Meet Jessica. The teacher. All the way from Brazil. Jessica joined us as a dedicated yogi in the Mindful Manifestation class in Summer Season. She and Alex met during the time where they both lived in the lovely city of Abu Dhabi at a yoga studio where Alex used to teach part time (which later Jessica ended up teaching at). Over the years they kept in touch and now Jessica is part of our awesome team. She’s on the schedule for Mindful Anchor (Sound Healing) this Winter Season where she sends vibration from Brazil to all parts of the world via Zoom. Here’s our new teacher and star for this week answers to the blog interview...
Where in the world are you? Tell us more about yourself?
Jessica: My name is Jessica Pulla and I am from Brazil. I lived in the Middle East from 2006 until 2020. For the first 6 years I used to work as bellydancer in 5 stars hotels, and lived in UAE (Dubai, Abu Dhabi, Al Ain and Ras Al Rhaima), Oman, Lebanon, Bahrain, Tunisia, Algeria and Jordan. In 2012 I totally changed my career and decided to join aviation. I worked as a flight attendant from 2012 until 2020 and lived in Abu Dhabi. During this period, I was practicing Yoga regularly and did my YTT in Goa, India. In 2020 I came back to Brazil and became a full time Yoga Instructor.
How long have you been teaching yoga and what pushed you to become an instructor?
Jessica: I`ve been teaching since I completed my Teacher Training in February 2019. It was not my initial idea to teach, but friends and colleagues started to ask me for Yoga classes, in the studio where I used to practice, they needed new teachers for pop up classes or sub, so things just started happening. In the begging my objective was to be able to lead my own practice.
When did you start practicing yoga (before you started teaching) and how did yoga change your life?
Jessica: Before joining aviation, I thought I would be a dancer forever. So I opened a bellydance school in Brazil, with a friend that would teach while I was living abroad. We had Yoga classes in my school, and this was how I first tried Yoga. I loved it. Latter, when I was already flying, I decided to practice Yoga regularly as I knew that it would help me to find more balance in my life, connecting body, mind and soul. Yoga helped me to do better choices in my life, being more grounded, peaceful, healthy and happy!
If you had to describe your teaching style, how would you?
Jessica: I teach Hatha Yoga. I try my best to teach the Yoga beyond to postures to my students, bringing other elements, including Sound Healing (Nada Yoga) and always remembering the importance of enjoying the journey and understanding that not everything we can rationalize, but the benefits will be perceived in the same way and with constancy, they will be long lasting.
What is the intention you try to instill in your students?
Jessica: Yoga is not only the beautiful postures that we see on Instagram. Yoga can give you much more, the main thing is to be free of judgments, comparison, be kind to yourself and enjoy the journey!
What is your favorite posture? Your least favorite posture?
Jessica: My favorite posture is Supta Baddha Konasana (Reclining Bound Angle Pose) and my least favorite posture is Sirsasana (Headstand pose).
What is your favorite Mat? And why?
Jessica: Lulu Lemon. It has great grip, durable, easy to clean, and also it gives good cushion and support. I have Yoga mats from other brands, but my favorite until now is Lulu Lemon.
Set the scene for your perfect practice - paint us a picture!
Jessica: The perfect scene for Yoga practice was what I had in my YTT, in the middle of the nature, early morning, and as background sound the birds singing and the beach.
What’s the biggest myth about yoga instructors? Set the record straight!
Jessica: That we are "zen" all the time. I wish! With Yoga it’s really improving, but we are all in our own journey.
What was one of your most heartfelt moments in teaching?
Jessica: When the students tell me about how Yoga started changing their lives, making them feel more calm, grounded, having new insights, making better choices. This is amazing!
Any advice to newbies teachers/students? (And oldies?)
Jessica: Share what you know, without judgments. Be open to receive as well. Keep practicing, in case you have no time to lead your own practice (it happens when you teach full time), join a community like MLPC. Joining classes of other teachers can be helpful with your own classes, bringing new ideas. And don’t compare yourself and your journey with the others. Do your best, but remember that your best is not the same every day. So be kind with yourself as well!
Where do you see yoga in the next five years?
Jessica: Each time yoga will be more accessible, helping more and more people to expand and contributing more to the world we live in!
Thank you so much for sharing Jessica! Glad you joined the team. Join Jessica in Mindful Anchor (Sound Healing) every Wednesday. Check out the schedule below for your time zone.
Thank you all for your continued support. If you have any questions or comments, please leave them in the comment section below.
Till next time, may you all be safe, happy, healthy, and free.
Yasir