Growing up with a Yoga practicing Mother has instilled the importance of the practice in Mantas' routine, and also was a huge inspiration behind him launching SurfYogaBeer Fitness Adventures Worldwide™. Check out where in the world you can adventure to on a retreat with Mantas, or join him on Instagram to learn about local Yoga events in New York City. 

I started practicing yoga 10 years ago to gain a mental and physical advantage in competitive sports. Most of my inspiration comes from my mom, also a yoga teacher with a private yoga studio and practitioner for the last 15 years. Yoga runs in the family, and it runs everyday, 5 miles a day, non-stop. That’s metaphorical. A lot of yoga scripture is. And it should always have a bit of humor to keep it relevant. Balance is the key to life. My classes are strict to help attain personal enlightenment (though it doesn’t come easy), but fun to keep it real.

Yoga isn’t just in the studio. You take it with you; the breath work you practice in class is reflected in how you handle frustrating situations, the strength when you need to use the stairs because the elevator is broken, and the control of the body when you need to find balance surfing on a gnarly wave. The purpose of yoga practice is not to change our inherent nature but to expand our choices so that our habit patterns do not create imbalances and limit our growth – becoming broad-spectrum. Yoga is not just stretching because of this mindful embodiment.

“Through sustained focus and meditation on our patterns, habits, and conditioning, we gain knowledge and understanding of our past and how we can change the patterns that aren’t serving us to live more freely and fully.” – Yoga Sutra 111.18

Everyday I am in my ‘yoga’ state. It becomes a way of life and it only leads towards eternal truth. I am lucky to have been introduced and have the opportunity to practice, and I hope you do too.    

-MANTAS ZVINAS