LAURENCE GAY

Name: Laurence Gay
Occupation: yoga teacher & blogger
Nationality: French
Why did you start practicing yoga?
Out of curiosity and because of Madonna!
What makes you keep doing it?
When I first tried it, it felt like nothing I had practiced before. After my very first class my entire body was pulsing and I could feel that through the breath my entire body had been cleansed and filled with something that I would call … joy. Ever since, I had always felt fulfilled after a class. Then I went through another phase. A tough one. My father died, I was 28. And the yoga practice was the only time when I would not be torn apart by mixed feelings. It was the only time when I would bring myself to the present time and would no longer let myself roam in past memories. The only time when I would feel connected to myself and realize that deep down, there is something still that kind of make sense. In a word, yoga brought all the pieces back together and reminded me of what “to be alive” is all about and how precious that is. It made me grow more sensitive and stronger at the same time, and it gave me a sense of purpose. And now, 10 years later, I am still with yoga – or is it yoga sticking with me? ;) . Since then I have become a yoga teacher, and it has made my practice even more important to me because it is the place where my teaching comes from. It comes from the experience that emotions, body and breath are intertwined, from the realization that things are complex in life but yoga gives you tools to understand who you are and tools to experience and improve how you react to this complexity and it also comes from the understanding that we all have different starting points when we start yoga but the essence of it is the unfolding of … you as an individual. It is about freedom, the freedom to become who you truly are! Now, seriously, who would be mad enough to give up on any of that?
Where do you go to find peace in Paris?
On my mat. In my bed. In the shower.