Alfonsina Epifani | Living Yoga as a Practice of Love, Discipline & Inner Peace

Alfonsina Epifani is a dedicated yoga instructor with a home yoga studio located near Venice, Italy. With a strong devotion to the teachings of her mentor, Sri Dharma Mitra, Alfonsina has integrated her deep commitment to yoga into serving her community. Her approach to teaching focuses on the holistic benefits of yoga, encompassing physical exercise, pranayama (breath control), and meditation to nurture both body and spirit. She is passionate about sharing the transformative power of yoga with others and creating a welcoming space that feels like home.

Visit Alfonsina here: https://www.dharmayogavenice.it/

Instagram: @alfonsina_epifani

Key Takeaways:

• Cultural Sensitivity in Yoga: Alfonsina discusses the importance of understanding and respecting cultural differences when teaching yoga, especially in terms of religious perceptions.
• Holistic Yoga Practices: The integration of asanas, pranayama, and meditation as tools for personal growth and self-awareness.
• Energy and Connection: Alfonsina shares her belief in the power of energy to transcend boundaries, as experienced through online courses during the pandemic.
• Spiritual Journey: Insights into finding balance and peace through yoga, viewing it as a path to realizing one's true self.

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Chapters

• 0:00 Bridging Yoga and Technology for Italian Practitioners
• 6:37 Alfonsina's Journey from Sales to Yoga Teacher at 40
• 13:37 Cross-Cultural Yoga Teaching and Spiritual Integration
• 23:31 Finding Inner Peace Through Self-Discovery and Universal Love
• 31:29 Balancing Discipline and Flexibility in Daily Spiritual Practices
• 36:59 Embracing Italian Culture and Lifestyle Differences
• 39:28 Balancing Personal Growth and Professional Demands in Yoga Teaching
• 41:00 Exploring Psychic Development and Energy Perception in Yoga Practice
• 47:03 Alfonsina's Garden, Yoga, and Inspirational Life Philosophy

Transcript

Todd McLaughlin: 0:33

Welcome to Native Yoga Toddcast. So happy you are here. My goal with this channel is to bring inspirational speakers to the mic in the field of yoga, massage, bodywork and beyond. Follow us at @Nativeyoga and check us out at nativeyogacenter.com. All right, let's begin. Hello, welcome to Native Yoga Toddcast, I'm so delighted to bring to you my special guest, Alfonsina Epifani. She's joining us from Italy, and you can find her on Instagram. Her handle is@alfonsina_epifani. And you can also see a service project that she does online, which is dharmayogavenis.it. And I'll have that link in the description you can click. And it really is a pleasure to speak and meet with Alfonsina. If as you're listening, I want to go to Italy, so bad. Now after talking to her, because she just has that amazing energy that Italy has, and you can just feel it in the way that she tells her stories. And she's such a lovely individual. So I thoroughly enjoyed meeting and speaking with her and hearing about her yoga journey and her teaching journey through yoga and practice. And I hope you enjoy All right, let's begin. I'm so excited to have this chance to meet, speak and interview Alfonsina Epifani and Alfonsina, Ah, thank you. Is joining me from Venice, Italy. Am I correct? Yes.

Alfonsina Epifani: 2:13

Well, at the moment I'm in Puglia in the south of Italy. Wow. Yes. The studio is in in nearby, nearby Venice. Near Venice, amazing.

Todd McLaughlin: 2:25

How So is it your studio?

Unknown: 2:29

Yes, yes. I know the I was living in the States, and in 2004 we with the family, we decided to move back to Italy. And it was funny, because before moving back, I bought five bolster, five straps, 10 blankets and 10 yoga mat, and I packed that with me, and I said, You know what, when I go to Italy, I'm gonna start to do something. So I when I arrived, I dedicated myself full time to the yoga teaching.

Todd McLaughlin: 3:06

Oh, wow, incredible. And your studio is called Dharma yoga. Venice, correct,

Unknown: 3:13

okay, I am. No, the studio is dharma home. Got it? Dharma home. Dharma because it's my I help my path because it comes from my teacher, sridharma Mitra, at home because my studio is inside my house. Yeah, cool. And also home because, because I like people to feel at home when they come to the studio, so that they can, they can, we can establish the very intimate relationship nine, not very intimate, but we can establish a one to one relationship. Yeah, the Dharma yoga Deniz, it's a at the moment. Is a website there is in service of Sridhar mantra. I build up. The idea was to build up this window. And this was after the 2019 we did the 800 hour, and it was online because of covid, and I was the first skeptical to do yoga training online, because I thought, how can the beautiful energy of the arm and all the teachers go through. And how can I really feel? Because, you know, when you are in a safe thing with other teachers and students, it creates this beautiful energy creates but it was even better than be there, because we have, we had the SRI Dharma in front of us. I could dedicate full day to the study and the listening. So it was an amazing training. And I have to say, yeah, that it was a confirmation for me. This is my personal view, a confirmation that really energy. Goes through. Doesn't matter of space of time, yeah, that's energy goes through. That's a

Todd McLaughlin: 5:04

really good point. Alfonsina, isn't it amazing? Like, the reservation that we had prior to to utilize computer technology and thinking like that, it would almost like it would hinder the true Yoga, you know, like, but now we're finding that, no, actually, it enhances

Unknown: 5:24

it. No, I did not, yeah, no, I did not, actually. And I'm still practicing. I still take classes online. We do psychic development, pranayama, and still, and have to say something, still, should Dharma is able to perceive what we students online are going through, I have many proofs of this. So going back, when I finished this training, I was so really, my heart was really full of devotion, because I had a lot, I received a lot. So I decided to do this website as a service to spread the Dharma yoga in Italy, just to have a reference point, because, because there are other teachers they teach in Italy that are my yoga, but some, many Italians do not speak very well English. And also many books from Sri Dharma are in English. So in this way, we creating Eugenia is also my colleague, which is helping me out with this project. We are creating a service for all Italians they want to take training with online with street Arma Mitra, because sometimes it's expensive to go to New York, and everything gave to the buyers, right? So in this way, I hope we will increase demand.

Todd McLaughlin: 6:45

Wonderful. Does that mean that Dharma will be teaching it, but you will be translating it into Italian for them, or you'll be you'll be teaching the training. You'll be teaching the training, right?

Unknown: 6:55

No, no, no, no, I don't even teach the training. No, no, the website. No, no, no, the website is just a window. Oh, I see, right. We, we, there are guidelines for what is dharma? Dharma yoga. Then if, let's say Francesca wants to register, she will contact us and say, Oh, do you think I can do it? I don't understand this. What are the books? So we give, we help out to participate, and if during the training, they need some support. No, for free, of course, because this is a service, we give a support. Let's say I don't understand this serious how this we just give a simple

Todd McLaughlin: 7:39

support. That's so cool. What an interesting idea. That's so nice. That's a simple support. What are you What kind of feedback are you getting, and what type of energetic experience are you having being able to help people on this level? Are you finding it really exciting?

Unknown: 7:54

And of course, always a very exciting, but then the best feedback is that there's always more people they love to teach and practice Dharma yoga style and as I was, as we were speaking before, when I moved 10 years ago to Italy, there were two main styles of Yoga, Ashtanga Yoga and hatha yoga. There was also Kundalini Yoga, right? But let's say for more non yogic personal, for in the gyms or in regular studio, not yoga studio, but just the fitness studio. They were these two type of yoga, and I, I believed that there were too much to extreme, because Ashtanga was not for everyone, and while a hat was too soft, few poses, little pranayama, little so that's why I thought that there was the right moment to push a little bit the Dharma yoga style, because Dharma includes a little bit more the aspect starting from the like he says, the physical exercise starting from the asana, will go with the pranayama, then we go into the concentration through the practice. And so it is a full package. And I think it was ISO correct, because many students love the style. Many students love the style because it's a complete practice.

Todd McLaughlin: 9:33

Yeah, that's so amazing. Did you How old were you when you came to the States? You said you spent 18 years here.

Unknown: 9:42

Yeah. I was, yeah. I came into states of 25 years old, and then I work. I was in sales, sales and marketing. I finished my college. I finished my master in New York, and I discovered actually couldn't. Yoga in New Orleans after my knee problems, but I did just few practices, and then, then I started working. I like to be outside. I mean, I like to be nature. I grew up in a farm, and because I couldn't move it, because I have different issues to my knees, I found that yoga was really for me complete was I did always sport, but yoga was really something that nourished me while keeping me in shape. Yeah, and I have always been in search, right, in search of something. Now I know what it is, but before, was just a searching of something. And in the years of practice, I can tell that I did find what I was searching, and it was just the path to my true self, not the true self, because I'm still very far away, but the path to be on the path to find the inner self, yes, and I find that with yoga.

Todd McLaughlin: 11:05

Oh, that's interesting offense. You know, one thing that makes me think of is that I remember you, you just made mention a couple of times about being challenged by your knees. And I remember looking at Dharma Mitra, his book, and thinking of his how many, however many yoga poses are in there. And I remember thinking, that's incredible, that one person can actually go in all those different directions and just like, what, what incredible skill. And so then when I met him, and someone had let me know, or had told me, that he had had knee replacements, I was kind of shocked. I was kind of shocked, because I always, I was still in that very early phase of enamored with yoga, thinking that all I will have to do is practice yoga and then everything will be okay. I won't have any health problems. I won't have any, you know, I'm going to be that. I'll see, I see the pictures of the older yogis, kind of like how Dharma is now, you know, and you're just like, wow, how is somebody doing that? For me, it was very grounding. It brought me down to earth to see a very well loved and esteemed teacher be human and acknowledge that I also need some assistance from the medical community or a little bit of help with my knees. So I'm wondering if you could talk a little bit about what your journey has been with the body and your relationship to then learning Dharma had a similar type of experience.

Unknown: 12:37

Yes, yes. One funny episode when I decided to become a yoga teacher, I switched. I was 40, and I decided, because I realized that I was missing too much, I had my second child, and I thought that my kids will fulfill the search that I had, right and after my second child is still not and I was missing so much not be able to go and practice, because the mom at the time I was working, and one day I decided I asked my son, my five years old, they say, oh, you know the what you think you want to a rich mama with a good job, or you want a poor mama but happy teaching yoga? No, Mama like I like you to be teaching yoga. So I decide at the age of 14, I haven't done enough in before, that I will practice every day for one year and every morning. And if I was committed, I would drop my job and do a switch of career, total switch of career. I did it, and that was happy. And so I then I started to do my first 200 hours teacher training. But when I was saying this to my my friends, somebody very close, he said to me, oh, but you are too old, and then you have a broken knee. But funny enough, I went to the teacher, and I said, Oh, this man is 72 and that's all this. And then he said, Oh, I just got surgery on money. That's my teacher. That's fantastic. Then I can do it. That's awesome.

Todd McLaughlin: 14:15

That's so awesome.

Unknown: 14:16

It's was I love hearing that. I'm glad.

Todd McLaughlin: 14:20

I love hearing that you were so you were, you were you said, Did you say you were 49 when you decided to make the career change like 44 040, gotcha. 40 that's a big deal. I mean, that's a big deal because, like, if you put your whole life into pursuit of successful career, and I love that you asked your son, do you want a unhappy, wealthy mom or a poor, happy mom? It's so sweet that he said, I want a happy mom. I'm like, Dude, I don't care about

Unknown: 14:51

the living. I needed somebody. Yeah. So going back to what you said about Dharma and the body, the physical body, yeah? Um. What is great about sridharma, and also many other teacher, but Dharma is special. He brings yoga in everyday life. So of course, in the first moment, the first time of my career, I was all into developing Asana, advanced Asana posters. And there was, there was the most important part and but then and also, this was a little bit struggling for me, because I was already 40. Never done nothing before in these terms. So my flexibility grew with time. But the good things of this style is that you do what you can but you put all your effort. And it does not matter if the final expression is a full hanumanasana or split or just a half, but you are giving. You are giving your intention, your your intention. You are you are enjoying that performance for what your body can do. So it's nine external performance is something inside of you, how much you put inside and that's why I think it's it's important. And this I underline always to my student, because they say, Oh, I'm not flexible. I cannot do yoga. That's the opposite. You want to do yoga so you can become flexible for what your body can do. Yes, yes. So that's why it's so important to pass that Yes. We know that yoga, we as a teacher, we know that yoga is not just the body, but to bring it to a common level. You know, to everyone, I try to underline always, to pass the message the yogis how you feel with yourself, how good you feel to yourself, not only on the terms of the body, but also how when you leave a thing, when you finish your class, do you feel better than when you come in? Do you feel happier released light? That's yoga for me.

Todd McLaughlin: 17:05

Yes, yes. Oh, man, I hear you off on Cena, if you know you, because you've been able to operate cross culturally. You've had a long stint in United States and long time in Italy. Can you tell me if I if I'm a United States teacher and I'm going to Italy, what would I need to know if I was going to teach a class there? That would be a different way of approaching the Italian culture versus the American culture?

Unknown: 17:33

Yes. So first of all, we are, we have to clarify. So we're talking of yoga studio, not fitness center, not gym. And because this makes a big difference. When you go to a yoga studio, whoever comes and register it has the intention of doing yoga, and maybe heard something about yoga that lets you feel good so it's there is a will the in the fitness center. It's more advertising, right? There is a now it's very popular in Italy, yoga. This past four years, they have yoga everywhere, on tea bags, on everywhere, medicine and yoga everywhere. Even doctor are suggesting people go do yoga, don't take medicine, which is a huge, a huge opening mind. So when you go to the studio, you have to consider this, oh, let me tell you something you know when in America, when you enter, when you start a class, sometimes the teacher says, oh, introduce yourself. You can do that in Italy, because they know all it. Know about everyone, and they you don't want to say that, because they know that that's the girlfriend of the other was say that, right? So yes, now I'm talking of small cities. Of course, Milan or Rome is not like that, right? Yeah. But small reality, you have to maintain a little distance. Otherwise it becomes all the chit

Todd McLaughlin: 19:05

chat. I love that.

Unknown: 19:09

Yes, and then you have to be very serious on discipline. Class starts in a certain hour. You must start. You must end when the time is dead in America is normal, but here no so you have to educate towards that. Yes. And then the one obstacle that I find at the beginning, obstacle but I have to adjust, was that I opened my yoga classes with the OM just, just like a vibrational sound, right? Without specifying anything, and never mentioned the divine or nothing. And because the the religion, the major religion, is a Catholic. It's a it was view as a something. What is this? It's a religion. What is she trying to say? What is. Is trying to do so people will close, instead of coming in, in a space where they could be just themselves. So at the first class the first year, I was also taken for in rent a gym to a place where there are some priests, there were some priests. So I didn't think the yoga, the OM, I didn't burn incense, because it was strange. And so I just started from the physical part, starting with the physical, on the physical. And I have to say that this told me a lot, because by teaching, starting from the point of view of the body, you can integrate some little words, some little seeds of awareness, of your mental state and don't and then little by little of your emotional state. And then through the pranayama to the the breathing exercise, they will feel that there is something more. I didn't have to tell anything. I didn't have to talk of the Divine, because they were touching on their own. Yeah. So little by little, they they earn also trust in me and so little buddy. I introduced the own, the mantra, the kirtan and this spiritual talk sometime here and there, until now, it's 10 years. So I'm open. They know me, and they know the spirituality is not just confined into a church or into a religion. It's something that it's basically, it's love. It's something that is open. Doesn't have to be enclosed.

Todd McLaughlin: 21:42

Yes, wow, that's a really beautiful description Alfonsina, because I feel like that also is a challenge that not only would happen in Italy, but all over the world. And I think it's a really interesting challenge, like you're saying, to feel a connection on some level, spiritually, to a tradition, and then to be able to convey that in a different tradition, where it comes across one in the same in a way, or where it's not offensive or intrusive and and I love the fact that you even mentioned this took 10 years, or this is taking 10 years. This is a long term project, so like you're looking at it from that it's not like, you know, sometimes

Unknown: 22:28

now that yoga is spread, really, it's very, you know, it's known now that is a different approach, too. So now it's more common to everybody knows about the OM, about the breathing, about the Yana mudra. They know about this, yeah, but it's interesting. It's always an experience. I was volunteering. I do a lot of karma yoga, but just because I believe that the more we can share the yoga practice, the more we benefit to everyone. I did the Karma Yoga for three years to women from Muslim religion. They were in my city, and they could not go to the gym because they were men, right? So because I knew some of these women, they we had our child in the same class, I decided to offer yoga class. And also from there, I learned a lot, and it was amazing, because also there I did not I was sensible not to use words that could in certain way close, have them close enough to the the one hour that I wanted to create an open environment, right? So little by little, little by little, we work out. It came out very good. And at the end, they felt their own spirituality in their own language and understanding. And it was the same as mine, but I didn't express in words, but the end was the same.

Todd McLaughlin: 24:09

That's so cool. Do you think that maybe this might have been part of the energy of the seed of yoga that it because it seems like it can go into any culture, in any religion, without, without being dogmatic or intrusive, and then help whatever is already there to blossom a little further. Do Yes.

Unknown: 24:38

There must Yes. I believe a disease, it's it is like this, because when you start to move your body, and the body is something tangible that we have, right? So when we move the body, we start experiencing a release and of the toxin, all the other things we do with yoga, right? But then you start experiencing an aspect of yourself. And then, if you are willing to continue, little by little, you start to look at that aspect from a different perspective and more involved. But you do a step back, and you start observing, and then you start touching that you are feeling. Well, doesn't matter if it's yogic, is what it is singing, right? It doesn't matter, but you start to understand that you have the power to do something good to yourself, and the more you do something good to yourself, the closer you become to your true self, because then you know the way to get there. And then once you know the way, then you can call it whatever you like, but you know the way, and I believe the love doesn't matter. It doesn't have any religion or language that's universal. So when you touch the universal sensation, you're already there.

Todd McLaughlin: 25:55

Well said, you know, you made mention that when you became a mom. You thought that perhaps motherhood would be the key that you were seeking to help you feel peace and love and or purpose in life. And then you said, Look, I know I'm still working on my journey, but now I know, or I know what I need to do, or I know what I'm doing. Can you explain a little further what transition occurred there, and what that knowing is that potentially could help to guide us as well, and to, you know, finding some sort of sense of what you're saying.

Unknown: 26:33

Yes, I hope that is making sense of what I say. It is making just

Todd McLaughlin: 26:38

it is, yeah, I think, like a lot of people are looking and seeking and searching, and we all start seeking and searching, so to actually reach, to reach a point where you say, Ah, I found what I'm looking for. I know I still have a lot more to do within this field, but is there, can you put that into words?

Unknown: 27:00

Yes, yes, yes, yes. Because I like to think about these things. I find what I want, what I want, is just to express my inner self. What is my inner self? Well, yes, it's a fun scene as mom is a yoga teacher, but it's to express that in both inborn, you say inborn love that is already inside. You know, when we say that we have the little flame inside, right? There is always a little flame, and that's what charge you, and that's what brings you, brings you enthusiasm to keep going. But most of the time, at least in my case, I did not recognize what it was. Now I can call it that is the divine inside of me, because with all these years in the study, I said, Well, this is exactly what I feel inside. And so I feel that when I'm very close to that inner self, I'm definitely, I'm a better person, but also I have, I don't need anything else. I can just stay there in the it's like when you are in meditation and you reach the spot that you could be death. You can be alive. You can be it's just perfect as it is. It's just perfect as it is. And that's why when, when I I had my children, I always wanted to have kids. I thought that they would have been the most fulfilling things. But it's not even that for me, at least it's not even that. It's just the opportunity to experience love in all terms, but to experience love and because it's beautiful, you experience love in the moment you give, and in the moment you give, you just nourish that flame even more, and then you want to give even more, and then, and then you see that that you live in this world, that it's beautiful. See, I always thought that it was my dream when I was a little girl, that I will, I would love to live in a world of peace with we respect each other, we love each other. But of course, growing you realize that it's now always like that can be peace and love, right? True is that, yes, it could be but a war, fighting, misunderstandings, there are also parts of life. It's just that cannot be a perfect, ideal life. It's all part of it. So you cope with it, like dharmaji says, you cope with it. But inside, you know where you are. You know that you are always that there is a center where you are always happy, no matter if you ever if you don't have and then I guess when you move from there, you you are satisfied with what I. You have and you have to satisfy and seeing other people enjoy what you enjoy too. Yes, I don't know if I gave the answer.

Todd McLaughlin: 30:10

I'd like to challenge you with some a question like that, because that is a hard one to answer. It's hard to put that stuff into words. Oh, yeah, I think you did so much. Well, thank you. That is amazing. Alfonsina, I think when you use the word flame, that definitely helps me to, like, visualize what it is you're talking about. Like, recently, I been reading a little bit about consciousness in relation to when I'm starting to think about it in relation to artificial intelligence as a form of consciousness. And you know the idea that our consciousness can be in any it can very easily go from house to house to house, in the sense of like, if our body's the house, it can travel from. It's no problem for it to move from the next house to the next house. And I guess when someone was talking about a computer, and the way consciousness is starting to evolve within a computer. And as I'm looking at it from that angle, I'm realizing, wow, it is just all consciousness. I'm not saying that the computer consciousness is of the same importance or value, or better or worse, but if I look at it from that angle, it seems to make sense. So I like that you're when you say fire and kindling it and giving, and then your fire grows a little and you want to give more. I think that's a really good clue into how maybe, if I'm really struggling and having a tough time with life, to see beauty, that potentially, that's, that's a solution, right there.

Unknown: 32:39

Yeah, it could be. A solution. It's hard to get there, because we all have that flame inside. It's hard because of the construction, non social construction, religions and family. That's why I think that yoga gets amazing, because starting from the body, you work on the body that is tangible, and then little by little, if you are constant, of course, a little bit leader is to transform you inside. You don't even have to know why and how and why you react in a different way in that situation, but it transform you inside, especially with the pranayama, with the meditation, with the concentration. And meditation doesn't has to be that you sit there and that's it is just to constantly think about what it is, this universal consciousness, what it is. And the same time it seems that I grasp it, but I my brain doesn't expand as much to to understand it. But at the end, who cares? I don't understand. Well, I don't understand, but I want to feel it.

Todd McLaughlin: 33:50

Yeah, great point. Did you so what? What time is it in Italy there? Where are we not? Oh, no, I think it's a 7pm in the evening. So throughout, throughout your day today, can you give me a little bit of a day in the life of Alfonsina. Did you like do you wake up at 5am Do you wake up at 8am what is it? What is it like today?

Unknown: 34:13

Today, I just painted the entire wall of my face in the house. So I did the housework, because I'm a restructure in the house, I did it, but I wake up just doing my pranayama, because I know that I had a very heavy day physically. So I try, in my regular day, I try yes to get up early, unfortunately, before it was easier for me to get up at five before the kids would grow up. So by seven, I would have done my pranayama, some meditation, just, just what it is, what naturally comes. And then sometime do some yoga poster, Nao practice, because I wouldn't make it. But some yoga poster, I have to say something about this, been for 15 years, very disciplined. Getting up in the morning, do all the practice, boom, boom, boom, boom. And now I think that also the discipline is becoming a structure, too much structure. So I'm experiencing I'm working on exactly this summer, I'm working on to let it go and and see when the body needs so sometime in the afternoon I just do my practice, because my body is so used to that I have to do my little practice. Or sometimes at night, or sometimes I skip and I drink a. Off in the morning before it was no coffee, no in the morning, just water and lemon. And now I drink the coffee and and I don't feel less spiritual. I don't feel less spiritual. Then there is always a time during the day that I need to go back, and then I just sit quietly, and whatever it is I do some pranayama, just, just stay there and but it's inside. And so I enjoy, I'm enjoying now this switch, however, discipline is very important. I think if you are not, if you didn't do for many years every day, then it's harder to fall and then not to come back. But I think when, when you feel that it's you have be centered. When you do your own practice, when you do the little practice, little or long, whatever you feel, too. Yeah, yeah.

Todd McLaughlin: 36:36

Isn't that interesting? I remember, I remember hearing that old, like, Kung Fu or Zen statement of like, Before enlightenment, chop wood. Carry water. After enlightenment, chop would carry water. And I think, like you're going to keep doing the same stuff, that's really not going to change, but the way you see it might, and I think that the way that you're mentioning discipline being very important. And you know, it's almost like we need the discipline to then be able to now, like, what you're saying, drink the coffee and still feel like I'm the same person. But before, when we were drinking the coffee, before the disciplined practices, we weren't, we weren't really there yet. You know what I mean? Like, isn't that a fact? It's so classic. I know it's so interesting.

Unknown: 37:26

No, you there is, yeah, there are those sense of guilt, but it's part of the path I think you have to build right of course, I will not drink tree coffee, because every time somebody comes, let's go get a coffee. Okay, yes, I can, but I drink water, but you don't. You don't do that, but you don't do it, because you understand that it's not good. But let's talk about attachment. I do. I have an attachment to for coffee. Yes, I do. But now when, when I get up in the morning, water, lemon or just water, it's, it's my body requires that. And I'm able to say, Yes, I love my coffee, but let me do my pranayama first, but not because it's discipline, but because I do better with my pranayama if my body is clean, yes, and then they enjoy also my coffee

Todd McLaughlin: 38:23

afterwards. Yes. Good point. Good point. You know? I mean, the one thing I love about Italia fancina Is that seems like people are a little more passionate and willing to take a little bit more time to just stop and smell the roses a bit. Do Do you agree with that? Because you get to live there full time, and you know how like when you live somewhere long enough, then you it wears off. But do you still feel that that's an essential part of the culture there?

Unknown: 38:49

Yes, yes, absolutely, it is. It is also, is there a little bit different northern South, because North was industrialized much before. So there is more that pace, I want to say the American paste, right? So, work, work, work, work, work. But I think all Italians, we enjoy the food, of course, but the flavor in the food, right? So no need to eat six peach you eat one, fresh local, and that's good enough. But just because we are used to to some flavors, we are used to to some quality. So it's also easier, in a way, you know, it's also easier to to enjoy simple things. Of course, I'm generalizing because I'm generally I'm talking for the majority. Okay, I'm not talking about super rich people that have a total different style of life. But yes, you take the time. Is when, even though you are working a lot, you take the time to that, to walk in the In the Green, to go take a ride. You do take the time. Yes, to stop. Yeah, to stop. But America that doesn't allow this, because stores are always open. So it's not that eight o'clock they close. It's not at one o'clock. Everything is closed. You have to go home. So in the big city, it's the same as in United States, Milan, Venice, Rome, of course, this is a main small cities. You still have a pace. Yeah, good. So you are kind of forced to stop.

Todd McLaughlin: 40:31

Yeah, great point. Oh, man, do you? Do you see yourself living in Italy for the rest of your life?

Unknown: 40:37

Yeah? Now at this age, yes. Yeah. His age, yes, yes. I love United States. I love United States. They gave me so much, but at this point, because I now, My only interest is to grow in my in my know, in my my profession, but in my growth, my personal growth, my personal practice, and I do need an environment where I can take it easy, yeah, where I don't have to run, run, run. And this year, for the first time, I was slowed down also with my classes. I used to teach four classes, from Monday to Friday and Saturday two classes. And I did this 14 years in a row, and it wasn't necessary because I wanted to bring as much I want to bring yoga to as much people as I could. But this has become a job, and I don't like anymore. Now because this, I don't have a time for myself to do my practice. I need energy for my own practice. Yeah, so now, going forward, I'm reducing my teachings, and at least I can have the morning to do all my practices. Nice, yeah, because one thing is a well. For for American people, it's more normal, but for us, maybe less sometimes, because we are yoga teacher, because we work with the body, we think, Oh, we're going to be always healthy, healthy, right? But because we use our body so much, we skip a meal, because you have to teach, especially when you teach too much, you you are getting weaker and weaker on your body. So you do need time to have your massage, to have your lunch and rest in when you get older, like in my age now, I do need time to rest more. Otherwise, even my meditation is going to be just I'm not able to sit and stay still. I'm not because I'm tired or I fall asleep. Yeah, so in a certain point, yeah, right now I'm saying, Okay, now I'm 57 what I wanna how I want to continue. I did already. I gave it what I could, but now I want to improve my own personal

Todd McLaughlin: 42:49

practice. Yeah, great point. Alfonsina, I hear you are. Do you like to read?

Unknown: 42:56

Yeah, of course. Yes, good. Good do. Okay.

Todd McLaughlin: 42:58

Is there anything you can recommend to us, or is there a certain uh, philosophy, or inspiration that you're receiving currently, or reading currently, or something you've read recently that you found really helped to

Unknown: 43:13

No, I'm But currently, I'm reading for the fourth time, the yogi Gupta book psychic development. Yoji Gupta is the teacher with Sri Dharma Mitra. And I like to read the over and over the same book sometime, because they my awareness is different. Yeah, I am for different points, so I can go deep into it and well, but I do read my beautiful book. I think it's beautiful. It's the Dharma pada. I think it's very inspirational, very inspirational in the Red Lake. I can remember the name. It's a, I don't know it'll be very it's, I like to read a lot of autobiography from from teachers, yoga teacher or other human being, excellent human being, because I find them very inspiring. Doesn't have to be the path of yoga. It's just, it's a confirmation that if you like to do something, and you put your energy into it, you achieve it?

Todd McLaughlin: 44:22

Yes, I'm curious. You mentioned your reading for the fourth time. So the book is called psychic development. Can you talk a little bit about what type of realizations you are having, about the validity of psi phenomena or psychic ability, or telepathy, or, however, whatever word we'd like to use here. Obviously, you know, you've been focused on this for a while, and you've been around the Dharma yoga community, where, what I think is really interesting, that dharma put emphasis on psychic development. And was even, is even, you know, has it on a schedule as a as a class, yeah. So can you talk a little bit about your journey with realization of this and the reality of it in your own life?

Unknown: 45:12

Yes, sure. So the book is a yoga, yogic powers, my psychic development, the course of the Sridhar, my Nieves, is a psychic development, to say simply, in a simple way, when you maintain your body clean, clean, meaning from food, of course, and from pranayama, because you want to bring your vibration in a certain state, right? And also from your no karma yoga. But from your compassion. So your dharma says the ability to put yourself right in other but compassion also is to to what I see. Compassion is also to be present in what the other person is experiencing that moment, be present in terms of the energy. Because even if, okay, that's enough, I answer your question, because then I go, so how do how I see this psychic power expressing, of course, I don't know what Dharma has. Dharma is very high developed psychic power. But in my small life, when I am clean, I am able to perceive the energy of the other person. Also, when I'm teaching, when I perceive the other energy, it comes through you as an insight. So it comes through you as a not as I mean you don't question, you know it's effect. I know it's effective what, what the sensation of the other person is. So then, in that sense, you can say the right word, or you can say whatever comes from you. You become, I don't want to say a medium, but you a vessel to verbalize that energy in a certain way, and then you meet the other person that you have in front of you, or the energy of the group. Sometimes, when we teach, when there is a class right at the beginning, I always stay in general, I speak little during class, but I try to do some salutation, and I feel what's the energy of the class? And I maybe in my mind, oh, today we're going to do a hip opening. But then there is something stronger that it's pulling me to just do more meditative lesson. So that's what I believe. It's that ability to perceive what's around you. But of course, you have to stay clean, and you are clean with your own practice.

Todd McLaughlin: 47:50

Well, well said. Thank you, Alfonsina, amazing. You have a good way. You have the ability to communicate some of these more challenging concepts.

Unknown: 48:03

They are very simple. If you just look inside, right? It's the Yeah, I think if they are not, they seem challenged. But they are very simple, because we all have that power of feeling right. You enter in in one environment, and, you know, let's say, when you are looking for a new apartment, to me, happens very often you enter, and you know already that the energy, it's not it's colliding with your it's not the right one. This is psychic power. It's just that we are not used to put attention to what I'm feeling and to give credit to what I'm feeling, and then in the moment the doubt comes, that's it, then you miss the opportunity to understand what it is.

Todd McLaughlin: 48:53

Yes, well said, Do you weave in other art practices into your life, for example, actually fine art or singing music, playing music. Do cooking? Do you have another

Unknown: 49:13

everyday things? Cooking is an everyday No, but I love, I love gardening a lot. I love gardening you do as one complaint, yeah, is

Todd McLaughlin: 49:23

the property is, is where you live. You said, is south of Venice. How far south of Venice Are you?

Unknown: 49:30

It's a one hour, 50 minutes by car.

Todd McLaughlin: 49:33

So Venice, so when you're when you're teaching, now you're teaching in your home.

Unknown: 49:37

Is that correct? Yes, yes. Got it sometime. Sometime, I do event for the Dharma yoga. Dennis, yeah, we, like, we did the Dharma yoga event. We did two, but then it's extremely expensive, extremely it's just now always possible, because Venice, you know, it doesn't have a large rooms, just, yeah, just to

Todd McLaughlin: 49:59

go, just to go in for the day, you feel like, oh, boy, this is going to cost so much just the transportation and then whatever facility.

Unknown: 50:06

Yeah, that's the minimum of the cost. Yeah, of course, is an experience, right? We do? Yeah, I plan events, but in Venice has to be I have to space it out a little bit more because to rent space, is extremely expensive. Stream. We're talking of 1000, yeah,

Todd McLaughlin: 50:25

yeah, wow. Can, can you paint a picture with words what your garden looks like?

Unknown: 50:31

Oh, my God. Oh yeah. It's the back. It's a very there is a side that is dedicated to yogas, where we practice outside every time it's possible. Because I do believe that the practice and outside has a different energy. And also like to challenge my studio. When we do inversion, I teach them to fall. So outside on the grass, you can fall, but you don't get hurt, right? And then one other side of my garden, I have my little tomatoes, like plants the string beans, parsley, basically. So I like to take care of the little beaches. Yeah, little babies,

Todd McLaughlin: 51:07

yeah, yeah. Oh, man, that's one thing I think is so incredible about Italy is it seems like more people have small gardens. And so it just feels like, you know, here you'll drive and then you'll see this massive field of a monoculture of one crop. And in Italy, it feels a little more cottage like or, you know, everybody,

Unknown: 51:32

because it's simple. You really, Mother Nature does everything you have to just water and make sure that you assist those plant and then the fruit comes.

Todd McLaughlin: 51:42

Yes, yes, oh, man, I want to come visit Alfonsina. It sounds so nice.

Unknown: 51:49

Yes, sure, anytime, I'm glad. I'm glad that we had this opportunity. And thank you very much for inviting me. Thank you, yes. Thank you.

Todd McLaughlin: 52:00

I know. Thank you Andrew and Pam for introducing us. I really appreciate it. I am grateful for you to you know, be so generous with your time and honesty and sharing your stories. I really enjoy meeting you. Alfonsina, is there, is there anything you'd like to close with to send us off with a little bit of inspiration and or motivation?

Unknown: 52:23

Yes, I Yeah. I like to say to compare, that's good. I with my favorite saying from the Buddha. This is the human being. Men can do only two mistakes, not to choose its own path. It's the first one and the second one is not to bring all the way to the end. I think I translated so. I said there are only two mistakes that a man can do, not to choose his path, and when you choose not to bring all the way to the end, I believe that it's important to believe in what you feel inside and bring it to the end. And for sure you achieve what you want.

Todd McLaughlin: 53:07

For sure that is beautiful. Can you say that in the Italian language? So if any of your students are listening and they don't know English, and so I can hear,

Unknown: 53:17

Okay, so question little Buddha. ADHD, so Romano, profile, Romano po fario Camino e quilo di non por parlo fin in fondo.

Todd McLaughlin: 53:31

Aha. Thank you.

Unknown: 53:37

Yeah. Thank you so much. Thank you. Thank you.

Todd McLaughlin: 53:45

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