Adam Begun his Journey into yoga and health in 2008. He was lead to start this journey after a physical job and being involved with extreme sports such as body building and mai thai kickboxing left Him with a number of both physical and metal traumas which started to affect him in daily life.
Adam had been involved in body building at the young age of 17 and after about 5 years and numerous competitions he felt that his body simply could not go on. The sport placed minor emphasis on maintaining overall health throughout the body and maximum emphasis on the perfection of the physical body. It took 5 years of chasing this physical perfection that brought Adam to the realization that physical aesthetics or beauty are absolutely useless if one’s body and mind are not functioning on a healthy level.
After giving up Body building and Mai Thai kick boxing . Adam decided he needed time find himself and find a path that was going to keep him truly fulfilled. He left Australia and backpacked through south east Asia for 6 months. During this period he was fully immersed in some of the world’s most beautiful cultures. Cultures that have been practicing yoga, meditation and auverdic medicine for centuries and hold such spiritual practices in very high regards. This was a period of experimentation and learning for Adam he visited yoga ashrams in India, meditation retreats in Thailand and also made an attempt at a 10 day vipassana Meditation course in Nepal. Unfortunately the most of the western world does not hold these sorts of spiritual practices in high regards so it can be extremely hard to find properly trained teachers back home.
During this 6 month stint of delving headfirst into a world of spiritual practices that Adam previously never knew existed, he started to notice improvements in his physical health where he was gaining flexibility and strength without lifting any weights and his body was feeling lighter and more agile than ever. But more importantly he could feel the effects these practices were having on his mind. The Yoga and meditation practices taught Adam to no longer feed his negative thoughts, but had started to train his mind to become quieter and more aware.
After this 6 months of travel Adam returned to Australia with a completely different mindset and approach to life. He worked for 6 months and saved enough money to join his first yoga teacher training in India. This was followed closely afterwards by a second yoga teacher training totaling a total of 500 hours.
This journey in search of health and a more meaning ful life eventually led Adam to open his own Yoga Studio in Chiang Mai Thailand, Freedom Yoga Chiang Mai. Freedom yoga welcomes all levels of students providing them with a vibrant Yoga schedule of yoga classes, yoga workshops, meditation classes and retreats in Chiang Mai, all with the main focus of waking people up to their own unlimited potential in life.
During his extensive travels in south east asia Adam became accustomed to many vegetarian and vegan diets. Most ashrams that he stayed in and at his yoga teacher training course offered only strict vegetarian food. This was a challenge to begin with, but after 3 months the body adjusts and it becomes a way of life. Adam quotes that he “will never go back to eating meat ever again, it is completely unnecessary” this lead Adam to follow his heart yet again and open a Vegetarian restaurant in Chiang Mai Thailand. Freedom café and restaurant is located just below Freedom yoga in the same beautiful wooden house. The location in central to Chiang Mai city center, and Freedom café is known around town for serving some of the best vegetarian food in Chiang Mai
Before Adam ventured to Chiang Mai to follow his yoga journey, he was project manager of two air conditioning companies in Melbourne. He did his air conditioning apprentice ship at the age of 18 and due to hard work, motivation and a good attitude Adam eventually worked his way up the ranks to become the project manager of RAD Elec and Air and We Do Splits Air Conditioning. Both companies that specialize in split system installation Melbourne, and Air conditioning installation Melbourne.
For Adam managing these two companies meant working long hours and sacrificing most of his time and energy to work. “Installing air conditioners and split systems in Melbourne was simply a way to pay the bills and get by. There was never a huge amount of passion or love for the work. I don’t think anyone can really loves installing air conditioners, it’s something you simply do to get paid,” says Adam.
“Of course the security of a full time job and a weekly pay check is great, but when you are 70 years old and looking back on life will you be able to forgive yourself working a passionless job and never following your dreams?”
"Yoga has the ability to bring the body back to its former glory"
"yoga is a whole body health system designed to keep you fit strong and healthy from the inside out"
“Of course the security of a full time job and a weekly pay check is great, but when you are 70 years old and looking back on life will you be able to forgive yourself working a passionless job and never following your dreams?”