Theodora Gazi

It is with joy and emotion that we welcome Theodora Gazi and her Mindful Yoga offering to Eutopia Gathering. A woman who has devoted her life to truth-seeking and living in service of awareness. I was born and raised in Lefkada, where I lived until I was 15, enjoying beautiful, rich, vibrant, and carefree childhood years filled with all-day play with friends and adventures exploring nature—in the river, the sea, and the mountains!! While studying and devouring books, I discovered from a young age Kazantzakis, Hugo, Dostoevsky, Camus, Seferis, and Marx, to name a few. I soon felt suffocated by the provincial climate of the island with its pseudo-morality, whispers, and limited choices. As a teenager searching for answers to questions, the most tormenting of which was 'who am I and how did I get here,' I soon found myself in the capital. I fulfilled my dream of studying English Philology in Athens, which I quickly felt was my home, as it was there that the songs of innocence turned into songs of experience, as my beloved W. Blake would say... for those who happen to know him. My school and university years were intense and very creative, filled with searching, revolutionary spirit, and a thirst for a self and a world that could accommodate Love, Peace, and Justice, along with the ideals of Freedom, Equality, and BROTHERHOOD. Alternating between the search for a political identity and metaphysical concerns, I soon found myself holding Plato's Republic in one hand and the Bhagavad Gita in the other, while on my shelves, among others, were Krishnamurti, Gurdjieff, Rajneesh (later known as Osho), and Ivanhov, alongside Shakespeare and Whitman! In short, after finishing my studies, I went to England for further training, traveling with esoteric books that paved the way for my entry into esotericism later, in a school of self-knowledge founded by the Gnostic Master Samael Aun Weor, for many years! His synthetic and holistic teaching provided practices and unique keys for the awakening of consciousness and self-realization! My thirsty soul found answers and experiences in this space that gave meaning to my life and created a foundation and an inner criterion for further broadening and understanding of the truth!! In this space, and for as long as I stayed (fifteen years), I studied and practiced with dedication, enthusiasm, and commitment, dedicating all my energy primarily to inner work as an irrevocable and supreme need! This school did not manage to stay united and gradually ceased to exist as an institution! In search of the truth, I traveled to countries where this teaching was still grounded and, through personal work, I helped it to spread anew in Greece as a new entity. Subsequently, I studied intensively for 4 years in a Brotherhood in the lineage of the Ascended Masters and the planetary Hierarchy, which greatly expanded my three-dimensional perception of myself and the visible and invisible world! Additionally, for the last 13 years, I have been loosely connected with an initiatory Chivalric Order! Without belonging anywhere in any case, I follow my inner criterion and purify my motives for any action! In the professional field, I worked in education in private and public schools of all levels and ages, teaching mainly foreign languages with innovative methods, and in recent years, in high school, I also taught Ancient History, Art History, Psychology, Philosophy, and European Culture! Having been trained through a series of educational seminars and workshops, I conducted experiential learning programs for over twenty years with groups of students concerning environmental education, career guidance, health education, as well as cultural programs. As a coordinator of these programs, I organized thematic excursions for students to places of special natural beauty and interest (rivers, gorges, lagoons, meadows, and mountain peaks, ancient Sanctuaries), places related to the themes of the projects! Indicative topics of these projects included, among others, water, bread, herbs, the olive tree, the bee, the world of birds, the world of ethereal beings, stress management through breathing, 'I deserve a clean school,' 'Help in grief,' 'I stand on my own feet,' 'Teenage discussions'... theatrical performances with ancient and new plays. All in extracurricular time and with an experiential character. Having completed my working tenure in education, I experience the joy and fulfillment that accompanies you when you do what you love as a profession! Other trainings and techniques of self-knowledge and personal development in which I have studied: first yoga training at the Sivananda Yoga INSTITUTE in England; Certification from the worldwide organization Yoga Alliance E-RYT 500 hours teacher training in Hatha Vinyasa yoga; Participation in Kundalini yoga seminars; Participation and completion of 15 10-day silent Vipassana meditation seminars in Greece; Participation and completion of 2 Satipatthana seminars (foundations of mindfulness) in Italy and GREECE; Three-year training and apprenticeship in Raja Yoga with a study of the sutras of PATANJALI; Kriya yoga with first-degree initiation; 9-month REBIRTHING seminar with certification; Time therapy meditation by Manuel Schoch; Full training in Nonviolent Communication from the IIT (International Intensive Training) in Greece; Access Bars certification; Theta Healing training, 1st and 2nd degree REIKI; Ho'oponopono teachings; Kryon teachings; Shamanic practices on thematic excursions with Alexander Northern Deer; Study of A Course in Miracles; Seminars on healthy eating and Pranic nourishment. I have co-organized thematic excursions, retreats, Vipassana meditation seminars in Greece and Spain, as well as online, and have integrated the principles of mindfulness into my practice and teaching. I have taught yoga and meditation retreats in small groups and mainly individually. My training in yoga in the tradition of Krishnamacharya, the Father of modern yoga, has greatly complemented and completed my knowledge and experience, which, enriched by the Buddhist tradition, constitutes a very imaginative and functional tool for self-knowledge and purification of the mind and soul! Through my long journey, I have gained spiritual gifts, keys, and pearls of wisdom, which I have savored and for which I feel great gratitude and fulfillment. I continue to practice and learn in the new energy, open to the new that each moment brings, keeping the child within me alive and eager to learn! Her Vision: To share her lived truth, beyond all dogmas, with fellow souls walking the path of freedom, peace, and conscious presence. ✨ “Yoga is an initiatory path – a journey toward Self-knowledge and freedom from the known.”