Overcoming: A Story of Snezana Marinkovic

Winner of the Winter 2022 Ninja Breakthrough Case Study Contest

Snezana Marinkovic is the winner of the Yogi Flight School winter case study competition 2022! 

Snezana has been a member of Yogi Flight School since July 2021, after having completed our signature, week-long free arm balances and inversions training, You Are a Yoga Ninja.

She did not have a previous history with yoga, or have much of an interest in learning how to do arm balances and inversions prior to joining the training. In fact, she was only interested after having seen a Facebook ad for the training, where our favorite cat lady and ninja-maker, Nathania Stambouli, convinced her that even with no previous experience that she too, could be a yoga ninja.

As with all of the free week-long trainings that Yogi Flight School offers, Snezana got a taste of what she could herself achieve with the right instruction, targeted warm-ups, dedication, and community support - and it was life-changing. 

A fire was lit inside her and she was determined to join the program and learn everything that she could. In order to join, Snezana had to come up with a plan for payment. This was a significant investment for her as she had recently began to rebuild her life after a series of obstacles and struggles (learn more about those in her case study video on our homepage), and she also lives in Serbia - a country with low pay wages compared to those in the United States, where Yogi Flight School is headquartered. 

Despite the challenges she faced, Snezana knew how powerful Yogi Flight School would be for her life and overall well-being and was resolved to make it happen - and she did!

Once she joined Yogi Flight School, she hit the ground running. She practiced multiple times each week and joined almost every live class on Saturdays via Zoom. She used all the tools that YFS provided - the pre-recorded content, the private Facebook community where she could post her progress and get feedback from our coaches, and the live classes - constantly learning and growing her own practice.

Knowing that she was creating a path for yoga to be her life, she set her mind to finding a way to join the upcoming Yogi Flight School yoga teacher training and overcoming the financial barrier that was holding her back. When the case study contest was announced. Snezana chose to participate, and decided that if she won she would use the grand prize cash winnings towards joining the yoga teacher training. We are so excited to announce that Snezana is officially enrolled in our 2022 yoga teacher training cohort!

Snezana’s favorite poses include crow pose, handstands, and flying pigeon. Flying pigeon is a metaphor for her growing her wings and taking flight.

Her biggest takeaways from the course have been implementing the philosophy of “giving 100%, 100% of the time,” and realizing that when manages to get into a handstand, she is so surprised and terrified that she’s reached that goal, that she falls out of the pose. It’s not about a lack of strength, but being afraid to trust and allow herself to succeed. She’s still working on acceptance and letting go and we're honored to support her.

Yogi Flight School is about so much more than just teaching you how to stand on your hands. Yogi Flight School uses what happens on the yoga mat as a mirror to what happens in your life - how you show up, how you persist, the grace that you allow yourself on the days that you struggle - and transforms your yoga mat into a launching pad to success in your life as a whole.

We are all on a lifelong journey towards reaching our greatest potential. Courses and experiences like Yogi Flight School are here to teach and guide us to a true knowing of ourselves and supporting us in reaching the next rung on the ladder of success.

“Argue for your possibilities, not your limitations.” - Nathania Stambouli, Founder of Yogi Flight School.