About Valucha
My path toward yoga started with ballet. When I was 4 years old, I started studying ballet with Norma Bittencourt a famous ballet teacher in Recife, Brazil. Ballet taught me the importance of postural alignment and precision of movement. I loved the alignment and precision of Iyengar and intensely studied his book Light on Yoga to learn the poses and how he would get into the asanas.”
My Early Path in Yoga
After a freak accident I had to work harder to build up my body again. I knew then like I know now that alignment and practice has a very important impact on the outcome of any exercise modality. Back then after my tragic injury I decided to embrace Yoga. I fell in love with the discipline and how interesting it was to feel the energy opening my body. I became very interested in the B.K.S. Iyengar method because of his emphasis on anatomical alignment and precision of the yoga asanas. So I dedicated my study on analyzing his book Light on Yoga, the poses and how he would get into the asanas. Today I continue my study by “research based experience” and “experience based research”. Iyengar and many others gurus, teachers and yoga styles have been guiding and influencing me to find my true self.
Barr Asana Yoga and Healing
I suffered from arthritis for many years. In 2014, I had a double hip replacement. Before the first surgery, I began to wonder if all my teaching and practice was worth it. I decided at that time to not give up on my beliefs. I believed that to keep moving was better than not doing anything. I continued teaching and practicing the Barr Asana Yoga Method that I created three decades ago—with the goal to slow down the disease and to prepare my body for the surgery. I remembered in the past the experience I had with a serious injury. Yoga was the key tool for my healing. Also, in teaching my method through the years, I have seen many of my students liberated from pain. Now, knowing the outcome of the surgeries and how fast I improved, I decided to share with others the impact my methodology and yoga had on my pre and post hip replacement healing. The misery I suffered in pain, not knowing how to relieve it or get free from it, and how many others are suffering, made me come out of my shell. I feel the obligation and responsibility to share my experience with the ones in need. With that said, I am not a doctor. I am only someone that through pain learned a way to find freedom from it. The answer for me was devotion, continuous practice and dedication to Yoga. My Barr Asana Yoga method has been a tool to help me and others to unveil the Light that is everywhere. My way is not the only way to find freedom from any kind of pain. It is one more way to embrace Light and Healing.
Documentary About My Journey
Without a clear understanding of why I had been suffering from hip osteoarthritis since a young age I decided to embrace yoga as a tool to not lose joint mobility. For half of my life I had been managing it well. However, in December 2013 I flew from Los Angeles to Brazil to see my family. Sitting for hours caused my hips to have a flare up that put me in bed. From that point on the instability of the joints and pain took over my life. After fighting for years to prevent having hip replacement, inevitably I decided to have it done. I could no longer handle the misery, lack of mobility, and pain I was suffering. I had a very aggressive kind of arthritis and I was literally bone on bone. I was shocked to know that even though I was continuously practicing yoga, my body, muscles and joints could not work like they used to. So, I started to study my condition. I learned that there has not yet been a study about hip replacement and yoga. I struggled to find answers through my past and present experiences. I came to a better understanding about the process of aging and what this disease was doing to my joints. I decided before the surgery to do a documentary about how my practice of yoga could impact the healing before and after hip replacement. Prior to the surgery I filmed my condition and exercises that I believed would help me to deal with the post surgery recovery. I also filmed my post surgery recovery.