Sanne van der Heijden

Yoga Instructor, 200HR YTT with 60HR Mysore Apprentice
Yoga had been an integral part of my life for nearly a decade, but it was during my Yoga Teacher Training that everything fell into place. The rational and scientific approach of the philosophy of Yoga and the use of the philosophy for guiding and assisting students in their practice, but also in my own life, was what made it clear that this is what I want to do every day. During my teacher training I have learned the most from Courtney Fletcher, my teacher at InnerSea Yoga Academy in Costa Rica,

She is an example for me, living the philosophy and practice in a authentic, honest and empathic way and combining this with a family, teaching all the philosophy classes at her teacher training programs and opening a new Yoga Academy in Jacksonville, Florida. Even when she was fully booked, she made time for me to call and talk about questions that I had about the philosophy or obstacles I encountered during the training. With her support and guidance I felt even more to be on the right track as a Yoga Teacher, and I am very grateful for the opportunity to be a teacher on Bonaire and to do what I love to do.

From 2020 to December 2022 I was a pharmacist in the hospital on Bonaire, in the beginning of 2022 I started practicing Mysore according to the tradition and I think this also helped me making the right choice for how I want to live my life. I loved being a pharmacist, I love to help people and I am very much interested in how medications work in the body. It was the surrounding that I could not change, so I choose that what I could change. It was the plan to go on a sailing adventure with my boyfriend, Peter. But we found out we had to completely rebuild our steel boat. It is hard work, but I love to do it and to combine it with teaching yoga is very fulfilling: working towards a goal (far on the horizon ;)), with all the distractions and obstacles, working to bring myself back on track and choose to meditate, do my own practice, give every student sincere attention and help others in their spiritual growth.

When I am not practicing, reading about Yoga or teaching Yoga...

I do a lot of other stuff! Sometimes fun, sometimes serious, and everything in between. I write about inventing our life around rebuilding LIV (our sailboat) and living on Bonaire. In every blog post I also make some videos about the progress, experiences on Bonaire and sailing, just to get to know me a bit better:

Visit my blog!

More about teaching

Reinier Dorrepaal is one of my teachers of whom I learned the most about Ashtanga Yoga. He teaches Ashtanga Yoga and Mysore in the Netherlands and his way of teaching is a big inspiration for me. He radiates calmness and balance, fully focused on the class and students, and he creates a sort of meditative energy that helps with the focus on the breath and movements.

He shared his thoughts about teaching in a Dutch Yoga magazine, and I very much align with his view. The article is in Dutch, below the article you find the English translation.

Ancient or recently released, which spiritual classics are Yoga teachers inspired by at the moment? Reinier Dorrepaal by Yoga Makaranda. The Nectar of Yoga, by Tirumalai Krishnamacharya.

"My ashtanga teacher Petri Räisänen always had Yoga Makaranda with him. When I felt the need to know more about the origins of ashtanga, I read it. Krishnamacharya was the teacher of B.K.S. Iyengar and K. Pattabhi Jois and published this book in 1934. He writes about the development of yoga and laid the foundation for Ashtanga yoga as we know it today. Yoga was becoming a forgotten discipline in its day, accessible only to the elite, and would die out in India as a result. Now there are many yoga courses, which was not then. You could only come into contact with it if you belonged to certain circles. But the king of Mysore was a culture lover and felt that yoga should not be lost. He commissioned Krishnamacharya to revive it and make yoga known to a wider audience. That's why in many yoga shalas there is a picture of Krishnamacharya on the wall, I think."

The front of the book reads: 'Teach what is within you. Not as it applies to you, but as it applies to the one in front of you.'

"Always try to empathize with the people you teach. What do they need? Sometimes you can see that, sometimes

feel, or you can ask. For example, if you participate in the lesson yourself as a teacher, you will not see what is happening in the group at all. That's why I participate as little as possible. I also adapt to the people who are in the lesson. I used to always plan the lesson in advance. When you become more experienced in teaching, you no longer have to do that. I preferred to adapt the lesson to who was in front of me. Beginners or advanced users require a different approach. For example, is it necessary to explain a lot about the poses, or can you be silent? From my teacher Petri I learned to tune in even better to students. Petri is a healer by origin. He taught me to feel blockages in students and also to break through them with massage-like techniques. Very valuable."

"We should not expect immediate beneficial results when practicing Yoga, worshipping God, performing evening and morning rituals, repeating the Lord's name etc. in the manner of an hourly paid worker who expects his wages at the end of each hour of his work. We should not worry about the time spent (on these matters), nor assess it on a monetary basis. Once such thoughts are entertained, we sink low (in moral and spiritual standards)."

Regularity is important to achieve an effect. You prefer to do yoga every day. Better than once or twice a week several hours in a row. Krishnamacharya says that you should not only integrate the asana practice into your life, but also the kriyas, pranayama and the principles of yama and niyama An ashtanga practice is a nice stepping stone to a deeper spiritual life."

"Yoga and spiritual practices should not be equated with shopping in a supermarket."

"Shopping on the yoga aisle is for example, avoid the things you find difficult in a lesson. Difficulties are built into an ashtanga sequence, they have a function. If you keep skipping such difficulties and you only do what you enjoy, you can call it snacking. Taking lessons in different styles, with different teachers, is also something like that. You know, a lot of things in life are pleasant, but not necessarily good. Your focus is on good. If you do this again then that again, you are mainly feeding your ego nicely. So rather choose one direction and find your peace in it.'