About me
My name is Elīze Tīkmane. I come from Riga, Latvia.
The kind of yoga I’m drawn to (and the kind I teach) is one that feels truly personal and unique to your own body.
Why?
Because we are not the same. Our bodies aren’t the same.
We have different ages, experiences, medical histories. Even our skeletons are shaped differently.
How?
By slowing down and encouraging feeling. By noticing sensations and listening to what they’re trying to tell us. By exploring skeletal variations and understanding how poses can be adapted. Or replaced – to create a similar effect that works for your body.
Yoga, for me, isn’t about fitting into a shape.
It’s about finding the shape that fits you.
I lead Hatha yoga, Yin yoga and Yin Yang yoga classes. Upon request, I offer Gentle yoga sessions too.
In classes my approach is gentle and observant. I keep an eye for your specific needs and your unique body. It is important for me to create inclusive, non-competitive environment where every participant has chance to grow steady in strength and flexibility.
My intention is to offer you time and space to reconnect, to exercise but also to feel and to observe your body. Help you find joy in movement and ease in stillness. To give you tools that allow you to feel better in your body, give you peace of mind, sense of contentment. To offer a moment of respite to recharge and restore your energy. A chance for quality me-time.
Since 2014 I teach weekly yoga classes in Mechelen area (Belgium). Currently teaching in Allround Zen studio.
Becoming a yoga teacher
I first started practicing yoga when I was a teenager (around year 2004). I had been dancing for a decade already. Over time different forms of dance, movement, improvisation and performance came and when, but yoga stayed. Since the very first yoga classes I took there was a secret wish to become a yoga teacher one day.
Only after graduating from University, moving to Belgium and trying out a corporate job I got my chance to enrol in Yoga Teacher Training. My first 300h of training in Hatha yoga I acquired with Yogalife Belgium and Yogalife International in Belgium (2014) and India (2015). For a while I was a part of the teacher training team of Yogalife in Belgium.
Furthermore, I have been studying the Yin Yoga and its functional approach to yoga asana with Paul Grilley and his senior assistant Joe Barnett.
I continue to study. Always looking for opportunities to learn and deepen my understanding of body, mind and soul. Combining the ancient knowledge of yoga with the latest discoveries of related sciences.
In past I was part of teachers team in SO.YOGA, Gezondheidcentrum Mechelen, Equilibrium praktijk.
Why yoga?
Dance gave me freedom of expression and joy. But at the time, yoga was a wonderful discovery for myself. While practicing yoga, I would get a profound sensation that felt like returning home. Home in my own body and being. After the classes, it felt like I could breathe more and that there is more space for fresh air. Yoga helped me to manage my back pain that was caused by scoliosis.
In a bigger picture, I strongly believe that yoga can be a tool and aid in self development. How you relate to my body (your self) is how you relate to the world around. By giving space for observation and study of our physical, mental and emotional selves we can change the redundant patterns – no matter physical, emotional or mental. To lead more content lives.
I want yoga to be accessible to people of all ages.