Deniz Aydın, who was appointed Group Manager for TAV Airports in 2006, is currently employed as Financial Affairs Coordinator. Although her work has an intensive rhythm and concerns mainly the material world, she attempts to strike a balance in her life through the spiritual awareness and philosophy of yoga. And she seems to have succeeded to a great degree. This is how she was introduced to yoga three years ago: “I had recently started working at TAV. The financial structure and systems needed to be established. There was a lot of work to be done. I was having a difficult time in my personal life as well. At a time when I felt that I was having great difficulty, a friend of mine suggested that I enrol in Bora Ercan’s yoga class at the ODTÜ Graduate Club of which I was a member and I did. I then started to undergo a process of change. When yoga became a part of my life, I acquired significant flexibility, both physically and mentally. The more flexible the body is, the more flexible the mind is. My yoga teacher used to say, ‘The more flexible you are, the younger you are.’ Yoga is therefore a pursuit that I have adopted in all senses.”

THE IMPORTANCE OF BREATHING AND OF MEDITATION

Deniz Aydın continues to practice yoga in various places in Istanbul, among which Yogaşala, Hariom Yoga, Cihangir Yoga and the Robert College Graduate Association. When she is not able to attend classes, she repeats the movements at home. She generally prefers to spend her holidays at yoga camps. She also reads books on spiritual subjects and to adopt Far Eastern philosophies.

Deniz Aydın, who points out the importance of breathing and of meditation, states that the minute she feels the tension of the business environment she immediately begins to practice breathing exercises, that she stretches to open up her cramped body and she continues as following: “At TAV we do very stressful and intensive work. I would love for my colleagues to practice yoga too, because when you begin to practice yoga, you wish to involve everybody in your life with something so beautiful. You change and you change the people around you. I know that I have become more understanding. I have learned to keep my anger under control.”

BLENDING ONE’S MATERIAL AND SPIRITUAL LIFE

In reply to a question on how she reconciles the philosophy of yoga with the material environment where she lives, Deniz Aydın says: “We have been given a body. I believe that we need to experience both the material and the spiritual worlds by reconciling them with each other. I wish to achieve certain standards and to travel; therefore I need to earn money. I try to do all of this without conflicting with Eastern philosophies. It is not easy. I still need to cover a great deal of ground. But yoga has shown me the way to a happier, healthier and more peaceful life.”