Interview with Asia Jokiel
- 20 maart 2025
I was wondering what made you to become a yoga-teacher? When did that begin?
That was a long time ago. I never planned to be a yoga teacher, I just practiced yoga. One time I was spending my summer in Nepal in Pokhara and I was following yoga classes of one of the local teachers there. After couple of months he told me “Maybe you should think about teaching yoga in the Netherlands”. That was for me like a little spark and I thought it was a really good idea. Because I always knew I wanted to be a teacher and teach.
Why did you start with yoga?
It started when I was in India, I was 20 years old and it was my first travel beyond Europe. I wanted to try everything and went for my first yoga and meditation class, it was in Kerala in Amma’s Ashram. I really liked it and when I came back home I joined the classes at my university. To be honest I didn’t fell for yoga right away. I practiced Tai Chi for some time and Kalaripayattu – martial art from Southern India, very old, older than yoga. Some people say that yoga derives from Kalaripayattu. I was a beginner, never used any weapon, I only did basic strength and flexibility trainings. Eventually I chose yoga to be me primer practice.
Asia do you have a favorite asana?
That is a very good question.. let me think about it… I don’t really have favorite asana, but if I need to choose one it will be a Pigeon pose “Kapotasana”.
And do you have an asana you don`t like?
JA! Upward plank pose “Purvottanasana”
Why?
Because it’s very difficult hahahahaha..
Do you practice every day yourself?
I practice meditation every day, but not asana. I do asana practice maybe 2-3 times a week and I treat it more as a body maintenance to stay strong and flexible. I want to be comfortable when I sit and meditate.
As an experienced yogi and a yoga teacher, what is your message to the people that follow your classes? What is the message you hope they take away from your class?
I don’t know if I have a message. What I do know is that my purpose in teaching yoga classes is to make very vague and complex concepts easier to understand. It is not just about the yoga poses, which can easily be broken down into pieces and explained one by one. The real challenge lies in questions like, “What is meditation?”. Those can be hard to explain sometimes. I try to break these concepts and find metaphors that make them easier to understand. And I have a rule to never dive into philosophical aspects which I don’t understand myself.
When people leave your class, with what feeling are they leaving?
When people leave my class, I hope that they feel that they are in control of their own emotions and in control of their own life.
Well, is this your message maybe?
Yes, this is my message actually. That is maybe why my classes are so very structured. I want students to understand the practice and be able to make that practice their own. I don’t want people to depend on me. At some point I want them to feel “Hey! I can do it myself. I have my sequence – I can go home and do it softly or strongly, but I know what to do.”
You give one on one lessons, private lessons. You told me that you have people that have followed your private lessons for years. I would love to know what your power is as a private teacher.
I do have some students that come regularly for many years and really love it. There might be a few reasons for this.
First of all, I am a really good teacher – haha;)! I help people see their own progress. I shape my classes around their personal motivations, making their goals the focus. I love when they realize that the lessons are actually working.
Another thing is that I am truly devoted to what I do. If we encounter something unexpected in our practice – something I don’t immediately have an answer for – I dive into my books, call my colleagues, and search for a solution. People really appreciate that honesty. After my years of experience, I would like to say that I know a lot – but of course, I don’t know everything. And that is what I love about this work: every challenge is an opportunity for me to learn.
I try to have a normal human contact with students too. My yoga teachers in India used to tell me, “Don’t be too friendly with your students; keep some distance- that is professional.” But that is just not who I am.
Would you call your private classes yoga therapy?
I would like to say so. My classes are never random. While I have sequences that I use in my group classes, I always tailor them to the needs of each individual. I like to call it a yoga therapy because, for me, the key to everything is the human body – its mechanics and how it all works together. One of the most incredible parts of my work is seeing how my students’ bodies change after practicing with me for a while. It always amazes me. It is the coolest part of what I do.
You teach the XXL les(son) Going Deeper: myofascial release. This is a class where you can learn how to incorporate tennis balls into the traditional Yin poses to help release tight knots in the connective tissue. What makes this class so special? Why do people love attending it so much?
It is a pretty straight forward class – nothing extraordinary. But I think that’s exactly why this method works so well. It offers a new way of working with the body.
We all love massages, and if we could, we’d probably get one every week. But they can be expensive. With this method, you can achieve a similar experience in a simple way. I also teach people how to do it at home. When students walk out of class, they walk away with a new skill they can use anytime they want.
There is a group of people who come to class every single time because it truly works for them.
What was the reason you created this class?
I was teaching Yin yoga for many years. At some point, I noticed some people in my classes, weren’t experiencing the reactions in their bodies that we were hoping for. That made me think – there had to be more to it.
I didn’t invent anything new. I simply gathered different methods and information, combined them, and experimented to see what would happen. I modified it and made it fit within the yoga practice and breathing techniques we were already familiar with.
Asia teaches at Bindi at Monday morning, Monday afternoon en Wednesday evening. Click here for our schedule.