Authenticity & the Future of Yoga: As a Profession & As a Philosophy | Cristina Kalyani Paes | Jungle Girl Bosses

Cristina Kalyani Paes found her path from a very young age & found herself asking primordial questions that weren’t typical of the time. She had paranormal experiences & was given resources to study about yoga & to work with a paranormal psychologist. From there, she deepened her studies for many years by learning about breathwork, hypnotherapy (from Brian Weiss & Dolores Cannon), yoga philosophy and lifestyle at the Bihar School of Yoga & meditation. A pilgrim, she traveled by horseback for a year and a half around South America, introducing fire dancing and yoga choreography to the unprivileged people in the mountains of Peru with Nomads United, before she settled in Costa Rica 16 years ago. Now, she practices the Yoga of Life, without putting labels or trying to market herself in an inauthentic way. Her work is a culmination of her experiences & knowledge. She wants to see yoga remain what it really is & shares the message that we don’t all need to quit everything, become yoga teachers and monks, and live in the jungle in order to be spiritual. “The world needs all professions, not just yoga teachers. We can always transform the work that we do into something beautiful. Anything we can do to go back to nature is they key - not that we have to release or get rid of our lives.” She talks about the need for community gathering centers in big cities where people can connect and experience a tribe, a place where one can LIVE yoga or spirituality. She’s frustrated with centers and studios that give employment to yoga teachers based on their social media followings and not based on their merit and it causes her to question the integrity of these places. She believes we need to find a balance with yoga as a profession and yoga as a philosophy, and always remain in our authenticity.