#40 – Yoga as a Therapy – Yoga in Greece with Christina Kyparissa

Wild Yoga Tribe Podcast Episode #40 – Yoga as a Therapy – Yoga in Greece with Christina Kyparissa 

Welcome to Episode #39 of the Wild Yoga Tribe Podcast! This week, I welcome Christina Kyparissa onto the show. She is a yoga teacher from Greece who teaches hatha yoga, pranayama, mantra chanting, and yoga nidra. She has beautifully vibrant energy and she shared her passion for yoga as a healing tool, and as a therapeutic way of getting to know ourselves better and deal with difficulties that arise in our lives. 

My conversation with Christina Kyparissa, a yoga teacher from Greece was so intriguing as we talked about yoga as a therapy, as a tool to explore ourselves and to ultimately transform into our better selves. I hope that this conversation made you curious about the therapeutic elements and gifts of yoga, and about what wellness means to you.

If you’re looking to tune into a podcast episode that is all about acceptance, wellness, and connection then this is the conversation for you.

Tell me more about Christina Kyparissa

Christina Kyparissa is a yoga teacher from Greece who has been a student of yoga since 2011, and she became a yoga teacher in 2019. She teaches Hatha Yoga, pranayama, and yoga nidra. She leads online workshops and teaches at yoga retreats in the summers in Corfu. She lives in Thessaloniki, Greece and also works as a freelance writer. She leads weekly online yoga classes on Zoom with students from around the world.

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

Christina came to yoga looking for a non-extreme, non-aggressive way to move her body. She soon realized that yoga is a powerful tool of healing. After she lost her father in 2015, her yoga practice was a place to heal and to learn to acceptance and to find peace. She teaches yoga to give back what she, herself, has gained from the practice. 

She wants to give her students the chance to explore themselves in a smooth way, and give them a therapeutic tool. Yoga, as a lifestyle, one of the goals is to be therapeutic so that we can find our higher selves and to actually deal with who we are, and to see ourselves transforming into our better selves.

Through our conversation, Christina shared her wisdom and grace with us while also sharing what yoga in Greece is like and why Greece is a place that has captured the attention of the world for centuries.

Curious? Tune into the Wild Yoga Tribe Podcast to learn more about Christina, and about yoga in Greece.

Favorite Quote From Christina Kyparissa

“Yoga has been probably the most powerful tool to transform myself and the way I used to see actually, how I am and how I feel. And it has also been a very useful tool when in 2015, I lost my father. The yoga practice was the place I could escape, but escaping it, not in a way that denying the loss,  but accepting it. And I could find some peace. So that’s when I also decided that I wanted to teach yoga because I felt that I had taken so much from yoga and I really wanted to give it back. So teaching yoga and giving all that it had given to me, to other people was really why I started thinking about becoming a yoga teacher.”

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Wild Yoga Tribe Podcast Episode #40 – Yoga as a Therapy – Yoga in Greece with Christina Kyparissa

[00:00:00] Lily Allen-Duenas: Namaste and welcome back to the Wild Yoga Tribe podcast. I am so excited to welcome Christina Kyparissa onto the show today. She’s a yoga teacher from Greece who has been a student of yoga since 2011 and a yoga teacher since 2019, she teaches Hatha, yoga, pranayama, and yoga nidra. And she leads online workshops and teaches at yoga retreats in the summers in Corfu. So Thank you so much, Christina, for being here with me today.

[00:00:31] Christina Kyparissa: Thank you for having me nice to be here. Even online. 

[00:00:37] Lily Allen-Duenas: Even online. Yes. Hopefully one day in person. Thessaloniki, where you live, is very close to my heart. So hopefully one day. 

[00:00:44] Christina Kyparissa: Yeah. Fingers crossed.

How did yoga come into your life?

[00:00:46] Lily Allen-Duenas: So Christina, can we start off just by hearing a little bit more about your story and how yoga came into your life? 

[00:00:53] Christina Kyparissa: Of course I’m the kind of person who doesn’t really love their intensive workouts. So I was trying to find a way to keep my body fit. And at some point in 2011, I attended a class. It was actually at a dance studio. They had some yoga lessons, so I attended the class and I found out that I like it.

[00:01:23] I like yoga. I liked what they were doing. Though the first class was a bit difficult. As the teacher was doing a kind of flow Vinyasa practice. The truth is that I left the class feeling very rejuvenated and feeling very well with myself. So I kept going and going, and then I decided that it was time to go to a yoga studio to attend the practices there. And that’s how yoga got into my life. And to be honest, I found out that I think that made me return to the yoga class and to my mat was that I felt really myself on the mat. And even today, that’s how I feel.

[00:02:17] And that’s what I really wish for my students to feel like when they are on their mats to feel like themselves and then to keep that feeling and have it throughout the day, whatever they do. Like I tried to do as well.

[00:02:35] And I can say that yoga has been probably the most powerful tool to transform myself and the way I used to see actually, how I am and how I feel. And it has also been a very useful tool when in 2015, I lost my father. And so my yoga practice was the place.

[00:03:05] I could escape, but escaping it, not in a way that denying the loss but accepting it. And I could find some peace. So that’s when I also decided that I wanted to teach yoga because I felt that I had taken so much from yoga and I really wanted to give it back. So teaching yoga and giving.

[00:03:32] All that it had given to me to other people was really why I started thinking about becoming a yoga teacher. And since 2016, I had set the goal to go to India and be trained as a yoga teacher. And that became reality in 2019 when I had the money to do it and the time to do it. I decided to go to Yoga Point in Nasik to do my teacher training.

Yoga Point

[00:04:05] Lily Allen-Duenas: Amazing. And for all of our listeners out there, that’s also how Christina and I met. It wasn’t in India at Yoga Point, but recently we both completed our online Yoga Nidra certification with Yoga Point. They’re doing a lot of online courses. We both met doing that, which was pretty cool.

[00:04:26] Right? 

[00:04:27] Christina Kyparissa: Yes. It was a great experience, even though it was online, it was lovely.

[00:04:32] Lily Allen-Duenas: Definitely was, and I loved also hearing Christina, how you said, why you want to be a yoga teacher is because you feel like you’ve taken so much from the practice of yoga and that you feel like it’s time to give it back like that. It just really touched me. I think that was beautiful to say that. 

Yoga as a Therapy

[00:04:51] Christina Kyparissa: Yeah, it’s true. And I still feel it, and that’s why I choose to do Hatha yoga. And that’s why I did the yoga training, because I see yoga as a means of therapy, but therapy in a good way. Yoga is another beautiful tool to explore ourselves. So I’m not very into extreme yoga practices. I don’t say that I don’t enjoy it. I like to do intense yoga classes as a student. But at the moment, I feel like as a teacher, what I want to do is to give my students the chance to explore themselves in a more smooth way and to give themselves a therapeutic tool. And I think that yoga as a lifestyle one of the goals is to be therapeutic, so we can find our higher selves at some point. And actually deal with who we are now and see ourselves transforming into our better self.

[00:06:15] Lily Allen-Duenas: I agree that yoga is an amazing tool for self-growth, self-understanding, self-discovery, there’s so many different ways that it shines the light or is a different lens to look through. And I think things become really clear the more that you practice yoga, whether it’s meditation or pranayama, not just asana. But I think it just cleans the dirt off the mirror of ourselves. Using the old analogy just helps us to see things just a little bit clearer. Do you agree? 

Yoga and Mantras and Pranayama

[00:06:48] Christina Kyparissa: Yes, totally. And that’s why I’m not into very intense practices of asanas. And I really loved pranayama. And also my favorite part is the mantra chanting. Though yoga has a lot to do with how we connect with the universe as well. That’s the ultimate goal to connect. So through mantras, through vibrations, I feel that we can give our brain a way to get a different mode.

[00:07:26] So that’s why I like to start my practices with the chanting of the Omkar mantra or other mantras that are very important. And they don’t really have to do with deities but they have to do with the universe with how we can connect, how we can ask beautiful things to come to our lives by the universe.

[00:07:52] And it’s very interesting to see how people react to that because Western people aren’t used to and because of religions, a lot of people are very skeptical about the mantras, but when they, you realize how they can feel through it they actually ended up some of them, they end up really loving mantras as well.

[00:08:21] Pranayama as well. So I give a lot of time from the practice I design as a teacher, I give a lot of time to mantras, pranayama and relaxation. I use asana as a term of getting in connection with a buddy and feeling more comfortable in the body. It’s not the body that is the primary goal.

[00:08:46] I go for feeling well in the mind and in the body, the mind is so important, especially for people who work all day and are very stressed and find it really difficult to just sit and be by their own thoughts. That’s I think while we are so much into social media and television and we can’t be by ourselves, just listening to our own thoughts.

[00:09:19] The truth is that yoga for me is a beautiful philosophy by itself. Of course, it’s very connected to India’s religions, Hinduism for example. But I think we can see it as a complete lifestyle, without judging so much how it connects with religion.

[00:09:46] Lily Allen-Duenas: Yes. I completely understand. And even the Om can surprise people. I think that there’s a lot that needs to go into hopefully the gentle and slow kind of introduction and then education elements as well. Just explaining it is just the sound of the universe. It’s in a way it’s even scientific. Like this a noise, vibration, a frequency. And we’re just trying to approach that sound and interact with it. I hope that it becomes more normalized and more comfortable for people. And I think now that yoga is so popular universally around the world. I think we’re moving in those directions to go a little closer to mantra and yoga nidra and pranayama and even maybe sharing knowledge about yamas and niyamas and the path itself. And so I think that there’s more people inching closer. 

Explaining why we do mantra chanting and pranayama

[00:10:43] Christina Kyparissa: I think that it has to do a lot with the minds of modern people, younger people that are about our age in the Western world, who thought that, okay, yoga is in fashion, I will do yoga. I will get myself to stand on my head, look at what I can do.

[00:11:06] So I think that yoga starts going out of fashion and becoming more solid, exercising physically, but relaxing. Actually, a lot of my students, what they tell me first is that I have the need to relax. I have the need to feel well, which my, myself and my body. They don’t actually come to me because they want to get great abs and be super fit. They actually want to work with what’s going on inside them. So I think that we start seeing yoga as a more holistic way of exercising. That’s why I agree that people can start being taught more than the asanas, even the yamas and niyamas.

[00:12:00] I agree that it’s nice to explain to someone what you do, why we do mantras, why we do pranayama, how it works. How we can explain it even scientifically what it does to our brain, like when we keep the oxygen inside and it starts turning into carbon dioxide. And then the brain starts setting an alert that something is going on and it’s not the way it was expected. So the brain starts using more neurons. And that’s how we’ll get our brain to work in more different parts of it then it’s used to, because it’s the same with breathing from the stomach and not just from the upper parts of the chest.

[00:12:56] It has to do with stress, so it’s nice to explain all those things to the students. And then they are not just following, they choose to do something and that’s why they will remain to the practice or they choose to leave. And that’s very fine by me as well, giving a free first lesson so that someone can try practicing with you.

[00:13:24] And if they like it, they can continue. If they don’t like it, they’re free to choose a different teacher because a yoga teacher is like a therapist. When you do psychotherapy, not every therapist will suit you. It’s the same with a yoga teacher or yoga teacher may become a mentor, may become someone who you trust, become someone that you trust is a person that you rely on for your personal.

[00:14:00] And we see wellness as something very trendy as well, but wellness is very important. 

[00:14:08] Lily Allen-Duenas: It’s at the heart of being well, of being alive, of breathing, but of also just being human to help a happy and healthy human, but happy is a hard word. Isn’t that? We’re not always going to be happy. That’s not the goal, but it’s hard to define wellness. Isn’t it? Being well, whole, feeling safe, balanced feeling.

[00:14:30] How would you define wellness?

What is Wellness? How do you define wellness?

[00:14:31] Christina Kyparissa: I think that it’s something very personal as well. But in general, wellness for me would be acceptance. Acceptance and also awareness. It’s very important for me to hear what my body has to say, and what my body says is actually what my mind and my soul needs.

[00:14:54] That’s why we may have so many psychosomatic symptoms and diseases. We’re not listening to ourselves. We’re not taking care of ourselves enough. So wellness for me would be accepting and listening and also nourishing taking care of yourself.

[00:15:18] So for me, it’s mostly a decision that has to do with the mind with a soul. And then the body is like a vessel. We should take care of it, but firstly, we should take care of our thoughts. It’s not easy. You’re very right. It’s not easy to define wellness. And I think it’s also personal how you define your wellness. And we won’t always be happy. I don’t think that’s the point but we can try to be happy as much as possible because even though life is like that life is a bit of a hard path. But it’s how we choose to see the path. 

[00:16:09] Lily Allen-Duenas: Very well said. But Christina, since we’re in the kind of the realm of defining things, since I asked you to define wellness, how would you define yoga? 

How do you define yoga? What is yoga?

[00:16:21] Christina Kyparissa: Yoga for me is a gift. It’s a beautiful gift of a lifestyle that we can choose in order to give ourselves the chance to approach parts that we may not know. But in a nice and gentle way. Yoga for me is a beautiful kind of lifestyle. I don’t say that I follow the lifestyle very strictly. I have to say that even though I teach, I don’t always do my personal practice.

[00:16:55] For example, I try to. But it’s not always easy and it’s not always what I need from yoga. But what yoga is for me is a nice reminder that whatever happens, I always have the tools to overcome or deal with something that maybe bothers me, something that may be hard and also through yoga, I’ve learned how to enjoy the simple things.

[00:17:37] And I know it sounds very, commonly said that, enjoy the small things in life. Even sunshine, even flowers and stuff, but it actually is very important to enjoy every little thing that has been given to us.

[00:17:55] And not just think about the negative ones, because when we think of the good ones, and when we focus on that, then it’s easier to move on, to wake up and get out of the bed every day. Otherwise things are difficult sometimes.

Yoga in Greece

[00:18:15] Lily Allen-Duenas: Yes. I definitely agree. I really do. And I love how you said it and I’m grateful for all of the kinds of ways you explained it too, as a gift, as a lifestyle, as a tool. Yoga is really vast and it is so many things and it can be so many different things for different reasons. So Christina, could you tell us just a little bit about yoga in Greece?

[00:18:39] Christina Kyparissa: Especially in big cities like Athens and Thessaloniki yoga is very popular. There are many yoga studios and also maybe that’s why I said before that yoga is very trendy and has been very trending for the last decade is because in Greece I hear about so many people turning towards teaching yoga and many yoga teachers in Greece.

[00:19:06] But in smaller places, smaller villages, it’s still something that because it has to, with religion in many people’s minds and in smaller communities here in Greece, people are still quite religious. And they are very suspicious as well about what yoga is. But current things have given, have opened up to a new world of online classes.

[00:19:40] And So I would say that yoga is very popular here in Greece and is a very big trend.

There should be no competition in yoga

[00:19:49] Lily Allen-Duenas: I understand that it’s definitely becoming more and more popular everywhere. I talked to this yoga teacher from Hungary. She said in Budapest, there’s a yoga studio practically on every street or on every corner or there’s one across the street from the other one.

[00:20:06] I feel like it keeps growing And it’s a beautiful thing, but with the commercialization, as the marketing and everything, it’s, some things can be lost, but I think the more people that get introduced to the practice, no matter how they first come to it I’m just excited that they’re on the path of yoga or connected to it in some way.

[00:20:27] Christina Kyparissa: And that’s very important because I think that a lot of people who get into teaching yoga become very competitive. But yoga doesn’t have to do with competing with each other as teachers, because every teacher for me is very different. Like I said before about the therapist, when you teach yoga, what I do is give a part of myself into that practice.

[00:20:58] So even though we all do the same teacher training, for example, at the same ashram or at the same studio, we want to teach the same way. So for me, there is no reason to be competitive because people will be attracted by the personality of a yoga teacher. It’s very important to trust your teacher in terms of being correct and being thoughtful, not letting you hurt yourself, but it’s also very important to see a teacher’s personality. The more yoga studios and the more teachers the better, because that’s a chance for people to explore themselves and provide the tools that I was mentioning before to become a better version of themselves.

[00:21:54] Lily Allen-Duenas: Yes. And not just the personality, but also the energy. There’s so much, I think that happens at that energetic level where you can just with your intuition sense like I feel really safe and held by this person’s energy or this person’s, enthusiasm and brightness, really fills something in me and stimulates me to want to learn more or whatever the energy you’re seeking, I think every yoga teacher’s energy is very different. So it’s good to be at that energetic level also have a good sense. 

[00:22:26] Christina Kyparissa: Totally agree.

[00:22:27] Lily Allen-Duenas: And Christina, can you tell us our listeners more about Greece? I know it’s probably a country that our listeners already know some fun facts and information about, but it would be great to hear you talk a little bit more about Greece.

What is living in Greece like?

[00:22:42] Christina Kyparissa: Greece is a country where you can experience every season and every kind of natural beauty. And I think that’s why Greece has so many visitors because people can find so much diversity here. Don’t think of Greece as only a place that has islands and beaches, it is also a place that has beautiful mountains to explore and very great diversity. And in terms of nature, for example, we’ve been to Agrafa mountain range, closer to the central part of Greece. And at Agrafa you feel like you’re in Switzerland, the snow fall is heavy and the pine trees and everything doesn’t resemble Mykonos or Santorini. 

[00:23:44] And that’s why I do like this country, like in 2010, I visited Australia for six months and I stayed there as an exchange student. Australia was very close to what Greece is like, but on the scale of a continent. So most of what Australia had to offer was the beautiful beach, the beautiful mountain, the nature that’s so diverse. All Australia had to offer Greece was to offer it in such a smaller scale that you can be from one part of Greece to the other part maybe covered in 10 hours drive.

[00:24:32] You can drive this morning from Northern Greece which today is very cold and snowy and they have around 40 centimeters of snow and end up down in Polynesia counties in the Northwest part of the mainland and be swimming because it will be sunny and you will be closer to Africa. So it’s nice here.

[00:24:59] Lily Allen-Duenas: Thank you so much, Christina, for telling us more about the diversity in Greece, the beauty in Greece and how much you love Greece. So thank you. And thank you for being a guest with me today. Christina, Ευχαριστώ πολύ?

[00:25:17] Christina Kyparissa: Παρακαλώ Thank you Lily. It was nice to be at the Wild Tribe Podcast. It’s beautiful. Beautiful experience. Thank you.

Thank you for listening to the Wild Yoga Tribe Podcast

[00:25:29] Lily Allen-Duenas: Thank you so much for tuning in to this episode of the Wild Yoga Tribe Podcast. My conversation with Christina Kyparissa, a yoga teacher from Greece was so intriguing. As we talked about yoga as a therapy, as a tool to explore ourselves and to ultimately transform into our better selves. I hope that this conversation made you curious about the therapeutic elements and gifts of yoga, and also about what wellness means to you. Thank you for tuning in to the Wild Yoga Tribe podcast. 

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