Ernesto Rabello is a yoga instructor, massage therapist and psychologist living in Vitoria, Espirito Santo, Brazil.

Through this interview he explains the effect yoga had on him, and how it affected the way he thinks and live, by becoming for example vegeterian.

Can you explain briefly how you came to psychology and how it built you?

Well, I don't really know how I came to it, your instinct plays a big role in your choices and often you just have to listen to it.

But what I'm sure of is that psychology brought me to a higher level of understanding people (at least trying to), who they are regarding their history, their behaviour, and thus, understanding me. The more I was discovering psychology, and more specifically corporal psychology, the more I wanted to feel my energies, and get to know myself better.

Yoga can lead you to this. Unfortunately nowadays people just don't take the time to relax, calm down and look at themselves, what they feel and how they feel. Sometimes we are just enrolled in an automatic routine which keeps us going.

Meditation is also a good way to get to know yourself.

But whatever the choice, whether it be yoga, meditation or anything else, I just think people should stop for a second and look at their everyday life, take the conclusion of their behaviours, and act accordingly to change what's going wrong.

Which leads me to the next question: what is your experience about yoga, and your relation to it?

Then talking about yoga, it was definitely a life changer. I don't even know what I would have become without it. You become more aware of processes, things, your body in general and develop your flexibility. It gives me the strength I need, the consciousness state I need to be awaken. It just puts things in the right place when you feel bad.

To be introduced to it you probably should find a master first. Of course you would find videos on youtube and everything, but yoga is more than just a hobby, it's a whole way of life you need to be introduced to.

Life is an adventure, and by following yoga you are using a really nice tool to explore your level of vibrations, the print you have in your own life. You are not just a physical body, but an energy being. And doing massage helps me to get people understand that: I use various techniques in order to restore the energy flow in each person which leads to the optimum balance of all the 7 dimensions our body has, which is finally only 1. You are sharing both your energy and the person you are massaging, and by learning the different techniques of massage you can describe easily which contraction leads to what kind of emotion. Body is just like a book waiting for you to read it.

What is the best advice you've ever been given?

Never say anything for anyone, people have to be able to speak for themselves. (Meaning you cannot tell anyone how he feels, what choices he should made. This is something personal he will have to find by himself.)

If you wish you had known something before what would it be?

I just think things come when they have to come. And probably before you weren't ready for this. Just like yoga, it took me 3 years to stick to it. I wish I had known it before but it wasn't me back then. I needed some time to change my point of view. I don't regret anything of what I did and the way I did, because I was learning, and still am.

As my project is about personal and professional development, what are the things you would like to tell people then, and you wish they would do or know in order to live happier or healthier?

There are no bad or good choices in life, it's just what you make of it. But what's more worrying it's that people, I included, often make choices they are not even aware of. There is no fatality, things are not just how they are, we build them everyday according to our own image. 

People should be more aware of what they are doing. Body awareness and awakening needs some time. And if you want to know more about yourself and what's going on, just take a look at yourself, meditate for example. Try to experience your body in different ways: quit meat for example for a month or smoking, and just see how it goes for you. 

Break some patterns you have and feel yourself in a different way. Put yourself into question and break your usual routine. Life is this continuous process of experimentation.

Briefly, I'd also tell them to get to know the Indian Ayurveda. I'm working with it everyday, and it really helps me to have a better and happier life.

Of course through vegetarism, yoga and psychology you have a completely different mindset from our consumption society. What would you like to change then in what you see daily?

I would like people to realize the consequences of their actions. This is the law of Karma. And I don't only talk about food but everything that feeds us and which is socially produced, like emotions. Coming back to meat for example: ask yourself where does it come from, how do I impact into this chain, am I doing something good for me and other people by doing this?

It's perfectly known that meat is full of toxines, antibiotics and that in the end it is not good for your health (without even talking about the fact of how animals are treated etc.) Still, people continue to eat it a lot. It seems like they are just blindly following their traditions and are eager to hurt themselves, like: "my grandfather ate meat, my father did too, so will I". It is something I can barely understand. Vegetarism has proved to develop your longevity, makes you smarter and lighter, avoid any types of cancer, among all the other good stuffs it brings to your body and mind. And yet people judge it without even knowing what it is about. Just give it a try, break your rules for a while.