out.”

For her, yoga is a lifestyle, based on making healthy choices. “As much as yoga is an exercise, it’s not just about the physical. It is a lifestyle that will help you grow mentally, physically, spiritually and emotionally. This is what encouraged me to obtain the qualification. Yoga has transformed my life in many ways and I am now able to help other people discover how yoga can enhance and improve their lives.”

The 29-year-old shared that the main challenge in introducing yoga to people was the false ideas they have of the exercise. “The origins of yoga can be traced to northern India over 5000 years ago and a big misconception is that it forms part of religion, which it doesn’t. Another misconception is that you have to be flexible to do yoga, which really isn’t the case. When start doing it, that’s when you become flexible, the more you do it and the further you go in your training,” said Marlise whose favourite yoga pose is the ‘dancer’.

“Life is all about growing and yoga is a lifelong journey where growth is constant. I help my clients grow and my clients help me grow, in yoga we help each other grow regardless of whether you’re the student or the teacher. I’d really love to see more people; women, men, young and old, trying it out,” said Marlise, whose dream is to teach yoga full-time.

To learn more about yoga or to get in touch with Marlise, contact her on 072-828-6910.