Wild Yoga Tribe Podcast Episode #102 – Yoga Is More Than You See – Yoga in Denmark with Dea Mørk-Jensen

Welcome to Episode #102 of the Wild Yoga Tribe Podcast! My conversation with Dea Mørk-Jensen, a yoga teacher from Denmark, was so lovely as we looked deeply at how more people are seeking yoga out, we talked about the importance of playfulness in our practice, and how social media has changed people’s perception of yoga. I hope that this conversation gave you hope, gave you food for thought, and gave you a glimpse into yoga in Denmark

If you’re looking to tune into a podcast episode that is all about yoga in Denmark then this is the conversation for you.

Tell me more about Dea Mørk-Jensen

Dea Mørk-Jensen, a yoga teacher from Denmark, embarked on her yogic journey with a 200-hour YTT in 2012 under Alpha Omega Yoga. Her dedication to growth led her to enriching experiences like the 30-hour Mandala Vinyasa in 2020 and a 50-hour Yin & Chakras training with The Yoga People. Rooted in Odense, Denmark, and nurtured in the diverse landscapes of Mexico, Dea’s teaching style blends vinyasa flow, Yin, and Hatha, peppered with the playful challenge of inversions. With almost a decade of teaching experience, she has shared her passion in studios across Puerto Vallarta, Mexico, and Toulouse, France, before finding her current space in Copenhagen, including Absalon, Rive Gauche, and PakhusYoga. Dea’s classes mirror her belief in yoga’s transformative power, especially in the joyous exploration of inversions that redefine our understanding of strength and capability.

What to expect in the Yoga In Denmark episode of the Wild Yoga Tribe Podcast

Dea Mørk-Jensen shared a captivating journey of her yoga practice, weaving through her teenage introduction to yoga in Denmark to a transformative period in Mexico. Her story unfolds with the magic of falling in love with yoga in Puerto Vallarta, Mexico, and the subsequent decision to embark on a 200-hour yoga teacher training.

Dea discussed the evolution of her teaching style through various teacher trainings, emphasizing the importance of gaining diverse perspectives. She touched on the benefits of additional training, mentioning how it broadened her approach and understanding of yoga, especially in areas like yin yoga, where the uniqueness of each individual’s body became a significant focus.

Our conversation delved into the playfulness of yoga, particularly in inversions. Dea expressed her passion for inversions and how they transformed her perspective on her body’s capabilities. She highlighted the joy of discovering the body’s potential for different movements and the profound impact on her personal practice.

We further explored the impact of social media, particularly Instagram, on the perception of yoga. We both acknowledged the positive aspects of making yoga more accessible globally but also touched upon the challenge of portraying a realistic image of yoga amidst the trend of perfect poses and aesthetics.

The interview transitioned to Dea’s reflections on teaching yoga in Denmark and how the yoga scene has evolved over the years. Dea emphasized the diversity of offerings in Copenhagen, with various studios providing different styles of yoga to cater to a wide range of preferences. The flexibility of people’s schedules was noted, allowing them to explore different classes and teachers.

Dea shared her love for Denmark, describing it as a country with a strong sense of community, safety, and easy access to nature. She highlighted the privilege of feeling safe and the joy of engaging in activities like winter bathing, which became a therapeutic practice during the darker months.

The interview wrapped up with Dea’s personal definition of yoga, viewing it as a tool for self-discovery, self-love, and growth. Yoga, for her, is a lifelong journey that evolves with different stages of life, providing a continuous path toward understanding oneself.

Favorite Quote From Dea Mørk-Jensen

“Yoga has been a tool and a way for me to feel more me, like really find who am I really? And what are my values? What do I feel about myself? Like really get to, to love myself and feel connected to who I am.”

Connect with Dea Mørk-Jensen

https://www.instagram.com/deamoerk/

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Wild Yoga Tribe Podcast Episode 102 – Yoga in Denmark with Dea Mørk-Jensen Transcript

[00:00:00] Lily Allen-Duenas: Namaste family and welcome back to the Wild Yoga Tribe podcast. Today I am so excited to welcome Dea Mørk-Jensen onto the show today. She is a yoga teacher from Denmark and she’s been teaching yoga for over a decade. She was rooted in Udensa, a beautiful town in Denmark, and she was nurtured in the diverse landscapes of Mexico, and Dea’s teaching style blends vinyasa flow, yin, hatha, and is peppered with the playful challenges of inversion. So she has shared her passion for yoga in studios across Puerto Vallarta, Mexico, and Toulouse, France, and now resides back in Denmark, teaching in Copenhagen. So thank you so much, Dea, for joining us on the show today.

[00:00:49] Dea Mørk-Jensen: Thank you, Lily. It’s really an honor to be here and thank you so much for that beautiful presentation. That sounded fantastic.

[00:00:56] Lily Allen-Duenas: Oh, you are fantastic and I’m so excited to get to do this. And let’s start off the, this episode together. Let’s just begin by sharing a bit of your story, how you first encountered yoga and what drew you to pursuing it as a practice and eventually as a career.

How did you begin on the path of yoga?

[00:01:13] Dea Mørk-Jensen: Yeah. It’s not often that I sit and think so much about, my, my yoga journey or yoga path like that. So that was really interesting as well for me to delve into that and reflect a little bit upon what that journey has been like. And I actually started out when I was, [00:01:30] I think 12 or 13 being introduced to yoga through, it was like a short course for teenagers or young people to just try it out.

And it wasn’t like initially it wasn’t a practice or something that really appealed to me. I tried it out, obviously, as a teenager as well. Sometimes you can be a little bit all over the place at that point in life. So I I really wanted to like it, but it was, difficult for me initially.

I wanted to be a yoga person or I wanted to be a yoga practitioner or someone who was good at meditating and things like that, but I really didn’t get into it initially and then just put it on hold for a bit. And then that was in Denmark, where I first started out trying it.

My personal story is very long, but as a family, we then traveled to Mexico. And that is where after a couple of years, got a little bit more into yoga, started practicing and really liking it. yoga became part of My daily life really and also a way for me to connect with a lot of people.

I made amazing friendships through yoga by the studio I practiced at. Puerto Vallarta was where I really fell in love with yoga and I was about 18, I would say 18, 19 around that time. It was just kind of magical thinking back to that time and so I just practice and that was really just my [00:03:00] life was yoga at that time.

And that’s then shortly after I decided to do a yoga teacher training because I figured I wanted to also be able to to share it With more people and give my approach to it and obviously as a new yoga teacher after just 200 hours, very intense training . , we come out of those trainings very, I don’t know, not unprepared, but starting out teaching felt weird for me in the beginning.

And obviously that grew on me and I really enjoyed it after getting to, to know myself better as well and teach. So yeah that’s my story initially. 

200 hour yoga teacher trainings maybe aren’t enough

[00:03:38] Lily Allen-Duenas: Oh, that’s wonderful. I love that you were introduced to it as a teenager and that you also shared with us that you’re like not sure, but I want to, but I want to do it. And I want to be able to do that. But that’s, it’s great to hear that, that, that transition also into when you’re 18 and falling more in love with it in Mexico, the one thing too, I’m grateful you mentioned is that the 200 hour, it left you feeling a little unprepared. So I know some of the yoga teachers. In my circles, in my community, as well as who are tuning in here, they maybe have just have one 200 hour training. So I would love to talk to you about one you’re different in various trainings you’ve done, your 200 hour at Alpha Omega, Mandala Vinyasa, Yin and Chakra, and how you think doing those additional trainings has been beneficial or influenced your teaching style, philosophy, and any advice for [00:04:30] yoga teachers who are looking to do additional training 

The benefits of doing additional yoga teacher trainings

[00:04:32] Dea Mørk-Jensen: yeah, I didn’t want to say that not having enough training or that you need a lot of trainings to be a good yoga teacher, but it definitely gave me more perspectives doing different sorts of teacher trainings and with different people as well, because, different yoga teachers have very different approaches to the practice and how you can teach it and share it with others.

And I actually didn’t do another training, per se, for maybe 6 or 7 years, so I taught with my 200 hours I just felt that it was only after maybe 1 or 2 years that I felt a lot more confident in myself. At the beginning, maybe you had the same experience when you just graduated, that you felt like you needed more guidance, or more experience, maybe, and Really, that comes with just teaching.

Yeah, I think it’s very normal as a yoga teacher that is newly graduated to feel a little bit confused or maybe doubting a little bit in what they’re doing. That was my experience at least. And so when I decided to do more trainings, it was also, to get more different approaches because I felt that sometimes maybe I wanted to be able to have different perspectives on yoga poses.

My training I did was 10 years ago, 11 years ago, maybe, and obviously yoga as it is today. For me has changed a lot. I see [00:06:00] yoga in a very different way now than what I did when I just started out particularly on the aspect of poses and what we see in poses and how we introduce them to students and also how we try and adjust them so that everybody can feel comfortable in them.

That is one of the things I think I learned most from the yin training. How our Our bodies are so different, we’re so individual our bodies, not just flexibility wise, but also how the bone structure is, and how some hips can be super open in one position, but very closed in a different one, or a pose will feel different for many different students, and they might not be beneficial for everyone .

So yeah, that was one of the things that I think I got on a little bit later, after I had taught for a couple of years.

[00:06:51] Lily Allen-Duenas: Yeah, it comes in that knowledge and with more observing of your students and also more practice of assistance and alignment and adjustment. I think that is such a magical element that it really just takes time feeling, putting hands on bodies in different shapes and seeing how they respond. And I think it’s, eternally growing, right? You can unpack more than you ever thought was possible out of one shape. You’re like, I’m still learning about downward dog, you know?

[00:07:24] Dea Mørk-Jensen: yeah, exactly. Especially that pose. It has so many different yeah, [00:07:30] perspectives and ways to feel different things in that pose depending on how you put your hips or tiny little stretches that you can modify and adjust in that pose. 

What you can learn from yin yoga

[00:07:40] Lily Allen-Duenas: And I agree that yin yin yoga it did a lot of light on how everybody is different. I know Bernie Clark says everyone has their own biology and biography and that always is something I try to say in every yin class I teach. I’m just saying, hey, this is not right or wrong. It’s never about the aesthetics. It’s only about what feels right. And it’s functional and safe and I don’t know, I think that yin in particular gave me a beautiful new perspective because I also used to really practice ashtanga very regularly which I know you used to teach and so just having that yin element now in perspective in all of my teachings I think it’s so valuable.

[00:08:22] Dea Mørk-Jensen: absolutely. And I think it makes yoga more interesting as well, Obviously there are poses and they have benefits and they work in different ways, but it’s more trying to adjust the pose to the body than trying to force the body into a certain pose because really it is more it is just a pose and what we are looking for is so much deeper than a certain look.

A passion for inversions in yoga

[00:08:46] Lily Allen-Duenas: Absolutely. Absolutely. And I know that something you are passionate about as well is inversions. Could you delve a little into how inversions have maybe transformed your perspective on the body or on [00:09:00] strength?

[00:09:00] Dea Mørk-Jensen: Yeah, absolutely. Also because there’s so many what’s it called? Subjects that Come with this conversation that we’re having now the body and how poses look and also now with Instagram, how the focus on a perfect position or the body in general, very much in focus through social media.

But like for me doing inversions and figuring out, wow, my body is actually capable of doing things that I never thought I would be able to do. I never did gymnastics or I never felt like my body was very athletic in any way when I was younger. I started practicing yoga and I started practicing other sorts of sports as well, but I was also always looking at handstands, for example, or forearm stands and thinking, I don’t think I will be able to do that.

And I just put it aside and then suddenly something clicked where I just I met people who were like really encouraging and said try it in a different approach, do different things and suddenly feeling that magical sensation of just being upside down and feeling a different lightness in the body.

Was really interesting. And also just finding a passion that I could spend, not hours because you get tired in the body physically, but spending a lot of time trying to figure out, okay, how does this work in the body? Which muscles do I need to activate here and what [00:10:30] sort of techniques could help me figure out how to get the sensation?

 it’s something that meant a lot to me personally, and obviously also being able to integrate it in my yoga practice and find a more playful approach to my yoga practice, because also, I did a lot of ashtanga practice at the beginning of my yoga journey.

And obviously ashtanga is wonderful and it has a lot of benefits as well, but I sometimes felt that there was less space for that sort of playfulness, for me at least. I wasn’t able to maybe Be as creative because obviously it’s a series already preset and so suddenly figuring out, okay, I can actually change things around and do it a little bit more my own way and find something that really works for me and that makes me happy about what I’m doing and discovering new things about myself. That was that was fantastic.

[00:11:23] Lily Allen-Duenas: Yes. Yes. I think the playfulness element is something I love bringing onto my mat because I realized with Ashtanga for me. That I naturally have a little bit more of that drive, achieve, do, and like that doer energy. And it is so nice to have a space where I’m practicing something that’s not my natural inclination, right?

 Something like that would, I hope our listeners can relate to, but. Saying, okay, maybe you gravitate towards a practice because it is already the energy that you’re in alignment with, but if you want to cultivate, I think, more balance as a [00:12:00] human, just in your complete 24 hour day, I think trying to introduce and incorporate and being mindful of practicing things that you want to practice having in your life.

[00:12:11] Dea Mørk-Jensen: yeah, absolutely. And I think also, then, when teaching you bring that with you. If that is what you’re practicing yourself, students will immediately pick up on that and on that energy that you then bring into the classes that you teach which, talking about the subject about being a yoga teacher is really important as well.

 When I started out, I thought I had to be in a specific way, or I had seen other yoga teachers do certain things, so I thought this must be how it’s supposed to be. But not feeling 100 percent comfortable in it, because Maybe it wasn’t me, I wasn’t being my authentic me, what I was bringing to my classes.

And then suddenly realizing, wow, I can do different things, I can do things in my own way, and people really react positively to that, and sometimes let me know, okay, this is, I can really feel that this is something you are passionate about, and it helps me find passion for it as well, which is Really giving.

What is important about being a yoga teacher?

[00:13:08] Lily Allen-Duenas: Yeah. Can we dive a little bit more into how you feel like it’s so important about being a yoga teacher? I know it sounded like you wanted to go down that path.

[00:13:17] Dea Mørk-Jensen: Yes, I thought it was yes that sharing of just the the passion for movement and using your body in a comfortable way, moving and breathing at the same time, being conscious about how you’re [00:13:30] moving your body. I love that. And so it’s being able to share that with other people is, Just fantastic.

And that being my job, going somewhere and see people arrive to a class, maybe a little bit stressed or, not in a super good mood and then after class being that sort of, wow, that’s what I needed. I feel very different now. Or you, something touched me in this class. That is such a privilege, I think not that it’s always, everything isn’t perfect all the time, but yoga can also, I think, sometimes provoke sadness or move things around emotionally which is also necessary sometimes as well.

But, you just get into people’s lives in a different way, I feel being a yoga teacher and being able to guide them through that. 

[00:14:14] Lily Allen-Duenas: Yeah. It’s a very special trust that they put in us. I think that it’s so important to really Hold that in your heart and in your mind knowing that they are being vulnerable and tender and showing up with all the tough things that they’re going through.

We all are going through a really hard space and time.

Just the world, all of the chaos, the uncertainty. And so of course that’s. The universal but I think at the individual level there’s even more, and knowing that they show up and that you especially if you get to touch their body in an adjustment capacity, that is a enormous responsibility as well. I encourage teachers to spend time kind of reflecting on that as well, [00:15:00] on how the role that you play in their life, like what are you bringing, what energy are you transmitting and making sure always being authentic, not trying to pretend to be 

a different teacher than you already are.

[00:15:13] Dea Mørk-Jensen: yes, yeah, absolutely, and also that we are all humans, being a yoga teacher doesn’t mean that you’ve got everything figured out and that your life is in balance all the time obviously as a yoga teacher, you need to show up to class with a certain energy.

You can’t bring all your personal stuff with you and share that with the students because it’s their time when they show up for class. But I think it’s also important to show that you are just human and also dealing with things and, on this sense of teaching asanas that you don’t also as a yoga teacher, have to know everything and know every single pose and be good at it.

I say that with quotation marks, but being human and showing vulnerability as well as a yoga teacher, I think can allow the student to feel met maybe more, more easily, not feeling that there is that distance between you and them. 

Instagram and Yoga

[00:16:07] Lily Allen-Duenas: I love how you said that. And you also mentioned, Dea, a few, minutes ago about Instagram and yoga and how that has maybe shaped people’s perspective or changed the game a bit or expectations. Can you talk to me more about your thoughts on that?

[00:16:23] Dea Mørk-Jensen: Yeah, and that’s really interesting because obviously 15 years ago yoga probably wasn’t [00:16:30] as I don’t want to say popular, but known or as it wasn’t touched by that many people or it wasn’t something that was just everywhere which I think is now one of the really positive things about social media is that it can be shared all over the world and more people are aware of it. And also there isn’t this sort of, I don’t know, this mystic air about it. It’s much more accessible for everyone to do, which I find really cool that more and more people are practicing and getting interested in yoga and breath work and meditation.

But yes, it can also have the downside of being a social media platform. What most people tend to share is a perfect picture or a video that has been recorded many times to get the perfect angle, the perfect lighting, the perfect pose or flow which doesn’t represent maybe a normal practice or the every day.for a yoga practitioner, so obviously that can be maybe one of the less good sides about having yoga on social media and and sharing it that way. But again, it’s a, it’s an interesting conversation.

Yoga is more than you can see 

[00:17:48] Lily Allen-Duenas: Yeah, it’s a lot to unpack, because it has done a lot of good, but then just the physicality of what people think yoga is and that can create also a sense of intimidation because of course the more [00:18:00] crazy feet behind head,, arm stand on top of a Post, three centimeters That’s going to be shocking to the internet and the internet love that. And so people forget that yoga is absolutely just rolling your wrist in a circle. That’s just breathing with your eyes closed is yoga. Self study, concentration, the ethics of yoga as well. All of the elements and branches and limbs of yoga, I think get. forgotten?

[00:18:27] Dea Mørk-Jensen: Yes, 

[00:18:28] Lily Allen-Duenas: Asana is the gateway. Yeah.

[00:18:30] Dea Mørk-Jensen:  Yoga is definitely so much more than what you can see. There are so many different , things that are just not being talked so much about on social media, but also in many yoga studios nowadays where it has to be So approachable that it’s many people only really get into the asana, the physical aspect sometimes, not even, the breathing and meditation, but also the philosophy behind what we’re doing.

It is just. more a sense of moving your body, which is great, but there is so much more to it that is maybe being left a little bit behind. And for me as well, I would absolutely love to be doing much more. And again, yoga is a life journey, so I don’t consider that I have everything I need now.

I still want to be growing and discover more. But yeah, those are aspects that could definitely be more integrated into yoga as we practice it now in society. 

How has Denmark and Mexico influenced your yoga teaching?

[00:19:27] Lily Allen-Duenas: Absolutely. Absolutely. And [00:19:30] I know you grew up in Denmark, but then moved to Mexico when you were young, and now you’re back in Copenhagen. Can you tell us a bit about, your journey and evolution through those times, if that has Those cultural influences have manifested in your teaching or in your atmosphere of your classes or also I would love to hear about the yoga scene in Denmark. I would love to spotlight how that’s going there.

[00:19:54] Dea Mørk-Jensen: Yes, absolutely. It’s funny because I obviously started out in Denmark practicing for the first time, which is now over 15 years ago and now coming back and seeing how it has definitely changed. Like I think yoga has in many other places in the world. And then there’s also a huge difference, I think, still between yoga being practiced in here in Denmark or maybe Europe and then Mexico and maybe the U. S. as well. I don’t know, Mexico, there’s still this very strong connection to the elements and ancient rituals and things like that than what we do in Denmark. So that gives yoga a different touch already practicing yoga in Mexico.

But I would say that it has become at least in Copenhagen, there are so many different yoga studios now and offering very different styles of yoga, which I think is great as well, that there’s a bit of like yoga for everyone. There’s a yoga style that are very traditional and very following the same sort of style as it were 15 years ago, and now also yoga styles where [00:21:00] you can ease your way into it.

Maybe if you’re resisting a little bit, what is yoga? Am I even a yoga person? Then you can try it out with different settings, maybe where you’re practicing to electro music, that’s not what you would call more typical yoga music, maybe. That is the scene of yoga in Copenhagen at the moment.

There’s lots of different ways to practice yoga here. And different retreats, different workshops that are offering maybe sometimes to dive a little bit deeper into what is yoga, because that’s also the thing a class of an hour and 15 or an hour and a half, it can be difficult to cover all of these things.

And especially now days where people. Don’t sign up for one or two classes each week and come back with the same teacher. It’s very much drop in or trying out different studios. So you are often also teaching new students or as a student you’re often with different yoga teachers, not always the same teacher, which I talked with a yoga teacher here in Copenhagen about that specifically how that sort of thing where you’re following the same teacher for years and years isn’t as much a thing.

Now, maybe as it were before, because there is this movement going on. People who are here for a year, and then they go somewhere else. Yoga teachers as well. We’re traveling a lot. 

I personally that you can try out different people and not maybe get this sort of, um, an attachment so much to just one person. Being [00:22:30] able to take different classes with different people and adjust to that. I think that is beautiful as well, being able to get something from different classes and from different teachers.

[00:22:39] Lily Allen-Duenas: Yeah, that’s so interesting that people are Swapping teachers frequently, always going to different places and trying out different things. I think here where I’m teaching in the Midwest, in Iowa, I feel like people find maybe two teachers at a studio that they really connect with, maybe three or four even, but they really consistently show up for those teachers.

So I think there still is that you fall in love with someone’s teaching style and energy. And that consistency. It sounds a little like people are sampling. Is that more what it is? Taking one bite here and one bite there, moving from thing to thing, it seems a little, I’m totally making it up, so Dea, I’m going to, I’ll let you clarify in a second, but it seems a little like TikTok, that scroll, that short attention span of wanting to try something new constantly is, am I off base?

The yoga scene in Denmark

[00:23:27] Dea Mørk-Jensen: Mean, I don’t think that is the case I do maybe think for some people, yes not the majority though. I teach in different studios and I see people coming back to the same classes over and over again and staying in the same studio or the same place and creating community vibes and and that is great.

So no, it’s not, I would say TikTok, but, it’s I don’t know, it’s maybe a bit more of a mix, also because people’s, I don’t know, work wise now, people are much more flexible sometimes they work from [00:24:00] home, sometimes they work from a different place that isn’t in the same city maybe, so having that flexibility, being able to drop in to different classes and different teachers, I think can be great too.

But no, I do see the same people showing up for my classes. But there is just, many studios offering different things. So I also understand that people want to try out what works best for them. And then maybe settle on one or two places.

[00:24:24] Lily Allen-Duenas: Okay, that makes a lot more sense, because I’m glad that you are seeing the same students, coming for a year and a half to be with you and that you’re forming those relationships, because when I was traveling nomadically teaching yoga in Southeast Asia and Europe, I really missed that consistency of seeing the same students every week, feeling that community space, getting to see their growth and learn more about them as a person and their goals. I felt so grateful when I moved back to the U. S. a year one year ago. And then I was like, okay, it’s time. It’s time for me to hopefully, form those connections. So I’m glad you clarified.

[00:25:01] Dea Mørk-Jensen: Yes. Yeah, absolutely. But there is a shift in, I don’t know, in the way we do things as a society lately or for the past couple of of years, maybe, where I don’t know. I think it has good things and bad things maybe with it, but the fact that more and more people are seeking yoga and trying it out is definitely great.

More and more people being in a room together, sharing, the different rhythm[00:25:30]  breathing together, being conscious about how they’re moving their body. And I think that can only bring positive things with it, really.

What is Denmark like?

[00:25:38] Lily Allen-Duenas: Beautiful. I agree. I think it only bring positive things, right? Dea, I would love to hear too, just to spotlight, Denmark, as a country, maybe some of our listeners have visited, maybe they haven’t so if you could provide just like a broad brush stroke on your country on some things to highlight, we’d love to hear about it.

[00:25:57] Dea Mørk-Jensen: Yes, I am a very, I’m a very proud Dane. I really appreciate my culture and my country as well. And I don’t know if that has to do maybe with living abroad for many years or sometimes maybe missing the things that made me feel Danish. I don’t know if that makes sense, but sometimes feeling like I missed how things are being done here in Denmark.

Everybody I’ve talked with and visited Denmark have been really positive about it. And I like it as a society. I think there’s a lot of space for people to get together and do things. It’s like a community mindset in many things. We like to sing together and show up for activities together.

There’s a lot of activities at work as well, different workplaces doing a lot of activities to really make people bond and feel welcome and then it’s also a really safe country, which I think is such a privilege being able to go out. For example, in Copenhagen here, it’s a capital [00:27:00] city, and I never feel unsafe.

I feel like I can go out in the evening, I don’t have to walk with people, I can go on my own, I would never think twice about it. And that is a privilege very much. It’s also a country where it’s very easy to get to water. We have beaches very close because we’re a tiny country and we are surrounded by water almost everywhere.

I love going to the sea and we have the beach very close here. And since I came back to Denmark again, I’ve been a little bit obsessed with winter bathing. I think that was one of the mechanisms that got me through the first or proper winter when I came back again, it can be tough when the sun sets at 3.

30 PM and it is It’s easy to maybe close yourself in a little bit and not wanting to go out because it’s cold or it’s rainy or it’s dark. But if you find activities where you can feel a little bit part of the elements, for example, winter bathing, it is super cold and your body is freezing.

But being able to just do it anyway and be part of the element that is, water, the sea. It does a lot, I think for the psyche and the mental health during the darker times of the year. So all those sorts of things, I think are very very easy to do here to find things that can help you and find little spots of light throughout your day and in your [00:28:30] life.

[00:28:30] Lily Allen-Duenas: Oh, that’s beautiful. I love finding little spots of light, especially when you mentioned the darkness setting at 3. 30. And also, I love to hear you’re like, oh, and it’s, winter bathing. It’s freezing and dark and very cold, but it’s easy to do. It’s easy to have oh, that was very beautiful.

And I loved hearing how, through your lens, what makes Denmark so beautiful and why you’re such a proud Dane. Dea, I do ask this question to every guest who comes on the podcast. What is your personal definition of yoga?

What is your definition of yoga? 

[00:29:03] Dea Mørk-Jensen:  For me personally, yoga has been a tool and a way for me to feel more me, like really find who am I really? And what are my values? What do I feel about myself? Like really get to, to love myself and feel connected to who I am. For me, that has been one of the greatest things about yoga and practicing yoga, and also, doing it since I was a teenager or post teenager and up until now is, it’s followed me throughout different aspects of my life and has been a tool for me to grow. 

How to get in touch with Dea and learn more about yoga in Denmark

[00:29:41] Lily Allen-Duenas: Beautiful. Thank you so much, Dea, for sharing that with us. And I would love for our listeners, if anyone wants to get in touch with you, wants to reach out or is planning a trip to Denmark and has a question can you share on the air here, what is your, the best way to get in touch with you, whether that’s social media or websites or anything [00:30:00] else?

[00:30:00] Dea Mørk-Jensen: Yes, perfect. Definitely get in touch with me. I am on Instagram as deamoerk, spelled with O E. And I always post about my classes or workshops or eventually retreats as well. So Instagram is the easiest way to get in touch with me and who they’re. Links to my email as well.

[00:30:21] Lily Allen-Duenas: SO I will definitely link your Instagram in the show notes as well as on my website, wildyogatribe. com slash yoga in Denmark. So you can head on over there and just easily click a link and be connected with Dea. So Dea, this has been a joy and such a beautiful way to, just share space together and get to know your story, your journey, and what yoga That has given you and your thoughts on also being a teacher. I think that was fabulous. So thank you so much for joining me today.

[00:30:51] Dea Mørk-Jensen: Thank you, Lily. It’s been great. A pleasure.

Wild Yoga Tribe podcast outro

[00:30:54] Lily Allen-Duenas: Thank you so much for tuning into this episode of the Wild Yoga Tribe podcast. My conversation with Dea Mørk-Jensen, a yoga teacher from Denmark, was so lovely as we looked deeply at how more people are seeking yoga out, and also about the importance of playfulness in our practice, how social media has changed people’s perception of yoga and what it means, what it really means to be a yoga teacher. So I hope that this conversation gave you hope, gave you food for thought, and gave you a glimpse into yoga in [00:31:30] Denmark. If you’re looking to tune into a podcast episode that is all about yoga in Denmark, then this is the conversation for you. Thank you for listening to the Wild Yoga Tribe podcast. Be well.

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