Meet Viviana – our yoga teacher for chronic pain at Adfysio Kessel-Lo

At the beginning of 2025, you could read in the media that almost 1 million Belgians experience chronic pain. Daily pain can strongly affect your quality of life. Perhaps you hardly dare to move anymore, or you suffer from insomnia or restlessness. Ever thought about specialized  Yoga for Chronic Pain? This type of yoga can help and support you with exercises and techniques to calm your mind and stay connected with your body.

We are very grateful to welcome Viviana Otero to our multidisciplinary team, at Adfysio in Kessel-Lo. Into every yoga class, teacher Viviana combines knowledge, skill and her own lived experience of chronic pain. In our garden studio, she offers a safe space for you and her approach is compassionate and mindful.

Viviana, how did you first discover yoga?

I completed my Hatha Yoga (2023) and Yin Yoga teacher trainings (2025) in Belgium but my first yoga experience was eighteen years earlier, when I joined a group class at my university during my bachelor studies. And I absolutely loved it. More advanced classes and workshops about yoga alignment, meditation and yoga philosophy followed.

In 2018, there was my rotator cuff shoulder surgery and I was diagnosed with chronic pain in 2021. After my surgery, some yoga styles felt too intense for me. Still, I trusted that yoga could offer me another path – one that would support my mobility, ease my pain, and calm my mind. And I found it. All those years, yoga has supported me in facing the challenges of living with chronic pain each day.

What inspired you to start teaching yoga specifically for people with chronic pain?

My desire to teach yoga to people with chronic pain comes from my own personal experience. I would like to offer people a space that I didn’t find for me. A special class, where the consideration of reduced mobility or chronic pain is available. Where the focus is on managing pain in the back, neck and shoulders and respecting your own limits.  Where there is room to be understood and not having to explain yourself. A yoga class where you can explore movement in a safe manner.

Yoga teacher Viviana:
“Yoga has supported me in facing the challenges of living with chronic pain each day.”

What can someone expect from your classes, especially if they live with chronic pain?

I have spent years personalizing my own yoga practice to help me deal with the pain that I experience every day. But I am aware that every person is different and their experiences with pain can be different from mine. I am not offering miracles or one fixed solution. But I do want to support and guide you in discovering variations and options that could work for you. A yoga session of mine can include:

• a grounding moment
• breathing exercises
• Yin Yoga shapes with different variations and options for your body, maybe the support of yoga blocks, cushions, blankets, …
• occasionally, Hatha Yoga with gentle movements and/or asanas/postures to strengthen the muscles
• a short meditation practice in cultivating an attitude of observation and self-awareness
• and a closing relaxation moment.

Do you have a favorite quote or mantra that captures the spirit of your classes?

Ahimsa. Ahimsa means non-violence and it is one of the core ethical principles of Yoga. In the context of my class, we are going to be based on this principle to respect our limits. To acknowledge where we are with compassion and work from there. This requires that we listen to ourselves and be aware of our bodies and mind.

What’s your most important piece of advice for someone living with pain who has never tried yoga?

Managing pain requires a set of different strategies. Those strategies are unique to each person. This yoga class is not a replacement for any treatment or medical advice. This yoga class is just one extra strategy among the many that we need. Always consult with your medical team and be mindful of what you need at this moment.

My advice is to be gentle with yourself. To be compassionate. If you want to try yoga, give it a try. It might work. It might not. But just putting yourself out there and trying something new, is already a big step towards a better quality of life.

Try it out

Viviana teaches Yoga for Chronic Pain every Thursday at 10h35 and Relax Yin Yoga on Saturdays at 10h05 at the garden studio of Adfysio in Kessel-Lo. She teaches in English and understands Dutch.

Free trial class

New members that have never tried a class at Adfysio, are offered one free trial class. E-mail us to receive your discount code.