Michela Montalbetti

I walk the unique path of yoga since approximately ten years when I attended my first class in Zurich. Already a few minutes after leaving the studio, I realized that yoga would be part of my life from that moment onwards, it felt like I had found a home. Until that day, only surfing clear waters had given me that feeling of oneness and deep connection.

I started teaching three years later and I completed my first teacher training at Airyoga in Zurich (200-hr Yoga Alliance). In July 2015 I completed a 300 hr Hatha Advanced Teacher Training with my teacher Stephen Thomas reaching 500hr Yoga Alliance recognised training. I work with Stephen since 2011 and I am very thankful to him, especially for introducing me and handing me down his deep acknowledge in Pranayama and Meditation.

Then I got the chance to dive deep into the magic of yoga with an advanced teacher training with Ana Forrest in November 2015. Above everything else that I learned from her, Ana thought me to tap into my Spirit and to dig deeper.

I attended a teacher training with Max Strom in 2013 and in 2015 an inspiring 100 hr tantric influenced training with Rae Indigo. I constantly continue my training with workshops and retreats, especially in the Hatha tradition, with many great teachers I am deeply thankful to. Another important part of my yoga path is Vipassana Meditation (silent meditation retreats).

Over the past two years, teaching yoga has become my main activity. Previously I worked as journalist, graphic designer/photographer and translator. I still write and translate as a freelancer. My love for words, for transmitting thoughts and energy with the proper sentences, pushes me always further to find better ways to guide my students into their own yoga journey. Teaching is for me a very deep commitment and even if I try to keep things light, I am very conscious about it and try to improve my teaching all the time.

As a surfer you never know exactly what to expect when you paddle in, even if you are at your home spot. The seabed changes, the swells are different, the people around you are not the same and, finally, you change too. When the set of waves comes in, you face it and do your best. Sometimes when it’s big, you have to be 100% in the present moment in order to make the right moves and paddle yourself out of danger or not drop waves that are not meant for you. Yoga and surfing have so many things in common. On a physical level, on a mental and even spiritual level. Being in the present, doing my best with what I am faced with, these are things I wish to do more also when I am not on the mat or surfing a powerful wave.

“Yoga is a light, which once lit, will never dim. The better you practice, the brighter the flame.”
Iyengar