Yogagenda – A three in one yoga diary

Yogaagenda founder Elena Sepúlveda was interviewed via Skype by Michelle Taffe

Elena Sepulveda is the heart and brains behind the Yogagenda – a newly published 3 in 1 yoga datebook now available for purchase in shops and online.

The Yogagenda Planner can help you organize your yoga life with three different calendar formats; the Handbook will inspire you throughout the year with insightful and informative yoga articles; and the blank pages of the Journal are the template for your thoughts and epiphanies about yoga and life.

I caught up with Elena via Skype from her home base in Barcelona about how she came to dream up and bring to life this wonderful resource for yogis.

“Well  - as a yogi and a yoga teacher I was looking for something like this – an agenda designed around the theme of yoga – and I couldn’t find it, so while I was staying in Brazil, I got the idea to create one.”

With a background in translation (she has worked as a freelance English-Spanish translator for the last twenty years) and having also worked in the publishing industry, Elena drew on her language skills and inner creativity combined with her passion for yoga and spirituality to bring that seed of an idea in Brazil to fruition in Spain.

But it was not a solo project.

Says Elena “This is a collaboration really – many people have helped me on this project – yoga teacher friends have contributed articles, a yogi / photographer (Wari from the Om Shanti yoga studio near Barcelona) contributed to images, another did the illustrations, and then I had one friend do the proofreading, and someone else edited the text .. and also many more helped.”

I asked Elena if she had encountered any difficulties in starting the business and in producing the final product.

“Well – actually here in Spain the authorities have not made it easy for me starting this business. Actually the process has been quite difficult and slow many times and I have not found that there is an atmosphere helpful to business here.”

A native Spaniard from Andalusia in southern Spain, Elena is now based in Barcelona, but lived for twelve years in England, where she worked as a freelance translator.

“Now I am thinking that this would be easier to do in England. Even though I love the warmth of the Latin culture and the people, I think the Anglo-Saxon culture is better organized for getting things done, and I am thinking of maybe moving back there because it will be easier to develop the Yogagenda from there.”

Already working on the next edition – Yogagenda 2013 – I asked Elena about her plans for the future.

“Well I at the moment it is only in English – but the next one will have a Spanish edition also, which will be a nice opportunity to do some translation again. I am also researching new yoga events and festivals to include in the 2013 Planner” (the Planner includes details of some of the established and emerging yoga festivals that happen each year around the globe).

With a conscious yogic effort to reduce the environmental impact, Yogagenda is printed with vegetable based inks and sourced from renewable materials. Putting dharma into practice, Elena also donates three per cent of profits annually to worthy projects – with this year’s donations going to RESPIRA ALEGRIA, an initiative that is bringing free yoga classes to prison inmates in Barcelona.

Elena is also already sourcing contributors for the next edition – for either writing or images – so if you are interested in participating get in contact with her.

To find out more about the Yogagenda, or to order one – go to the Yogagenda website. There you will also find a ‘Contents’ page with a detailed overview of everything that you will find inside your Yogagenda – from the Asana Overview to Chakras and Sanskrit – this little gem contains a wealth of interesting information for any curious yogi.