Tarik El Assal

He specializes in 3 yoga styles: Power, Vinyasa and Yin.Tarik started practicing yoga at home in Rabat, Morocco, in the autumn of 2013, when his brother offered him "The Ultimate Yogi" program, a 108-day Power Yoga program by the renowned yoga instructor Travis Eliot.Since then, he embarked on a personal yoga journey in which he explored a wide range of yoga styles such as Vinyasa, Power, Hatha & Yin as well as 3 elements of yoga: Meditation, Breathwork (Pranayama) and Chanting. In the summer of 2018, he started practicing yoga with his friends in the local park of Urban Forest Ibn Sina (Hilton Park). After several yoga gatherings, he started organically adjusting his friends' postures and instructing yoga flows in the spring of 2019. In the meantime, Tarik has completed his first 10-day Vipassana Meditation course as taught by S.N. Goenka with his assistant teacher, Pedro Metello, in Marrakech, Morocco, in December 2018. This silent meditation retreat consisted of living like a modern monk, meditating about 10 hours per day without visual, verbal or sensory contact with other meditators. After such an eye-opening mindfulness experience, Tarik's life was impacted so profoundly that it improved his mindset and yoga practice, and he started incorporating it into his yoga classes. A detailed review of his Vipassana meditation experience can be found here.In early July 2019, his growing passion for yoga led him to attend The Barcelona Yoga Conference, a 4-day event in which he learned more about yoga from Bryan Kest, the father of Power Yoga, and other world-renowned teachers. After the Conference, Tarik designed and taught his first yoga class with his friends in Morocco. Those signs led him to enroll in yoga teacher training to learn how to teach yoga professionally and safely and serve his local community better.On September 8th, 2019, Tarik completed a 200-hour Yoga Teacher Training that meets Yoga Alliance's Standards at Green Yoga International in Mallorca, Spain.The training covered the 200-H requirements in the following 5 Educational Categories: 1) 100H of yoga techniques2) 15H of anatomy and physiology3) 30H of yogic philosophy, lifestyle, and ethics4) 15H of teaching methodology (the art of teaching)5) 20H of practicum (real-life situations)6) 20H of non-contact Hours related to yoga Techniques, Training & Practice, Teaching Methodology or Practicum.Check out his essay on yoga anatomy, entitled "Solving body motion mysteries".The next weekend after graduation, Tarik led his first Vinyasa class publicly with friends and yoga enthusiasts in Hilton Park, Rabat. Over the next 7 months, Tarik created a local community of "Holistic Yogis of Rabat" that brings yoga enthusiasts from 10 nationalities every weekend to practice yoga outdoors for free. Under the surname @holistictarik, he regularly shares his yoga journey on social media, spreading the wisdom of yoga, educating students and inspiring his community to grow physically, mentally and emotionally.In March 2020, Tarik moved to Toronto, Canada, where he continues to give back to both his local and online communities through yoga since the pandemic outbreak. He provided weekly yoga classes on Zoom/Facebook Live and outdoors at Dufferin Grove Park. As the pandemic restrictions lifted, Tarik started teaching in-person classes and workshops at different locations in Toronto, like the Granite Club, Kula Yoga studio and Union Yoga + Wellness studio and outdoor classes at Queen's Park in spring/summer. As for the yoga community he created in Rabat, it continues to live and grow thanks to Monica Oana, one of his students and yoga teacher, who holds space for everybody back in his home country.