ABOUT ANNA | PERSONAL

REDISCOVERING MOVEMENT:

my journey back to joy

Remember that little kid who couldn't stop moving, dancing, jumping, spinning just for the joy of it?

That was me.

And maybe that was you too.

But like many adults, I lost that connection. Life got busy. Studies, work, nights out, stress. Sitting too much, sleeping too little. Smoking, drinking, taking drugs for fun. My body started screaming for help. Chronic backpain, headaches, paradontosis - I felt trapped in my own skin.

At that time I didn't feel I'm addicted, didn't notice I look worse, that my gaze is blurred and lost. Because this lifestyle was normal, socially accepted. I thought I'm still healthier than everyone else. Most people knew me as a sweet, adventurous and energetic person.

Glamurous model job, travels and mysterious detachment. When you're young no one can see you're poisoning yourself.

So I did what any logical person would do: I hit the gym and the therapist. Not to get fitter, not to live my dream life, just to not feel pain. It was never about aesthetics; it was survival.

And it helped! I changed my lifestyle loosing all my ex friends but building new healthier connections.

Then I understood nothing when my therapist advised meditation. But this sparked my interest in Eastern philosophy and practices.

At the time, I was deep in my engineering career - first as a student, then as a construction engineer, then managing complex projects in architecture. It was all logic, all structure. But movement kept pulling me back.

Combining "adult life" with raves felt fun. As many young people nowadays I first tried yoga at a rave festival I came to smoke greens and eat shrooms to *cry

I found yoga, and I fell hard.

My first studio was HotYoga36 in Saint-Petersburg. Hot yoga practice healed my old dancing injury and begun my transformation journey. There was no miracle though. I still couldn't resist bad habits doing yoga. I had no discipline, no system, no time for my self. I kept seeking help from outside not feeling inner foundation.

So, what finally helped?

Years of devoted practice shifted my perspective.
Training every day isn’t just for extreme athletes, and it won’t turn you into a machine. Healthy food isn’t a luxury—it’s an investment, far more valuable than fleeting distractions or poisons. Sober people aren’t the outliers. And alcohol or junk food? They’re not rewards.

But knowing this isn’t enough. Change doesn’t happen through logic alone. To break old patterns, we have to embody new ones—day after day, for a long time. Seek, let go, stumble, and keep going—wiser each time.

I never planned to teach, but when I moved to Portugal, life gave me a choice: try something new or cling to what no longer fit. So I got certified at 200H Yoga Teachers Training, rediscovered dance, and started using my body in ways I never imagined - including teaching, building active lifestyle communities and acting professionally.