Mironel de Wilde

When yoga transformed from east to west somehow it seem to have the reputation of a more feminine practice, in most yoga classes I took I been the only guy, and when it comes to yoga teaching I have found it a bit harder to get a man yoga teacher to model for me on my travel then a woman yoga teacher.
When I was looking online for yoga teachers in Geneva, I manage to find only one which kindly offer his wife for the photos rather than be in them himself, which is a shame, the benefit of yoga doesn't discriminate man or woman, and can make life changing effects on health, conciousness and happiness.

Hopefully by showing that more men around the world do yoga if through photos or talking about it more, maybe we could break that mental barrier.
With that I would like to thank Mironel for being so wonderfully spontaneous and agree to come model for me in a day notice, was great meeting him and also very grateful for him answering my question.

Q: How did you find out about yoga?
After having studied Buddhism and done shamanic practices like sweat lodges, I did my first yoga class at university. It gave me that same deep connection with myself as the sweat lodge but without the shaman and the big fire and everything. I still love to go to a sweat, but that I can get to that place of Being with just me, myself and a mat is amazing!

Q: How long have you been practising yoga?
That first class was in 1998, but I started to practice seriously in 2002.

Q: Why did you decided to start teaching yoga?
My Dharma is to guide people to themselves, to inner values and awakened consciousness, in whatever way I can. Teaching yoga is one great medium for connecting deeper.

Q: Where did you study teaching yoga?
I first did full-time studies of yoga in Rishikesh, India, and I completed my teacher training in Goa, India

Q: how long have you been teaching?
I first taught classes in Thailand in 2004, and then workshops over the years, and now it has become my primary occupation this year, 2014.

Q: Was there anything that was hard for you with your own personal practice? How did you overcome it?
Concentration of the mind in meditation has been hard for me, and navigating that inner space of mind which can border imagination and also go to great heights of consciousness. I go back to Dhyana all the time, simple concentration exercises like staring at a candle or a yantra, and this sharpens the mind before closing the eyes.

Q: Personal motto?
Be like the sun.

Q: how did yoga improved your life?
It gave me a concrete path to realize my spiritual aspiration, a relationship with my body to take my health into my own hands, and a world view that sees everyone as sacred.