Q&A with Oksana Yatsenko

Oksana Yatsenko is a young woman, but an experienced yoga teacher in every sense.

After growing up in Kyrgyzstanin the Former Soviet Republic, she moved to Canada. A mother of two, Oksana now teaches yoga in a smaller community in B.C.: “As a yogi, it’s a perfect place to be.”

With experience in both Western and Eastern styles of yoga, she is confidently aware of how big a subject yoga can be: “I started teaching because I thought I would learn more.” A practicing Hindu, it is her eventual goal that yoga becomes all that she does.

She spoke to us about what is so different about Canadian style yoga practice and how she finds time for her own practice as a teacher, mother and real estate professional.

When did your relationship with yoga begin?

I was born in Siberia in Russia, but grew up in Kyrgyzstanin. We started doing community yoga over there, which is pretty serious and not as business oriented as in North America. At 12, I was already going to organized retreats. My practice was more traditional. Asana was only 20% and mantra and lifestyle were much more important. In Canada I got more into asana practice.

You teach so many styles of yoga. It must be hard to keep them straight! 

I teach everything from vinyasa to Kundalini to yin, because I need everything to practice. That is how I build my brand. I study constantly. I know that I still know nothing, but I love to learn. I like to apply my teaching to my students right away. The kundalini white tantric world is great, but when I teach traditionally, I don’t have the best reactions. Maybe this is because although I enjoy it, it doesn’t speak to me as a teacher so much. You have to be inspired no matter what you teach. I always ask for feedback from my students and I love open communication from them. My students are very curious people and I encourage them to explore self-study.

How was the practice different when you changed countries?

Because I have the very traditional training in yoga, Western yoga was very strange for me at first. But I fell in love with it! It really works! It is helpful with the experiences of life. Here they adopt the Western business model, which opens up more doors to people who never would discover yoga. I have a family, and in the traditional way, I couldn’t have stayed in the practice. In the Eastern model, you only have one teacher who will study with you when they have time and when they feel like it. In that model, I may never have been able to teach. As a mother, life gets so busy and the drop-in community can be wonderful! You watch your peers and teachers develop themselves and you go with them. It is so beautiful. I have full gratitude for where I am.

How do you make time for a yoga practice of your own with your busy schedule? 

It is only as hard as you make it. I told myself that I need to wake up at 5:30 am, otherwise my practice would not happen. My life would not allow me. To practice, I have woken up at that time for several years now. Traditionally, in the Kundalini practice they wake at 2 am to practice but they also nap at 3 pm. I tried, but when I pick up the kids from school can be the most intense part of my day. We can study traditional ways and learn the wisdom behind them but not be shy to modify the practice in a way that fits us. Every country is different!

Oksana is spreading her infectious energy through her business Uma Yoga. For information on her rates and schedule, visit her website.

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