Rodrigo Souza (he/him) is an Adaptive & Accessible Yoga trainer with expertise in instructing yoga to individuals who have gone by means of Trauma & Incapacity.
By means of direct private expertise with traumatic damage, and power ache, and discovering the necessity to take cost of his restoration to optimize long-term well-being, Rodrigo determined to turn into a Yoga trainer and train from his personal expertise, creating Allihopa Accessible & Adaptive Digital Yoga Studio.
He’s targeted on making a supportive neighborhood for many who have skilled trauma & incapacity by means of Adaptive yoga.
You could find extra details about Rodrigo by means of his Instagram account @allihopayoga and his web site allihopayoga.com/.
Inform us a bit about your self and your yoga journey…
Hello, my title is Rodrigo Souza (he/him), a short-term undecided and long-term optimist. I bought launched to yoga in my mid-twenties, I used to work as a bartender and a DJ whereas dwelling in London and used to go to a Bikran Yoga studio a couple of instances every week to detoxify my physique. For me, again then, Yoga was a bodily train. Yoga for the physique. Time has handed and I suffered a spinal twine damage (T3 full) in 2014 after an accident, and as a result of that, I grew to become paralyzed from the chest down and am additionally a full-time wheelchair person, and since my damage, I began deepening my Yoga apply. Yoga for the Soul. Adaptive Yoga helps me cope with muscle spasticity, power nerve ache, anxiousness, and lots of different secondary circumstances that the damage introduced me. Yoga has helped me to fall in love with my damaged physique and to just accept it as it’s. It allowed me to be who I’m and to just accept what it’s.
What does a typical day seem like for you?
My day is stuffed with quick yummy self-care practices. As I stay with power ache and in a disabled physique, I must be very conscious of my vitality and ache ranges. I begin my day with a brief & candy Yoga apply in mattress, then I make certain I’ve a fast apply each three hours after sitting within the wheelchair (that is when my muscle groups begin to tighten). I additionally all the time attempt to squeeze in a cheeky 30-minute Yoga Nidra after lunch, simply to maintain issues going and to floor myself. Then there may be all the time a category to show so I need not do any apply within the afternoon as I’m instructing. To complete the day, I’ve one other mattress apply to cut back my muscle spasms and add a gratitude/mindfulness apply there to make sure I nurture my emotional well being earlier than calling it a day.
What do you get pleasure from most about sharing the apply of yoga?
I typically train people who’ve gone by means of trauma, loss and incapacity. So it brings me an amazing quantity of pleasure and a deep sense of duty and function. For me, they’re those who want Yoga probably the most, and they’re those who expertise Yoga the least. A few of my college students are going by means of probably the most troublesome second of their lives, a few of them have just lately injured themselves. A few of them cope with heavy PTSD and It fills my coronary heart with heat when I’ve the chance to soundly maintain house to them and assist them to expertise all the things there may be to expertise, with out worry, with out bypassing and denying something. To carry themselves again to their ‘damaged physique’ and assist them see that they’re nonetheless complete. Sure, there may be numerous grief, but in addition numerous magnificence. For me, there may be nothing else on this planet that brings me extra pleasure. The chance to serve, to assist and to construct neighborhood. Happiness and long-lasting pleasure stay proper there and I really feel immensely grateful to have the ability to develop and do the work I do.
What recommendation would you give to anybody in search of an accessible yoga apply?
The very first thing I might say is that Yoga is already accessible. Yoga is for everybody. In case you breathe and you’ll apply Yoga. Each motion you do consciously is Yoga. Each time you turn off the quantity of distractions and are available again to your physique, you’re training Yoga. So, my recommendation is to let people know what Yoga is as a result of it may be very intimidating to begin training Yoga with a disabled physique when all you see in social media and advertising supplies are white skinny girls doing tremendous versatile postures. Yoga isn’t just that, it’s so way more. Yoga is a strong device of self-discovery, self-compassion, self-acceptance, love and equanimity.
Do you’ve got a favourite quote or life motto?
Fall in love with caring for your self. Fall in love with the trail of deep therapeutic. Fall in with lengthy exhales, with self-regulating, with silence. Fall in love with life. Then go and unfold the love with the world.
Discover out extra details about Rodrigo by means of his Instagram account @allihopayoga and his web site allihopayoga.com/.
