om meets ... vidya heisel

Vidya Heisel, founder of Frog Lotus Yoga and founder of our beautiful Suryalila Retreat Centre here in Spain just got interviewed by Om Magazine, UK's biggest Yoga Magazine, in their latest issue (February 2023).

In this 9-minute read she shares personal bits about her past and present, what brought her to yoga way back in the seventies when yoga was not 'a thing' yet and what lead her from practicing yoga to teaching it.

She gives insights from her journey of finding answers to the existential questions in life, such as 'Who am I?' and 'What is the purpose of life?' and explains how yoga has helped her with that.

She shares highlights of her yoga teaching career, ending it with her long-life vision of opening a yoga center that combines all of the good qualities she had found in other retreat centers over the years to create a place she calls 'heaven on earth', where people can experience peace, real human warmth and what it means to live a yogic lifestyle.

Instead of sharing a 'quick yoga hack' she shares her wisdom of life and closes the interview with how her dedication towards yoga changed her view of life in general and how that influences her actions and attitude on a daily basis: 'One has to dedicate one's life to practice and have a strong desire to be free'.

Click here to read the full interview on the website of Om Magazine.

Quick Q&A (Extract from the Om Magazine)

Do you have any hobbies?

I love to cook and to use food as medicine and I love to create beautiful spaces. Both of these talents I put to good use at Suryalila.

Favourite spiritual book?

The Bhagavad Gita - The Divine Song by Rory Mackay.

Holistic remedy you swear by?

Yin Chiao, an amazing Chinese herbal medicine that is taken at the first sign of a flu or a cold and actually kills it. I never go anywhere without it.

Favourite quote?

"Wisdom is knowing I am nothing, love is knowing I am everything, and between the two my life flows" – Nisargadhatta Maharaj