Maria Waag is a Norwegian yoga and mindfulness teacher and entrepreneur, with more than 18 years of experience with yoga, and 10 years of experience with Mindfulness. She has been offering courses, classes and retreats in Norway, Italy and internationally for many years, and you can join her online for courses and trainings.
She is an E-RYT 200 and YACEP Continuing Education provider through Yoga Alliance, and is also about to finish her RYT500 with Yoga Medicine to become a Yoga Medicine Therapeutic Specialist (which has taken three years due to the thoroughness of these in-depth courses). She has a range of additional educations and specializations in for example Trauma informed yoga, the nervous system and restorative yoga, yoga and mindfulness as pain management, and orthopedic specializations in for example hip, spine and shoulder anatomy and rehabilitation (read more on her website). She has a background as a Biologist, and a Msc in International Environmental Studies, and lived and studied around the world (India, Costa Rica, Australia, California, Bali, Norway and now Italy).
Extensive studies of anatomy, biomechanics and the human body beyond her yoga educations gives Maria a deep understanding of the physiological and psychological benefits of yoga and meditation (e.g. brain and nerve-, endocrine- and digestive system, organs). She is a thorough alignment-based teacher that is genuinely concerned about safe teaching, and how to adapt the practice to individual differences. In her courses you can reap the benefits of this deeper understanding, and she is using her experience as a former public speaker and media spokesperson to make the communication of complex topics and latest research accessible, understandable, useful and fun.
She teaches a variety of different styles of yoga including Hatha, Slow Vinyasa, Vinyasa, Restorative Yoga, Pre- and Postnatal Yoga.
Maria is also a Mindfulness meditation teacher, and has been working with big corporates such as Capgemini, FENDI and Fitprime. Mindfulness is a big part of Maria’s life, and she loves to include Mindfulness in her yoga classes and courses, in addition to teach separate meditation and mindfulness classes. She has had a committed personal mindfulness practice for ten years, and several serious educations and certifications in Mindfulness: e.g. 120h from the University Hospital of Oslo, Norway, and 8week MBSR certification from UMass Memorial Center for Mindfulness, University of Massachusetts Medical School, Boston, US.
Maria has also specialized in yoga sequencing and is the creator and founder of PlayPauseBe the famous yoga sequencing deck used by more than 42 000 yogis around the world. It helps you sequence your self-practice according to how you feel that day and the benefits you want to obtain, and it is also a great yoga teacher tool used by more than 7000 yoga teachers around the world and used as a gift in many yoga teacher training programs.
Almost losing her life to a grave illness in 2014 changed her Yoga practice and her life. Yoga, Meditation, and Mindfulness helped her through chemotherapy, pain management, and a slow recovery, and her personal journey has also inspired her many specializations to be able to give adaptations and help make yoga accessible for everyone, as well as inspire her to explore the deeper layers of these practices and how they can be used as tools to navigate any challenge in life.
She is also a PADI rescue diver, climber, and loves to be outside in nature, hike, travel, garden and care for our beautiful planet.