Chiara Vitali and Davide Monti are the travelling yoga teachers behind ACROEMOTIONYOGA. They spend their lives journeying from country to country, city to city, teaching how to unlock the power and potential of the body, mind and soul through their yoga teachings. We caught up with them to discover what life on the road is really like.
Tell us about what you do...
Davide: We facilitate people in raising their consciousness, to learn to love themselves, to be authentic, free and driven... Using tools like love, fun, empathy, connection, movement, yoga and AcroYoga. We organise and give workshops, weekend retreats and longer retreats, festivals and various experiences. By the way, if you are reading - we would love to come to your city!
Chiara: We start with the intention to offer people the opportunity to look inside themselves and free their true self. We teach AcroYoga, handstand, and conscious movement, always with an emotional focus. We travel all over the world teaching.
How did you come to live as travelling yoga teachers?
Davide: I used to have a bodyweight fitness/yoga studio, and when I started to get invitations to teach elsewhere I felt a beautiful sense of fulfilment from teaching so many different people. But moreover, I felt I could benefit many more by choosing this path.
I think about it as a forest fire... If there are many small fires at many different starting points, it will spread much faster than a single big one, because eventually, they all come together. Isn’t that what yoga is?
Eventually I chose to give the studio away and kept travelling and expanding my perspective.
Chiara: I have always liked to travel, to meet people, to learn from them and find nourishment from other perspectives. I love to feel myself complete, wherever I am. To enjoy the beauty of new views, to open my eyes to new landscapes. I used to travel when studying AcroYoga, and overtime I naturally became an AcroYoga teacher and started sharing my own unique message.
What are the highs and lows of travelling so regularly?
Davide: You get to meet so many different people, see many countries, cultures and landscapes. This broadens my perspective and gives me a chance to have a clearer picture of what our world is going through and what people need in order to be in balance. It also gives me the chance to observe myself in many different situations, environments and scenarios - getting to know who I am, a little more, every day.
Sometimes you miss some friends, family, even specific cities that you might be attached to or call home, and things need to be well organised in advance. Also, I have a lovely five year old to take care of and consider, so things have to be foreseen and co-ordinated.
Chiara: Each time everything is so different and at the same time so familiar and easy; new places to know, food, languages, music, smells and smiles. I love to try to understand how social interactions among people change depending on location and cultures.
Sometimes I would like to be in many places in the same moment. I would like to be with the people I love, sharing experiences and significant moments together - but with travelling, it's not always possible.
What’s it like getting to travel together, rather than solo?
Davide: I used to live this lifestyle before meeting Chiara. What changed is that we usually go out and meet people, whereas I did that less when I was by myself but we are social creatures and we naturally want to connect. Also, when you’re living this way alone, you don’t have someone to share your deepest thoughts and feelings with.
When you do this with someone you love, you become one. You create together, share together and live together. You deal with yourself for real, when you have a mirror every single day, showing you what you look like through the good and bad, making you grow, expand, inspiring you and supporting you. So overall it seems harder at first, but then you realise it's bliss - if you are willing to deal with your own shadows and turn them into lights. I am grateful every single day to have this opportunity and to make this choice.
Chiara: Davide and I are a couple and through travelling together we can share our growth, our ups and downs, our visions. We can improve together, support each other and deepen our love, day by day.
Teaching together enables us to complete and add value to what we offer.
How do you ensure you have work to support yourself in each country?
Davide: It is a gradual thing. It has to happen by itself. Yes you can have the intention, but it has to build as you go. What is useful is to be open and offer your own unique gift. We almost never actively look for places to go, they find us as we share what we love to do. Organising your own events comes at a later stage, when your network grows and when your skills develop.
Chiara: It's a networking job that has to be built step by step. Meeting people you feel connected to and with whom you share your vision with, talking with them, finding the right locations, organising events together.
What’s been your favourite place to travel to so far?
Chiara: Every place is so special! The place I like the most has really good, calm and joyful vibes. It is in the south of Italy, Praia di Fuoco, and is where we hold our retreats. Going down the long wooden staircase to that heavenly incredible beach, I just felt so blessed and grateful every time.
Davide: What comes to mind right now is actually a small village in the north of Germany. A beautiful festival called Xperience takes place there and when we went last year, it just felt so true and simple, clean, dedicated to people, surrounded by trees and nature. It felt right. People had a high vibration, and I felt very lucky and thankful to be sharing what I love there.
What tips can you share for anyone looking to lead similar travelling lifestyles?
Davide: Be open, offer what you have to offer, go everywhere and serve people with your gift. It will take practice, and a bit of time. Maybe you’ll find out that it is actually not your thing, lots of people are amazingly happy building a community and serving people in one location. What is it that makes you excited and joyful when you do it? What makes you stop thinking and start being and doing? What are your natural skills, what do you find yourself doing and observing over and over again? What are you curious about?
Well, those are the things that you can share more of, and if you are authentic, and embrace your originality, the world will love it. If you don't know yet what it is, try stuff. Your body will feel what you love and what you don't. Follow and share your love.
Chiara: First of all follow the call you feel inside yourself. Set your intention and this will guide you everywhere. Focus on what you would like to create in your current reality and work on it, involve other people, share your projects and allow others to make them real and bigger.
Travelling is about being open and ready for many different circumstances, so prepare yourself to stay in your centre whatever happens.
Also decide which situations you want in your life; when they’re not positive and they don’t help you become a better human, let them go. Look for experiences, which are valuable and make them special.
