Hi I’m Yan!
I’m not here to add more to your life, but instead to provide you the tools to discover yourself and in the process bring joy and value to every life experience with some fun. Using Ashtanga Yoga as this tool for self reflection, to create space in thinking, the soul can observe life in it’s playground as it finds union with life adventures passing through. My mission is to ignite our spiritual intelligence and set ourselves free.
I am here to let you know that you already have access to everything you need to find purpose and meaning for untouchable happiness though your journey right at this moment, to spark your fire and make as many people as possible smile through it all.
Life Story
I always had a curious mind, an experimental disposition and like all naughty children and rebellious teens, spent most of my younger years up to no good pursuing this curiosity and experimental nature. I don’t regret a moment of it. ;)
Testing at the top 2% of worlds IQ at 16 and joining the Mensa Society, sparked an interest to discover the purpose of intellect. I sought out to gain knowledge thru university degrees in science graduating with honours in Biotechnology from the world's 5th ranked university, and then in an attempt to balance both left and right brain function took a second university course in the arts.
Solving problems and creating ideas was fun, but there was still something lacking that corporate life was not fulfilling. 6 years of working in business and I was over it, there had to be more to life. Being sick of feeling lost, purposeless and directionless I took what was left of my savings after the days of hard work followed by champagne-filled nights and left everyone and everything I knew to hit the road. 2 years passed backpacking alone, I bussed all of South America from Brazil to the Galapagos and finished on the border of Congo, Uganda and Rwanda staring down a Mountain Gorilla. Had lengthy conversations with everyone that crossed my path and participated in every possible experience that opportunity threw my way.
I couldn’t return to the bland city life after that, nor surround myself with the superficial, I lost interest in meaningless interaction. My travels finished, but my life has just started.
The thirst to learn never died, I plonked myself in Bali, got certified to conduct various energy and body work whilst renewing my Ashtanga Yoga practice. Ultimately, the quest for deeper learning and devotion to be a student led to living in India for intense studies in Ashtanga Yoga and philosophy for half a decade.
My life journey has no doubt been a whirlwind of exciting explosions, it felt like 400 lifetimes worth of experience compressed into 40 years of breathing. In the process I had made decisions that lost close to everything I had in the bank… twice, been intoxicated in more cities than I can remember, met people all of backgrounds from incarcerated international drug lords to the world's biggest yoga gurus. Life was intriguing and the people in it were simply fascinating. There was so much to learn by just observing the things happening in and around us. However in all honesty awakening was nothing of the sort and did not involve a flash of lightning. After-all, my mother did get struck by lightning and ended up in ICU for 6 months before I was born, so I wouldn’t wish for that for any of us.
“Awakening is a slow process of growing awareness, like seeing stars appearing in the night sky after exiting an overly lit fluorescent room. “
When I’m not teaching or maintaining my lifelong practice of movement and mind, I fill my cup travelling to new destinations, writing and snuggling with my husband, dog and cat…. together at the same time.
Yoga Journey
Bright eyed and bushy tailed I brought home a book and tried to teach myself the sequence of Ashtanga Yoga on my bedroom floor for a couple of years back in 2001 before attending my 1st class, which eventually got cancelled anyway after being only 2 students sporadically for a couple years. 4 years of non-committal dabbling ended up nowhere so I fell off the yoga wagon.
However, in 2008, everything fell into place and the Ashtanga Yoga came back strong and stayed for good. It became my life. In 2010 I found my teacher, Paramagruru Sharath Jois and moved to Mysore, India living there for 4 years, practicing under his guidance and privately studying sacred texts having completed to date 7 Upanishads and Yoga Sutras with renowned philosophy expert Professor Najarajao Rao. Over a decade later I still return for several months a year to do the same.
In 2012 I was authorised by Paramaguru Sharath Jois to teach Ashtanga Yoga and was fortunate to have the opportunity to travel and teach across the globe in Australia, Belgium, Brazil, Brunei, Indonesia, Japan, Malaysia, the Philippines & more. I’m blessed to be Malaysia’s first Level 2 qualified Ashtanga Yoga teacher.
In the 20 years since I found Ashtanga Yoga, I have learnt to heal my own ankle, wrist and spinal injuries, manage herniated disc associated pain, stress and hypothyroidism within my practice, allowing for a more thoughtful, accepting, compassionate and wider view approach towards asana and its ability to be therapeutic.
In conjunction with having dealt with both physical and health struggles during my journey, 10 years study of yoga philosophy scripture which the practice is built upon, has given me an understanding of the practice from a deeper yet wider perspective.
My studying of both Ashtanga Yoga and Philosophy is a continuous lifelong ongoing process. The definition of the set of ancient spiritual scripts I have been intensely studying for the past 8 years is called Upanishads, which literally means ‘sitting down next to’. This is how the traditional and original study was conducted from teacher to student 5000 years ago, this is exactly how I have been guided, quietly sitting next to my Professor receiving teachings as intended one-on-one, year after year.
Personally, my journey in both asana and text study has been a slow one, almost painfully slow, but as a result after years of determination and devotion to Yoga, this gradual process made it possible for it’s understanding to run deep within my veins and knowledge so vast it touches all I see, a valuable benefit that happened as a consequence of unhurried progressive learning without goal.
“Let’s lift our heads and come up for air.”
I have been teaching Mysore style yoga full time for the past 8 years and now co-own, with my husband, Malaysia’s first and only Mysore style dedicated shala since 2015 where I teach daily and train selected long term students to become teachers. Being based in one place and able to watch students daily over a sustained period of time, I teach with the long term perspective and goal of longevity in the practice. With almost a decade of teaching experience, I have had the privilege to bring Ashtanga Yoga to blind, paralysed, multiple sclerosis & cancer patients, accident survivors, post heart surgery, amputee, pregnant, elderly, professional athletes & fighters, Hollywood movie stars and fit healthy students of all ages, races & spiritual beliefs.
I am also largely influenced by non-denominational spiritual teacher Eckhart Tolle having spent time with him on retreat and completed his 6 month advance School of Awakening course.
Back home in Kuala Lumpur, I spend my time spreading the path of this 8 Limbed Yoga, teaching daily at my shala and writing spiritual awareness articles. Occasionally I travel to teach around the world at yoga shalas, events, festivals and retreats. I have been spreading my message for the past 8 years in 15 countries and counting, across 5 continents, sharing teachings to students around the world using amusing life observations and modern day applications of age-old knowledge to bring enjoyment in the holistic practice of traditional Ashtanga Yoga as a tool for finding purpose to it all.
Thank you for taking the time to read my story I hope one day I get the privilege to know yours too.
Love, Yan