During my fifty years of teaching yoga I have been asked many times by all sorts of people whether I was doing ‘only hatha yoga’, or whether I was also doing ‘spiritual yoga, or meditation.’

For me, there has never been a division; the one cannot be practiced without the other. Body-mind-heart are one integrated whole, undivided and undivisable.

I have always intuited that the only real ‘spirituality’ lies in our direct and personal relationship with Nature, with the Universe, and have long since backed away from asking others, including books, how I should live my life, how I should relate to Nature and the Universe.

In the seventies and eighties, when I was living in a small, old dilapidated ‘casa colonica’ in Tuscany,  I started writing poetry to try and convey this vision. To learn from Nature, to let the body vibrate with the vibrations of the Universe, to let the heartbeat beat in rhythm with the heartbeat of the Earth, to let the senses listen to the murmurings of all that lives, and to hear the last breaths of all that dies. On this web site you will find Rosa Crucis, written in that period.

Ten years ago I picked up again my early childhood dream and love. The horse. I bought my own horse, and then added for good measure two donkeys and a pony, and began studying them. Riding and spending time with them has widened my horizon even more than I imagined. My horse has supported me in many difficult moments. For me, he has become like an elder brother, and has taught me, and continues teaching me, many things about myself and about human animals in general.

In the beginning of September 2010 I began to write ‘Discussions with Epo-Na’. I did not know that the autumn equinox, which was two weeks later, was one of the most important festivals in the Celtic and Roman times for celebrating her as the Horse Goddess who made people reflect on the past year and prepare for the year to come, or for the end of their lives.

Coincidence? I don’t know.

I only know that Epo-Na lives in each one of us, inviting us to look within and find that spirituality that transcends the spoken and written language; that spirituality that the Universe itself has imprinted on our bodies, minds and hearts; that spirituality which is our birthright from the beginning of time.

Thus my two main interests in life, yoga and horses, have finally come together harmoniously.

On this web site you will find information on my life as an international yoga teacher, information on the International Centered Yoga Association which has its seat in Italy, on the Centered Yoga Convention in February 2012, on the various yoga books that I have written, on the available DVD’s and on the upcoming yoga courses in Italy. There will also be information on EquiYoga, a system that I have developed to integrate these two extraordinary disciplines, yoga and horse riding.

Dona Holleman
email: mail@donaholleman.com
internet: www.donaholleman.com