Valerie
is a yoga teacher, a singer and a leader of yoga retreats and travels to the world’s sacred places.
She is based in Buenos Aires, Argentina where she gives workshops, lectures, classes and kirtans and trains new yoga teachers.
Yoga
A well-taught yoga class is an intimate and transformative experience. My classes and workshops today are movement meditations inspired by the life teachings of Vinyasa Flow and the deep healing of Mantra, peppered with the principles of alignment of Anusara Yoga and the delicate attention to body of therapeutic yoga. We breathe, we move, we sing and we flow with the natural energy of the place where we practice and of each moment, time and season.
A great yoga class invites you to change—change your physical body, change your state of mind, change your energy and being. I was lucky to have taken my first yoga class with a teacher who understands this. My first yoga class was a Hatha Yoga multi-level practice at the Indra Devi Foundation in Buenos Aires with teacher Norma Liliana Carballo. At the end of that class I felt such a profound bliss that I knew yoga would become something integral for me. Yoga slowly seeped into all aspects of my life and recreated my path in ways I would never have imagined. My studies in yoga began in traditional Hatha then took me into Integral Yoga, Vinyasa Flow, Anusara Yoga, therapeutic yoga and meditation at schools in South America, North America and India.
My two root teachers in yoga have been Ann Moxey, creator of the therapeutic Parinaama Yoga, and Shiva Rea, creator of Prana Flow. Rea is a revolutionary in the study and teachings of Vinyasa Yoga. From Shiva I’ve learned passion, movement and close attunement to the cycles of the Earth and Cosmos. Parinaama means transformation in Sanscrit and this school of yoga was developed by Moxey to treat stress, attachments and addictions of all kinds. Attending Ann’s master classes is like drinking in a well of wisdom. Her knowledge of Tantra, history, philosophy, psychology, anatomy and spirituality together with the poetry of her oratory makes for an exceptional learning experience.
These two women drew from the teachings of Tantra to develop their conception of yoga. Tantra teaches us to view and experience the body as sacred. This idea of honoring the body’s wisdom imbues my own beliefs and practice.
I’ve been fortunate to receive wisdom from gifted teachers from all walks of life. Some of the guides I’ve studied with are Sally Kempton, Gary Kraftsow, Richard Freeman, Mary Taylor, Elena Brower, Seane Corn, Schuyler Grant, Ana Forrest and Beatriz Goyoaga.
I am also certified in Yoga Trance Dance and Prana Danda Yoga, and completed my introductory training in Kalaripayyatu, the traditional martial art form of Southern India, while at Kerala in 2015.
Music
Mantra has been one of the most effective healing techniques I’ve had the fortune to learn. Since helping me to recover from a series of fifth chakra ailments (throat area), mantra has been central in my life. Today I teach mantra classes and workshops and lead kirtans, concerts of Hindu and Buddhist mantras. My first album Essence of Mantra came out in 2019.
I am the daughter of a classical musician. Listening to my mother play piano as a child instilled in me a love of music. I have studied voice, piano, flute, drums and guitar through the years and played in big bands, choruses, ensembles, drum groups and singing groups. Music is a soundtrack for life. I continue to evolve through different instruments and genres as I age.
My foundational teachers in music have been school teacher and band leader Walter Leibling and my mother. My two guides in the world of Indian music have been Marcelo Ismail Rodriguez and Carolina Chrem. I’ve taken also taken mantra workshops with Krishna Das, Sally Kempton, Bhagavan Das and Gary Kraftsow—all great inspirations of music and life.
Music
Travel
Each journey, no matter how near or far, has the power to change your perception of life. International travel has been central in my education and profession.
Since 2003, I’ve led groups of travelers through sleepy towns, busy metropolises, dense jungles, soaring mountains, peaceful valleys, chaotic airports, dreamscape beaches and magical icebergs; over vibrant rivers, raging oceans, placid lakes and mystic fjords. I’ve had groups ranging from ten to 400 people on ship and land tours in South America, North America, Europe and Antarctica. I lead retreats by the ocean, in the countryside and in the middle of the city and am always looking for the next sacred location.
My aim as a Travel and Retreat Leader is to help you transform a simple trip into a meaningful life experience. The tools I’ve learned through my studies of yoga allow me to help you achieve this. Yoga teaches us to remove mental and physical attachments in our quest for happiness. As we travel, we shed layers and lighten our load. Travel is the quintessential journey to a deeper understanding and enjoyment of life.
My passion areas of the world are Antarctica and Patagonia. These distant lands hold immense power. The purity of their energy has the capacity to cleanse the strata of your energy field. It is when I am amongst the blue mountains of Torres del Paine or the white purity of the Antarctic ice that I truly understand the meaning of satyam (truth), shanti (peace) and sundaram (beauty). Each trip to these magical lands has been a life-altering journey.