This is my story. I have never written it before anywhere. It's the story that describes who I am and how I became me. It's a long story, partly because I'm already 42 years old and also because there are quite many different types of time periods, that have shaped me into this person. I'm writing this to introduce myself properly but also because it helps me understand myself better. Let's get into it!
November 10, 1974 it all started. I was born in Borås, Sweden, where my parents had moved after work, in the early seventies. I'm the youngest of four children, with two sisters and one brother. Our family was quite active in Boy Scouts and sports, giving me a natural path to move into sports, the thing I have been doing my whole life.
1982, at the age of eight, we moved back to Finland. My parents are both Finnish, I went to a Finnish school, so I guess consider myself a Finn. I don't have strong ties to any nationality though. At the moment I live in Estonia and I don't really miss Finland at all. I will live in many countries in my future years on this amazing planet, Finland may or may not be one of them.
1982-1991 I lived in a small town in Finland and did a lot of sports. The most serious sport for me was badminton, but I realized during these years that I'm not the guy who only focuses on one sport and tries to be the best at that. I like to do many things and have fun with sport. Not to take it too seriously. My other hobbies at that time: jujutsu, cycling, running, high jump, snowboarding, skiing, sailing, swimming.
USA
1991 I spent a year in USA. I was an exchange student in Port Clinton, Ohio, a small town on the shore of Lake Erie. I absolutely loved this year in US. It really opened my eyes and gave me the knowing that I can manage it anywhere in the world. I was very active at sports which automatically made me fit in the society very nicely. The culture of high school sports is quite different from what we are used to here in this part of the world. I was in the varsity teams in cross country running (5K) and track & field (400m, 4x400m, 800m, high jump). I wonder where my varsity jacket is? :) Being part of these teams helped me have a great experience in this culture totally different from my own. High school sport teams are very active (training every weekday and competitions during weekends) and they create a strong social network for everyone who is part of them. This year in US has shaped my future probably more than any other time of my life. Oh yeah, I graduated from this high school in 1992.
1992 I came back from my year abroad and moved with my family to Jämsä, probably best known to you from Himos ski resort. There I attended two more year of high school, when I wasn't preoccupied by my snowboarding hobby. I graduated 1994, served in the army 94-95 and then got in to the Sports Academy in Vierumäki to take my love of sports to the next level... make it a profession.
1998 I graduated from the school and started working. This is where an important phase started in my Life. I went into the health and fitness industry and started teaching group exercise classes. What I didn't know, as I started, was that this occupation would end up being something that shaped my life greatly. It would teach me more than any of the schools I attended and it would give me the confidence needed to take on some challenges that I wouldn't have been able to do otherwise. Anyone reading this and wondering about the future as a group exercise trainer? Go for it and work hard. It will teach you a lot. Just make sure you stay open to learn more. You are never ready, you are always a student.
1998-2006 was a good time for me with many events that I would describe as successes. I will go through most of them here briefly. One reason I'm writing such a detailed description is that I'm often asked these questions regarding the different work projects I'm involved with. This time of my life I was very active in the health and fitness industry and it wasn't until the last couple of years (around 2004-2005) that yoga started to play some role in my life. When you reach 2004-->, you can read more about how yoga "messed up" my life.
In 1998 I started teaching indoor cycling. I loved it and I quite quickly realized that I actually have something to bring into the industry. At that time indoor cycling classes in general were like aerobics classes, but just on stationary bikes. People were doing crazy tricks on the bikes (using dumbbells and other equipment) and it didn't really look anything like cycling. I started to teach my classes like cycling classes and I was doing some innovative work with music. When people were playing their music from multiple cd's, trying to change them on the go, I was already using a minidisc player. A little while after that I was using a laptop in my classes, using different apps that allowed me to create crossfades as we were riding. Fast forward a little and I was using quite advanced software that allowed me to create music playlists like professional DJ's and to burn them on CD's. At the time I was the only indoor cycling instructor in Finland, who used tools like this. I did this innovative (creative) work because of two reasons... One, I knew we could do it better and two, because when I tap into my creativity, I feel more alive. I also understood that music plays a very big role in these types of classes. If you succeed with the music, you will get the people to come back. When you get the people to come back, you will soon have all the bikes filled up. I did. :) (I know I might sound overly proud, even arrogant, but I see it differently. I think it's important to recognize the good things you have done in your life. We are usually good at pushing ourselves down and not to recognize the successes. We northern people are traditionally very modest and we never like to say we have done some good. In this description I will not do that. I will recognize the successes and I feel great about them. :))
University
I think in the year 2000, I can't really remember exactly (2000 or 2001 maybe) I thought it was time to go and study some more. I applied to the University of Jyväskylä, faculty of Sport and Health Sciences and I got in. That's when I thought I would become a physical education teacher. During the time I was studying, I was active in my work in the health and fitness industry. I created an indoor program calledFLOWRIDE with my friend Ville-Matti Santala. (Again, another example of me taping into my creativity.) I lived and studied in Jyväskylä for a few years, I helped to open a big fitness studio (SATS) and after that I was offered a product coordinator position in Helsinki to a new SATS fitness studio we were about to open. At that time I knew my studies were over and that I probably wouldn't go back to school. I didn't.
The next few years in Helsinki (around 2003-2006) was a very active period. I was contacted by Les Mills and asked if I would like to become instructor trainer (a trainer that educates new instructors) in BodyCombat. This was a huge surprise to me because there was only one Les Mills trainer in Finland before me. In the fitness industry at that time, Les Mills trainers were considered to be the top of the top and now I was going to step into that role. It was scary and very exciting. I started educating instructors in BodyCombat, BodyPump and RPM, all over Finland and Estonia, and I have to say I loved it. One of the most fun work positions I have ever had. During that active period I also was offered really interesting new challenges in SATS fitness chain. I applied to a product manager position and got it. Together with my colleague in northern part of Finland we managed the product development in the eight fitness studios we had in Finland at that time. In this work position I got to cooperate with the product teams in SATS Sweden, Norway and Denmark and because I was quite successful in the indoor cycling work since 1998, I got the opportunity to create a SATS Easy concept class, which was used in the beginners cycling classes in all studios around the whole chain (Finland, Sweden, Norway and Denmark). In addition, I was involved with the music production in SATS Pulse and SATS PowerStep classes. The creative work I did with the products was something I loved (and meaningful for my future), but the work as a "manager" did not suite me at all. It's not who I am. This is the position I resigned from after yoga started "messing up" my life. :) I know this fitness background is not very meaningful for most of you, because you know me as a yoga student/teacher, but it is very meaningful in shaping my present reality.
Yoga
2004 - from fitness yoga into Ashtanga Yoga. My first ever experience in yoga was around year 2000 when I attended an Ashtanga Yoga workshop in Helsinki. Already then I loved it. I did some yoga during that time, but not very much. It was probably around 2004 or 2005 while working in SATS that I started to get more interested about yoga again. In SATS we had a concept class called SATS Yoga which actually, looking back at my life, had a big impact on where my life would go next. (Thank you Charlotte). I attended the SATS Yoga instructor course in two separate occasions and after the second course started instructing the class. During this time I also started to become more interested in traditional Ashtanga Yoga again. Soon my life was going to be turned upside down. It was 2005 while sitting in one of our manager meetings, when I noticed my colleague from the past couple of years, Terje Hakman, in a way I hadn't noticed before. Two years later she changed her name to Terje Hakman-Salokorpi. :) Together with Terje and some other SATS Yoga instructors, we started to do our own Ashtanga Yoga practice (end of 2005) and in the summer of 2006 me and Terje attended a two week Lino Miele Ashtanga Yoga retreat in Houtskär, Finland. This was when a radical change happened. Suddenly, I'm on a vegetarian diet! I wake up at 5 am each morning to go do my morning practice. Suddenly, I'm a yogi. My identity had shifted from this fitness professional to a yoga practitioner.
2006-2015 is a totally new phase in my life and a very interesting one. I'm happy I finally got into writing this story somewhere, because I need to remember these different time periods of my life. I know this is very long and it's not the best way to write an introduction but whoever has the stamina to read it all through, will have a lot better understanding of me as person, or me as a yoga teacher and an "innovator". Very few people actually know my whole story and certainly not from the perspective that I'm analyzing it from. I'm sharing the things about my life and mostly my professional life, that have had a strong influence on where I am at, at the moment.
So let's get back to the story. In the summer of 2006 I realized that a big changed had happened in my life. I started to identify myself through yoga, which can actually be a very good thing to do. This will at least bring certain positive habits to your daily life and release some negative ones. In the fall of 2006 I resigned from my job as a product manager in SATS Finland. An internal change had happened and my outer life wasn't aligned with that anymore. September-October 2006 I moved to Tallinn and January 2nd, 2007 we opened Fittest Body and Mind. Fittest was (and still is) a fitness studio with regular classes like the ones I had a lot of experience with from the past nine years in the industry. I took a position as a product manager which I realized was a mistake because, like I mentioned before, it is not who I am. I soon changed my job description and started to focus exclusively on our Body & Mind studio. It was a good change but it was still missing something. It was the aspect that I always loved in my work in SATS and even before that as a cycling trainer. Creativity. We will get back to that soon... During this time (2007-2008) our own Ashtanga Yoga practice became even more serious. Me and Terje went to India and had the privilege to practice yoga with Guruji, Sri K. Pattabhi Jois. After our first visit in july 2007, I went back in the winter and studied one month with Lino Miele in Kovalam and two months with Guruji and his grandson Sharath Rangaswamy (now Jois).
11.04.2009 The biggest event in my life. Our son Max Jesper is born. I love you! Thank you for coming to our life.
Gradually our Body & Mind center, with different classes like pilates, BodyBalance, functional training and yoga, was transforming into yoga school. 2009 is the first year I got my teacher Lino Miele to come to Tallinn. Lino taught a three day workshop and this started yet another phase in our lives. In 2010, one year after our first workshop with Lino, our Ashtanga Yoga school got added to the Ashtanga Yoga Research Institute, led by our teacher Lino. Since that time Lino has visited Tallinn twice a year, in his annual spring workshop and annual summer retreat. Becoming a part of the Ashtanga Yoga Research Institute is an example of these successes I have had in my life. Suddenly our yoga school is recognized world wide. It's really unbelievable actually. I'm the guy who was teaching Rammstein themed indoor cycling classes in Helsinki and now, without any warning, something changed and people come to me with questions about yoga and life. How did that happen? :)
You people with the questions... Keep them coming. I'm more than happy to have discussions with you. I'm not saying I have all the answers, I have plenty of questions myself, but I enjoy talking with you. I'm a yoga student or if I'm more accurate, I'm a student of life. In this "introduction" I talk about my past because it is what has shaped my reality in the present. It doesn't mean I am the person I was when I was teaching the Rammstein classes, because I definitely am not, but it also doesn't mean I couldn't teach a Rammstein class in the present... because I could, I would and I'd love it. :)
13.05.2011 The another huge event in my life. Our angel Ghita Ingelise is born. I love you my angel! Thank you!
In 2011 we are successfully teaching Ashtanga Yoga in our school. We have many students but there is a feeling that something is missing. I'm not using my creativity! Creativity has been an important part of my professional career and this is what makes me truly feel alive. That is when I come up with an idea to combine the two aspects of my life that have been very meaningful for me. My work in the fitness industry and yoga. YOGAFUNC is born. YOGAFUNC is fitness yoga class (with music) that is created because of my desire to use my creativity and because I felt there is something I can bring back to the health and fitness industry, the place where I started from. With the creation of YOGAFUNC I can get back to the early years of my professional career. I'm back working with music and I love it! YOGAFUNC is a class that is being instructed by many people in several different fitness clubs around Estonia, Finland and Italy. I have educated almost few hundred instructors and a few also in Latvia, and we are slowly now moving taking the concept out to the other countries as well. YOGAFUNC is a fun, effective class and it has already earned its place in the health and fitness scene. My work with YOGAFUNC is a great example how our past shape our present. Look at what I wrote in this introduction, all the choices I've made, all the experiences I've had. When you put all of that in a melting pot and mix it up... what do you get? Answer: YOGAFUNC. :)
Now I'm here in the present moment (spring 2017 as I'm writing this). YOGAFUNC is six years old and like I said, we have started more serious work with the concept, taking it outside of Estonia. Not only YOGAFUNC but we are creating whole FUNCY FAMILY system with many other trainings us PARTYFUNC, ZENFUNC, PILATESFUNC and PRANAFUNC. Super exciting! Our yoga school has moved to a new location (Taji Klubi), where we teach traditional ashtanga yoga and Ashtanga Monkey Yoga in the mornings and mid day.
This inner child connection is what influences my life greatly at the moment. In addition to the yoga practice I have, I also do other things that I feel bring joy to my daily experience. I go out for short runs and hopefully one day get my minor knee problem sorted out, to be able do run a few marathons and even some ultras. At some point I want to do an extreme bike trip from Tallinn to Chiang Mai, Thailand, or to India to practice yoga with Lino. :) As I'm writing this, I'm almost done with a beginners MMA (mixed martial arts) course in stand-up fighting and I'm planning on continuing the training and joining the BJJ (Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu) beginners course. I believe life should be fun and for me, one important aspect of that is being active. When I'm in motion, I feel alive.
Future
That is "shortly" my past. Yoga has changed many things in my life, but it hasn't changed who I am. Some things I have left behind but many are still with me. I love the practice of yoga and what it does to me but I also love to be active and play. This is the story that has brought me to this present moment, but what about the future? I don't know. I'm allowing life to flow and to take me where I'm supposed to be going. Yoga will most probably be a very important part of my life for all the years to come and very grateful of that. I'm grateful that I have found it and I'm grateful that I have been given the opportunity share the practice with others. I felt that I had something to bring back to the health and fitness industry, but I feel that maybe I have something special to give to the yoga community as well. Maybe the playfulness and the creativity I feel is important, is something I can bring to the traditional teaching of Ashtanga Vinyasa Yoga. Maybe I can assist in bringing more smiles and more freedom to the hearts of the yogis I teach. That at least sounds like something I would like to be involved with.
With a smiling heart! :)
Jocke
PS. You can book individual yoga training or ask me to lecture about happiness or yoga or healthy life style [email protected].
November 10, 1974 it all started. I was born in Borås, Sweden, where my parents had moved after work, in the early seventies. I'm the youngest of four children, with two sisters and one brother. Our family was quite active in Boy Scouts and sports, giving me a natural path to move into sports, the thing I have been doing my whole life.
1982, at the age of eight, we moved back to Finland. My parents are both Finnish, I went to a Finnish school, so I guess consider myself a Finn. I don't have strong ties to any nationality though. At the moment I live in Estonia and I don't really miss Finland at all. I will live in many countries in my future years on this amazing planet, Finland may or may not be one of them.
1982-1991 I lived in a small town in Finland and did a lot of sports. The most serious sport for me was badminton, but I realized during these years that I'm not the guy who only focuses on one sport and tries to be the best at that. I like to do many things and have fun with sport. Not to take it too seriously. My other hobbies at that time: jujutsu, cycling, running, high jump, snowboarding, skiing, sailing, swimming.
USA
1991 I spent a year in USA. I was an exchange student in Port Clinton, Ohio, a small town on the shore of Lake Erie. I absolutely loved this year in US. It really opened my eyes and gave me the knowing that I can manage it anywhere in the world. I was very active at sports which automatically made me fit in the society very nicely. The culture of high school sports is quite different from what we are used to here in this part of the world. I was in the varsity teams in cross country running (5K) and track & field (400m, 4x400m, 800m, high jump). I wonder where my varsity jacket is? :) Being part of these teams helped me have a great experience in this culture totally different from my own. High school sport teams are very active (training every weekday and competitions during weekends) and they create a strong social network for everyone who is part of them. This year in US has shaped my future probably more than any other time of my life. Oh yeah, I graduated from this high school in 1992.
1992 I came back from my year abroad and moved with my family to Jämsä, probably best known to you from Himos ski resort. There I attended two more year of high school, when I wasn't preoccupied by my snowboarding hobby. I graduated 1994, served in the army 94-95 and then got in to the Sports Academy in Vierumäki to take my love of sports to the next level... make it a profession.
1998 I graduated from the school and started working. This is where an important phase started in my Life. I went into the health and fitness industry and started teaching group exercise classes. What I didn't know, as I started, was that this occupation would end up being something that shaped my life greatly. It would teach me more than any of the schools I attended and it would give me the confidence needed to take on some challenges that I wouldn't have been able to do otherwise. Anyone reading this and wondering about the future as a group exercise trainer? Go for it and work hard. It will teach you a lot. Just make sure you stay open to learn more. You are never ready, you are always a student.
1998-2006 was a good time for me with many events that I would describe as successes. I will go through most of them here briefly. One reason I'm writing such a detailed description is that I'm often asked these questions regarding the different work projects I'm involved with. This time of my life I was very active in the health and fitness industry and it wasn't until the last couple of years (around 2004-2005) that yoga started to play some role in my life. When you reach 2004-->, you can read more about how yoga "messed up" my life.
In 1998 I started teaching indoor cycling. I loved it and I quite quickly realized that I actually have something to bring into the industry. At that time indoor cycling classes in general were like aerobics classes, but just on stationary bikes. People were doing crazy tricks on the bikes (using dumbbells and other equipment) and it didn't really look anything like cycling. I started to teach my classes like cycling classes and I was doing some innovative work with music. When people were playing their music from multiple cd's, trying to change them on the go, I was already using a minidisc player. A little while after that I was using a laptop in my classes, using different apps that allowed me to create crossfades as we were riding. Fast forward a little and I was using quite advanced software that allowed me to create music playlists like professional DJ's and to burn them on CD's. At the time I was the only indoor cycling instructor in Finland, who used tools like this. I did this innovative (creative) work because of two reasons... One, I knew we could do it better and two, because when I tap into my creativity, I feel more alive. I also understood that music plays a very big role in these types of classes. If you succeed with the music, you will get the people to come back. When you get the people to come back, you will soon have all the bikes filled up. I did. :) (I know I might sound overly proud, even arrogant, but I see it differently. I think it's important to recognize the good things you have done in your life. We are usually good at pushing ourselves down and not to recognize the successes. We northern people are traditionally very modest and we never like to say we have done some good. In this description I will not do that. I will recognize the successes and I feel great about them. :))
University
I think in the year 2000, I can't really remember exactly (2000 or 2001 maybe) I thought it was time to go and study some more. I applied to the University of Jyväskylä, faculty of Sport and Health Sciences and I got in. That's when I thought I would become a physical education teacher. During the time I was studying, I was active in my work in the health and fitness industry. I created an indoor program calledFLOWRIDE with my friend Ville-Matti Santala. (Again, another example of me taping into my creativity.) I lived and studied in Jyväskylä for a few years, I helped to open a big fitness studio (SATS) and after that I was offered a product coordinator position in Helsinki to a new SATS fitness studio we were about to open. At that time I knew my studies were over and that I probably wouldn't go back to school. I didn't.
The next few years in Helsinki (around 2003-2006) was a very active period. I was contacted by Les Mills and asked if I would like to become instructor trainer (a trainer that educates new instructors) in BodyCombat. This was a huge surprise to me because there was only one Les Mills trainer in Finland before me. In the fitness industry at that time, Les Mills trainers were considered to be the top of the top and now I was going to step into that role. It was scary and very exciting. I started educating instructors in BodyCombat, BodyPump and RPM, all over Finland and Estonia, and I have to say I loved it. One of the most fun work positions I have ever had. During that active period I also was offered really interesting new challenges in SATS fitness chain. I applied to a product manager position and got it. Together with my colleague in northern part of Finland we managed the product development in the eight fitness studios we had in Finland at that time. In this work position I got to cooperate with the product teams in SATS Sweden, Norway and Denmark and because I was quite successful in the indoor cycling work since 1998, I got the opportunity to create a SATS Easy concept class, which was used in the beginners cycling classes in all studios around the whole chain (Finland, Sweden, Norway and Denmark). In addition, I was involved with the music production in SATS Pulse and SATS PowerStep classes. The creative work I did with the products was something I loved (and meaningful for my future), but the work as a "manager" did not suite me at all. It's not who I am. This is the position I resigned from after yoga started "messing up" my life. :) I know this fitness background is not very meaningful for most of you, because you know me as a yoga student/teacher, but it is very meaningful in shaping my present reality.
Yoga
2004 - from fitness yoga into Ashtanga Yoga. My first ever experience in yoga was around year 2000 when I attended an Ashtanga Yoga workshop in Helsinki. Already then I loved it. I did some yoga during that time, but not very much. It was probably around 2004 or 2005 while working in SATS that I started to get more interested about yoga again. In SATS we had a concept class called SATS Yoga which actually, looking back at my life, had a big impact on where my life would go next. (Thank you Charlotte). I attended the SATS Yoga instructor course in two separate occasions and after the second course started instructing the class. During this time I also started to become more interested in traditional Ashtanga Yoga again. Soon my life was going to be turned upside down. It was 2005 while sitting in one of our manager meetings, when I noticed my colleague from the past couple of years, Terje Hakman, in a way I hadn't noticed before. Two years later she changed her name to Terje Hakman-Salokorpi. :) Together with Terje and some other SATS Yoga instructors, we started to do our own Ashtanga Yoga practice (end of 2005) and in the summer of 2006 me and Terje attended a two week Lino Miele Ashtanga Yoga retreat in Houtskär, Finland. This was when a radical change happened. Suddenly, I'm on a vegetarian diet! I wake up at 5 am each morning to go do my morning practice. Suddenly, I'm a yogi. My identity had shifted from this fitness professional to a yoga practitioner.
2006-2015 is a totally new phase in my life and a very interesting one. I'm happy I finally got into writing this story somewhere, because I need to remember these different time periods of my life. I know this is very long and it's not the best way to write an introduction but whoever has the stamina to read it all through, will have a lot better understanding of me as person, or me as a yoga teacher and an "innovator". Very few people actually know my whole story and certainly not from the perspective that I'm analyzing it from. I'm sharing the things about my life and mostly my professional life, that have had a strong influence on where I am at, at the moment.
So let's get back to the story. In the summer of 2006 I realized that a big changed had happened in my life. I started to identify myself through yoga, which can actually be a very good thing to do. This will at least bring certain positive habits to your daily life and release some negative ones. In the fall of 2006 I resigned from my job as a product manager in SATS Finland. An internal change had happened and my outer life wasn't aligned with that anymore. September-October 2006 I moved to Tallinn and January 2nd, 2007 we opened Fittest Body and Mind. Fittest was (and still is) a fitness studio with regular classes like the ones I had a lot of experience with from the past nine years in the industry. I took a position as a product manager which I realized was a mistake because, like I mentioned before, it is not who I am. I soon changed my job description and started to focus exclusively on our Body & Mind studio. It was a good change but it was still missing something. It was the aspect that I always loved in my work in SATS and even before that as a cycling trainer. Creativity. We will get back to that soon... During this time (2007-2008) our own Ashtanga Yoga practice became even more serious. Me and Terje went to India and had the privilege to practice yoga with Guruji, Sri K. Pattabhi Jois. After our first visit in july 2007, I went back in the winter and studied one month with Lino Miele in Kovalam and two months with Guruji and his grandson Sharath Rangaswamy (now Jois).
11.04.2009 The biggest event in my life. Our son Max Jesper is born. I love you! Thank you for coming to our life.
Gradually our Body & Mind center, with different classes like pilates, BodyBalance, functional training and yoga, was transforming into yoga school. 2009 is the first year I got my teacher Lino Miele to come to Tallinn. Lino taught a three day workshop and this started yet another phase in our lives. In 2010, one year after our first workshop with Lino, our Ashtanga Yoga school got added to the Ashtanga Yoga Research Institute, led by our teacher Lino. Since that time Lino has visited Tallinn twice a year, in his annual spring workshop and annual summer retreat. Becoming a part of the Ashtanga Yoga Research Institute is an example of these successes I have had in my life. Suddenly our yoga school is recognized world wide. It's really unbelievable actually. I'm the guy who was teaching Rammstein themed indoor cycling classes in Helsinki and now, without any warning, something changed and people come to me with questions about yoga and life. How did that happen? :)
You people with the questions... Keep them coming. I'm more than happy to have discussions with you. I'm not saying I have all the answers, I have plenty of questions myself, but I enjoy talking with you. I'm a yoga student or if I'm more accurate, I'm a student of life. In this "introduction" I talk about my past because it is what has shaped my reality in the present. It doesn't mean I am the person I was when I was teaching the Rammstein classes, because I definitely am not, but it also doesn't mean I couldn't teach a Rammstein class in the present... because I could, I would and I'd love it. :)
13.05.2011 The another huge event in my life. Our angel Ghita Ingelise is born. I love you my angel! Thank you!
In 2011 we are successfully teaching Ashtanga Yoga in our school. We have many students but there is a feeling that something is missing. I'm not using my creativity! Creativity has been an important part of my professional career and this is what makes me truly feel alive. That is when I come up with an idea to combine the two aspects of my life that have been very meaningful for me. My work in the fitness industry and yoga. YOGAFUNC is born. YOGAFUNC is fitness yoga class (with music) that is created because of my desire to use my creativity and because I felt there is something I can bring back to the health and fitness industry, the place where I started from. With the creation of YOGAFUNC I can get back to the early years of my professional career. I'm back working with music and I love it! YOGAFUNC is a class that is being instructed by many people in several different fitness clubs around Estonia, Finland and Italy. I have educated almost few hundred instructors and a few also in Latvia, and we are slowly now moving taking the concept out to the other countries as well. YOGAFUNC is a fun, effective class and it has already earned its place in the health and fitness scene. My work with YOGAFUNC is a great example how our past shape our present. Look at what I wrote in this introduction, all the choices I've made, all the experiences I've had. When you put all of that in a melting pot and mix it up... what do you get? Answer: YOGAFUNC. :)
Now I'm here in the present moment (spring 2017 as I'm writing this). YOGAFUNC is six years old and like I said, we have started more serious work with the concept, taking it outside of Estonia. Not only YOGAFUNC but we are creating whole FUNCY FAMILY system with many other trainings us PARTYFUNC, ZENFUNC, PILATESFUNC and PRANAFUNC. Super exciting! Our yoga school has moved to a new location (Taji Klubi), where we teach traditional ashtanga yoga and Ashtanga Monkey Yoga in the mornings and mid day.
This inner child connection is what influences my life greatly at the moment. In addition to the yoga practice I have, I also do other things that I feel bring joy to my daily experience. I go out for short runs and hopefully one day get my minor knee problem sorted out, to be able do run a few marathons and even some ultras. At some point I want to do an extreme bike trip from Tallinn to Chiang Mai, Thailand, or to India to practice yoga with Lino. :) As I'm writing this, I'm almost done with a beginners MMA (mixed martial arts) course in stand-up fighting and I'm planning on continuing the training and joining the BJJ (Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu) beginners course. I believe life should be fun and for me, one important aspect of that is being active. When I'm in motion, I feel alive.
Future
That is "shortly" my past. Yoga has changed many things in my life, but it hasn't changed who I am. Some things I have left behind but many are still with me. I love the practice of yoga and what it does to me but I also love to be active and play. This is the story that has brought me to this present moment, but what about the future? I don't know. I'm allowing life to flow and to take me where I'm supposed to be going. Yoga will most probably be a very important part of my life for all the years to come and very grateful of that. I'm grateful that I have found it and I'm grateful that I have been given the opportunity share the practice with others. I felt that I had something to bring back to the health and fitness industry, but I feel that maybe I have something special to give to the yoga community as well. Maybe the playfulness and the creativity I feel is important, is something I can bring to the traditional teaching of Ashtanga Vinyasa Yoga. Maybe I can assist in bringing more smiles and more freedom to the hearts of the yogis I teach. That at least sounds like something I would like to be involved with.
With a smiling heart! :)
Jocke
PS. You can book individual yoga training or ask me to lecture about happiness or yoga or healthy life style [email protected].