Iana Varshavska from YanvaYoga discusses the value of practising yoga at home

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Iana Varshavska is the founder of YanvaYoga, a website that provides its followers with crucial tips on how to blend yoga routines into their daily lives. However, her advice goes beyond providing full-length yoga sequences; in fact, Iana covers advice from meditation to generic lifestyle teachings.

Whatever your issue might be, YanvaYoga will have something that can help you overcome both physical and spiritual problems in your life.

Thankfully, Iana answered some questions we had about her business and the importance of blending yoga into one’s life. Check out some of Iana’s answers below.

Hi Iana, thanks for your time. When did you start YanvaYoga, and what was your motivation?

I would like to answer these questions starting with Steve Jobs’ words “You’ve got to find what you love. Your work is going to fill a large part of your life, and the only way to be truly satisfied is to do what you believe is great work. And, the only way to do great work is to love what you do.” That’s exactly what happened to me and I’m unspeakable grateful for that.

The idea of the project emerged in April 2019 when I finally dared to combine my biggest passion with my profession. I didn’t know how it all will turn around for me but one thing I knew for sure – I definitely have to try.

Did you work in a different field before establishing YanvaYoga?

Sure thing … (smiling) I am a Senior Digital Marketing Specialist with 6 years of experience in IT sphere. Before starting my project, I worked with different companies and projects. I saw how small impulsive ideas grew to businesses, and I was the part of it. So once I woke up and realise: “This is it. It’s now or never. You have to give it a try!”. So here I am now growing my own business, and this is an incredible feeling! I wish Google stop rolling out so many updates though (giggling).

What are some of the benefits you have experienced by practising yoga?

Earlier I told you that yoga is my passion, but it’s more than that. It’s the way of lifestyle, it’s the whole philosophy that changed my life.

I’ve always been an active girl overloaded with “must do” and “must have” lists. Don’t get me wrong, I am not against hard work or setting goals, just sometimes we get stuck in an everyday life routine and distance ourselves from truly important things.

Yoga helped me to understand what I want through listening to my inner self. It helped me to become more relaxed and concentrate on things that really matter. Apart from mental benefits, everyday practice helped me to improve my muscle tone and overall well-being.

One of my yogi friends likes to repeat: “There is more interesting inside you than outside. Just learn to listen and you will get it!” I wish everyone could…

What are some of the common reasons people come to your website?

YanvaYoga tends to be the place where both yoga beginners and professional yogis could find answers to any of the questions connected with yoga practice and lifestyle.

We continuously enrich the website with information about different yoga practices, routines and poses one can use to get a particular result. For instance, those who look for extra weight loss with yoga can learn which type of yoga is best and what poses to practice to get into shape fast.

We also make yoga products reviews to help people in selecting yoga gears and clothing they will love to use during their everyday practice. And there’s so many ideas ahead … (smiling)

What is your favourite type of yoga, and why?

It’s hard to say … Everything depends on my mood and body response. I usually prefer active training (Hatha yoga, Vinyasa / Power yoga) but sometimes there’s nothing better than some gentle practice, something like Yin yoga or simply breathing. I think combining different training types and trying something new is always fun and useful as it helps to strengthen your neural connections.

How does “power” yoga differ to “vinyasa” yoga?

Both types are based on dynamic asanas practice. Power and Ashtanga Vinyasa yoga suggest that practitioners maintain their body weight in squats, lunges, various planks, balance on the arms, shoulders and head.

If we talk about the specific differences between Ashtanga Vinyasa yoga from India and Power yoga from America, then the latter definitely places much less emphasis on spiritual development. Even so, Power yoga also focuses on the connection of ligaments from asanas with breathing and concentration techniques. In general, Power Yoga can be called a light version of Ashtanga Vinyasa adapted to the needs of a Western person.

How can your clients verify which type of yoga will work best for them?

It all depends on how long a person has been doing yoga or whether he or she has practiced yoga before.

Like I mentioned before many people come to our site with issues they want to resolve through yoga. It can be insomnia, back pain, extra weight etc. I’ve always recommended people to select the type of yoga to practice based on their particular issue.

Be sure to consider your age and health status. More dynamic styles such as Ashtanga Vinyasa or Power yoga are more suitable for young, physically strong people. These styles of yoga help to improve an overall muscles tone and slender your body. For older people, it is better to choose more static practices – for example, Iyengar yoga – or therapy groups.

Pretty often, those who have problems with the musculoskeletal system, menstrual cycle, respiratory system, gastrointestinal tract and pressure come to yoga therapy. For beginners, I would recommend starting practising yoga gradually, from simple to complex without any rush. The question of the practice selection is also important because mistakes can negatively affect your health. That is why I highly recommend to visit your doctor before starting any physical training.