“Our health and wellbeing is the most precious thing we have”: Yoga instructor Vilte Jankunaite shares how yoga is a positive force in her life

With our fast-paced lives, it can be hard to slow down enough to prioritise our health and wellbeing. However, after a diagnosis of a chronic condition, Vilte Jankunaite took it as an opportunity to prioritise her love of yoga, making it more central to her own life and sharing the benefits with others through her yoga and wellness community, Balanced Hearts.

We caught up with Vilte to learn more about her journey, as well as get some tips on how to incorporate the benefits of yoga and mindfulness into our own lives.

Could you tell us a bit about yourself and your background? What inspired you to start Balanced Hearts?

My name is Vilte Jankunaite, I am 27 years old. I’m originally from Lithuania but Ireland has been my home since I was 3 years old. I am a qualified yoga instructor and reiki healer, however my full-time job is being a Dental Hygienist which just creates the perfect balance for me as it is quite an intense and demanding career. 

I have loved yoga since I was about 17. I started going to yoga classes after college to help with my back pain but I pleasantly surprised to learn it had benefits beyond solving physical pain.

Four years ago, out of the blue I was diagnosed with Type 1 diabetes which came as a complete shock to me as there was absolutely no family history whatsoever. Type 1 diabetes is a serious, lifelong and incurable chronic disease which means my body doesn’t produce insulin, so I must inject it myself several times a day. This diagnosis really flipped my whole world upside down and took a huge toll on my mental health in general. However, on the bright side, it flipped a switch in me and really reminded me that our health and wellbeing is the most precious and priceless thing we have in our lives. In light of this diagnosis, I began to take wellness, yoga and a balanced lifestyle even more seriously than before, becoming more passionate about everything that could improve my health and wellbeing even just a tiny bit more every day.

This diagnosis inspired me to follow my dreams and take those risks that I was afraid to before, as I realised life is just too short and too unpredictable not to. My fiancé and I decided to go travelling for a year. We visited Mexico, Los Angeles and spent several months in Bali, where I felt a calling to complete my yoga teacher training in the jungles of Bali. I was so inspired to delve deeper into yoga and its overall benefits and just to try something different, something I was too scared to try before.

After completing my training, I completely fell in love with teaching. It gave me so much purpose and light in life. It really shifted my whole mindset and way of living in the most positive way. I learned the transformative power of yoga and wellness practices and felt the need to share this with others back home in Dublin. This is what sparked an idea to create a yoga and wellness community to create a space where likeminded people could come together to learn and enjoy the benefits of yoga, connect with others while doing something good and beneficial for their mind, body and soul amid their busy, hectic lives – hence why we are called Balanced Hearts.

What is Balanced Hearts? What kind of yoga do you teach and who is this community designed for?

Balanced Hearts is a yoga and wellness community. It is a space for everyone and anyone regardless of their level of yoga, age, gender or anything else. It is a community for like-minded people to get together whether it’s with a friend or going alone to make new friends, enjoy the benefits of yoga and just connect with themselves on the yoga mat and with the people around them. The goal of our events is just to make people feel good and help them leave with a little more self-love, compassion and joy.

The level of yoga at Balanced Hearts events is always beginner-friendly, as I wanted to show people that yoga isn’t all about doing handstands or touching their toes – it’s something that’s accessible for everyone and it’s not about how the poses look like, it’s about how they feel. It is a journey with yourself on the mat which I think is so powerful and transformative. 

I believe yoga isn’t just about individual growth, it’s also about the sense of community and connection with others. Living a busy life can often lead us to feeling a little disconnected and isolated, so giving yourself permission to take a Sunday morning for yourself and attend a wellness event to fill your cup right up and improve and nurture your physical, emotional and mental wellbeing is what we are all about at Balanced Hearts.

We all know yoga is good for balance, flexibility and strength. But what are the lesser known benefits of yoga?

For me personally, the best and biggest benefit of yoga is how much it has positively impacted my mental health. It is one of the most effective ways to manage stress, anxiety and it truly elevates your mood instantly. Even if it’s just 10 or 15 minutes on the mat with yourself. It also improves your sleep as it really calms your nervous system which will help you fall asleep easier and faster. Yoga can also relieve menstrual cramps which can be a great addition to women’s cramp pain management routine. 

In particular, how does it help reduce stress and anxiety? 

Yoga helps reduce stress and anxiety in many ways. The physical movement and poses helps release built up tension in our bodies, it also creates a safe space for you to release any built-up emotions and navigate through them. My yoga classes always involve a little bit of breath work which calms the nervous system and slows down your heart rate. Throughout every practice I really focus on mindfulness which encourages you to be in the present moment by focusing on your breathing and the sensations in your body. This kind of mindfulness practice helps prevent spirals of negative thoughts, stress or overthinking, which we can all struggle with.

Yoga, meditation and breath-work is the only thing that helps me with my stress and anxiety. Anytime I feel overwhelmed and anxious or even on a verge of a panic attack, I like to close my eyes and practice just a couple of breathing techniques or some mindfulness such as paying extra attention to the small details in my surroundings – this helps by distracting the mind and coming back to the present moment. 

Living a busy and fast-paced lifestyle I often find myself very stressed and almost burnt out, so I lean on my yoga practice to make sure I reboot my nervous system and slow down.  I also get very anxious when flying and what really helps me overcome it is square breathing which is inhaling for 4, holding your breath for 4 and exhaling for 4. This has completely changed and improved my flight anxiety.

How does it help with focus and concentration, especially for those of us with an overactive mind?

Yoga really helps you stay in the present moment by encouraging you to focus on the here and now. During yoga practice your full attention is on the breath and body during the yoga poses which redirects your attention away from overactive or negative thoughts. Yoga and this mindfulness practice helps your build a more resilient mind and build mental discipline which will improve your focus on and concentration on and off the mat! 

How does it aid with digestion and gut health?

I’m very passionate about gut health and love to take a holistic approach to it. I absolutely love the fact that yoga helps with digestion and gut health as it’s something I’ve struggled with for a long time. Certain yoga poses like twists and folds help stimulate and massage abdominal organs which can help relieve bloating while backbend poses like a cobra pose can help increase oxygen and flood flow to digestive organs, promoting better digestion and gut health. Yoga in general improves blood circulation- and by encouraging and increasing blood flow to the abdominal area, you will notice better digestive health.

Finally, for beginners, how would you recommend they start building yoga into their regular routines?

For beginners or people who have never tried yoga before in their life, I would absolutely recommend joining the Balanced Hearts community and trying out one of our events. It is the best way to get a feel of what yoga is all about while also connecting yourself and with other new, likeminded people. It’s always such a great way to get out of your comfort zone and try something new that will not only be fun but also improve your mental, physical health and overall wellbeing. You will always leave with a full cup, a smile and little more ready to obtain or maintain a balanced life.

There are also great, free resources and classes online, especially YouTube, which are great to incorporate into your daily routine from home. Even a 10-minute yoga flow or stretch and some breathing will make a massive difference to your overall wellbeing. Again, I really want to emphasise that yoga is not about how it looks but how it feels inside to you. Once you are feeling good while practicing and feel even better after your practice, that’s when you know that you have mastered yoga. 

I truly believe that incorporating yoga and small wellness habits slowly and intentionally is the best way to achieve a stress free, calm, balanced life and a balanced heart!

IMAGE Active is an exciting series of exercise-driven events, motivating meet-ups, and empowering content to help you achieve new levels of physical health, offering encouragement, support, and empowerment every step of the way. At its core, it is about coming together to form connections, cultivate healthy habits, and feel better than ever. So, stay tuned and check out our hub for regular updates on all upcoming events and content.