Daniela is a Mexican-born designer, artist and bodywork/Yoga facilitator based in Basel. Her work intersects artistic and design practice, Yoga and Somatics, framed and inspired in Eastern Philosophies, Transpersonal Psychology, Nature and Biomimicry as well as in Mexican, Shamanic and First Nation wisdom, science-fiction and Decolonial theory.
As a creative independent professional, Daniela has worked in diverse fields like graphic and editorial design, photography, documentary film & music. She has created works, installations, events and workshops for institutions like the Bernisches Historisches Museum, Museum der Kulturen & Kaserne Basel.
Daniela has taught Yoga for over 20 years in studios and festivals in Europe and Mexico, being the current creative director and main teacher of BYOGA BASEL, the yoga studio she founded in 2006. Some of her works have emerged from the cross-pollination of creative practice, Yoga and somatic practices for programs at Musikmuseum, Museumsnacht, Skulpturhalle Basel & Vitra Design Museum. She has been a guest Yoga teacher for the Frauenlauf Basel as well as a guest speaker at the TEDX Basel & Creative Mornings BSL.
Daniela holds a MAS in Curating (ZHdK) and an MA in Transversal Design (HGK Basel), her research focuses on the integration of Design Theory, Decolonial thought & Somatic Practices.
Daniela believes our collective becoming has a strong relationship with the micropolitics of our own intimate personal space, and through transforming the connection with our own internal landscapes and affects, we influence how we connect with our communities and planet.
Daniela’s classes are a mix of chants, philosophical-thought-provoking inputs with day-to-day examples, sound & breath awereness, body-intelligent flowy asana (yoga poses) sequences, hands-on assist through which you receive tremendous loads loving wisdom cultivated through her many years of practice and teaching, meditation & relaxation. You may find her connecting Yoga philosophy with Art theory one day, and then another talking about the incredible potential of Vinyasa practice on Neuroplasticity.
She likes to conceive “yogis” as random people who -as David Swenson wisely said once- leave a place a little bit better than how they found it. Advanced Yoga practice is in Daniela’s eyes reflected in one’s emotional health, that of our relationships and our capacity to see and embrace ourselves and others even in the realm of our limitations and failures, by taking self-responsability of both our outer and inner worlds. A “true yogi” grows and learns from all her life experiences and relationships, her identity is not limited, and her capacity to enjoy life and thrive expansive.