From Yoga to Surfing: A Life in Motion - With Sofia Soori

We are excited to share an inspiring conversation with Sofia Soori, a yoga teacher, longboard surfer, and psychology student with a passion for both physical and mental health. She talks about her journey from discovering yoga as a teenager to starting YogaShala Blidö with her mom, and how surfing has given her joy and life energy. Join us and be inspired by Sofia's unique lifestyle and adventures!

Hello Sofia! You are a yoga teacher, longboard surfer and psychology student. How would your friends describe you? 

Full of energy, a real yes-sayer, extroverted but still a bit shy, with a smile on her face and always ready for new adventures! 

Sofia is wearing our Minna wool fleece jacket in the color green in the size S.

We understand that your heart beats extra hard for yoga. How did your journey with yoga begin? 

Indeed, yoga is very close to my heart! I attended my first yoga class when I was 13 years old and got hooked immediately. Yoga came into my life at a time when I had gone through a rather turbulent period, having changed schools several times. Eventually, I found the right school, and good friends, and became curious about finding some kind of inner peace, which I noticed yoga helped with. When I turned 19 and graduated, I went to India with my best friend Hanna Holmsäter. There, we trained to become yoga teachers, and after that, I completely changed my path, from wanting to become a musician/singer to teaching yoga full-time in Stockholm until I started my psychology studies in Lund in the spring of 2020.

What inspired you to start YogaShala Blidö with your mom? 

Both my mom and I are somewhat impulsive and stubborn, so when the idea came up one evening at our summer house on the island of Blidö, there was no turning back. We learned most of it through YouTube and started building a yoga house so I could hold yoga retreats there. It was truly a dream come true when it was completed in 2017 on my 23rd birthday. Right now, we are building another guesthouse so that participants can have more comfortable beds for the retreats that will start again in the summer of 2025.

What is the connection between surfing, yoga, and nature for you? 

Surfing, yoga, and being in nature are three places that give me life energy and joy. Cold-water surfing specifically has become a nature experience that I never thought I would love when I started surfing in warmer climates. Nowadays, I almost appreciate it more because the nature experience in cold climates is often much more intense. Sweden, Norway, Denmark, and Iceland are surf spots that have pleasantly surprised me in recent years!

Besides yoga, what has surfing meant to you and how has it affected your life? 

Surfing started when I was 15 at a surf camp in France and was also a love at first sight that I became completely obsessed with. Every summer and after school periods, in winter, I went to surf beaches around the world to look for waves and develop my surfing. Surfing has not only been a sport for me but has given me so much happiness in the form of new acquaintances, friends for life, trips, and adventures to magical places, and the presence of nature. The calm and feeling that surfing gives me can be one of the strongest experiences that are hard to describe. If I were to translate it into yoga terms, it would be what we call total happiness or Samadhi, a state where we are completely at one with everything around us and absorbed in the present moment.

How do you balance your life as a yoga teacher, student, and surfer? 

Psychology studies take a lot of my time and energy right now, which makes it difficult for me to go on surf trips, so I have settled in Österlen (1.5 hours from school) just to be close to surfing in my everyday life. I practice yoga as often as I can and have time at home, I don't put too much pressure on myself to manage 90 minutes a day, but I try to keep the yoga routine as regular as possible. Teaching yoga is something I am very passionate about, but while studying, it has had to be paused a bit, and I mostly teach at retreats during the summer. I only have one year left of my studies, so I hope to teach more when I am a finished psychologist and move back to Stockholm.

Do you have any future dreams you would like to share?

I have so many, and I am really looking forward to everything! At the same time, I am incredibly content where I am right now in life, and I really wish for nothing more right now than to live close to the rest of my family, who live in the Stockholm area. 

How do you like your Minna wool fleece? 

Well, I have been wearing the fleece almost every day since it was sent to me two months ago. So, DO I like it!! It has the ultimate fit and warms wonderfully during the cold summer evenings I have used it so far. Right now, it's with me on a surf adventure on the west coast of Norway and will be the perfect garment between cold-water surf sessions! <3 

Thank you so much, Sofia, for sharing your fantastic journey and experiences! Follow her on Instagram to be inspired by her yoga classes, surf adventures, and student life. Do you want to read more about women living an active and inspiring life? If you want to read a similar story about the combination of both yoga and surfing, we recommend this one.