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Photo ELAD ITZKIN
BEX FETHERSTONE EDITOR
BEEZ from 106STORIES CREATIVE DIRECTOR
CONTRIBUTORS AARON SANTORO ALESSANDRO SIGISMONDI CHRIZTINA MARIE DAVIN JONES ELAD ITZKIN ELEONORA ZAMPATTI GOLDIE HANNAH BLOOMFIELD IVÁN RIVILLA DE LA CRUZ JASON REINHART JESS LONG JONELLE LEWIS
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KAYLA ANN KELLY ISSAC LEONOR RIVALLO LISA BUS LOUIS D'ORIGNY PAO SANCHEZ SOPHIA HERBST TARA LEE WERKSHOP
COVER PHOTO by JASON REINHART
ADVERTISE IN or WRITE FOR US CONTACT
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PUBLISHED BY 106STORIES LIMITED 41 CHOUMERT SQ. PECKHAM LONDON SE15 4RE
@wearedraze
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Contents 14
Editor's Letter
Photography
16
The Perfect Pose
Music
23
Dreamy Chillout
Accidental Yogi
24
Breathe. Let it Go.
Interview
26
Kayla Ann
Feature
34
Call To Action
Profile
38
OHMME
Commentary
45
Forgive Me...
Commentary
46
Reclaim Your Body
51
Studio Stockists
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EDITOR'S LETTER
A
s winter is creeping up on us and Christmas is around the corner, it’s all too easy to get sucked in by the manic rush of present-buying and holiday-planning. We can still be moving through the motions of our practice, feeling smug when we’re up early enough to be in downward dog whilst it’s still dark, and waffling on about how we’ve still not caught that winter cold that’s spreading around the office thanks to our pranayama. But what does all of that really mean? We’ve all heard teachers telling us that yoga means union and we’ve gotten pretty good at understanding the whole ‘mind-body connection’ concept, but have we lost something somewhere along the way? Once we’ve learnt to unite with ourselves on the mat shouldn’t the next natural step be to unite with others off it? And so in this issue we’ve combined the two. Eleonora Zampatti looks at reclaiming your body after trauma (pg.46), whilst Louis D’Origny is building a community of yoga stories for guys (pg. 38). The highlight for me though, is The Karma Yoga Project’s call to action (pg.34), for yogis to “all muck in together and make a difference”, because that, over all the the lunges, Liforme mats and Lululemon leggings that you might have on your wishlist this Christmas, is what yoga is really all about.
Bex Fetherstone Editor
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Kayla Riva Ann G. by JASON REINHART
By Tara Lee Capturing the moment
The Perfect Pose
Leonor Rivallo by IVÁN RIVILLA DE LA CRUZ
I
am standing on a beach in Burma, gazing through a lens at a tree emerging from the water. The tree seems to be defying the laws of nature. Looking at it, I am taken out of myself, captivated, totally in the moment. I use my breath to keep my hands steady so that I can frame this exquisite image. I adjust my posture to become more stable and with a click the image is captured and I feel a sense of peace and gratification. As I freeze the moment with my camera, I am struck by the similarity between yoga and photography. Yoga teaches us to come into the present, to capture each moment. Throughout our practice we learn to use our breath to become more mindful, calm and stable. We learn to experience the present moment and to let go of the past, observing and connecting to ourselves in any given moment. As a photographer I observe the world around me. I contemplate light and shadow, reflections in puddles, cloud formations and the array of textures in nature. When we take photos we are considering the world from a range of different perspectives and choosing a snapshot of reality that best conveys our perception of that moment. Yoga shifts our perception both literally and metaphorically. In inversions we turn our world upside down, sometimes we stand on one leg or two hands, trying to find balance. All of these physical shifts challenge the way we look at things and force us to pay more attention to our perspective. I remember standing on a high rooftop of a temple at dusk in Bagan a few days ago, waiting for that golden moment during the setting of the sun, when over ten thousand temples would gloriously be illuminated, seemingly framed by a celestial light. I patiently waited, surrounded by a group of keen photographers from all around the world. A feeling of calm and focus rippled across that rooftop, just like the feeling of a group of yogis preparing for their asanas or meditation practice. When the moment finally came, the clicking of camera shutters grew in intensity, pulsing like a kapalabhati
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Leonor Rivallo by IVÁN RIVILLA DE LA CRUZ
pranayama practice as the fire of the sun started to bend on the horizon, hazy like a mirage. As the pagodas were set on fire by the golden light shining from all directions and the sky spread into a haze of pink and purple hues, I found myself gently holding my breath, just like in my pranayama practice, and steadying it in order to take the perfect shot. And the similarities don’t end there. I can’t count number of times I have seen photographers contorting themselves into a variety of weird and wonderful positions in order to capture the perfect moment, squatting in a version of utkatsana, lunging in a warrior stance, lying on the ground salambasana style, all the time precariously balancing the camera. I often find myself crouched in the grass, balanced on one leg or contorted in an obscure position, waiting for the moment my children emerge from a bush so that I can capture them unnoticed. My yoga practice has given me the ability to move my body to create more interesting angles and capture things more fully, and in turn my photography has shown me how to use the movements of the body to access something much bigger. One of the goals of our yoga practice, is to translate our experiences on the mat and extend them into our life off the mat. To realise the beauty and the essence within ourselves that is unchanging, no matter what is thrown our way. Once we feel more connected within ourselves, we are more able to perceive the beauty that surrounds us and feel gratitude. There is a beautiful quote by T. S. Elliot about finding the still point of the turning universe and it’s this feeling that we should all aim to experience, whether it’s whilst stood on our head or holding a camera...or maybe even both!
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Photography & editing IVÁN RDC PHOTOGRAPHY (IVÁN RIVILLA) Model LEANOR RIVALLO Location COMPLEJO HOSTELERO LOS ESCUDEROS
Leonor Rivallo by IVÁN RIVILLA DE LA CRUZ
DREAMY CHILLOUT Playlist
W
inter is coming and everybody is busy rushing around in the dark. Mornings are dreary and evenings are cold, so we thought we'd give you 60 minutes of escapism to go along with your practice. Turn on the stereo, get into tadasana, close your eyes and float along with our dreamy playlist...
Track
Posture
Fallen Tehro Teardo
Warm Up
Paradise Circus Massive Attack
3 x Sun Salute A
Angelica Lamb
3 x Sun Salute B
Building Steam With A Grain of Salt DJ Shadow
Standing Postures
Gila Beach House Natural Blues Moby So High Ghost Loft The Socialites (Aluna George Remix) Dirty Projectors Flowers Willow
Seated Postures
This Place Was A Shelter Olafur Arnalds Una Mattina Ludovico Einaudi
Finishing Sequence
Says Nils Frahm Infra 5 Max Richter & Louise Fuller
Svasana
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BREATHE. LET IT GO. WORDS THE ACCIDENTAL YOGI
T
his month has been all about the meditation for me. I say that with a pretty darned smug smile on my face as though I am superior by virtue of the fact that I have overcome the need to stretch my limbs to within an inch of their lives and instead have chosen to fight the more noble battle of the mind. In reality it’s because I have a new job, it’s getting darker earlier, I’ve hurt my shoulder and any other excuse you can think of. That, and the fact that I can’t be bothered to get my bum on my mat by the time I get home. I just want my spaghetti bolognese (and it’s not even made with Quorn). I started out with Headspace because I’d tried sitting quietly on my own and all it had resulted in was thoughts about my itchy foot and my aforementioned spaghetti bolognese. Headspace offered me ten days of ten minute guided meditations. I’d been slaving away and dripping in sweat for 90 minutes on my mat when I could have been having a nice ten minute sit down each day instead. The Headspace man was kind to me. His voice was gentle, he kept telling me how well I was doing and on my first day he even let me watch a little animation, which I half concentrated on as I painted my nails in a calming mint green colour and which I understood to be about how soothed and enlightened my brain was going to be once I’d finished. Great, I thought, the perfect way to spend
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that ordinarily annoying nail-drying time. By the end of day six I hated the Headspace man. So much. He kept trying to pacify me as my worst memories bashed on the inside of my skull, he kept telling me to remember to count my breath as I was barely remembering to breathe at all, and worst of all he would say “well done and I’ll look forward to seeing you tomorrow,” in a pat-on-the-back sort of voice as I tried to wrench myself from my pit of gloom at the end of each ten minute session. For some reason though, I kept going back. After all, he’d told me that he was looking forward to seeing me, I was trying to be all yogic - what would happen to my karma if I let him down? And here I am, more than a month later, a certified meditator. I passed my ten introductory days and am still going strong. I’m back on good terms with that little Headspace voice who has held my hand all the way and I feel like after all we’ve been through together I’m almost ready to fly the nest and go it alone. Some days are bliss and on others I’d rather a gruelling core workout than even a minute alone with my own thoughts, but that’s the point I’ve realised, just to sit with it and then let it go. And as I’m busy meditating on all of this I realise that I’ve missed my stop on the tube. Breathe. Let it go.
Kayla Ann by JASON REINHART
Kayla Ann by JASON REINHART
Kayla Ann Interview
Kayla Ann by JASON REINHART
A
t only “twenty years young”, up-andcoming yogi Kayla Ann talks to Draze about skipping school P.E. classes, struggling with body image and learning to love. Having taken her first dance class at the age of two, it took another sixteen years for Kayla Ann’s journey to bring her onto the mat. In 2013, after digging out a dusty old yoga DVD that she had “hated” a few months earlier, Kayla Ann had her first proper practice and fell in love. Now she’s looking to the future and things have never looked brighter.... How did you first get into yoga and do you remember your first class?
I'd always thought that yoga was just something old people do to exercise. It had never interested me but one day I gave it a try. Unfortunately, I hated it. I was instructed to hold poses and breathe deeply, all new concepts for me that I was just way too impatient and hyper to learn. Fast forward two years and I found myself searching for a new type of physical exercise that wasn’t high impact but was still somewhat challenging. I decided to give yoga another go, and I fell in love. Going back to the same DVD with a different attitude and mindset made all the difference. I practised at home for a long time because I was a full time student on a budget and didn't have the time or money for a studio class. About a year into my practice, I found a studio that allowed volunteers to attend classes for free! My first class was incredible. Practising and being guided by a teacher was something I never knew I had always needed, especially if I wanted to grow deeper in my yoga practice. What were you doing before yoga - are you a full time yogi now?
I grew up dancing and was a gymnast for a couple of years when I got older. I was two years old when I
took my first ballet class and continued to dance in school until I was 17. I only really danced in school so I was never a very technical dancer and I never competed in dance competitions, but I danced because it allowed me to express myself in a creative way. I danced because it was a passion, and it still is. One of the perks of dancing in school was that I was never required to take P.E. classes, which was amazing because I have never been a sporty girl. I love the outdoors and being active, but when it comes to balls that fly towards my face, you can count me out! What sort of an influence does your yoga practice have on the rest of your life?
Yoga is one of the ways I am reminded of everything I am and what life is really all about. I am a much more patient person since I've begun practising yoga, both with myself and with others. Yoga keeps me humble, there will always be someone better, stronger and more spiritual than me, I just have to embrace where I am now and keep moving forward. Unity and love is what we are here for. Unity with others, with ourselves and with a higher power. We are here to love, together. Has yoga helped you through any personal struggles?
When I was 16, I was diagnosed with an eating disorder. I struggled for years with body dysmorphia, horrible body image, depression, and anxiety. During my recovery I found yoga. At first, I came to yoga looking for a healing and low impact exercise for my physical body, however the more I practised the more I began to see that yoga was so much more. Yoga healed me from the inside out. I slowly began to love my body more, because of the connection I was building with it through breathing and mindful movements. Our bodies are incredible masterpieces
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capable of amazing things. Yoga also gave me something positive to do with my free time. When you are in recovery from any addiction, you have to break a lot of habits that have had a hold over you for years, so having a positive hobby or activity to engage in is so important. I learnt that beauty doesn't come from how thin or "fit" you are, but beauty comes from the heart. Your love for, others, for yourself and for some higher power, your confidence, your joyfulness and your positive attitude, all shine through! This is something outward beauty can't do, because it's only on the surface, it is fading, and it is superficial. The beauty inside of you won't ever fade. Do you think modern yoga could be improved in any way?
I'm not sure if I would really change anything about modern yoga. Many traditionalists say that it has lost its spiritual content, which I guess is true. Having said that, many people, myself included, are drawn to yoga for mundane reasons; pain, injury, or getting fit. A lot of people wouldn’t even begin on their journey if the spiritual side of yoga was thrown in their face, but that doesn't mean that the spiritual side of the practice won't eventually develop. The beauty of modern yoga is that there are always new styles being created which means that yoga can appeal to a wider variety of people with varying needs . If it’s a mundane reason that leads people to the mat in the first place, then so be it. Everyone’s yoga journey is different and we all have to start somewhere. How long have you been teaching for and did you always want to teach?
I have been teaching for about a year now. I nev-
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Kayla Ann by JASON REINHART
er gave much thought to the possibility of teaching yoga until I got a special request from one of my good friends who was looking for someone to lead his fitness friends in a free yoga class. I was so anxious about it, but after teaching my first class I knew that it was something I would continue to do for a long time. Being able to teach yoga is such a blessing, it’s definitely the most rewarding job I have had. Being able to share my personal practice and my passion for yoga with others is something I did even before I started teaching. Now, as a teacher, I basically do the same but I also have the privilege of watching my students grow in their practice, accomplish things they never thought would be possible, and become just as passionate as I am. I am always humbled by my students and also encouraged by them. Each one of their journeys is so unique, beautiful, and special and it brings me hope to watch their stories unfold. I hope that my students leave my class feeling hopeful, connected, and joyful, knowing that no matter what comes their way today they have the ability to control their reaction. Our life is a vinyasa, we've got to flow with it, accept it, and just keep moving. You are super good at back-bending - something that we hate!! Do you have any tips for your fellow backbenders?
Back bending, my favorite! Although I have always had a flexible back, yoga has shown me that flexibility is useless and dangerous without strength. Stretching your back may get you a little more bendy but the key is to have a good balance between flexibility and strength. Everyone’s spine is different and so no matter how much they’re stretched, some spines just won't bend in half! So does this mean you can't go deep into backbends? Of course not! The bending comes from the shoulders and the hip
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flexors, so if you want to improve your back-bending, focus on stretching and strengthening the back at the same time as working on shoulder mobility and flexibility and opening the hip flexors! What do you hope people will take from seeing your journey on Instagram?
I am so grateful for Instagram and the yoga community that is being built there. Instagram is where I share my yoga journey, my personal struggles, my failures and my accomplishments, but most importantly my faith. I don't hold back when it comes to Instagram, I feel like it is very easy to hide your true self and create an image that doesn't represent who you really are. I want to be myself, and inspire others to do the same, to be raw, honest, and open, because that is what life is all about! I hope people leave my page feeling inspired, hopeful, and encouraged. What's your favourite pose and why?
Scorpion handstand. Hands down. It beautifully displays the perfect balance between strength and flexibility that is needed for yoga. It makes me feel so strong and empowered, lengthened and beautiful. I never thought in a million years I could feel so at peace in such a pose, but I am happy to say that I do! Tip for life?
Hmmm...My tip for life? How about I give you three. Love. After all that isn't that why we are here? Travel as often as possible, this world is too spectacular not to see. And lastly, don't seek out success; if you pursue your passion then success will come to you.
Kayla Ann by JASON REINHART
Call To Action The Karma Yoga Project
T
he first time I meet Jess Long and Jonelle Lewis, co-founders of The Karma Yoga Project (KYP), they blow my mind. With Jess’ years of experience in creating ethical business models and Jonelle’s expertise in event management, you’d imagine a somewhat business-like approach, but that couldn’t be further from the truth. They greet me with hugs and kisses and the enthusiasm in the air is tangible. They talk about projects in the UK, Rwanda and a whole host of other places and I struggle to keep up with the magnitude of their plans. Everything sounds great but I can’t quite put my finger on which problem it is that The Karma Yoga Project wants to tackle.
and studios donated alongside individual yogis and that she is completely overwhelmed by the response the campaign is still getting.
Over the months Jess Long and Jonelle Lewis, co-founders of The Karma Yoga Project become good friends of mine and I can’t help but be continually infected with their endless drive, determination and devoted passion. On a cold October evening we catch up over the phone and it’s just a couple of days since Jess has returned from a weekend in Calais delivering yoga mats to Syrian refugees in need. “It was cold and rainy and difficult,” says Jess, “but the mats were super in need. There are people in Calais who are sleeping on the freezing cold floor, including women and children and the elderly. Although the mats don’t provide lots of support, they at least provide a little extra warmth and comfort.”
“There was so much need in Calais,” Jess says, “and you can really see what a difference even the smallest donations are making, but I worry that there are other places out there just as in need but getting far less media coverage.” Jess plans to make the next KYP trip to somewhere lesser known and talks to me about how important it is to coordinate with the NGOs on the ground. “It’s essential for us to understand what’s needed,” she explains. With over six thousand refugees currently living in the Calais camp, unnecessary donations and distribution are two huge problems that overstretched NGOs face. “I saw donated wedding dresses and party outfits,” Jess recalls, “which when you have a very limited number of distribution channels trying to get to people who are freezing to death, can create huge backlogs as volunteers try and sort through useful and unuseful items.” To try and alleviate problems with distribution Jess also speaks to me about the importance of “making it clear that we’re not going to just arrive, dump some donations and then leave.” The Karma Yoga Project volunteers walked around extensive sections of the camp, distributing the limited number of mats to those who needed them the most.
The mats came from The Karma Yoga Project’s #IGiveAMat campaign, whereby yogis across the UK could donate their mat to selected studios, who then handed them over the KYP for the big trip over the channel. The campaign was an unprecedented success and KYP ended up with more mats than they could take in one trip. So, is another trip in the cards? “Absolutely,” Jess tells me, “#IGiveAMat is still very much up and running. Yogarise studio in London are still collecting mats for our next trip, and we have a partner programme in Brussels doing the same.” Jess tells me that tons of local teachers
The #IGiveAMat initiative was sparked by yogi Viviana Ramazzotti, who works with NGOs in Calais and knew that donated mats could change lives. Having attended other fundraising KYP yoga classes, Viviana approached KYP about setting up a campaign. As we chat more about what the future of the project might look like I slowly realise why I couldn’t quite understand its aim. I was busy trying to fit The Karma Yoga Project into a charity box. Was it a charity that helped a particular country, a charity that fought for the rights of a particular group of people, or a charity that sought to end a
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Photo ELAD ITZKIN
problem? It was none of the above. “What we want is to make it easier for yogis to practise yoga off the mat,” Jess tells me, “but this is not a charity, it’s a collective and we want to get everybody involved.” The Karma Yoga Project states that it is “a community of yogis working together to take the transformative power of yoga off the mat to improve the lives of others.” What that means in reality is that Jess and Jonelle want to take direction from the community. Jess goes on to explain that sometimes businesses seem to feel that they’re already doing enough by virtue of being a yoga business, but KYP is looking to change that attitude and encourage high profile yogis, studios and the rest of the community to come forward and get others to recognise that karma yoga shouldn’t be something that people talk about on Instagram, or something they feel they’re a part of by virtue of going through their asanas, but rather something that they take an active role in. “A lot of yogis think nothing of spending a money on a mat or a pair of leggings,” Jess explains, “and maybe they’ll donate a bit to charity too, but it’s much harder to get people to take action, and that’s what we aim to do.” In an industry that has created such a single-minded focus on asanas and the self, the element of giving back can be lost and the intent of The Karma Yoga Project is to find that element and bring it back to the forefront of yoga. Jess and Jonelle tell me that The Karma Yoga Project is an “open-door movement”. They're looking for high-profile yogis and studios to help lead the way and encourage people to take a stand, but they’re equally searching for every yogi to come and tell them what it is they want to change in the world. “We don’t want to sit here and think ‘right, this is what we’re going to do’”, says Jess, “this is a call to action. Come to us, tell us what you’re passionate about and using the resources and expertise of The Karma Yoga Project, we’ll all muck in together to make a difference to the world we live in.”
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OHM Davin Jones by ALESSANDRO SIGISMONDI
MME A
Frenchman, a mathematician and an economist walk into an ashtanga class... This is not the beginning of a riddle or a silly English joke, but the true and somewhat incredible story of the birth of men’s yoga clothing brand OHMME. French-born Louis D’Origny, founder of OHMME, fulfills the role of the Frenchman, the mathematician and the economist in this story, a three for the price of one whirlwind who can now add the tag of designer and entrepreneur to his already impressive CV. After just a short while working in finance Louis quit his successful career and went off to study a masters in economics. Somewhere along the way, he stumbled into a free trial Mysore ashtanga class and after being put through his paces in his first 90 minutes of yoga, rather than a pat on the back and some encouraging words, Louis’ teacher told him “if you’re not going to come to class at least three times a week then I’m not interested in teaching you”. Rather than putting Louis off though, he tells
Davin Jones by ALESSANDRO SIGISMONDI
me that this was probably the best thing the teacher could have said to him at that particular moment in his life, and is perhaps, to this day, the key to his continuing practice. “I suddenly thought ‘this guy is taking this yoga stuff seriously, so maybe I should too’”, Louis tells me. He packed up his things, returned to the mat the next day and has never looked back. “My practice became my thing,” Louis recalls, “but the more I practised, the more I noticed that none of my sports clothes really ‘worked’ in class.” Louis tried everything from basketball shorts (too baggy) and running shorts (too short), to joggers (too hot) and surf shorts (too crinkly), but never found the perfect match for his practice. Not one to sit back on his laurels and complain, Louis followed in the footsteps of his father, artistic director of Hermes for 55 years, and set about designing and making a set of clothing to suit his practice. Satisfied with his new attire Louis began wearing it to classes and much to his surprise it attracted some attention. “I had designed three pieces for my practice,” Louis tells me, “and I loved them, but it never occurred to me that others might love them too.” People began asking Louis where he’d acquired his new gear and he found that a lot of other guys sympathised with not being able to find clothes that sat comfortably with their practice. “After a few guys had enquired, I started to think ‘I like the clothes, other people seem to like them too, why don’t I make some more and see where it goes?’”, Louis recalls. At first just a simple range of three pieces, as Louis’ practice evolved so did his OHMME range. “As I started to experiment with other types of yoga, I found that the clothes I had designed didn’t necessarily work across the board,” he tells me, “and I started to think that if it made sense to design clothes specifically for yoga, then why wouldn’t you design clothes specifically for different practice preferences?” It's been just seven months since OHMME opened
to the public, and it is already in full swing. With an ever-expanding range, you’d be forgiven for thinking that the simplicity that came with the initial spark of the OHMME brand must have been lost to an ever more complicated and corporate process, but you’d be wrong. “I’m unapologetic in saying that I design clothes for myself,” Louis tells me frankly, “it’s just an added bonus that others seem to like them and want to wear them too.” Each item in the OHMME range is painstakingly designed by Louis and then modified and remodified with the help of his dedicated technician. Once a fabric has been chosen (the hardest part of the process according to Louis) the designs are sent off to the OHMME factory for production. Unlike many brands who choose to produce their final products in far flung places, every OHMME product comes to life in Portugal, where Louis has a close relationship with the factory and holds a reverent respect for its ‘clean’ processes and family feel. “My father is in fashion, and despite the synergy between what we do, the only thing he really taught me was to treat the people that work for you well, because if you don’t, you’ll never be happy with your business,” Louis tells me. “I guess I could have been set on making everything as cheaply as possible, in some long convoluted process that sent my products to the other side of the world, but this is a factory that treats everybody well, I can pop over there and say hi any time, I can relate to the people who run it and it’s a genuinely lovely place making genuinely nice clothes.” But as OHMME expands, Louis has big plans for expanding OHMME's remit to include more than just designing and doing. “Granted, we’re seeing an ever-increasing number of men appearing in studios nowadays,” Louis tells me, “but there are still relatively few forums where men can share their yoga stories and feel a part of a movement.” And so the ultimate aim for OHMME is to create a beautiful and practical clothing brand that becomes a vehicle for men to express their feelings about their practice and break the idea of yoga in the west as predominantly for women.
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I chat to Louis about this and he tells me about OHMME’s recent video shoot in Dover (pictured pg.38), where yogi Davin Jones, performed a seamless flow of breathtaking balances on the edge of a cliff. I’m pretty astounded to learn that Davin only started yoga in 2013 and before that was, in his own words, “an electrician who couldn’t even touch his toes.” Louis says that he “wanted to push the limits with the first video, to convey an image that really hit guys with the message that yoga is for them too,” says Louis. Davin chats about the death-defying experience and how he wanted to show that for him, in just two years, the movements of yoga have become natural and the only thing that now stands in his way is what’s in his mind. “When I got to that cliff edge, I knew in my head that the movements of yoga were just as natural to me as walking. I don’t think about whether I’m going to fall over every time I walk down the street, and in the same way I know that I can hold a handstand or an arm balance without worrying. But my mind shifted when I stood looking out to the sea, and it was fear I had to battle, not anything in my body.” And in that way Davin’s video is representative of the battle in all of us. Davin and Louis’ Dover video sets the tone nicely for what Louis hopes will be the first in a series of many videos which showcase men’s yoga and movement stories by lining up a stunning video of their practice with their own three minute commentary on what yoga means to them. As we move back to chatting about clothing and Louis starts to expand on his plans for the future, everything suddenly makes sense. Louis doesn’t want to just make clothes or just tell stories, he wants to make clothes that tell stories. “There are two things a piece of clothing can do,” he tells me, “fulfil a function, and tell a story. Why should we be limited to choosing one of those things?” He goes on to tell me that he has recently designed a pair of shorts for a banker friend who “had to carry
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around a million different pairs of underpants in a briefcase, one for pre-yoga, one for yoga and one for post-yoga” Of course Louis isn’t the first person to think of a pair of shorts with integrated underwear, but he is perhaps the first to ask what someone actually needs on an individual level from their yoga practice attire and make it especially for them. He is currently designing a pair of shorts for a surfer friend who practises on the beach and wants to be able to jump straight on his board when the surf looks good. “Board shorts are too crinkly for yoga, and yoga pants aren’t suitable for surfing,” says Louis, “so I’m going to solve the annoying problem of having to get changed all the time between sports and design a pair of yoga surfing shorts.” Louis tells me that he wants people to be able to have their movement life encompassed in a pair of shorts, and then those shorts will tell their story, a story that they can share with others. “Ultimately I want guys to be able to express their feelings about their practice,” says Louis, “rather that it being something that they just do. I want them to be able to tell their story and if I can enable that by getting people involved in the design process then great.” Louis tells me that he’s not a businessman and he doesn’t plan on becoming one. “I have no desire to go and do market research and work out what will sell the most,” he laughs, “yoga is what I understand and so if you come and tell me that your clothes aren’t working for your practice and you need them to do x ,y and z then I will make you clothes that work for you and that tell your yoga story. I’m a yogi,” Louis tells me, “I just make clothes that are designed by yogis for yogis, and hopefully I get to share a few incredible stories along the way.” And it really is as simple as that. For more from OHMME visit ohmmeyoga.com, for Davin Jones check out @dav.kangayoga on Instagram and for Alessandro Sigismondi visit alessandrosigismondi.com.
Model ELEONORA RACHELE ZAMPATTI Hair & Makeup MASHA JERAMAZ Davin Jones ALESSANDRO SIGISMONDI Photography CLAIRE SHEPROW ofby FINDORION PHOTOGRAPHY
Davin Jones by ALESSANDRO SIGISMONDI
Forgive me teacher for I have sinned Lisa Bus
F
orgive me teachers, for I have sinned. I was so hungry… I ate before class. And I don’t mean an apple or a cracker. No, I mean a full-on dinner (and those crisps lying around on the kitchen table, too). Needless to say, as smug as I felt right before class, I regretted it the moment I was half upside down in my downward facing dog, and I regretted it infinitely more when we got to binding. Ugh. Oh. My... For a moment I really thought things weren’t going to end well. I am sure I even saw the person next to me giving me ‘the look’. Thinking about all of the horror stories I had read about yoga farts in class, I moidered over whether or not I would prefer to sacrifice my precious practice and run to the restroom to leave my dignity there, rather than on my mat under the watchful eyes of my fellow yogis. Instead of focussing on my asanas and my drishti, I focussed on my bodily functions. Charming. Lucky me there wasn’t a Mel Gibson in the room, because trust me: this is not what women want. It’s not like I didn’t know this was going to happen. Given some of the seemingly impossible pretzely asanas we’re expected to get ourselves into, it makes perfect sense that your practice should be performed on an empty stomach. But, armed with this sound knowledge, I promptly chose to lob it out of the window and create my own logic. I opted for yoga after work, and chose to fill the unmanageable foodless stretch between lunch and 9:30pm with a nice three-courser. Having learnt my lesson, I am now eating lunch for breakfast, dinner for lunch and breakfast for dinner. While this all sounds very sensible and practical, perhaps the biggest lesson learnt is that whilst some of the discomfort we face on the mat is genuine, most of it is self-inflicted and can be overcome with a shift in perspective. Wait, what? Masochist much..?! Maybe so, but it will certainly put things into perspective the next time the teacher tells me to (for once) stop fidgeting and “just sit with it”. So if you ever see a girl next to you huffing ‘n puffing in child’s pose, make sure you get some fresh air before the sun salutes! Namaste
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Reclaim your body Eleonora Zampatti
“To contemplate is to look at shadows” - Victor Hugo
L
ife is a dance in search of balance, a dance with the shadows of who you were, who you really are and who you would like to be. I always had problems with the duality of existence. I often wanted to hide in the darkness of the night, yet I couldn’t live without the warm touch of the sun. My soul shone when surrounded by people, yet it yearned for moments of absolute loneliness. I loved the vibration of music yet I recharged through the sound of silence.
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I
have personal experience of the overbearing and lasting effects of trauma and for a long time, whilst suffering through its residues, I tried in any way I could to survive. The more I tried to be strong and avoid emotional contradictions, the more I was falling apart. I spent a long time dwelling within myself and I thought that staying silent about my demons was enough to erase them from my memory. What I failed to understand back then was that my emotional suffering was deeply affecting not just my mind, but my body as well. It was creating a fracture and a disconnection that was preventing me from healing. For years I pretended to forget about my past, but my body never forgot. For those who experience trauma, the body can become a sort of alien force which is perceived as the ‘enemy’ and is entirely detached from your sense of self. And that’s what it was for me: an enemy, an entity that had failed me, a thing that I was trapped in and that I could not escape from. A part of me that I could not love. I waged an overwhelming fight against my physical my body which rendered me a shadow of my former self. I often thought that I was too little and too fragile for this world. One day whilst sitting in the darkness of my apartment, I suddenly understood at some level that it was time for me to stop fighting my own shadows. So I decided to just be. I decided to stop hiding ‘the wrong Eleonora’, stop trying to be ‘the good version of Eleonora’ and instead embrace both of them. I made the decision to be everything that I was ashamed of; alone, scared and vulnerable. Through yoga I embraced my own darkness and I connected to the sound of my heartbeat and suddenly discovered that primordial rhythm, that life force that we all carry inside. The more I listened to my body in my yoga practice the more I felt a force inside of me was the product of two directly opposing energies that were collid-
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ing in perfect combination to create me. I fired up my physical practice working on inversions and arm balances and felt connected to a fierceness and strength in my core. I could not avoid moments of surrender in forward bends and hip opening poses. I felt my muscles tense around a pose and learnt to understand that the more intensely I tried to hold on to a posture, the further it slipped away from me. I learnt to surrender. So the law goes that once you’re able to let go, you’re able to take in and the more I allowed myself to let go in my practice, the further I progressed. I understood that vulnerability was not my weakness, but my strength. I surrendered to discomfort in postures designed to be bliss, I felt vulnerable and open in backbends, I redirected frustration to strength and I learnt to use the power of my mind as my muscles trembled. Through my body I began to understand that duality, vulnerability and strength, was integral to my identity. It was through this understanding that I was able to start looking at the trauma I had ignored for so long and instead of fighting the shadows of my past I started to embrace those spooky figures. In yoga we learn how to reconnect to our body, how to release and how to let go. We hold a pose only to understand how truly good it feels to let it go. We constantly fight and surrender. We surrender to our breath, to a higher power and to the reality that sometimes things both inside and outside of our body do not make sense. We learn to be present in order to bloom into who we really are. We are often told that yoga means ‘union’. Perhaps this refers to the union of all of the opposites of the universe within our soul. In the space between the opposites of spirit and mind, between light and darkness, between strength and vulnerability, is where our essence truly lies. It is through yoga that I finally came to understand that the more deeply I surrender to the constant wave of my own duality, the closer I become to reclaiming my body and to finding my true self.
Eleonora, is a native of Milan, Italy. Her wide range of teaching abilities include Pilates, yoga, dance and strength training. After years working in Manhattan and Brooklyn she is now a full time yoga teacher in Monmouth County, NJ. Using her passion for yoga and music she founded Ode to the Moon, a unique yoga practice that fundraises for and brings awareness to the topic of domestic violence. She is now leading the art project 'Breaking Open' which uses yoga, art and music to empower victims of abuse. eleonorazampatti.com Photos by Aaron Santoro @aaron.santoro
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Eleonora Zampatti by AARON SANTORO
Studio Stockists London
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Indaba Marylebone
Cambridge
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Ethos St Andrew's St
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Eleonora Zampatti by AARON SANTORO