Photo: ©Bee Bosnak, Beeyond Yoga

The Real Life is Real Yoga Practices Index

The moment I entered the world I had trouble breathing.

BY BEE BOSNAK

After spending most of my childhood years in emergency rooms in a small town called Iskenderun, a gulf of the eastern Mediterranean Sea, my parents decided to leave Turkey for good.

They moved to London when I was six years old, hoping to find better doctors who could help with my asthma. I was thrown into a new country that came with a new culture, a new school and a new language.

Growing up in London was a great experience for me. I graduated with a BA Hons in International Business Law but I never took it up as a career. I have always been a very creative individual. School was never easy for me, I was never an A student!

Spending my free time and summer breaks working in retail stores, my passion for fashion rose to the surface. I’ve worked for many brands including Dolce & Gabbana, Alexander McQueen, Vince, BCBG and Topshop.

At the age of 20, I moved to LA with a big dream and two suitcases. I knew not a single soul. In Los Angeles I discovered three things: Myself, Love and Yoga.

Yoga found me one summer afternoon after taking a single class at The Rising Lotus Studio in Sherman Oaks. As I continued my yoga journey, I realized that the benefits I was receiving from my practice went much deeper than physical flexibility and strength; I began to find a level of gratitude, self acceptance and calmness of spirit that I’d never experienced before.

My severe asthma is now history. Yoga has helped me learn how to breathe in a completely new way and has thus become the replacement of my inhalers.

My recently launched blog Beeyond Yoga (www.beeyondyoga.com) is a place for yogis to inspire, create and share. I journal my weekly thoughts about my personal practice along with all the joys that come with it, such as style, music, form, words and photography.

When I’m not on my mat, I’m a full time stylist, the guardian of two cats, a rockstar’s wife, a sister, a daughter, a friend and closest to my heart, a creator.

All the places and the cities I have lived in have made me who I am. I sometimes feel like a citizen of the universe.

Blog Beeyond Yoga

Twitter @beeyondyoga

Photo: ©Bee Bosnak, Beeyond Yoga

The Magazine of Yoga 3×5 Interview

What?

What is the task you like to do best in your work?
Style. Breathe. Style a bit more, breathe a bit more.

What housework or domestic detail is most satisfying to do?
Organizing. Especially my walk in closet. I even have room to meditate in there.

What in light of your experience in life, should we not waste time on or worry about?
Instead of worrying about how inflexible you are, just notice your tight spots. Watch your breath, notice how it affects your body and let it help you open and release into the pose. Observe your mind, make sure it is focused on the pose and the breath. Don’t let it bully you into pushing too far. Gradually you’ll find it easy to breathe your way through life.

How?

How do you celebrate?
Dancing. Lot’s of it.

How do you learn?
By not repeating the same mistakes over again. Listening to my inner teacher.

How do you prepare to do something?
I prepare with images in my head. Being visual and having a photographic memory really helps.

Do?

Do you have a nemesis?
Impatience (not very yogic I know).

Do you have a vocation?
Blogger. Hot Yoga Practitioner. Stylist. Photography Enthusiast. Agnostic. Shepherd Lover. Human.

Do you have a plan?
I plan on having children running around in my back garden giggling at the nonsense of their father’s stories. A happy, content and peaceful home overlooking the Santa Barbara ocean.

Faves

Favorite magazine?
W for their edgy shoots and the inspiration they give me to inspire others.

Favorite work beverage?
PG Tips (English Tea).

Favorite relax thing?
Taking long and luxurious baths. Candles, Incense and the smell of Lush soaps.

Fives

5 things about your workspace that make it good
1. Colleagues
2. Music
3. Energy
4. Atmosphere
5. Laughter

5 people you want to collaborate with
1. Kadri Kurgun – A Yoga Photographer who has an amazing eye for true beauty.
2. Street Yoga – A non-profit organization that teaches yoga to kids struggling with homelessness, poverty, abuse, addiction, trauma and behavioral challenges.
3. Kathryn Budig – One of the youngest and most widely recognized faces in yoga. Her appetite for yoga is infectious. I am utterly infected.
4. Lush Cosmetics – A soap company that invents their our own products, making them fresh by hand using only vegetarian ingredients and no preservatives.
5. Hyde – They make functional, well-constructed yoga clothing out of organic cotton. One of the most unique yoga clothing companies on the market.

5 songs from your current playlist
1. The Lantern by Antique Beats
2. This Is My Life by Edward Maya
3. Rama by EarthRise SoundSystem
4. Intro by The xx
5. Carry Me Away by Chris Lake

© 2011, The Magazine of Yoga, LLC.