yoga Archives - Things&Ink

July 19, 2022December 11, 2022

Magic dimensions: Interview with Adriaan

Adriaan (@adriaan.machete) creates tattoo rituals in Berlin, Amsterdam and Hamburg. We chatted to the spiritual tattoo artist about his divine art and how tattooing allows him to tap into his higher self…

How long have you been a tattoo artist? I’ve been tattooing for around 15 years.

How have you seen the industry evolve since you began? It’s been such an incredible journey to witness. I love the way everything has evolved; from tattoo machines, to diverse color palettes, to the way tattooing has become an incredible art of expression and uniqueness.

Tattooing has evolved into a way of connecting all kinds of people with very different backgrounds.

How would you describe your work? I can describe it as my own expression of art, magick and energy on skin and canvas. It combines the aesthetics and exaltation of beauty, spirit and esotericism. I love tattooing contrasts and ornamental designs which decorate the anatomy of the human body.

Has your style changed? Yeah definitely. I feel that I have the same techniques and foundation of bold lines, strong colours and contrasted palettes. But what has definitely changed are the meanings and designs I create.

My style changed as my view of the world changed – I’m much more focused on the meaning of the designs now.

It feels as if the designs themselves want to be expressed into this world.

Sometimes I feel amazed at just what is wanting to be created and manifested. My works are similar to the beautiful mandalas Hindu and Buddhist monks create in the Himalayas by channeling these symbols directly from higher consciousness. I too can tap into and channel that energy to create beautiful art in this reality.

What inspires your tattoos and what do you like to create? I’m inspired by the beauty of this world. Beautiful paintings, beings, objects and nature are my favourite.

I’m also inspired by my personal journey and life story. I’m telling stories through my emotions, my learnings, my life, my personal growth and constant transformation. I feel that my tattoos also reflect exactly what I’m experiencing in that time of my life.

You introduced yourself to us as a spiritual tattooer, can you tell us more about this? In an intense part of my life I had a spiritual awakening triggered by a body and soul breakdown. In this hard time I had to go deeper into my inner world to find out what was happening to me. It was a beautiful transformation of my heart and soul.

I went in deep to find my conditionings, blockages and shadows and the more I found the more I changed my art.

At some point I questioned if tattooing was the right tool for me, but the answer from my heart and soul was yes. That it was always a tool for creating, healing and transformation. That I already choose this path at a soul level to help and expand consciousness in me and others.

Was there a turning point or experience that made you seek a more spiritual path? Yes, a series of very intense experiences in my life meant I reached the point where my personality came to its limit and broke. When it broke it felt like the whole world collapsed and I suddenly awakened to something completely new.

It was indeed painful in body and spirit, but something beautiful started to emerge. I started to feel more real; I explored who I really was without a personality and I started to learn and reparent myself with what I really wanted to know and be.

I changed my art and pushed my tattoos in a different direction. I started expressing my inner worlds in my art.

It was a full transformation which is still an ongoing process, it’s an eternal evolving of the soul.

How does your spirituality translate to your tattoos? It translates in form of shapes, symbols and energy. When I transformed, my art transformed as well, as I started drawing more elaborate designs.

I added new symbols and I used different colour palettes. When I did guest spots around the world my customers changed as well, they were more aware of themselves as if they were also mirroring how I felt inside.

Now when I’m tattooing I’m feeling the energy of the person and what needs to be open or changed. Tattooing helps open the energy system and the symbols used instantly transform consciousness.

It’s a beautiful thing to witness and how all of us, as human beings, are emotional, energetically and spiritual connected.

Do you see the act of tattooing and receiving a tattoo as a healing experience? Yes. At some point I started to reflect about tattooing itself and where it came from. It seems that ancient cultures used it as a form of ritual and they used symbolism in it. It was made by shamans or higher priests and priestesses, who had the purpose of healing and creating mágick.

I learned that when you’re getting new symbols of magick and power the physical pain and enduring this pain are part of the process to release energy. It’s also a tool to release karma and recycle ancestral energy.

These rituals were created not only to transform the energy of the person getting tattooed, but also for the person giving the tattoo. So, the shamans and higher priestesses were healing and expanding their consciousness as divinity channeled through them. When I understood this, my love for tattooing increased.

What’s been your proudest and happiest moment in your career so far? I remember when I started tattooing it was a very unknown and mysterious road. I felt that I needed to create my own art and truly believe in myself.

When I did I was surprised, that in a short time, I started tattooing at big conventions, winning awards and getting articles in magazines. This made me so proud and happy, I was grateful that I believed in myself and trusted my heart from the beginning.

Later in my career I felt I needed to change my art and I was nervous to show my spiritual side. As before I believed in myself and knew I needed to follow this path. Again I was surprised to feel so content and be successful.

I was travelling the world meeting amazing people, guesting in amazing shops and helping myself and others to heal and evolve our consciousness – this makes me feel so proud and happy.

How does tattooing align with yourself and the life you want to live? Years ago I went to India for a yoga teacher training and I started teaching yoga in Europe – it opened a new path for me and how I can manage energy.

I felt then that yoga and tattooing aligned in me and that they both complement each other. Tattooing ignites my creativity, outer expression, intuition and magick. Yoga ignites my concentration, balances my system, expands my breathing and my inner reflection.

It’s amazing to see how tattooing has been a powerful and healing path in my life. It has given me so much that I’m eternally grateful for.

Tattooing is a divine art which has shown me a beautiful way to some of the most magic dimensions.

Follow @adriaan.machete for more tattoos, travel dates and yoga.

June 24, 2018

Tattoos & Yoga: Emma Vasquez

24-year-old Emma Vasquez , is a yoga teacher from Carlisle. We chatted to Emma to find out more about her daily practice, her tattoos and living a vegan lifestyle…

How old were you when you got your first tattoo and what was it? I was 18, it’s an owl on my thigh it’s about A4 size.

What drew you to the world of tattoos? Full bodysuits of tattoos. I just loved seeing so many tattoos together on one person, the colours and work just blew me away. I remember seeing a bodysuit on a lady in the swimming pools when I was about 10 or 11 and I was in awe of how awesome she looked.

What influenced your decision to get tattooed? I just liked how it looked, getting tattooed didn’t feel like a huge deal for me really, I don’t really have any that are meaningful or tell a story. It was more just get a tattoo done and that’s it. Go to a good tattooist and just enjoy the whole experience.

Can you tell us a little about your tattoos? I have both arms done, traditional and lots of colours and flowers. A nautical style piece on my back, an om on my chest, Ganesha on my stomach. I have both thighs tattooed, back of thighs, knees, shins, calves. All ten toes, insides of my feet and tops of my feet. They’re all traditional and I’ve been tattooed by many great tattooists, most were done by Megan Fell and her dad Colin Fell. Both solid tattooers.

How did your yoga journey begin? About five years, I had started meditating and wanted to see if yoga would complement that. I took my first class at the same studio I now work for, I totally fell in love with yoga from the start.

Have you been treated differently as a heavily tattooed woman in the yoga industry? I have had students tell me they were worried about coming to my classes because my tattoos make me look scary or “hard” even though I always have a huge smile on my face! People have outright told me they think my tattoos look awful and they don’t like them. But that’s their opinion and that’s fine. Sometimes I’ve had students giggle or point at my tattoos to their friends but never at the yoga studio in Carlisle where I work now, this was from other places I taught yoga. So I suppose people have said things or giggled and pointed at me to their friends because of my tattoos. I just let it be, I think the more tattoos you get the more you just don’t care about what anyone else thinks. I like them that’s all that matters.

Has your lifestyle changed since you started teaching? Not really, when I started yoga that’s when my lifestyle changed. I became vegan and made a lot of different life choices but since I started teaching it’s all just been so natural and fluid. No forcing anything, everything just flows really. It’s a great way to live, very relaxed.

Do your tattoos coincide with your yoga practice? I think as I am a strict ashtanga practitioner they do, ashtanga is a very yang style of yoga and if I go to other studios to do an ashtanga class I guarantee a few ashtangis will have tattoos! I suppose I also feel covered up with my tattoos when I practice, I feel hidden and in my own little world. I do get a lot of compliments about them though, in the studio and even people stopping me in the street.

Have they helped you to connect to yourself or the world in a different way? Actually getting tattooed made me realise we can step away from emotions and feelings, we don’t have to hold on to them or identify with them. If you’re in pain getting tattooed just accept it as your present moment experience and know that it’ll pass.

Have yoga and tattoos helped you to view your body differently, has yoga? Definitely, yoga made me completely fall in love with my body, to heal and nurture it and to be proud of it. And getting tattooed has also made me feel much more confident in my own skin.

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Where do you teach and how can people get involved?
I teach at the Yoga Studio Carlisle in Cumbria, it’s the most beautiful tranquil space. You get involved by coming along to classes! I run the ashtanga yoga programme here as well and that’s a real rarity for Cumbria! It’s fantastic to be teaching at the same studio I started my yoga journey in.

March 28, 2018

Yoga on my Skin

Yoga On My Skin is a collective show curated by Rossana Calbi and Giulia Piccioni, in collaboration with Parione9 Gallery, Rome. On Saturday 24th February Yoga On My Skin came to its natural location: The Other Side of the Ink, the Roman convention dedicated to the art of female tattoo artists.

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Spiritual stability comes from the experience of a calm and clear state.

Yoga On my Skin is a project born from a collaboration between curators Rossana Calbi, Giulia Piccioni and Parione9 Gallery. The project traveled to amanei in Salina and reached Parione9 Gallery in Rome, a gallery that is always very interested in tattoo art.

Yoga is a sacred science. It is a science because it bases its principles on specific affirmations on the human nature and universe, it is sacred because it represents the interior path of the individual to gain awareness of his own divine self.

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In the middle of this inner path, there are asana, body positions according to the yoga discipline. Asana are postures, and asana is the art of using the entire body with a physical, mental and spiritual attitude. The structure of an asana is not changeable because each asana is a piece of art. In the Yoga Sutra, Maharishi Patanjali stated that when an asana is perfectly done, there is no duality between body and mind, spirit and soul. According to yogi T.K.V. Desikachar through yoga the mind and senses are directly connected to the consciousness and they are not perceived as separated or disorganized.

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The project consists of two asana for each chakra (from Sanskrit wheel or disc). The asana are selected according to the physical appearance of the posture and the relevance of the specific chakra stimulation. There is no asana for the seventh chakra because no postures directly stimulates it.

Yoga teacher and psychologist Giulia Piccioni embraced Rossana Calbi’s curatorial idea with the technical support of studio d’arte Candeloro to set up an exhibition that is a physical and mental experience.

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Art work is by Nicoz Balboa, Genziana Cocco, Cecilia De Laurentiis, Cecilia Granata, Marta Ierfone, Marta Messina, Roberta Kinney, Anita Rossi, Maria Grazia Tolino.

The next stop for Yoga on My Skin will take place in an abbey, in Italy. Find out more about the original location and the future projects here.

May 20, 2017

Yoga with Nina

We chat to 26-year-old Nina Goks, a yoga teacher and naturopathic nutrition student from London, about her vegan journey, tattoo collection and living a yogi inspired life…

When did your yoga and vegan journey begin? My yoga journey started before veganism! I began yoga over four years ago, I was trying to get healthier, eating a more conventionally healthy diet, running and doing HIIT training. I tried a yoga style workout and quickly began doing yoga more than any other exercise – I enjoyed the peace, strength, release and focus. Before yoga I was relatively mindless when I worked out, I’d just get through it to get it over with and yoga is precisely the opposite.

My awareness of healthier eating initiated thoughts about compassion. I cut out meat and was vegetarian for a few weeks, until I watched Earthlings – I haven’t looked at the world the same since. Compassion, non-harming, living a simple life and being conscious of your health, the wellbeing of the planet and all life are certainly aspects of both yoga and ethical veganism, so it was natural for them to come along hand in hand. Then they spilled out into every aspect of my life and I quit the career I’d been very unhappy in to indulge in yoga and nutrition!

Sunmer rolls made by Nina

What drove you to make such a huge lifestyle change? I was inspired by several people on social media, I enjoyed following along with their journeys. I was really introduced to veganism on those platforms, it enticed me to do research for myself. I chose to actively pursue it because once you know better, you can do better! It was time to be proactive. I was also having a lot of health issues, some diagnosed, some unexplained and for the most part I’d just accepted them as part of my life. Now that seems wild to me, I didn’t ever associate eating so unhealthily with ill-health – bare in mind I was a total junk food addict prior to the few months before I went vegan.

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Smoothie bowl made by Nina

Has it made you think about your body and yourself differently? Of course! I began to view myself as someone worthy of mindful health, I saw my body as something capable rather than deteriorating. It’s not arrogant or selfish to acknowledge your worth, in fact it’s liberating.

What advice would you give to others wanting to make a change? Educate yourself, watch documentaries, reach out to the online community for support and inspiration. If it’s something you want, then be kind to yourself on the journey. It can have its trials and tribulations but nothing worth doing just falls into your lap, it’s OK to be fearful, to take criticism. If you give yourself the information you need then it’s a much more simple transition. Choosing a positive outlook on something really changes the outcome!

Pina colada smoothie bowl made by Nina

What do you share in your YouTube videos, what can people expect to see? I didn’t have a specific intention in mind when I started my YouTube channel. I just wanted to document my travels and make videos around the relatively new and exciting lifestyle I am continuing to learn about. So you can expect veganism, yoga, travel, yogi/vegan lifestyle, natural health and minimalism and probably a lot of other totally random musings.

How has your style developed? You’ve started to take more of a minimalist direction, what inspired this? With tattoos, I used to be more into traditional, but I’ve definitely developed a love for neo-trad. Minimalism was sparked by aspects of a yogi life. Living simply and the understanding that you have enough and you are enough. My aim is to have what I need, buy from independent, conscious small businesses or second hand but still use what I have now until it needs to be replaced. We are such consumers, totally feeding into what’s sold to us, when you reign that in you start to appreciate what you do have and where it comes from. My style has definitely evolved to much more clean and simple, tropical and nature inspired, vegan and barefoot living!

Can you tell us about your tattoos? Do you think tattoos have to have a meaning? My tattoos are largely collected from female artists, but not all, especially anything I got in the past two years. Something about the experience of getting tattooed can become ritualistic. My husband, Goks, is a tattoo artist and his passion for tattooing expanded my own ideas about tattoos, I’d always wanted them, even though for a short time I said I wouldn’t have any that were visible.

That changed quickly, especially once I saw all the unbelievable artists out there. If you feel a connection with an artist, their work and their vibe, it totally changes your appreciation for the tattoo. Mine are really just things I was/am into, I’m not anal about what I get tattooed and often have my own ideas of what I want. I think there is a happy medium as far as meaning goes. If every single tattoo has to be sacred and super personal it could be hard to actually have ideas or be open to artist interpretation.

When did you start teaching classes? How can people get involved? I’ve been teaching privately for a few months now, since I completed the start of my training. I’m in the midst of organising classes but I am available for private classes in south east London or within local areas. Information about events and classes can be found on my website and Instagram – new classes coming soon!