#1 - Yoga In Egypt with Farah Mostafa

Tune in to the first official episode of the Wild Yoga Tribe Podcast! In this episode, I interview my dear friend Farah Mostafa who is from Cairo, Egypt. We first met back in July 2017 in Nepal Yoga Home during our 200hr Yoga Teacher Training. We immediately connected and were basically inseparable during our training. Fast forward a few years, and I was able to visit Farah in Egypt in the summer of 2019 and am planning another visit to see her in the fall of 2021! Farah has a truly kind spirit. In this episode, you will get a feel for her energy, and for her teaching methodology and style. An architect and a former gymnast, Farah Mostafa jumped from one sport to another until she found peace, balance and awareness in yoga. Farah stumbled upon her first yoga class while recovering from a back injury, seeing the effect it had on her body, connecting and discovering more about her inner-self was the beginning of the journey. She started digging deeper into a more spiritual practice, then travelled to Nepal to study for her 200 hours teacher training. Farah is currently a full time yoga teacher pursuing her dream job in helping others with their journey to self-discovery and development. We will talk about what yoga is like in Egypt, whether it’s popular or not, and how she is teaching a very special student— a Paralympic swimmer who is trying to qualify for Tokyo 2021. We’ll also touch on Sufi Yoga, a type of yoga that I had never even heard of before! Moreover, Farah and I will dive into what yoga has done for Farah on a very personal level. Although she was a competitive athlete, a gymnast, Farah struggled with severe back pain for years, and ultimately herniated her spine which halted her athletic career. Yoga was a gift to Farah “I started going to yoga classes and I loved how it felt, not just physically but spiritually. I was so depressed about my injury. I was so stressed, and feeling so down. I loved how it made me feel. Even though I used to do a lot of sports and move a lot, I wasn’t really connected to my body… I’ve learned so much body awareness though yoga.” I also want to share with you, dear reader—and listener too I hope!— my favorite moment of my interview with Farah. I asked Farah to define yoga for me. She defined yoga ask alignment. “Yoga means union in Sanskrit. It’s the union of the body, mind and the soul. Through this we get more aligned— aligned with our bodies, aligned with the moment, aligned with our breath. So alignment allows us to be more in harmony with our thoughts, our actions, our words— which makes us more intone with our purpose, intention, and values. When we are trying to find this harmony, things get aligned and put in the proper place,” says Farah. If you’d like to get in touch with Farah, you can follow her on Instagram at @farahmostafa.yoga If you’d like to learn more about Eslam you can visit his instagram account @eslam_abuali Want to learn more about Sufi Yoga? I know I do! Check out Farah’s Sufi Yoga teacher’s instagram here @elyogiali Want more? Head on over to my website https://wildyogatribe.com/podcast/ to learn more! Questions? Comments? Let's get social! https://www.instagram.com/wildyogatribe/ https://www.facebook.com/wildyogatribe https://twitter.com/wildyogatribe Mediate with me: https://insig.ht/6gFTaXHlogb Flow with me: https://www.youtube.com/c/WildYogaTribe QQqH5ZMYitYPiRZSfo7O