Have you ever fallen in love? You can probably remember that feeling, the odd gut sensation that feels both exciting and confusing. For me, this is what HighOnYoga9 is about: the process of falling in love. But I should rather say: falling in love with the process! The ways of becoming and expanding. It’s exciting, as it feels so good to evolve! But also confusing, because in order to do that, we must leave our comfort zone. This often feels scary! And the truth is, becoming a better version of ourselves requires us to build a solid foundation. But how many of us have been taught how to create such a needed foundation? Correct: not many. For me, this is about falling in love with the process of creating stable foundations. Laying down the fundamentals for something bigger and better to unfold. This is why people usually connect with us at HighOnYoga9: to work on paving the way for expansion, for winning! We address this with an innovative and holistic approach to personal training and private coaching.
Clients shared that finally winning the championship and getting the dream job was an amazing milestone, but there is something so special about the journey itself. Some said that they fell in love with the process of becoming stronger and more flexible. One reflected to us that through the exploration of the fundamentals, they started to love their body and themselves. But honestly, I remember that I personally didn’t love any of these things when I embarked on my journey 9 years ago! I knew how to love others but I didn’t know how to love my body – or myself. When I entered the yoga studio for the first time, I thought I was in great shape (I played football and trained 6-8 times a week). I thought yoga was going to feel like a Mediterranean breeze. Midway through the practice, my body was shaking; I struggled to breathe in different asanas! There were movements I simply couldn’t do, or I could do on one side but not on the other. However, after the class I felt amazing! My first yoga session was eye-opening – I was missing something. I didn’t exactly know what it was but I felt I had to stick around and find out!
“You know how in life when you are dealing with upheaval sometimes there is nothing else to do except buckle up and get through it?”
Life was intense; I had just opened a new chapter by moving to Malta and starting a new job, working long night shifts. In the winter, two of my nearest and dearest people were struggling with mental health and ended up attempting suicide–both for the second time. Navigating this was deeply traumatic for me and the families; it changed us forever. It made us better humans. We were healing through treating each other better. I remember how in each case I was sitting on the hospital bed next to someone I loved in a situation where I needed to list reasons to stay alive. To help my loved ones believe there are good reasons to stay! To not take away the precious gift of life… You know how, in life, when you are dealing with upheaval, sometimes there is nothing else to do, except buckle up and get through it? But later, as time passes, you come to appreciate the scars left from the experience…
“In life it’s the same: we need strong core and grounding principles, in order to avoid getting shaken when challenges knock on the door!”
In 2020, like you perhaps, I had enough time for reflection and introspection. As I was helping others in staying fit and sane during the pandemic, I came to appreciate my journey and old scars differently. As a bookmaker, I was getting paid well to find profitable betting and trading patterns. I decided to use the same analytical skills to explore the patterns behind my personal limiting beliefs and self-sabotage cycles. I understood and accepted what I was missing during my first yoga class: a strong foundation! This is the same thing many people found to be missing during the pandemic! It inspired me to create HighOnYoga9. Yoga provides the perfect metaphor here as, unlike most movement practices, it works well with the deep stabilizing muscles around the spine. For any newcomers to yoga, this is the reason why holding asanas for a long time feels difficult; because the deep stabilizing muscles in the body are weak (or not conditioned). They are the key foundation for the body to move well in a sustainable way… In life it’s the same: we need strong core and grounding principles, in order to avoid getting shaken when challenges knock on the door!
HighOnYoga9 brought grounding and inner peace during very challenging times. It helped find new collective whys, in sharing the tools to set strong foundations and grow. I chose the name HighOnYoga9, because I had a revelation of how high on substances my life was when I embarked on my transformative journey. And how in 2020 I had finally transitioned away from that. Instead, I was consistently high on… positive attitude. The substances, for me, apart from inducing sleep, were covering lack of self-acceptance, self-compassion, and self-love. By choosing to evolve, I ended up getting high on acceptance, compassion, understanding: for myself and others. For me, this is what the yoga path is about: the Yamas and Niyamas—spiritual teachings and guidelines.
“Because perhaps serving you and sharing my purpose, will help you feel better about yourself and your purpose? And maybe, hopefully, feel better about sharing yours with others?”
Since I made the decision to honor this path, my life took a different trajectory and brought more blessings than ever before. Some of you may be aware that once you experience this, you can’t help but want to share it with others. Because perhaps serving you and sharing my purpose, will help you feel better about yourself and your purpose? And maybe, hopefully, you will feel good about sharing yours with others? This is how we make the world a better place! Little by little, starting with changing ourselves first and then sharing this positive change with others…
“From high on substances to high on understanding, patience, acceptance — this is the story of the name HighOnYoga9.”
Oh, I mentioned being high on substances. So, what are yours? Coffee, alcohol, cigarettes, money, sex, drugs, social media, or porn? They are all very powerful if we lose control! My substance was mostly weed. Between 2015 and 2019, I smoked pretty much every day, often more than once. This was my way to cope with the graveyard shifts I was covering (9 pm – 7 am), consistently staring at the endless ocean of digits on my six screens. If I didn’t smoke in the morning after my shift, I couldn’t fall asleep for hours. Around that time, I also dealt with a severe hamstring injury and burnout, caused by the relentless pace I was trying to maintain—playing football semi-professionally during the day and working at night. Weed was my loyal companion; it helped me heal. For the first time ever, my ignorant self understood that it’s not just a party drug. The effects depend on the intention, the set, and the setting! I learned from experience and later from scientific papers, that the plant was actually helping me regulate my nervous system… But anyway, from high on substances to high on understanding, patience, and acceptance—this is the story of the name HighOnYoga9.
“There are forces urging us to make a choice: to stay the same or to evolve?”
But what about the number 9 in HighOnYoga9, you may wonder? I always felt a peculiar connection to it. It became my favorite number at the time when they were still teaching us about 9 planets in our Solar system. Later, Pluto was downgraded to a dwarf planet, so now we officially have eight. As I got to learn about Eastern cultures and numerology, I found that the 9 holds special significance. It turns out this holds true across many branches of knowledge! In numerology, the study of the mystical meaning of numbers, 9 is associated with wisdom, spiritual growth, and completion, while in Indian astrology it relates to balance and completeness but not finality. Rather, it signifies the completeness of a cycle, a new beginning, and transformation—following the laws of the Universe—where everything flows, changes, ends, and then a new chapter begins. This is how I feel about our world today. I feel like we are in a big transition. There are forces urging us to make a choice: to stay the same or to evolve? Both entail enduring some pain and suffering; this is innate to human existence. But it’s a matter of what intention lies behind making that choice…
“The 9th level of consciousness is free from the impurities of karma and is therefore called the fundamental pure consciousness.”
The number 9 is also very important in Jain and Buddhist philosophies. The Buddhist texts share about 9 levels of consciousness. Within the first five levels, we use our senses. But to experience the next three, we delve deeper and find the mind, introspection, and the karma levels. The 9th level of consciousness is free from the impurities of karma and is therefore called the fundamental pure consciousness. This represents the universal layer of existence, the fundamental basis of all life. I wasn’t aware of this, but when I read about it, it resonated deeply. I hope the path of transformation resonates with you too! Because we are all walking on the same path, we just use different maps to navigate it. I wish that HighOnYoga9 provides you with a good direction and a cultivated sense of your inner power. Thank you for walking together!
Pavel Angelov, founder