Born in Belo Horizonte, Brazil, Tania Alvarez moved to Buenos Aires to marry her high school sweetheart. A yoga instructor, a cook and an eternal optimist, the 29-year-old has lived for three years with a guru, taught yoga to children in Brazil’s favelas and, in the past year, managed to bring Zen to Argentina’s bustling capital. In this interview the Recoleta-dweller shares her thoughts on the philosophy of yoga, reincarnation, religion, and where to find the best Arabic food in Buenos Aires.

How did you end up in Buenos Aires?

I came to Buenos Aires years ago with my family. I finished high school here, and that was when I met the man who is now my husband. When I finished school we separated, and I went home to Brazil for five years to study yoga. My then-boyfriend/now-husband, Franco, is from Argentina and he wants to live here for his whole life. So I came back, we got married in March, and now I’ve been living in Buenos Aires for almost a year.

What was your first impression of Buenos Aires and its inhabitants?

It’s a very beautiful, open city with a lot of green space, a lot of parks and beautiful people. They’re not as cheerful as people from Brazil, but they’re good, receptive, trustworthy people.

What do you miss most about Brazil?

Brazilians! And the food.

Where do you live?

Recoleta

How do you get around the city?

I always prefer to walk. I listen to my iPod so the noise doesn’t distract me… I’m in my own world. When I can’t walk I’ll take the bus or a taxi – I think both are fantastic.

How did you become a yoga instructor?

Ever since the first time I tried yoga six years ago with a friend in Fortaleza I knew that I wanted to do it forever, and that I wanted to share it with other people. It does me a lot of good, and I want to spread that feeling.

I had studied business, and at that time I was working for a company that had nothing to do with yoga. But I started going to all of the yoga seminars and conferences, and I sort of made it my career without realising it. I would go to favelas to give free yoga classes to children. When I saw how beautiful it was to teach, to see other people feel what I felt, I decided to study a little more so I could pass it to more people.

There in Brazil I was a member of a large studio, and I had a teacher called María José Marinho who was 76 years old, and I studied by her side for three years, 24 hours a day. She treated me like her disciple and her daughter, and she was my guru. I lived with her all the time, studying and teaching yoga from morning until night. I learned a lot from her, not just about practising yoga, but also about the philosophy, and where it comes from.

What is the most important thing to take from the philosophy of yoga?

To always be growing and evolving. It’s a physical, spiritual and mental evolution… a way of learning to understand yourself better.

How can you apply that to everyday life?

By respecting your body and yourself, finding peace with your body, detoxifying it and knowing how to breathe. A person who knows how to breathe knows how to bring their mind to the present.

Do you believe in reincarnation?

Yes. I think we’re always growing, and my goal is to be a bit better in the next life.

Do you think you’re an old soul? What have you been in a past life, and what would you like to become in your next life?

I think I do have an old soul. I think I have some oriental culture in me – some of India. In the next life I want to be a person again (not an animal), and I want to be happy with myself, and to help others. I want to evolve spiritually.

Do you do any physical activities apart from yoga?

I do capoeira. It’s a Brazilian martial art combined with dance that was brought to Brazil by Africans. I also love dancing. I think all Brazilians love dancing.

If you weren’t a yoga instructor, what would you be?

I would want to work with food. I really like cooking, and I’d like to be a chef. I’d cook Brazilian food, like rice and fish…

What are your favourite restaurants in Buenos Aires?

The restaurant Sarkis does great Arabic food, and there’s a restaurant at Laprida and Charcas called Tandoor that does really rich Indian food. Those are my two favourites.

Take me through a typical day.

I wake up early. I really like being a homemaker. I like to keep my house very tidy, and to cook for myself and for my husband. I practise yoga every day at an alter in my house, and then I leave to teach yoga in the afternoons. Sometimes I teach up to five classes a day, but always in the afternoon because I like dedicating the mornings to myself and to my husband.

What’s the quality you most admire in others?

Expressiveness. To be able to show your feelings, and to express love. To be open.

Do you have a religion?

I have my own religion. I appreciate Buddhism, Hinduism and spirituality. I do believe in something bigger, some greater force, but it doesn’t take the form of any god. It’s more like a light, a superior energy that is very wise.

Do you remember your dreams?

Sometimes yes, sometimes no. I don’t think I dream very much… I think I dream most while I’m awake.

Do you want to live in Buenos Aires forever?

No! I love it, I think it’s gorgeous, but I want to live somewhere more peaceful, in the country, somewhere where I can raise a family. I’d like to live in the Pampa.

What’s your favourite place in the world to do yoga?

The best place doesn’t exist for me… only the best moment. It’s a personal moment, a feeling inside. I need to practice yoga, to care for my body, mind and spirit, and to concentrate on myself. If I reach something beautiful in that moment, then that’s certainly the best place in the world to be.

Tania Alvarez teaches ashtanga yoga at Genesis (Marcelo T de Alvear 1903, Recoleta, www.genesisclub.com.ar) Mondays and Wednesdays at 6pm and at Estudio Cristina Tabachnik Mondays and Fridays at 2pm and Tuesdays and Thursdays at 5pm. For more information on private classes, visit www.taniayoga.com