Wild Yoga Tribe Podcast Episode #17 – Don’t Weaponize Yoga – Yoga in Mexico with Ana Paula Hernández 

Welcome to Episode #17 of the Wild Yoga Tribe Podcast! This week, I welcome Ana Paula Hernández onto the show. She is a yoga teacher and studio owner from Mexico. Ana hit rock bottom, suffering from addiction depression, and eating disorders, and she felt like the medical system was failing her— it was yoga that saved her. She even describes her first yoga class as an exorcism. Yin yoga was part of her full recovery. As Ana Paula says, “Through yoga, with yoga, through silence, through resilience, through holding— that’s a healing process, that’s why yin is so important to me.”

Now, Ana Paula works with the elderly and with medical protocols. Her mission is to “cut early their conditions,”and even though she’s not a doctor but she works alongside them. Ana Paula works alongside neurologists and doctors with elderly patients to help them ease or reverse their symptoms of diseases.

Ana Paula has another important message, which she stresses here in our conversation— don’t weaponize yoga. “Stop the fighting, stop the dividing, start reconciling with yourself.”

Ready for more? Yoga in Mexico here we go!

Tell me more about Ana Paula Hernández

Ana Paula Hernández first began her journey with Yoga in 2002. She received her first certification in Vancouver BC, under the guidance of Shakti Mhi at Prana College in Hatha Yoga 200 YA. Ana Paula then found her passion for the various styles of Yoga, starting a series of certifications, including Yin Yoga in 2004,  Restorative Yoga 2006 under the guidance of Nevah (Wendy Eaton), and Mat Pilates under the guidance of Martha Hernandez. Moreover, in 2006 Ana Paula completed a year-long course in Ayurvedic Medicine and Cooking with Dr. Shiva Varma. She then went on to complete certifications in Yoga Nidra, Prenatal Yoga, Yoga for Kids, and Thai Massage. 

Ana Paula taught yoga from the beginning of her career in Vancouver, before returning home to Mexico in 2008 where she immediately opened with a small home yoga studio, and in 2011 she opened the Drishti Center in San Antonio Tlayacapan, Mexico.  Since then, Ana Paula has been leading the 200 hour yoga teacher training and continuing education program for yogis and advanced teachers.  Ana offers classes, workshops and certifications throughout Mexico and abroad.

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

Ana Paula Hernandez began a new relationship with her body, soul, and spirit when she hit rock bottom and turned to yoga to heal. In the beginning, drowning in darkness Ana Paula felt like yoga was an exorcism. Now, Ana has now taught yoga for 22 years. In Ana’s own words: “Yoga is survival.” 

In our discussion we talk about a lot about yin yoga—when to practice yin yoga, what she’s learned from Bernie Clark about yin yoga, and more. We also delve into how to be a good teacher—How much space, as a teacher, are you giving to the student to have their own experience? As Ana say’s, “We’re just windows, we’re just channels.” She advocates for us, as yoga teachers, to make it not about us in the classroom. The less we can impose our own expectations, the better. 

At the end of our conversation, we talk about moral superiority, cultural appropriation, instagram yoga, and weaponizing yoga. With the state of the world right now, we’re in a perfect storm. What is weaponizing yoga? Tune in to the Yoga in Mexico episode to find out more!

For the skimmers – What’s in the Mexico episode?

• Hitting Rock Bottom & Yoga as an Exorcism
• Your Body Is A Universe
• Understanding Yin Yoga
• Don’t Weaponize Yoga!
• Instagram Yoga & Moral Superiority
• Yoga is survival

Favorite Quote From Ana Paula Hernández

When do you practice yin yoga? “When you have time to balance your yang lifestyle, this madness and craziness of always coming and always coming, and you need peace to counter this lifestyle— throw yourself into a  butterfly for five minutes.”

Connect with Ana Paula Hernández

www.drishticenter.com

https://www.instagram.com/anayogadrishti/

https://www.facebook.com/drishtiyogacenter/

https://www.instagram.com/drishticenteryoga/

Want more?

https://wildyogatribe.com/thepodcast/

Everything you need is just one click away! Check out all the resources here: https://linktr.ee/wildyogatribe

017_YogaInMexico_AnaPaulaHernandez

[00:00:00] Lily Allen-Duenas: Welcome. Welcome. Welcome to the Wild Yoga Tribe podcast. I’m your host, Lily Allen-Duenas. Together we’ll talk about the world of yoga and we’ll talk to people from around the world. Join us for authentic conversations about the global yoga ecosystem and we’ll cover yoga philosophies and methodologies along the way.

[00:00:28] Inhale. Exhale. We’re about to dive in.

[00:00:42] Namaste family. Welcome to this episode of the Wild Yoga Tribe podcast. Today, I am thrilled to be joined by Ana Paula Hernandez from Mexico. She’s just an amazing woman with an amazing story. And I am so excited to have a [00:01:00] conversation with her, to share with you all, dear listeners. So Ana Paula Hernandez first began her yoga journey in 2002, and completed her Hatha yoga 200 hour certification.

[00:01:12] She then found her passion for various styles of yoga, starting a series of certifications, including yin yoga, restorative yoga, mat pilates, yoga nidra, prenatal yoga, yoga for kids and time massage. She also completed a year-long course in Ayurvedic medicine and cooking with Dr. Shiva Varma. So Ana Paula taught yoga from the beginning of her career.

[00:01:35] And that was actually in Vancouver before returning home to Mexico in 2008, where she immediately opened a small home yoga studio. And in 2011, she opened the Drishi Center in Mexico. And since then, Ana Paula has been leading 200 hour yoga teacher training, continuing education programs and classes, workshops, certification.

[00:01:59] All [00:02:00] throughout Mexico and abroad. So thank you so much, Ana, for joining me on the show today. 

[00:02:06] Ana Paula Hernandez: Hi, how are you? Thanks for having me. 

[00:02:09] Lily Allen-Duenas: Thank you. So let’s dive in. I know our time’s limited, so I’m just so eager to get started. So how about, could we start just by you telling me, how did you find yoga or how did yoga find you?

Ana finding yoga

[00:02:23] Ana Paula Hernandez: Yeah, of course. Well, I am a lawyer. I was actually, I had a degree in law in Mexico before moving to Vancouver and I just went to Vancouver for a holiday. I met a guy I fell in love. We got married three months into the relationship. I moved into Canada, full-time from Mexico. And I realized afterwards that law was different in Canada and in Mexico, different systems.

[00:02:54] So I could not be a lawyer there after going through college. So I hit a kind of massive rock [00:03:00] in my life. And I just went into a really bad episode of depression and eating disorders. And, you know, I fall into the system of psychiatrists and to make the long, long, long story short, I end up having a severe addiction to xanax, alcohol, and not eating much.

[00:03:22] Anyways, I kind of hit bottom and obviously kind of like the medical system failed me a little bit there because they just give me more antidepressants and I get worse. And what happened is finally just found. Yoga through a friend that took me to an osteopath and I went to my first yoga class and I just purchased a year.

[00:03:50] I didn’t even ask because I needed help. And that’s how I found out about yoga. I didn’t like it very much in the beginning. I [00:04:00] actually, the first few classes felt like an exorcism. It was kind of funny. And then I got a really, really, really good teacher, a really amazing profound experience, where I was able to find myself without so much self-inflicted pain.

[00:04:18] And he began a new relationship with my body, with my soul, my spirit, and, and a year after I was a teacher. And all the stories that you just mentioned began. That’s how I started doing it. 

[00:04:33] Lily Allen-Duenas: Wow. That is a hard road to walk, to come to yoga, but I’ve never actually heard of yoga being described as an exorcism.

[00:04:43] That totally caught me off guard. Do you mean, you just felt like all of this negative, like, you know, dirt, gray, yuck, you know, inner stuff just came out in the class like that? 

[00:04:56] Ana Paula Hernandez: Yeah, because I was in a complete state [00:05:00] of manic depression, addiction. And you are in the yoga studio where the perfect lady comes out, dressing in white, all pretty.

[00:05:10] And she’s like, and enjoys being into your body and enjoys the sensations. And I did not understand what she was saying. I just, I was just, I hate myself. I hate my body. What is she talking about? And obviously a few classes after a few months after. Tap into it, but in the first few classes, there’s somebody out there that looks at what you want to be, feels what you wanna feel, and it’s just facing you to the lack of it.

[00:05:44] And you’re just like, feel completely, like, what is she talking about? So it was like being on my own body was not pleasant the first few times whatsoever. Not, not, not a good experience, but it was part of the shadow, [00:06:00] the yin, right. It was just tapping into the darkness that I needed to confront.

[00:06:06] Lily Allen-Duenas: Very glad you did. I know that it’s, as I said, a hard road and I do think that in a yoga class. It’s that comparison thing too, looking around the room, seeing these people more flexible or, you know, as you said, having what you want or that, you know, envy, jealousy, ego, that element that comes into the class.

[00:06:27] I think in the beginning of our practice is definitely something to be aware of. It can creep in at any time too. It’s not just the beginning, but it’s part of the journey. 

[00:06:42] Ana Paula Hernandez: Yes it is. And as a teacher, when I become a teacher, I think part of what makes me a little bit more of an approachable teacher is that I take care of a lot of my language and my communication skills to students to be very [00:07:00] inclusive.

[00:07:01] And I just know how I started. So when I have a beginner or first timer, I’m very aware of the experience. And I try to make funny comments because I know a beginner’s mind and, and not be so elevated and throw out so much sense grid or make classes is very complex. And because this is their first time and that first time could change somebody’s life forever. Like it did to mine. 

[00:07:33] Lily Allen-Duenas: So I know that you, I mean, as I mentioned in your bio, you’re trained in Hatha yoga, yin yoga, restorative, prenatal, all these different yoga styles and modalities, but it seems to me like yin yoga has really won over your heart. Why is this your favorite asana practice?

Yin yoga is Ana’s favorite practices

[00:07:52] Ana Paula Hernandez: I started doing yoga early in my recovery.

[00:07:56] I was in my second year tween [00:08:00] and recovering from my eating disorder. And what happened in yin yoga was this really beginning to feel comfortable in quietness, perhaps Hatha yoga, power yoga, Ashtanga yoga is more of the same of this jumping monkey mind constantly. And what happened in yin for me was, not forcing myself to have a sitting down meditation and perhaps do a very slow meditative, deep practice and have longer periods of silence.

[00:08:42] And I confronted my monsters there. I call it part of my full recovery in yoga and, and helped me majority with my eating disorder and try to not talking and therapy and not being with, you [00:09:00] know, a support group or AA, or any of those things since through yoga, with yoga, through silence, through resilience, through holding begin a healing process.

[00:09:11] That’s why tin is so important to me. 

[00:09:15] Lily Allen-Duenas: You described that really beautifully. I do think that in yin yoga, can be very extra, extra uncomfortable for people because having to hold something that, you know, you’re confronting your edge of perhaps, you know, discomfort or pain in a position and you just, you can’t escape it, you know, you know, you’re to be there one minute, two minute, three minute.

[00:09:37] It’s not going to be forever, but when you’re in a level of a battle against the Asana. It is it’s can be torture, but if you can let go and surrender and embrace it. I think you learned some pretty, you learned some lessons, no matter if you’re battling or not. I think yin does have a lot to teach. 

[00:09:58] Ana Paula Hernandez: Well, I love your [00:10:00] analogy that you did right now because Marcus already assists treat life as a battle, not a dance.

[00:10:09] And be kind of like more of a warrior while Bernie Clark says treat yoga, yin yoga as a dance, not like a wrestling match. So, you know, that’s, the principle of yin is stop the fighting, you know, stop fighting and choose to start reconciling with your, with yourself and, and how deep you go, how fast and, and try to be more mindful about what is.

[00:10:36] What is the place of comfort versus where is a place of self-inflicted pain? 

[00:10:43] Lily Allen-Duenas: Well, I definitely do believe that anything that you fight fights you back twice as hard. I know the minute I start to resist something, it just flares up. So I think that’s very astute. 

[00:11:00] And I wanted to ask, you mentioned Bernie Clark now, and I’m so excited just to ask you a bit about him because I’m in need deep of his newest books, your spine, your yoga.

[00:11:10] He is, yeah. Oh, he is just a genius. And I know that you were trained by him and you’re close friends with him. So what are some of like the most, I don’t know, like jaw dropping takeaways. You’ve learned from him throughout the years. 

Takeaways from Bernie Clark

[00:11:25] Ana Paula Hernandez: Oh my God. That man has so much to talk about him. But anyways, we were colleagues in a yoga studio in Vancouver.

[00:11:33] We worked for the same studio for the first few years and he came back from a trip saying I learned yin yoga and we started. He’s first generation and it was kinda more like a study group and Diana Bath was there, some big names, Cameron, and Greeley, myself. And it was him coming back with this new information.[00:12:00] 

[00:12:00] We were all caught up a little bit more into Ashtanga Hatha power, and he came with this newest thing. And he said, would you guys want to be like my first generation and experiment with this? And I say, yeah, well, it started with that. And in the way, I guess the way that I enjoy it the most about Bernie is that every single class that Bernie gives is a workshop.

[00:12:34] It is so much to take from. If you want to talk about science, he can tell you all the benefits of yin yoga because his, obviously his passion as well. If he’s going to talk about, you know, philosophy, he’ll talk about any texts in the book you can think of and give you a great analogist. If he wants to talk [00:13:00] about stories of Shiva and Shakti and.

[00:13:03] Any class. So you’re going to witness with him. You walk away with so much information that’s for me, the biggest gift, and he doesn’t hide anything back. And that’s one of the principles that he gave me as a teacher, a 200 hour and continuing education and 500 and 300 is if you’re a teacher, you don’t hide back your gifts.

[00:13:26] You try to give them away. So you create better teachers. That’s for me, the gift of Bernie Clark. 

[00:13:34] Lily Allen-Duenas: That is an enormous gift for sure. Take it and just know, pour it out. Don’t hold it back. Don’t reserve any for later or that’s just that kind of over pouring of skill and knowledge and love in terms of actual.

[00:13:53] I don’t know anatomy or yin. Is there just something though that like a phrase he said or [00:14:00] something that you’ve learned from him that you just carry with you in your day to day, kind of as well? 

[00:14:05] Ana Paula Hernandez: Well, yes. Your body, your yoga in general. That’s kind of my principle as a teacher too, and a psycho and trained teacher, your body, your yoga and training signs, ready to become a teacher is not about so much.

[00:14:22] How good you are at Asana versus how much needs to be learned about how each body is a universe and you as a good yoga teacher need to know everything you can, so you can guide somebody into their practice, not yours. So that’s what I can take from Bernie, your body, your yoga. 

[00:14:51] Lily Allen-Duenas: And I think for me, it’s also your biography and your biology.

[00:14:55] Like just how it’s just such a mix. And every single body is completely unique. I say that in [00:15:00] my head, your biology and your biography, it changes everything and yoga doesn’t. You know, there’s the two types he says, like aesthetic versus functional. And it’s like, which, which one do you really want? And it’s so relevant right now, I think with all of the social media crazes and these, you know, putting on pedestal contortionists or pretzels it’s and I’m sorry, I’m perhaps that sounds a little harsh, but I. 

[00:15:26] Ana Paula Hernandez: No, it is sound, it’s this, this, this absolutely true, you know, it’s and it’s also as a teacher, how much you touch because you’re looking for aesthetics to our body.

[00:15:35] You’re completely foreign versus how comfortable the student is. Even if it doesn’t look like the book or the photo in Instagram. Right. And how much space as a teacher are you giving to the student to have their own experience versus your experience. 

[00:15:55] Lily Allen-Duenas: No, that’s true because I think as a teacher, we’re also imposing our own expectations [00:16:00] on the students, or we can impose kind of, are they listening to me?

[00:16:03] You know, are they even trying, you know, there couldn’t be a whole dialogue and a whole story we create. So I think the more that we can kind of come back to that truth, their body, their yoga, and kind of understanding their experience and having kind of just taking ourselves out of the equation as much as we can.

[00:16:23] Ana Paula Hernandez: Which is the window where it just channels is what I can take from 22 years of teaching, I think is the less you make it about yourself. And the more you’re willing to actually be there just to guide them into their own light, that better teacher you become. 

[00:16:50] Lily Allen-Duenas: What time of day do you recommend people to do yin or do you have advice for those who want to do it?

[00:16:55] First thing in the morning when they’re a little bit more stiff.

Best time to do yin yoga

[00:16:59] Ana Paula Hernandez: When you have time to balance your yin style life or your lifestyle, yin, whatever you want to call it, this madness and craziness of always doing always coming, always going and you need a piece of counter. To that lifestyle. Just throw yourself into a butterfly for five minutes, right?

[00:17:21] In terms of yin of the system, of course, morning and cold is kind of like the best, but also you can do some gentle yin at night to have a better sleep. When you have a chance to counter your yin life. That’s the question, right? When are you going to have a little bit of time? To start looking into the other side.

[00:17:46] That’s the question 

[00:17:49] Lily Allen-Duenas: As always. There’s no right answer right.

[00:17:54] Ana Paula Hernandez: Exactly, but I think, you know, if you, if you really want to go to the book to the text to the system [00:18:00] morning, cold will be very, very cool experience versus people used yin yang a lot. People use a yin after a yang session. Well, you already warmed up your ligaments and your muscles are already gonna have a very different experience from the real principle of yin yoga that is going into the yin tissues.

[00:18:23] Correct. So if you want to experience the system, the morning cold will be a very good experience. 

[00:18:30] Lily Allen-Duenas: And it’s not any extra stress on the joints or anything? 

[00:18:34] Ana Paula Hernandez: No. God no. Quite the opposite. Quite the opposite. Think about your muscles as your protection, right? Think about your yin tissue being that kind of thing that stops me from going farther.

[00:18:49] So if you are overheated, if you’re going for a run, you have a very warm yang practice and you finish with yin. Your muscles will behave already [00:19:00] differently in terms of protection than when it’s cold. So your flexibility will already alter that when you do it in the morning, you’re what stuck me cues are more accurate when you’re cold, than when you’re already warmed up.

[00:19:15] Lily Allen-Duenas: So I’m glad we also talked about joints because I know that you work a lot with medical protocols and the nervous system, and you work alongside neurologists and physicians. I would just love for you to tell me more about that. Would you mind? 

About medical protocols and nervous system

[00:19:30] Ana Paula Hernandez: I work a lot with olderly people. And that got me through being a little bit more careful about joints because their bodies have been here for a long time.

[00:19:41] And there are a lot of stories. If they were runners, skiers, softball, any kind of sport injury, they come to yoga and they just want everything to work perfectly. And sometimes it’s not the case. What pushes you as a teacher to learn more and that’s kind of how I started my journey [00:20:00] to more medical protocols.

[00:20:02] And right now, I am currently taking a 1000 hours diploma and Bowen therapy. Just kind of transitioning more from the yoga studio, 32 people kind of class students to more one-on-one holistic kind of practice. We’ll call it healing. And yeah, my specialty is kind of work in the nervous system and, you know, kind of conditions like parkinson’s, dementia, anything that includes kind of connecting both sides of the brain, constantly three sides of the brain.

[00:20:43] If you count the back side of the brain, the tree level. So that’s what I do the most right now. 

[00:20:52] Lily Allen-Duenas: And what excites you about that? Or what, why do you feel so drawn? Like what element of it kind of attracted you? [00:21:00] 

[00:21:00] Ana Paula Hernandez: What attracts me to see if it’s caught early, for example, as to the measure, parkinson’s. If he’s caught early and you get a client.

[00:21:14] I don’t call them patients. I don’t call them students. I call them clients because they’re coming for a whole experience. You can really prevent the condition from progressing as fast as they kind of believe so much that they diagnose and begin to restrict their movement. Exercise is such a big part of the protocol and nervous system, conditions and having three kinds of stimulation on the brain in terms of movement can make an exceptional difference [00:22:00] into the people’s outcome.

[00:22:01] Long-term. This is my passion to cut the condition early. Obviously I am not a doctor, so I cannot diagnose, but if I see something that calls my attention in a very soft and noninvasive way, I will ask a couple of questions. And I work with neurologists. They usually get sent out to a GP from a GP to a neurologist.

[00:22:30] And if there is a concern, something to talk about, we immediately switch to the protocol of their conditions. And the most rewarding part is I’ve been working with people for three, four years and to see them getting better and not worse and not need to increase medications. They’re so harmful for kidneys and liver.

[00:22:53] Lily Allen-Duenas: That’s amazing. Getting to be able to work with students over the long term. Isn’t something I’ve never been able to do. [00:23:00] I’ve just been moving around so much. And so I definitely think that would be just a humbling experience, right? To watch somebody, you know, wind things back, or just be able to halt the progress of something medically and the body.

[00:23:18] And it’s really incredible to witness. 

[00:23:21] Ana Paula Hernandez: Oh, it’s beautiful. I think there’s a part of my job that either really kind of brings tears to my eyes too, to see progress and, and kind of parts where the medical community sometimes gives them a death sentence too early, too soon, too fast. And how, you know, eating right, exercising, and doing the best you can to not be the diagnosis or not be the condition.

[00:24:00] Can really give them an incredible outcome. That’s for me, kind of the most rewarding part of what I’m doing right now. 

[00:24:09] Lily Allen-Duenas: Amazing. So something I ask every guest is what is your definition of yoga? I know, I know, impossible, but how would you define yoga to somebody who didn’t even know what it was?

Ana’s definition of yoga

[00:24:24] Ana Paula Hernandez: Ooh, that’s a big, big question.

[00:24:27] I was invited to participate in a book, Jodi Berg. I would like to mention her. She’s done some amazing work and she’s gone all over the world, photographing, she’s a photographer and she’s a Yogi. And, and in my turn came, when she came to Mexico and she asked me to have a photoshoot for her book. And why we do yoga was the name of her book.

[00:24:50] Right. So you have to. You participate with your photograph and then you have to elaborate with a price and [00:25:00] as much as I am articulate. And I can talk for three hours. When that question was asked for me, there was one word that came in a very intuitional form. And for me meant survival. If it wasn’t for you, that wouldn’t be alive.

[00:25:14] So it was survival. 

[00:25:17] Lily Allen-Duenas: Wow. That’s a powerful instinct to have that word call up. For me, I don’t know when I was hearing you tell that story. And for me, the first word that just came out of my, you know, just gut was a salvation. I don’t know why. I just, I feel like yoga is, it’s just such a sanctuary and. 

[00:25:42] Ana Paula Hernandez: It is. Well, they’re very, very similar words.

[00:25:45] Salvation, survival. Both of them are giving you a choice, a choice, you know. Do I stay in ways that sometimes are not functioning or dialogues are really not [00:26:00] working or do I do something about it? Right. And it takes you out of the victim. I think for me, that’s what yoga did for me is I stop blaming others.

[00:26:11] And I started looking at myself and my teacher was sending philosophy. That was where I got trained in prana yoga sense center Vancouver. And that was kind of the, the thing is you stop being a victim and just start looking at yourself. 

[00:26:32] Lily Allen-Duenas: It’s a choice there. And I don’t think that choice is something that we make once.

[00:26:37] Ana Paula Hernandez: No, no, no. And yoga also pushed me into places that I will never, that I will come. I just finished my master’s in holistic therapy. And I dunno if you have that word in English, but it’s [in Spanish] or reconciling family lineages through, through all the females, all the [00:27:00] males, mother, father, daughters, sons, and also the word in German is, [in German], I don’t know, it’s a humanistic kind of psychology.

[00:27:10] So obviously through my years of yoga, I see it less physical. And less physical and more into psyche, more into mind, more into what quality of life you want to have here that comes from Vedanta right. It’s not about the attachment of these bodies, about, okay, you are into this body. What’s the experience you want to have in this I mentioned.

[00:27:41] Lily Allen-Duenas: That’s a powerful question. And I feel, there’s just so much going on in the world, in our lives, in our jobs, in every element. I just feel like we are just swamped just with [00:28:00] messages and with desires and with things that are just constantly trying to snag away. Bits and pieces of ourselves.

[00:28:08] So I don’t know that that sounds like a random way to respond, but it’s just, that’s what came up for me listening. 

[00:28:15] Ana Paula Hernandez: Well I think it’s odd. Is this what happened to us all forwards? Just kidding. Right. And the yoga world that we’ve been here for more than two decades or so we’re seeing a transformation a little bit.

[00:28:31] And there’s a lot of moral superiority between us. And I see that in myself that sometimes I feel that the way that yoga is understood now is not as good as mine. And that creates judgment. And me when I see young, beautiful, yogis showing up their beautiful bodies and their asanas on Instagram, and then how some hashtags have become very soft porn into the industry.

[00:29:00] And we feel a certain moral superiority about saying, I am better than that. My yoga is deeper than that, but we have to understand that it’s a different, it’s a different era. And maybe, maybe perhaps that Instagram, you know, away from real lineage maybe will change somebody’s life because they can start by saying, oh, I want to look like that.

[00:29:28] I wanna be like that. And in the journey, they can find what I’ve found, you know? So it’s about stepping away from judgment and, and it’s hard work for me. I have to be completely transparent into this broadcast and. And it, it challenges me, troubles me going to Instagram everyday and getting all these messages and information of what yoga should be, how yoga should look.

[00:29:56] But then I walked out of my judgment and said, [00:30:00] maybe my knees, there is 17 years old. This is the way that she’s going to get into the practice. Not what her old aunt is saying of being mindful darling, and be, you know what I’m trying to go with this. 

[00:30:13] Lily Allen-Duenas: No, I get it. I think there, it can be a gateway and any way that someone comes to the practices the right way, because that means they’re there.

[00:30:22] Ana Paula Hernandez: And I noticed that I was trawling other people’s posts, and I came to these through, at a station couple, couple of days ago where I was starting to troll too much. And hashtags are ladies of yoga, hashtags, yoga pants. We’re a little bit out of my comfort zone and I was giving moral superiority kind of the speeches and then higher self again, and kind of smacked me out and said, it’s not your problem.

[00:30:56] Let it be. 

[00:30:59] Lily Allen-Duenas: Yeah. We’re not the [00:31:00] police officers of yoga there. Those don’t exist. 

[00:31:03] Ana Paula Hernandez:No

[00:30:03] Lily Allen-Duenas: Sometimes though, it’s that cultural appropriation kind of disrespect line that I feel is for me, the most difficult to confront when I see women doing things that look. Like it could be in an adult graphic magazine, but they’re calling that yoga.

[00:31:23] Ana Paula Hernandez: Well, I have to, I have to agree to disagree with that.

[00:31:28] I had a huge argument with a writer or an InStyle magazine about that topic. And I just got to give you my point of view with this. I’m from Mexico and colonize and I don’t want people to start weaponizing yoga, you know, is this cultural appropriation, issue is becoming for me another way to create war and separation on the world.[00:32:00] 

[00:32:00] I am being called an ISE. I am half Spanish and half Mexican and I have grown out of the key She. Colorful skin. I get treated differently every single day of my life because my husband is Canadian. My children are Canadian. I am Mexican, but if we’re talking about unconditional love, really, really deeply you as a minority, you got to start not seeing yourself as a victim, or you’re not gonna grow out of that.

[00:32:43] And it was this article and install yoga magazine about cultural appropriation of yoga and how omen Namaste are used in so lightly. And it was, and I am just looking at that and I’m saying, please, don’t take this war into [00:33:00] yoga. The world is becoming too polarized for me. I remember I’m Mexican and I’m leaving a very different cultural kind of experience.

[00:33:11] So, yeah, it’s a topic that, for me, I’m seeing more and more in social media right now that we have movements for every single thing. And now yoga is the same. And I’m like, eh, no, that’s not about it. Yoga is an inner experience. Yoga is about self knowledge. So yeah, I went into war with this with a couple of yogis that wanted to be.

[00:33:40] Politics with spirituality. I don’t like that. 

[00:33:48] Lily Allen-Duenas: I’m really grateful you shared that perspective with me. I hadn’t had someone ever present it that way of just don’t bring this war into yoga. Just keep it out.

[00:33:57] Ana Paula Hernandez: It feeds the [00:34:00] purpose of yoga. That was my, that was my kind of questioning. I understand all of it, but imagine just for a second, imagine this Lily, imagine if I will get personal, if I get mad with every single person in the world that has taco Tuesday, you know, or they celebrate Cinco de Mayo on, they put their hats on their heads.

[00:34:25] Like. I can’t see the world that way. I cannot relate to this hatred that is becoming polarized. And certainly not with yoga that it means we are all one. And the beauty you saw me here today. I see you, and you’re not different because your skin color is different than mine, you know, or because your heritage is different than mine.

[00:34:52] I don’t think Rishi. Even thought about that. If we go back to 4,000 [00:35:00] years ago. 

[00:35:01] Lily Allen-Duenas: No, of course they, of course they weren’t concerned with that. 

[00:35:05] Ana Paula Hernandez: No, this is our era right now. And it breaks my heart and a million pieces that I see other movements, racial movements, starting to invade a little bit of real spirituality about not being.

[00:35:22] We don’t want to segregate, but yet we segregate. How is that yoga? 

[00:35:27] Lily Allen-Duenas: No, as you said, it’s, we’re all one and yoga doesn’t seek to divide. You know, one division happens. It’s not yoga, that’s something I believe. And so it’s interesting to hear because I’m also so concerned with trying to be respectful and I have on these, maybe these glasses, these lenses.

[00:35:43] So I appreciate you sharing this. 

[00:35:47] Ana Paula Hernandez: Oh, you have to hang out more with Mexicans. We’re so politically incorrect. 

[00:35:55] Lily Allen-Duenas: Well, fun fact, I’m actually like a quarter. My dad is half Spanish, half [00:36:00] Mexican. 

[00:36:00] Ana Paula Hernandez: Oh, your dad, then we just said how we feel. And, and right now the world, you have to be careful with nouns.

[00:36:07] You have to be careful with last names. You have to be careful with the gender you have to be, and communications have become so, so. You have to be so politically correct as the authenticity of the spirit is becoming crushed. You know, and this is my approach because I live in a country that is not so influenced by that, but all of my friendships are from the United States and Canada.

[00:36:42] So I can see the two worlds and, you know, I sometimes like to go into more love and less war. 

[00:36:55] Lily Allen-Duenas: Absolutely. And I, yeah, I know my dad, everything comes [00:37:00] out. It has no filter and definitely caught a lot of people off guard with those things. But I’m glad we’re talking a little bit about Mexico, cause I definitely want to ask you Ana, how is yoga perceived in Mexico or where you’re located in your city or if you don’t want to talk about the whole country, whatever you prefer.

How yoga is perceived in Mexico

[00:37:20] Ana Paula Hernandez: Well, the entire country is very interesting because, you know, we’re a Catholic country. So yoga in the beginning probably 20 years ago. My mom used to pray for me in the beginning of my journey, she says, oh, my daughter is becoming into this kind of Buddha that is called yoga. And she prayed for me and Moss and her and her little bit of group were, they studied the Bible.

[00:37:47] That was 22 years ago. And  right now we are a little bit more open to embrace yoga and not conflicted so [00:38:00] much with religion as they used to be. And there is a definite opening to yoga. Finally, now all of my friends are yogis and all of my friends in their forties are getting to know a little bit more of the system and not precisely understanding it as a religion versus more as a philosophy.

[00:38:25] Everybody’s just starting to turn their heads now into wellness. Everybody’s interested in meditation. And before that it was not the case before we were very few. And now we’re kind of catching up a little bit to other countries, and now we’re probably 20 years behind, but you know what happened in 2000 and Canada and the United States where yoga exploded in every corner as a yoga studio is happening right now in the city as […].

[00:38:54] which is the nearest city that I am in. And everybody wants to be a yoga teacher. [00:39:00] Everybody wants to be involved in some kind of practice. So it’s uplifting to see that it opened up. 

[00:39:08] Lily Allen-Duenas: That’s wonderful. Cause I remember you, I think you told me before that when you first opened your home studio and the small community you’re in, they thought you were a witch.

[00:39:18] Ana Paula Hernandez: Yeah, they still think that because I’m in a small town and people from a small town, they’re very conservative. And I’m still perceived as the yoga lady, the weird yoga lady, but in the little town that I live in, it is highly influenced by American and Canadian and European cultures is a very multicultural part because we have the best weather in the world.

[00:39:43] Number two. So a lot of people retire here. So right now, yoga here is kind of very very, very popular. There’s a lot of yogis and yoginis that have moved in the last five years. [00:40:00] So this it’s more accepted, but yeah, it was tough starting here. And as I tell you, like I was perceived, like I was entering the dark side.

[00:40:13] Lily Allen-Duenas: I’m so glad you persevered and kept saying, I’m going to teach it. I’m going to teach you all yoga. You’re going to come sooner or later, or you’re going to figure this out. 

[00:40:21] Ana Paula Hernandez: Oh my God. You have to, you have to, I mean, I have always been a little bit of a rebellious, very strong personality since I’m a child.

[00:40:33] And for many years I was unfocused for many years. I didn’t find myself. So through yoga with yoga, I found myself, I found God, I fell in love. I found a union. So I was not going to let it go for anything or anybody. It was kind of my way of being whole [00:41:00] connected. So it doesn’t matter the prize. I was not going to go back to where I was before.

[00:41:08] Lily Allen-Duenas: Ana to wrap up our time together. I would love for you to share with our listeners any offerings you have online anything’s coming up. Of course, you know, our episode will live forever and ever and ever. So, any links to share, I’d love for you to let our listeners know.

Ana’s offerings

[00:41:29] Ana Paula Hernandez: Thank you so much. Well, right now, first of all, I want to bring an apology by touching sensitive topics that people like to go around the bushes. I have absolutely no means to harm anybody’s beliefs, especially with all what is happening in the world. But I think we’re very rarely asked about people that are [00:42:00] conceived of.

[00:42:01] Minority or victims, how is it to not feel a victim? And I wanted to share something that was very important to me. And yeah, I mean, hopefully this is not perceived the wrong way. I think my whole legacy, if I want to leave a legacy in the world is to not weaponize yoga and you can find my teachings and find who I am as a teacher in my platform, I have a.

[00:42:29] International yoga platform is drishticenter.com. Drishi as a focal point in sunscreen centers, spells Canadian way. Also in Instagram, I have my personal log as anayogadrishti, and I have a little bit of my center share on Instagram as well as Drishi Center. From my heart, what I have to give in [00:43:00] Spanish, in English and bilingual.

[00:43:03] Lily Allen-Duenas: I will definitely link all of those to your website, to your social media here in the show notes, wherever you’re listening to this podcast, as well as on my website, wildyogatribe.com.

[00:43:13] So thank you so much, Ana, for sharing your light and your love and your wisdom with us. 

[00:43:23] Ana Paula Hernandez: Oh Lily, thank you for having me over. Any time, you know, if anybody has a question, please feel free. I’m open to, you know, keep sharing in whatever form they want. Also personal emails. There is my email, there just to keep yoga, letting it be a healing process. It’s for me, mine ever.

[00:43:53] Lily Allen-Duenas: Thank you so much. 

[00:43:54] Ana Paula Hernandez: Thank you.

Wild Yoga Tribe outro

[00:44:00] Lily Allen-Duenas: Thank you so much, dear listener for tuning into my conversation with Ana Paula Hernandez from Mexico. I hope you found this conversation to be as. I don’t know, as profound as I did. I, it was such an honor for Ana to share her story of, you know, hitting rock bottom and really doing all of that hard shadow work, all that work to, to come to where she is to get today.

[00:44:27] And as she says, yoga is survival for her. And what a powerful question to ask yourself is what is yoga for you? And it was an honor to hear her answer and her whole story. So I hope you also found it to be. A beautiful episode, and I appreciate you so much for tuning in. Thank you and be well.

[00:44:56] Lily Allen-Duenas: Thank you for being on this journey with me. It has been a [00:45:00] privilege to be with you. I know that your time is precious and I am both humbled and honored that you chose to spend your time with me here on the Wild Yoga Tribe podcast. As you on your own inner journey, remember that you are not alone. There are so many of us on this path to awakening this path of self discovery and expansion.

[00:45:22] And we are right here alongside you. 

[00:45:30] Lily Allen-Duenas: Remember to hit subscribe so that you never miss an episode. And if you feel called, please share this episode with someone that you think could benefit from it. Leaving a review would also be so appreciated. If you’re on social media, I am there too. At the Wild Yoga Tribe, you can tap into all the amazing resources on my website, the wildyogatribe.com.

[00:45:51] And you can meditate with me on Insight Timer and get your flow on with me on my YouTube channel, where I’ve recorded free yoga classes. [00:46:00] If you would like to schedule a private yoga or meditation class with me or a coaching session, you can find the link to do so to book in the show notes or on. Again, the wildyogatribe.com.

[00:46:12] Thank you once again, dear listener for being with me, may your day be light and bright. May you be peaceful and happy and led on the right path free of suffering and free of sorrow. Be well, dear one. Be well.

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