Eva Melo from Riemerling quit her bank job to become a yoga teacher. At a time when that was still considered very exotic.
- Eva Melo from Riemerling has been a yoga teacher for 16 years.
- At that time it was still considered exotic.
- She says: "Yoga is not about standing on your head, but with both feet firmly in your own life."
Riemerling - The path to more serenity and relaxation begins with an initial meditation of around ten minutes. Eva Malo sits upright with crossed legs, arms spread next to her body, on a light pink yoga mat. In front of her is a bowl with a burning candle. She closes her eyes. “You get into an upright seat for yourself,” says the Riemerlinger in a calm and pleasant voice into the room where her students have laid out their mats in a semicircle. “You can feel the places on your feet that touch the mat. You are very consciously aware of the soles of your feet and your heels. ”She pauses for a few seconds between sentences. So it goes slowly up the body - until you consciously inhale and exhale. The meditation ends with the sentence: “Your gaze goes to the ground, you open your eyes and then come back outside.” Eva Malo puts her palms together, bends forward, her head down to the floor and says: “Namasté. "
She has been teaching yoga for 16 years
The 50-year-old, married and mother of two adult daughters, has been teaching Hatha Yoga as a certified teacher in the basement of Wichtelhaus West in Riemerling for 16 years (www.enjoy-yoga.de). Hatha yoga stands for a slow, powerful alternation of individual postures, as well as breathing exercises and meditations. Her first students were parents of the Wichtelhaus children, after a while she also taught some of the dwarfs, and so the independent yoga teacher was able to offer more and more courses over time.
30 years ago she was fascinated by yoga
Malo discovered her fascination for yoga, the 5000 year old Indian teaching that brings body and mind together, about 30 years ago. At that time she was attending a course at the community college with her sister. The woman with the chic short haircut laughs. “It was still a little difficult back then. Yoga was more likely to be placed in the eco corner. ”Postures (asana), breathing exercises (pranayama), exercises for concentration and meditation (dharana) - what is in today was considered unusual at the time or was laughed at. “Yoga never let go of me,” says Malo. When her second daughter was three years old and after six years of parental leave it was time to decide whether the trained bank clerk would continue to work in her job as an investment advisor, she finally made the decision: "I won't go back to the bank." Decided wholeheartedly to turn her great passion into a profession, says Malo, then she smiles and her light brown eyes light up.
To the series
The district of Munich is full of interesting people who have a lot to tell from their everyday lives. What is your life like? How do you work? Where are the difficulties? What is special about the district for you? How do you spend your free time? What are you dreaming of? What are you afraid of? The new series “People in the District” aims to shed light on all of this.
What followed were four years and 1100 teaching units in the Yoga Mandiram in Munich according to the teachings of the Indian Krishnamacharya (1888-1989). “Yoga”, explains Malo, “is the unity of breath, body and mind.” The teaching content of the training school in Munich includes hatha yoga, medical basics, meditation, psychology, history, philosophy and source texts for yoga as well as teaching and internships . A silence seminar was also part of it. In addition, Malo completed additional training and is also allowed to teach therapeutic yoga.
Face-to-face teaching again since June
Since mid-June, she has been meeting her students again in the sports room in Riemerling, because of the pandemic she had temporarily made YouTube videos of the hour available to her participants. She currently teaches six adult groups and one for children per week. Malo has marked the floor in the training room with several crosses made of adhesive tape - so that the participants can place their mats, which they currently have to bring with them due to corona, at a safe distance from one another. Comfortable clothing and the mat you just mentioned, possibly a small pillow - that's all you need, says the yoga teacher. "I don't use any aids."
No contortions or bends
Malo emphasizes that her 60-minute courses have nothing to do with “contortions and bending”. “Yoga has to be adapted to the person and not the other way around.” A perfectly executed lotus position? Not necessary. For example, those who have “knee pain” “can stretch their legs. Yoga is something for everyone, you just have to get involved. ”Malo's oldest course participant is 78 years old, the youngest in the children's courses were three at the time. By no means are the teaching units only for women. “The gentlemen are the most reliable,” says the teacher. Every Monday evening, the participants attended the all-men course. "Funnily enough, they were first sent by their wives or children."
With both feet firmly in life
Eva Malo is absolutely certain that yoga will always be part of her life. On the one hand, it is helpful in dealing with the challenges of everyday life, says the Riemerlinger: “Yoga is not about standing on your head, but with both feet firmly in your own life.” Yoga also strengthens “our spine, which carries us through life. And with yoga you are completely in the here and now. That is the fascination. "
Also part of the series : The baker Anton Pettinger from Aying connects a young family and getting up early. He loves his job, although he has to do without some things.
