Life in Yin
by Wioletta Kowalska
Bodywork · Wellness Massage · Yoga · Mindfulness
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Hi, I'm Wioletta Kowalska.
My journey combines massage and bodywork, yoga and meditation. Over time, these experiences have found a dialogue and today guide the way I work with the body and with people.
Life in Yin names an inner space, nourished by yoga practice and contemplation. It's a perspective that invites us to look beyond what immediately appears and to attentively approach what a person feels and experiences.
The practice of Mettā , reflection on Anicca and Dukkha , and the connection between the heart and Anāhata are part of this path. These are themes I explore further down the page and which continue to nourish the way we relate to ourselves, others, and the body.
Awareness is the starting point: an attentive and gentle presence helps us recognize our breath, our movement, and what our body is expressing. From here, we can open up a deeper listening experience, even to what is difficult to express.
During the sessions, this listening guides the choices and allows the treatment to be adapted to the person and what they need at that moment.
From yoga practice to teaching
I approached yoga and meditation in 2008, during my pregnancy, attending Hatha Yoga courses and meditation sessions at Lucia Morello and Nicola Ceschel's NU Center, in the Rho area, near Milan.
Yoga initially entered my life as a personal practice and, over the years, led me to explore different approaches: Hatha Yoga, Vinyasa, Power Yoga and Ashtanga Vinyasa Yoga.
In 2013, after moving to Tuscany, I began practicing with Tanya Testi. Shortly thereafter, I chose to undertake a more structured training program to deepen my practice and gain a deeper understanding of it. From there, teaching came naturally, as a continuation of my personal journey and the desire to share what I had developed over the years.
I started teaching yoga in Lucca between 2014 and 2015.
Yoga training
Over the years, I have deepened my practice and teaching through training courses dedicated to Hatha Yoga, Power Yoga, Vinyasa and Ashtanga Vinyasa Yoga, combining technical study with constant personal practice.
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Level 1 and 2 of the Power Yoga method with Roberto Bocchi.
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Ashtanga Vinyasa Yoga teacher training course at Ashtanga Yoga Florence with Alessandro Ciaurri, Giuseppina Simonelli, Chiara Paolini and Laura Pardino (250 hours, CSEN National Diploma recognized by CONI).
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Ashtanga Yoga Primary Series Diploma at Ashtanga Yoga Bologna with master Manju Pattabhi Jois (European Academy of Ashtanga Yoga Teacher Training).
I also participated in workshops, intensives, and seminars with Italian and international teachers, continuing to expand my way of observing the body, movement, and breathing.
In Ashtanga Vinyasa Yoga, I have had the opportunity to practice and study with numerous teachers, including Lino Miele, Elena De Martin, Marco Biagini, Riccardo Gherardi, Alessandro Ciaurri, Susanna Finocchi, Gabriele Severini, Emanuele Rossi, Boonchu Tanti, Elle Siralak, Mark Robberds, Kristina Karitinou Ireland, Dennis Ireland, Matthew Sweeney, Juha Javanainen, and Petri Räisänen.
For me, training has never been a simple collection of certifications, but a continuous process of study, practice, direct experience, and personal transformation.
Yin Yoga: Another Way to Listen to Your Body
In 2017, I discovered Yin Yoga, a practice that introduced a different quality to my journey: less oriented towards doing and more towards listening, time, stillness, and the ability to perceive what happens in the body without constantly intervening.
Since 2018, I have completed over 300 hours of training dedicated to Yin Yoga and related disciplines, delving into anatomy, meridians, myofascial release, mindfulness, and traditional Chinese medicine.
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Tanya Testi – Yin Yoga: Practice and Foundations (50 hours)
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Arely Torres – Yin & Meridians (50h)
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Arely Torres – Yin & Anatomy (50h)
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Arely Torres – Yin & Myofascial Release (30h)
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Sarah Lo – Yin Yoga & Mindfulness – Level I (40h)
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Sarah Lo – Yin Yoga & Mindfulness – Level II (30h)
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Jo Phee – Chinese Medicine & Hip Anatomy I (60h)
This approach has also profoundly influenced my way of working in bodywork: respecting the body's rhythms, not forcing, observing before intervening and leaving room for individual response.
The name Life in Yin was born from this very vision. It doesn't just indicate a style of yoga, but a way of being in the body and in life with greater presence, listening, and awareness.
Mindfulness and Vipassana
Meditation has been a part of my journey for several years and has become a stable part of my personal practice.
Since 2018, I have been practicing Vipassana and regularly participate in residential retreats, particularly at the Pian dei Ciliegi Vipassana Meditation Center , in the tradition of Mahasi Sayadaw. Over the years, I have had the opportunity to follow the teachings of Hannes Huber, Andrea Huber, Luisa Lazzarotto, Adriano Emina, and Gautam Verma. I am grateful for every experience and for what I have learned.
In 2022 I completed the eight-week Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction (MBSR) program with Franco Cucchio and, in 2023, the first MBSR Essentials training module at Motus Mundi – Scuola Italiana Mindfulness.
In my work, meditation isn't a technique I apply during treatment. It's a practice that supports my approach to the session: it helps me pay attention, listen without anticipating, and respect the client's pace. I try to bring this disposition into my work with the body as well, with presence and without rushing.
From movement to bodywork
Since 2019, my interest in the body has increasingly shifted towards massage and bodywork.
The transition from yoga to manual labor was very fluid and natural for me. Years of practice and teaching had already led me to observe movement, mobility, breathing, compensations, and the way each body develops its own strategies.
Massage allowed me to enter the same territory through contact, bringing listening into a different dimension: that of the perception of tissues and the body's response to touch.
Over the years I have explored different working methods, from relaxing massage to deeper muscle work, from Deep Tissue to assisted stretching, from Thai Massage to myofascial work and other forms of bodywork, through different schools, teachers and training courses, including:
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Sarga Bodywork - Jivatma Massaguer and Daniel Tsukayama
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Dharma - ITM School São Paulo / International Training Massage School, ITM THAILAND - Diego Marquete
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Lulyani School of Thai Massage & Osteopathic Medicine - Flora Bisogno
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Healing Methods - Therapeutic Yoga & Massage - Wassakanit Lakkham, Wassa
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Sebastien Valla Massage School
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Suma Thai Massage - Alessandro Suma
Today, these experiences are no longer separate. I don't necessarily work with a single technique or a pre-established sequence: I use what I've learned as a set of tools, adapting the treatment to the person, the moment, and what emerges during the session.
Experience, observation, sensitivity, and intuition guide the way I choose and integrate these tools, in relation to what the body expresses and its individual response.
Sarga Bodywork®
An important step in my professional journey was my encounter with Sarga Bodywork® in 2023, a barefoot myofascial bodywork method that primarily uses the feet to work on the tissues with slow, directional, and sustained pressure.
It struck me because it combined many aspects that I was already looking for in bodywork: depth without aggression, continuity of contact, intelligent use of body weight and attention to the fascia and the individual response of the person.
Over time Sarga Bodywork® has become an important part of my work.
I am a Certified Sarga Bodywork® Practitioner and Authorized Sarga Bodywork® Instructor in Italy. I conduct professional training for practitioners who wish to study the method and deepen their understanding of this way of working with the body.
Teaching bodywork is a more recent field for me, but not a completely new experience. I've been teaching for many years, and in moving from yoga to bodywork, I've rediscovered something that's already familiar to me: observing, explaining, correcting, guiding, and finding the most appropriate way for each person to understand through their own body.
How I work today
Yoga, meditation, massage, and bodywork are different experiences, but over time they have begun to communicate. Today, they converge in my work with the body and continue to nourish it.
The session is shaped by the individual and how they feel at that moment. Depending on their needs, the treatment may require greater depth and precision or more continuity, slowness, and gentle contact.
Listening helps guide decisions: proceed carefully, without rushing, and without forcing the body into a pre-established pattern. Techniques and intensity are adapted to the individual, rather than applying a one-size-fits-all formula.
If you want to learn more about the principles that guide this work, you can read more on the My Approach page.
Today, my professional journey is expressed through massage and bodywork, yoga teaching, and Sarga Bodywork® training: three distinct fields, united by an interest in the body, movement, presence, and the quality of contact.
Reservations
To check availability, choose a duration, or ask me which option best suits your preferences.
To learn more
→ Massage in the studio
→ Massage in villas and hotels
→ Sarga Bodywork® training course