How Yoga empowered my Journey

Trine is a true Yin Yoga enthusiast. She is a long term student of Yin Yoga, Mindfulness meditation, neuroscience, Chinese Medicine Theory and functional anatomy. She is a student of the founders of Yin Yoga, Sarah Powers and Paul Grilley, whom she has taken more than 4000+ hours of yoga trainings trainings. Trine is know for her popular Yin Yoga Trainings, where you can built 50, 100 or 200 hours Mindful Yin Yoga Training – in your own pace.

Learn more about Trine here: www.trinehedegaard.dk

How did your yoga-journey start?

I started practicing yoga back in 2000 working as a trainee on the Danish Embassy in New York. In the local YMCA-gym just across the street is where I took my first yoga class. It wasn’t love a first sight – or should I say - sun salutation. It was really hard and my body was totally stiff. At that time yoga was only a small movement in Denmark, but the buzz was starting to build. I remember reading about Madonna and Gwyneth Paltrow, who were hyped in women’s magazines because of their strong lean ‘yoga bodies’ (All bodies are yoga-bodies in my opinion, but that was a term they used back then). And the physical aspect was one of my main motivations to start practicing yoga back then in my early twenties.

But you could say that yoga took me for a ride and turned into much more than a physical practice. And that’s how it is with yoga. Slowly it get’s under your skin when you start to get on the yoga mat regularly. It is like a mandala. Yoga guides each of us into the center of what we need to work on in ourselves.  

Before I chose to become a full time yoga instructor, I worked with International marketing for a Danish design company. I traveled a lot and loved my job. The backside of the medal was a feeling of restlessness. My yoga practice taught me to slow down and access a greater sense of calm inside. 

It wasn’t until I was on maternity leave with my first child that my passion for yoga took off. We moved to Stockholm where I took my first yoga teacher training. That became the start of a whole new career path for me. The past 15 years I have traveled the world to study with master teachers within yoga and mindfulness meditation. Today I teach 100 and 200 hours Yin Yoga trainings and workshops and retreats – and I love it!

What do you love the most about yoga?

I love the time to tune in and room for reflection that my time on the yoga mat and meditation cushion gives me. I love yoga for its transformational power. For how it has opened me up, and continues to do so. Both physically, mentally and emotionally.

Yoga has helped me mature into a better version on myself and helped me build a more genuine connection with my kids, my husband and the people around me.

What does Yin & Yang mean to you?

Yin Yoga is phenomenal to teach you how to slow down and bring some calmness into a busy life.

When Yin Yoga came into my life I had just given birth to my second child. From having been very active and yang both in my life and on the yoga mat, I suddenly felt a deep urge to learn how to find my Yin-gear and slow down. I must say that it felt luxurious to get to sit in the yin poses for several minutes at a time, as we do in Yin Yoga, contrary to the more dynamic yang yoga styles, where you only stay for at breath or two.

My slow-flow or yang practice is very much inspired by my Mindfulness & Yin practice. I used to think that slow was boring, but today I have acknowledged the value of slow as an antidote to the fast pace most of us move through life with. When we slow down, we feel more and we built greater grounding and stamina.

The yoga mat has become my sanctuary, where I take the time to tune in and feel how I am. With both the yin and the yang elements in my yoga toolbox, I can accommodate to whatever I need that day. I teach this to my students, so they can learn to take the calmness and tranquility from the yoga mat into their everyday lives.

What is your best piece of advice for a new yogi?

Be patient with yourself and make yoga a priority. Many of my students tell me, that they are feeling better, more empowered and are taking better decisions, when they prioritize time for yoga. But they are too busy, they complain. I have been there myself. Do it anyway! Because I believe that, the world will become a better place, if more of us practice yoga on a regular basis. Time is just a bad excuse. We all have the time – even if it is just 5-10 minutes every day – where we sit down, feel our feelings and set an intention for how we want to meet the day, and eventually how we want to live our lives.

We are living in times where the planet needs more conscious and openhearted people taking a bigger responsibility for their consumption, pollution and the way we are living in general. It all starts with our selves, together we can change much more than we think. 

And now you are focusing on sharing your Yoga journey?

Yes, during my classes, workshops and trainings my focus is to make sure that everyone continues their own journey. I have designed a flexible 200 – hour Mindful Yin Yoga training allowing lots of flexibility to study at your own pace in modules containing 50 hours each. I also offer workshops and Yin Yoga labs focusing on specific aspects of Yin Yoga, and retreats allowing you to take some time for yourself to deepen your practice and get a break from your daily routine.

much love,  

Trine