Prócoro Hernández is a yoga teacher, pneuma system therapist and writer who has more than 15 years experience teaching and practicing yoga in Mexico. Currently the resident yoga instructor at Garza Blanca Preserve and Hotel Mousai in Puerto Vallarta, where he has been leading yoga classes for the last 3 years, Prócoro also runs classes and workshops on topics such as Inner knowledge, the Transpersonal Universe, the Cartography of Consciousness and the Pneuma System at the Centro Multicultural Inkarri in Puerto Vallarta.
We took some time to interview Prócoro Hernández at Garza Blanca Preserve in Puerto Vallarta:
What type of yoga do you teach at Garza Blanca and Hotel Mousai?
Generally I teach kundalini yoga, but it all depends on who arrives for the class. If I see that the group is looking for something more high powered or dynamic, I might give a Sivananda yoga class; it all rests on who attends. Many people have never tried kundalini yoga, or any type of yoga for that matter, and so I will choose a kundalini yoga series that is appropriate for the group. What is great about kundalini is that there are many different series of movements and postures called kriyas, each tailored for different effects: to raise energy, detoxify, balance the chakras, calm the nervous system etc. So I choose the kriya depending on who arrives for the class.
Did you have to study to become a yoga teacher?
Oh yes! I am certified by the yoga alliance in two different types of yoga: kundalini and Siromani yoga, which means the “jewel in the crown of yoga,” sometimes known as Sivananda yoga. For these certifications you have to complete a minimum of 200 hours of theory and practice. First I certified as a kundalini yoga instructor with the Kundalini Research Institute (K.R.I.) and later I went to India to certify for Sivananda at the International Sivananda Yoga Vedanta Center.
Could you share with readers a little about the Pneuma System?
Pneuma is a word from Greek meaning “spirit” and it refers to the sacred breath of life that animates and pervades throughout creation. You could say the pneuma system is a spiritual philosophy which includes pneuma breathwork and a series of practices to help you find your mission and destiny in this life. It relates to that sacred spirit you find mentioned in all the religions, whether Christianity, Buddhism, Islam etc. Breathwork is just one of the practices that is involved with the pneuma system that can help you reach elevated states of consciousness, guided by music, so that you can access those parts of your being that are often hidden from our five senses, without the use of any substances.
What about life before yoga? Were you always a yoga teacher?
I studied journalism — what was called collective communication back in the day. I spent around 15 years giving classes full-time at the Autonoma University of Sinaloa, then I was invited to run a newspaper in Puerto Vallarta, La Tribuna de la Bahia, where I spent another 15 years. After a while I began to grow dissatisfied with what I was doing and became attracted to yoga and the pneuma system. I then went to study in different places like Cusco in Peru, India, the United States and various places in Mexico, such as Chichen Itza and Ajijic, taking courses to complement my new path in life.
What benefits has yoga brought to your life?
Well, one of the reasons I began to change my life in the first place was because I was diagnosed with diabetes. I didn’t do any exercise; I had a lot of stress, so I began to run, but I really wasn’t that into running. Then I found yoga. I can honestly say that today I do not suffer from diabetes, I have it completely under control balancing yoga, meditation, diet and homeopathic supplements.
For you, what are the key points to perfect the art of living?
The most important part is to allow your life to flow in harmony, love and beauty, being conscious of who you really are at the center of all the events and emotions that affect the personality; avoiding identification with either our happiness or our aversions. Also try to see beyond the five senses, observing the world with your “divine eye.”
