KayaYogini

काय – kaya – body

योगिनी – yogini – sorceress, fairy, one who is in union with God – commonly used to describe woman who practices yoga

Hi!
Thank you for visiting my page! If you scroll down, you will see my official yoga teacher bio, certifications and courses. However, here, you can get to know me more casually.

My name is Kaja (pronounced like Kaya). I am a Norwegian yoga teacher who primarily study the Ashtanga school of yoga. I am certified as an Ashtanga Vinyasa Yoga teacher and Yin Yoga teacher, along with other certifications (see below). However, my path lead me to learn a lot specifically within back health, and that has become my niche.

My meeting with yoga

My meeting with yoga was at approximately fifteen years of age. At that time, I had lots of back issues, scoliosis, hyper lordosis along with a severe anterior pelvic tilt. Also my hips where uneven. I felt unbalanced and uncomfortable in my body. I was neither flexible, nor strong.

The school I went to was very small and didn’t have a gym of its own. Therefore, the teachers, who also where instructors at the local gym, offered to do classes in spinning, yoga and pilates. This is how I met yoga for the first time. After that, I started attending all the yoga classes at that gym. After yoga class, I felt so much freer and comfortable in my body. I did yoga ever since. When I moved out from my parents house, I practiced yoga at home, more or less committed. However, I wanted to learn more, and slowly became interested in becoming a yoga teacher myself.

After educating in yoga, I wanted to start my career as a Yoga teacher. It all came together in 2017, when I moved back to Arendal. I discovered that my old gym teacher who first introduced me to yoga, was now running the local Yogastudio. I now work at Arendal Yogastudio as a Yoga teacher.

Other influences

One of the other influences that are important for me as a Yoga teacher today, is my background with other types of physical movement. During my teen years, I did karate for three years and later dancing. My dad has been a great influencer for me. He was actually one of my Karate instructors. He is a chiropractor and helped me a lot with my back issues, and still does. He also influenced me a lot within my interest for back health and healthy movement patterns, which influences my teachings within Yoga.

Within the philosophical and spiritual, I have been influenced a lot by the modern spiritual teachers, who’s teachings focus a lot on intuition, manifestation, emotional healing and empowerment. Their teachings all align with the philosophy of yoga.

Official yoga teacher bio

I started practicing yoga in 2006/7 as I felt that yoga improved how I felt in my body, having several back issues like scoliosis and APT. I took my first certificate as a Yin Yoga Teacher in 2015 with Cécile Roubeaud at Eight Treasures Yoga. The year after, I took my Ashtanga Vinyasa Yoga 200h certificate with Basia Lipska Larsen at HiYoga. In 2016 she took a summer intensive ten day yoga teacher training with John Bentham at Eight treasures Yoga. I have also taken the Essentials of Yoga Therapy 8,5h certificate from Yoga International in 2017. I completed my 500h RYT at Ashtanga Yoga Mysore in 2019 with my 300h certificate. I have also completed the course “Your spine your yoga” by Berlie Clark and Stuart McGill. I am continuously learning more and taking more courses, specializing in back health and functional movement patterns, as this is becoming increasingly more important in my teachings and practice.

I love the spiritual side of yoga as well as the anatomical and functional. I want to help people get to where they want to be and help them realize that they can create the lives they want to live, wether their goal is to get into a certain pose, have a healthier body, or internal goals, like having a better relationship with yourself. My goal as a yoga teacher, is to get people in alignment with their true, authentic selves at heart, mind and body. Whatever is important to the student, is important to me as the teacher.

Being in alignment with your heart means knowing your true self. Being able to tune in to your feelings and emotions and making heart-centered decisions. Loving yourself and expressing your true self. To follow your joy.
Being in alignment with your mind means having clarity, knowing yourself and what is right for you. Making logical decisions that is in alignment with your beliefs. To make decisions to meet your needs and taking care of your own energy, filling up your own cup before helping others. Also choosing goals that are good for you and taking logical steps towards them.
Being in alignment with your body means doing what is physically healthy. Knowing your body and what it needs. Eating healthy and exercising in a healthy way. Listening to your body and letting yourself get the rest you need.

Yoga to me is a lot, but what might characterize all the different styles and techniques that can be called yoga is that they help you to become a bit more in alignment with yourself and to peel away what is superficial.