Karin OscarsonIt sounds very cliche but it was like this: I was a traveller, a seeker, an insecure on the inside but rebellious on the outside girl, trying to find her place in this world. Finding Amorgos back in 1986 was like that (here's the cliche:) It felt like coming home. So I settled down on this island a few years later and then another kind of travelling took over (this is a bit cliche-like as well..:) The Inner Journey. Self exploration through body therapies inspired me and the first step in educating myself was by getting initiated in Reiki healing. Then I trained in Classical Massage and Body Harmony. Always looking for understanding, growth and healing I also studied shamanism, intuitive massage, schiatzu and took part in numerous self development and therapy programs and workshops. I was lucky to welcome many alternative, mostly body oriented and holistic therapists and teachers in the studio I was running for twenty five years. Meditation soon became my passion, my saviour and my medicine for deeper connection to myself and the world. Silent retreats, a meditation teacher training and a dedicated daily practice took me through layers of the person I had become to a more authentic, silent and free part of myself. Yoga teachers were also coming to run retreats or classes in the studio - that we eventually called Yoga Studio - and I practiced with most of them. I started to really enjoy the feeling in my body and mind when diving deeper into the postures and the movements, I practiced on my own when no teacher was around and eventually I wanted to share this powerful thing with others. I did a yoga teacher training in hatha yoga, the origin of most asana based yoga practices. I took part in several really good workshops with prominent teachers focusing on yoga therapy, alignment, adjustments and anatomy. Solution focused coaching is another method I have studied which influences all my work and my life, I must say; I prefer focusing on solutions and not hang around too much with the problems. Yet another big influencer for me personally and my work is the feminine aspect; the flow, the creativity, the intuition and the emotions as a portal to a bigger realm. I have practiced with Chameli Ardagh, founder of the Awakening Women Institute , since I, after a serie of serendipitous coincidences, met her in California in 2012. The IRIS yoga&massage Studio is now history since one year back and I work as a freedancer. Karin is a certified massage and reiki practitioner, meditation and yoga teacher. She is originally from Sweden but lives on Amorgos since -93 and co-founded the IRIS studio with Vasilis Savvas later in the nineties. She teaches most of the year on Amorgos but also in Sweden and other places. |
Photo: Didier Pruvot