You are a very active person. How do you find the time and motivation to practice yoga?

I just have to do it. When I don't have time to practice yoga, I feel worse mentally and physically. Of course, this is not always a regular practice. I have breaks quite often. If I don't exercise every day, so I do every second or third day. And once I get into a rhythm, I stick to it without any problems. However, when something happens that causes a break, it is much more difficult to return to regularity. For example, during menstruation, I completely abandon the practice and then I need time to warm up and the body needs a moment to return to flexibility.

How does yoga help you?

First of all, it allows me to listen to my body and helps me get in touch with my breathing. It makes me feel more coherent and connected to myself during the day, and more open to staying with myself instead of like a sponge, absorbing what's outside. As a highly sensitive person, I need to return to my essence, to my self, to maintain a sense of balance.

And how does yoga influence what you do every day? In artistic life, in creation, in performances on stage?

So. Performances are always stressful. To be honest, if it weren't for yoga, I probably wouldn't have sung with such a full voice as a child. I started practicing yoga when I was about 11 years old. My physiotherapist, who helped me recover from scoliosis, also conducted yoga classes. I started my practice with her. Thanks to this, I was aware of my breathing and how I felt tension and relaxation in my body. And this is inextricably linked to the sound of the voice.
Then I stopped as a teenager and returned to yoga as an adult.
Moreover, I myself support children and women in discovering their voices during the "I have a voice" author's workshops at the "Światowid" Center for Creative Activities in Wrocław. During these meetings, we use pranayama and asanas that help open the chest and move the spine. When conducting classes, I maneuver between typical voice emission, developing the ear and sense of rhythm, and precisely the elements of yoga.

I suspect you are aware of your superpowers. Will you tell us about them?

Connecting people. I guess that's my superpower. Getting to know each other, people who have something to give to each other and can learn from each other. Somehow it turns out that I can meet cool people who have a flow with each other.

I learned to appreciate myself for this too. Joanna Flis, a psychotherapist, showed me a lot. In one of her books "What's wrong with me", she writes that many of us live in the belief that we are different and defective, and the rest of the world is coherent and orderly. That everything works for everyone but not for me. And this is nonsense! Self-deprecating... That's why I think it's worth appreciating ourselves and noticing everything we do well and how unique we are, while at the same time giving ourselves the right not to know something, to fail something, to not do something great. For a long time, I was a master of humiliating myself and belittling myself. I don't want to do this anymore because I know how much is lost because of it. I'm working on being my own best friend.

You have a very busy time now - moving, concerts, life... How do you manage to find space for practice in all this?

These are really short moments lately. All the more necessary. I simply forget to take my mat with me on tour, so I practice for just a few minutes in the hotel or in the dressing room. After a long car journey, I try to wake up my spine. I always listen to my body and check what it needs at a given moment. I love Vinyasa, Flow Yoga and Aerial Yoga and this is where I draw single sequences from during such short sessions.

What advice can you give to people who are constantly on the go? What can they do with their body here and now?

If someone asked me for advice - because only then I would dare to give it - it would be to stop and feel your body. During the day, I really ask my body how I feel at that moment. I manage to stop there and immediately know that I am hunched over or sitting crookedly. This awareness alone makes me start to respond to my body's needs. It is worth stretching in the morning and evening. You don't need to have a beautiful mat or a great outfit (although this also gives you additional motivation if you are an aesthetic person and like nice things). For yoga, all you need are bare feet and a bit of space and you can take care of yourself. I think intention is also important. To do it for yourself with tenderness and care, and not with anger at your body, which is the way it is.

It's the same with singing! When you play an instrument, you have to have it, and you always have your voice with you. This is the common denominator for singing and yoga. YOU DON'T NEED ANYTHING, YOU ALREADY HAVE EVERYTHING!

What has yoga taught you?

Tenderness and letting go. For me, yoga is a lesson in taming one's imperfections and humility towards the only certainty in life - change.

Thank you for the interview,
Ola

Alicja Janosz - singer and songwriter

Alicja's set: pants Endless Summer and crop top Vinyasa