Anna Shabaltii

I have been practising yoga for seven years, and I started teaching less than a year after my first class. It wasn’t because I wanted to teach. Quite the opposite — I never planned to become a teacher.

While studying at the Academy of Arts, my friends and I won a grant to turn the ground floor of our dorm into a co-working space. Most of it was a bright hall with big windows, and friends started asking me to lead yoga there. I said no at first — I didn’t have serious training yet. But with their support I agreed to try, and something amazing happened: the hall was full every time, at least fifteen people. Honestly, I didn’t understand why they kept coming, but they did.

For a long time yoga stayed in the background. I saw myself as an artist: exhibitions, residencies, painting. Only a year and a half ago I decided: okay, now I really teach. I put art aside and stayed with yoga.

My foundation is ashtanga — traditional Pattabhi Jois style: a strict practice, series you do every day. It’s hard, but it prepares the body brilliantly. Later I studied yoga therapy, which gave me a solid understanding of alignment.

Today I teach hatha. It lets me simplify or deepen sequences and be creative, while keeping that ashtanga base: continuous breath, attention to transitions, correct alignment. For me practice is like a dance — the movement never stops, yet it has structure and detail.

Safety comes first. I talk a lot in class and explain even simple poses, because I got injured myself by rushing. I want people to stay healthy — and, even more, to feel silence and a connection with themselves after practice.

Yoga doesn’t end on the mat. Eating and being present only in that. Talking and being in the conversation. Breathing and feeling the moment. That is yoga off the mat.

My principle in life is compassion. Even when someone irritates or provokes you, if you look a little deeper you can see the root cause — and the anger is replaced by understanding.

My favourite book is Paramahansa Yogananda’s “Autobiography of a Yogi”. I recommend it to everyone.

I believe every person has huge potential, and life is a unique chance to unfold it. Yoga is one of the most powerful tools for that. Asanas are just the tip of the iceberg; real yoga begins when you learn to direct your attention and breath.

On this path it matters to have a teacher and a lineage. I practise in the Kriya yoga tradition with my Guru Shailendra Sharma, and Volodymyr Tkachenko taught me — and still teaches me — how to teach and build sequences.