Today we’d like to introduce you to Isabel Aviles.
Hi Isabel, we’d love for you to start by introducing yourself.
Yes! My name is Isabel. I’m from Ecuador, and I’ve been living in Atlanta for about 3 years now. And I’m a Yoga teacher.
I have always thought that my story begins at the age of three when I started dancing ballet and for the first time experienced the movements of my body from a place of awareness. I danced for about ten years and then went through different styles and disciplines. But it was not until 2006 that I first discovered Yoga in my hometown, Guayaquil.
My first class was an Ashtanga Led Primary Serie class. I remember that, despite having got lost at times, I immersed myself in the pace and breathing combined with the movements. From that moment on I never stopped my practice and even started learning about other styles, like Vinyasa, Anusara, Kundalini, Yin, Restorative, Meditation and Pranayama, as well as Yoga Philosophy.
In all these years, I had the opportunity to study with incredible teachers such Benita Wolf Galván, with whom I learned about alignment within Anusara Yoga. Years later, living in Buenos Aires, Argentina, I started studying Ashtanga Vinyasa Yoga with Ale Chiarella, student of Pattabhi Jois, where I gain in-depth knowledge of the Primary Series. Finally, still in Buenos Aires I decided to get my first 200 Yoga Teacher Training with Noah Maze and Sandra Kessel from The Maze Method.
The experience of studying and above all learning to transmit the practice of Yoga was for me the confirmation I needed to know that this was what I wanted for myself. So I started teaching, first in Buenos Aires and then back in Guayaquil.
A couple of years later, I found myself moving to Atlanta. I have to say that for a moment, I felt lost. I wasn’t sure what it would be like to teach in English. I never did it before and was worried about how will I find “my voice” in another lenguaje, being a lover of words and expressions in my own language, Spanish.
But before I could start teaching, COVID hits. Some studios closed, others were open but with limited classes and space. But while looking around for a place to teach, I got the opportunity to start a new training, and I didn’t let it escape. So I started studying a 500-hour training with Tiffany Cruikshank and the Yoga Medicine team. I had that training on my mind for years, and it’s been more than what I expected. I always described Yoga as a healing practice, and this training gave me the base and fundaments to apply it. Today I am preparing my projects to receive my Yoga Medicine Therapeutic Specialist Certification.
I feel that after all these time studying, my relationships with English got better, and when 2021 started, it came with more opportunities when through Yoga Medicine I met Hana Russell, co-founder and Executive Director of the non-profit Yoga Support, with whom I began working on rehabilitation programs with Yoga for patients with brain tumor, brain surgery and traumatic brain injuries, giving a new perspective to my teaching. Shortly after, I started teaching at Giving Tree Yoga in Smyrna and at Sacred Garden Yoga in Marietta. I have no doubt learning to be a teacher is a nonstop practice, but also I have been so lucky to meet amazing people and places that have made it easy for me to release any fear.
But even though I have taken such different trainings, nourishing myself from different perspectives, my Ashtanga practice has continued with me since the first day I put my feet on a mat. And among the incredible things that this city has given me, not long ago I met Brice Elizabeth Watson and Todd Roderick from Ashtanga Yoga Atlanta, authorized Ashtanga Yoga instructors with whom I am deepening my study and practice.
It’s been around seven years of teaching Yoga, and yet I feel that I have never stopped being a student. Either because I am taking classes or because I’m learning from my students while I am their teacher.
Can you talk to us a bit about the challenges and lessons you’ve learned along the way. Looking back would you say it’s been easy or smooth in retrospect?
I feel that many times the struggles are only in our minds getting ahead of our goals and creating fears. In my case, I definitely struggled with the fear of not being able to teach in a language that is not mine. Luckily, the first time I taught a class in English, I forgot what I was worried about.
Alright, so let’s switch gears a bit and talk business. What should we know about your work?
Although my teaching is divided in two different groups of people, one on a studio setting and one more therapeutic, they both focus on creating awareness on the body and applying the fundament of traditional Yoga. I believe that Yoga is a healing practice, and the way it heals is by creating awareness and control over our minds. We have been living in our bodies our whole lives but how many times do we stop to feel it? Awareness gives us the opportunity to develop an intimate relationship with our bodies and our environment, and gives us tools to control our minds. Alignment, breath and control movements are definitely my main focus, applying knowledge from all my trainings and years of practicing, and giving my student the tools do understand their bodies and work with what they find.
I also feel the practice of Yoga really start when we leave our mats. That’s why I like to find analogies between the practice and life, and give my classes not only an awareness theme but a spiritual/philosophical turn too. If I can give my students something to think about after class, that’s when I know my class was a success.
But Yoga is not only meaningful talks and creative sequences. I heard one of my teachers said once, “if you practice Yoga 60 min or 90 min., six days a week and don’t smile, then is not worth it”. I made this the mantra of my classes. I like to create a safe space for my students to do their practice, but also for sharing love, kindness and big smiles. My classes are deep in sense and full of happiness. I don’t know if it’s just my personality, the fact that I’m Latina and we can be loud, or all the above, but in my classes we laugh and learn.
We’re always looking for the lessons that can be learned in any situation, including tragic ones like the Covid-19 crisis. Are there any lessons you’ve learned that you can share?
Definitely! I feel that we as human sometimes fall into an automatic pilot mode, experiencing life as if we already know what is coming. But when COVID hits, all that we knew got obsolete in a way. Luckily creativity born from necessity, and when our life’s changed from one day to the other, creativity happened. Learning to experience life as a beginner has been an important lesson for me. Being creative with my time, taking advantage of all the me-time, finding new ways to connect with people, and also finding ways to have fun can be a challenge.
But the greatest lesson have been learning to be with myself and my thought, and embraced them all. When we are around people all the time, we don’t get to be with us as much as with have been with COVID. And this has been also a theme at my classes.
Contact Info:
- Email: isa.aviles@icloud.com
- Instagram: Isavilesm
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/isabel.aviles.9406417
Image Credits
Alegria Molestina
