#FITGIRLCODE expands with a new yogi: Liberty
It was Monday morning, the 4th of May, and I was sitting at a window seat on my flight back from Bangkok to Amsterdam. As we flew over the northern part of India, I found myself staring at the window and couldn’t help but notice a tear rolling down my cheek. As I looked outside, I looked back at the person I was 4 weeks earlier…
Island girl
Hi, my name is Liberty Suares and I just finished my Yoga Teacher Training (YTT) in Koh Samui, Thailand. I’m an island girl from Curaçao and moved to Holland about 3.5 years ago to fulfil my dream to become an architect. Little did I know that I would find another passion along the way that would change my life completely.
Balanced lifestyle
I’m a 21 year old trying to live a healthy and balanced lifestyle. I was always active and in to sports back on the island, but lost this part of myself when I started my Bachelor at TU Delft. Moving away from home and living on my own came with lots of responsibilities. After a year of not making time for any active activities and eating like students do, I decided to change something. I got inspired by the healthy and fit community on Instagram, started eating healthier and went running a few times a week. I became addicted to the way I was feeling and started running more and more. There was a point where I would run about 4-5 times a week.
Yoga
This is where I introduced myself to yoga. My body was asking for a good stretch so I downloaded a beginner yoga app. I remember doing all kinds of poses which I knew nothing about. After a few minutes my boyfriend joined me on the crowded living room floor and started doing these poses with me. With no idea of what was coming next, we found ourselves lying on the floor in Savasana and feeling super relaxed. The feeling after this practice was something I had never felt before. With the crazy schedule and student life that I had, I started running less and doing more yoga. I started reading articles online and watching Youtube videos and tutorials about yoga asanas(poses) and sequences.
Self-practice
After a few months of self practice, I wanted to know more about yoga so I went to this cute yoga studio that had just opened down the street. This was something new for me, stepping outside of my comfort zone and taking my self-practice to a real yoga studio. It was amazing. I learned new poses and got the real student-teacher experience...
After a few Ashtanga classes where I learned the basic asanas and sequence, I continued with my self-practice. After a few months of yoga my body was feeling so different (in a very positive way of course)! I would practice every chance I got, 15-60 minutes, almost every day. My body felt great. I started noticing muscle definition and felt stronger by the day. What kept me going, and inspired me the most, was how fast my body responded to yoga. I would try going into a new pose and falling out of it for days. But by practising daily, my body learned so fast that before I knew it, I was balancing on my head in a headstand.
Life-changing
Yoga changed my life and gave me a way of connecting with myself throughout my busy life. I got inspired by the lovely yogi’s of the yoga community on Instagram sharing their stories and practices.
I would love to inspire others the way they inspired me. I’ll be writing about my balanced lifestyle and hope to inspire you girls, so that one day you roll out your mat, take a few deep breaths and start from there.
Namaste, Liberty
xoxo
