Breaking the mould with yoga, meditation

Hey there, time traveller!
This article was published 28/01/2022 (1575 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

People migrate for many reasons, most to improve their lot in life economically, others to find peace from war and others to find themselves after being rejected by family and others because they did not fit their idea of what it is to be human.

Serge Salvador, a yoga meditation instructor at Yoga Public, did not fit the mould, so he took off to find a place where he would be accepted for who he is. Canada fits that bill.

“I feel like a child, I don’t want to grow up. I live in a fantasy world where people love each other. Discrimination makes me very sad” Salvador said.

Originally from a small town in France, Vic-la-Gardiole, near Montpellier. When Serge first came to Canada he received the news that both his parents had died in a car accident. His partner accompanied him home for support.

“Even during this traumatic time, I felt rejected by my family. When my sister saw me she said ‘the gays are coming’ and it was not a term of endearment. It was rejection because of my sexual orientation. I felt rejected and I had to leave.”

Serge’s first stop in Canada was Vancouver in 1999. His neighbour was a 75-year-old yoga teacher. 

“I started taking her yoga practice, I found that it was helping me to relax and feel peaceful. I was set on a path,” he said.

“In 2002, I took several yoga teacher training courses. I was eager to learn more and more. Yoga helped me to come to terms with death and loss.”

After some time Serge began taking courses from a yoga teacher in India and would travel to India for four months at a time to do yoga retreats.

“I experienced Raja yoga, which involves meditation and mantra,” he explained.

In 2012 Serge established a yoga retreat in Nicaragua with his partner, Jarvin, which they ran successfully for a few years. However, owning a business can take up all one’s time with mundane matters, so they let that go and went to live in a cave house in Andalucia, Spain, before returning to Canada when Serge accepted a position at Yoga Public.

“It is a great place to work and I get to do what I love,” he said. “In addition to teaching yoga classes, I conduct special courses in meditation which incorporates soul motion dance, mantra and breath work, concentration, detachment exercises and, finally, meditation,” he said. “I also do the yoga teacher training courses, which are very satisfying. I love all of it.”

Serge said that while many teachers use asana (physical movement and poses) to introduce students to yoga, he focuses on the breath because he believes it is the basis of any proper yoga practice. Breathing in and out through the nose is the grease that relaxes joints and muscles to enable a person to do yoga poses more easily.

“It’s also a way to open doors to the mind,” he said. “I love meditation. If I never do asana I would not miss as much as if I did not meditate.” 

Asked what is attracting so many people to yoga these days, Serge said that people are looking for an oasis within the stress and confusion of life and yoga offers a little of this.

Serge wishes for a better world, one in which people will not be judged by anything other than their character.

“We are all spiritual beings and there is no sex or colour,”  he says. “Why can’t we accept that instead of judging each other?  If I cannot change the world I can change the way I respond to the world and I respond with love, always. I am not perfect but everyday I try to be better. I practise yoga by being present , loving and compassionate.”

Beatrice Watson is a community correspondent for Fort Rouge.