To try to write about what I am is a difficult exercise for me. I can write about the “personality Vincent”, which has evolved over the years. On what he tried to manifest within and without. But what we truly are is beyond words it seems...
I spent twenty years in India, it certainly marked my life course. In my inner research and the quest to get closer to my true nature, I have experienced several paths:
The path of the body: the practice of asanas was my first path of awakening. I learned this practice for many years according to several traditions: Ashtanga, Iyengar, Shivananda with different Indian and Western teachers. But it was my meeting with Ansgar Shoeberl that marked a decisive turning point in my practice. He inspired me with his amazing knowledge of the body, and his way to align and open it. His teaching is greatly influenced by Iyengar. He showed me how to become independent in my practice, how to fly on my own. After more than 10 years of daily practice I felt that I had something original to pass on and I started teaching in 2012.
The path of the mind: Having sufficiently purified my body, I realized that the next step of my inner search must be done by the understanding of the mind. In 2005 I did my first Vipassana meditation course, taught by S.N. Goenka according to the tradition of the Burmese master Sayagyi U Bha Kin. Vipassana means "to see reality as it is". By practicing vipassana, one starts to understand how to purify the mind, and how to get rid of all negativity. This experience made me see myself in a totally new light. Meditating daily became obvious and changed my life. For the next ten years I went to regularly to do retreats in Vipassana centers in India, Nepal, Sri Lanka and Europe.
The path of the breath: the breath has always been present in my different practices. Source of the Life that animates us, link between body and mind, and gateway to Presence. Several breath control techniques have nevertheless been revealed to me since the beginning of 2020 and their intense daily practice has allowed me to access a state of Consciousness which has continued to intensify since. The breath has probably been and remains my greatest guide on this path of inner discovery. Hence my intention to focus my teaching more and more in this direction.
The path of Bhakti, or devotion. Through singing and the practice of Kirtan. Originally from India, Kirtan is devotional singing, practiced in a group in the form of a song to be answered by the group. Or a mantra sung with a melody. It is a form of active meditation preceding a time of silence. Kirtan is a deeply inspiring practice, which opens the Heart and reveals our true nature to us. Having learned to play harmonium in India, I first sang a lot alone. As a way to reconnect, and to manifest in me the opening of the heart and joy. Little by little I started to share this wonderful practice with my friends, then to guide Kirtan evenings.
All those paths are actually only ONE. Path of liberation from the mind, to go back home to the Heart, and to grow in Presence, in the Realization of what I really am.