Jana Sojka – Massage and movement therapist

I am simply a soul in this lifetime, another person that is passionate about a deeper understanding of ourselves. Fortunately, we all are unique in many ways and we should share these gifts and wisdom with each other and inspire others to find brighter and lighter ways of being human.
I come from the Czech Republic. As a young kid, I always found joy in movements, such as collective sports or intuitive dance. When I was 10, strengthening my abs in my bedroom, I did not know that I was applying some Pilates key principles and techniques. Intuitively, I knew what I wanted to achieve and I learned discipline by following my intuition.
Living through college times the focus on studies was challenging due to various reasons and attending street dance classes seemed to be the only time where I was present and grounded. The experience of a blissful present moment was magical and transformational.
At the university, my life direction was somehow uncertain. My friend and I created a dance group for teenage girls and every week we trained hard to achieve “perfection” in choreography. I was teaching girls how to move the whole body with coordination, and breath, and use the full protentional of mind and body expressed through dance moves. This assisted me with the understanding that we are all unique and should respect everyone’s limits, needs, and injuries. The inner teacher within us is always right.
In 2013 I began to work at a bank. I felt empty and purposeless. I searched for a Yoga session as the little I knew about it was to relax the mind and reconnect to a deeper self. Yogini instructor Linda inspired me ever since. Weekly sessions with her filled my heart with calmness, joy, and sense of purpose and I steadily developed my own personal practice – sadhana.
Coming to New Zealand in 2015 with my partner was a life changer. Breaking the routine, leaving everything behind to live in a car with a backpack. Free and independent, we enjoyed every moment of what this land has to offer. As I continued my personal practice during seasonal jobs (often on the ground in the middle of a vineyard), co-workers started to notice and wanted me to teach them what I do. Intuitively the need to stretch after long hours of hard work. That was the very beginning of sharing a fraction of this ancient wisdom with others.
A year after traveling, the Bodylight ® studio in Auckland stepped into my life and I deeply connected to my teacher, mentor, and friend Edna Levy – the founder of the Bodylight ® method. Edna educated me on every aspect of being an intuitive, loving, always-listening, and caring yet a professional instructor and guide through the movement. I successfully completed two Bodylight ® teacher training courses that fuse Yoga, Pilates and Qi Gong in an interesting, mindful and educative way. This course also included Bodylight ® treatment – therapeutic and relaxing massage using techniques such as Shiatsu, Trigger points, Reiki and Reflexology.
I spent days and hours at the studio assisting, observing, and learning through various sessions: special needs and injuries (eg. scoliosis, arthritis, osteoporosis, pregnancy and post-natal needs, hip replacement and many more) and various age groups and body conditions from little kids to elderly. After a couple of intense months, I immediately initiated my teaching journey at the studio and it became my main focus. I established a close relationship with clients, instructors and the practice.