Biography
João is an Andorra-born Yoga/Meditation teacher and Reiki healer devoted to his Dharma of helping others awaken to their Truth, to Love. Having suffered from depression since a young boy, his Yoga journeystarted in Portugal over 17 years ago when, upon observing an Asana practice, a seed was planted. He now calls it a moment of grace.
However, the Lotus only started to blossom when he moved to London to take his second MA (in Film Curating, after Film Directing). Always drawn to the esoteric and having learnt much from the Shamanic culture, it was only after having experienced the stillness and life-changing benefits of the Yogic lifestyle in such a dynamic city, that he travelled to the sacred surroundings of Tiruvannamalai, India where he qualified to teach Hatha Yoga as an apprentice of Yogi Ashokananda, still his devoted teacher, continuing the lineage of Advaita Vedanta and Gaudiya Matha.
Deepening his studies with Yogi he became a Meditation Teacher. He is also certified to teach Yin, Restorative and Yoga Nidra – with gratitude to his teachers Norman Blair, Anna Ashby @ Triyoga and Melanie Cooper & Jennie Wadsten @ The Shala respectively.
Also inspired by Adyashanti’s Satsangs, João endeavors to re-member his students on enquiring the true meaning of Yoga as a holistic system.
From the Sanskrit word Yuj which etymology translates as, similarly to the Latin origin of the word Religion (‘Religare’), ‘to yoke, to bind’. Hence, though not a follower of any religion (commonly doctrines), he often describes himself as a religious man.
With a high focus on Pranayama, João likes to emphasize how the breath should be used not only as a cleansing tool but, more so, as a language to communicate, to open a dialogue between Mind, Body and Soul – reestablishing balance through the opening of the chakras. Ha (Sun, masculine) and Tha (Moon, feminine). Yin and Yang. Let the coiled Serpent awaken.
Burn your Karma, reMember your Dharma.©
