Honolulu : Ala Moana Center
Guilherme Alves
I was born and raised in Curitiba, Paraná, Brazil. My dad was a blues/rock n' roll musician, and a photographer, so I grew up listening to AC/DC, Led Zeppelin, Muddy Waters, John Lee Hooker and surrounded by art. My mom was always very supportive, (still is), and taught me how to speak english from a very early age.
Almost became a professional cyclist, until my teenage years came, when I started doing what every teenager does at a certain point: partying, drinking and smoking... Needless to say that bicycle riding was not a part of the equation at this point.
After that I got into skateboarding again, (which I was never really good at it), and started to learn how to play my dad's electric guitar.
Me and my best friend started playing together, (he played the bass), and at the time we were trying to learn how to play covers like: Ramones, Misfits, Face to Face, etc...
Through a mutual friend, we met our drummer, and later on another guitar player and our lead singer. Eventually we had to substitute our lead singer in order to become professional musicians, write our own material and record our first cd, through a label called Third World Records. I played in the Brazilian punk scene for about 6 years of my life, having the opportunity to open gigs for some of my favorite bands, as my all time favorite Bad Religion.
After a while I grew tired of playing gig after gig, and just getting wasted all the time. That's when I met a guy that was one of our fans, a Gracie jiu-jitsu fighter who was really into surfing, music and SwáSthya Yôga.
We became good friends, and thanks to his persistence I finally end up going to my first SwáSthya Yôga class, (which I was not really looking forward to).
Now it's been seven years since I first started practicing SwáSthya and 6 years since I started teaching. In the process I quit my band, (even tough I still play the guitar, and still love punk rock music), quit college, (at the time I was studying graphic design), and started to surf, (a few months after I went to my first SwáSthya Yôga class). After working four years as a partner and instructor at the First Brazilian University of Yôga, I moved to Oahu to introduce the tradition of Swásthya Yôga to Hawaii. I studied with Prof. DeRose (founder of the First Brazilian University of Yôga, and the International University of Yôga, with schools in Portugal, Argentina, London, etc...), Prof. Carlos Cardoso, Prof. Sérgio Santos, and many well-respected Yôga teachers and specialized authorities.
I've been living here for three years now, and have been teaching SwáSthya Yôga and surfing some of the best breaks in the world ever since. It's a tough life you know?