My name is Marije E. Paternotte (pronounce: “Mariah”). I am a teacher of yoga and meditation, a healer and channel, a writer and mentor. A native of Amsterdam, the Netherlands, I now live in a small beach town in New Jersey with my husband and two cats.
I’ve learned that yoga and meditation is not something I do; they are practices to allow me to be and to discover who I really am. My practice has become part of who I am; I live and breathe it. Some days I spend time on my yoga mat enjoying a slow flowing posture sequence or just a few simple stretches. Other days I commune with the Universe while sitting in stillness on a cushion, after which I often receive intuitive messages that I write down. Every day I take moments to consciously pause my thinking and doing, being fully aware of what I am experiencing in and around myself, connecting with the deep stillness within.
My story – Why and how I teach
I started practicing yoga in 2002, when I was working as a corporate attorney in a large law firm in Amsterdam and I needed to learn how to relax. Indeed, soon I became aware of the positive influence the practice had on my tense body and busy mind, yet it was still very much another thing on my to-do list. I also tried meditation, but instead of this helping me to be more relaxed it actually created tension; I was constantly fighting my thoughts.
A series of events led me in 2008 to a yoga retreat on Bali. During this week of practicing yoga twice a day (and included a day of silence), I got in touch with myself and began to experience the benefits of meditation in a way I never had before. I was surprised and in awe of the transformational power of yoga. It did more for my body and mind than my professional ballet training during my high school years or the harsh practices as a member of the Amsterdam University Nereus rowing team had ever done. My analytical brain wanted to learn more about – and understand – yoga, and I deemed that taking a yoga teacher training would be the perfect way to do that.
When I took my first yoga teacher training (at the Kripalu Center for Yoga & Health in Massachusetts, USA), I had no intention of becoming a teacher. I had been working as a corporate lawyer till then, but I was on sick leave with a burnout and hoped that a month of yoga would help me get better. I had however underestimated the effect of a month-long, full day yoga practice. Besides the thrill of learning new things, the exhaustion from the long days and being completely overwhelmed with information and experiences, I found something else. I discovered a piece of myself that I didn’t know – or perhaps had forgotten about. Once I stepped on the mat to teach a (practice) class, it felt as if I became twice as big. The teaching came effortlessly and I had fun, more fun than I had ever had in my 10 -year law career. Unintentionally, I had found my Dharma. I suddenly knew what I wanted to do (and be) instead of practicing law that wasn’t serving my well-being.
I was fortunate I could leave my law career to start a different type of practice. I moved from the Netherlands to the United States a few months after I graduated from that first teacher training and started teaching classes soon thereafter.
My teaching style has evolved over all those years. Through my training to be a professional ballet dancer, my innate body awareness, self-study and several sustained injuries, I quickly developed a keen eye for precise and safe alignment of yoga postures. My legal background enables me to present complex concepts, and an in-depth knowledge of yogic anatomy and philosophy, in a simple and approachable way.
Nowadays, my classes are an embodiment of my practice that includes a curious exploration of my body, heart and mind, combined with loving kindness and compassion. I teach in an intuitive way, honoring the moment, my students and myself as they are; allowing the practice to be a guide to being, rather than doing.
Teaching yoga and meditation is something I cannot not do. It makes my heart sing. When I teach, I share from the radiance of my own experience. If it wasn’t for my practice, I wouldn’t be in touch with my Truest Self; a connection that allows me to live in a state of joy regardless the conditions or circumstances that I’m in. I wish for every human being to realize their True Nature, and it is my sincere desire to assist in making that happen.
May we practice for the benefit of all beings.
“I am grateful to all my teachers, most specifically to Sarah and Ty Powers who have officially endorsed me as an Insight Yoga teacher, and Jonathan Foust my first meditation teacher”.
Trainings and certifications
Marije received both her foundational and professional level yoga teacher certification at the renowned Kripalu Center for Yoga & Health in Massachusetts (USA), is an endorsed Insight Yoga Teacher by Sarah and Ty Powers’ Insight Yoga Institute, and is certified to teach Yin Yoga by Bernie Clark. She is a former faculty assistant and guest teacher at the Kripalu Center and currently a retreat leader at the Mandali Retreat Center in Quarna Sopra (Italy).
Marije’s yoga teacher certifications:
- Insight Yoga Institute, Endorsed teacher. 500-hour advanced training integrating yoga, Buddhism, Mindfulness and spiritual psychology
- Kripalu Center for Yoga & Health, 200-hr and 300-hr yoga teacher trainings
- Bernie Clark, Yin Yoga teacher training
- Insight Yoga Institute, Yin Yoga teacher training
- Boston Trauma Center, Trauma Sensitive Yoga teacher training
- Nosara Yoga Institute Costa Rica, Let Your Yoga Dance® teacher training
- The Reconnection, Reconnective Yoga™ instructor training