Born in Milano, Italy, in 1968, Antonella has been living in Brussels, Belgium, since 1998. She started training as a dancer (ballet-jazz-contemporary) at 13 in different schools in Italy and England, and followed workshops in the US, France and Austria. In 1992 she graduated in Physical Education at I.S.E.F.-Lombardia in Milano. She began working as a professional dancer/performer in 1992, joining companies in Italy, and moved to Brusses to work with the choreographer Wim Vandekeybus after an international audition. She also worked in Slovenia (Iztoc Kovatc) and in the UK (Ted Stoffer). Back in Belgium she joined ‘Les Ballets C. de la B.’ working with Hans Van Den Broeck. In 2003 in Bangkok, Thailand, she received certification in Thai Traditional Massage at Wat Po and has been giving treatments since.
As a professional dancer, Antonella faced several injuries, which she studied and learned from. While she was also looking for a spiritual way out of physical and emotional suffering, Iyengar yoga was offered in different dance productions. She felt largely helped, but was not able to commit to it until she joined the Iyengar Yoga Teacher Training in Amsterdam in 2004 where she received her certification. The asana studies with Cle Soulen, Charles Hond, Annemieke Post and, more so, the yoga philosophy studies with Sumati Nair, gave her the strength to continue the practice and understand the roots of suffering and how one can deal with them. In India she studied with Sumati and Rajiv Chianchiani at ‘Yoganga Center for Yoga Studies’ in Rajpur. In Europe she followed workshops with Corine Biria, Zubin Zartostimanesh, Ramanand Patel, and in 2009 she was at the International Convention Geeta Iyengar in Koln, Germany.
In 2004 Antonella started teaching yoga intensively. Using individual corrections, she helps her students face their limits, in order to become aware of their own body, sensations and real potential, in an attempt to fully access themselves on a way to freedom. She has taught widely in Belgium, where she currently teaches classes in different schools (Dancentrum Zenith, Leuven; KASK and RITS high schools) and at her own studio. She has given workshops in Spain, six editions ’Deltebre International Dance Workshop’ (2004-2009); in Italy, Casinasettarte, Ostuni, Spaziostudio, Bologna, and FLIC Circus School, Torino; in Belgium, La Raffinerie, DCJ Dancentrumjette and Corpusstudios Pilates in Brussels; in Germany, Palucca Tanz Schule, Dresden, and Staatheater Opera, Kasel.
Antonella has now stopped dancing in companies, but has developed other art forms, visions and activities through studies in Art in Brussels. She continues searching the link through ‘spiritual creativity’ in all we do which, she believes, gives a sense to our stay on earth.
Eleana began her yoga journey in 1998 as a dance student curious to develop and improve her abilities as a performer. Her curiosity brought her to New York, where she took her first yoga classes at the Jivamukti Yoga Center. After moving to London for her graduate studies, she first stepped into an Ashtanga class in 2001 and has not looked back since. She left the dance world for the yoga world and since her return to Greece has been practicing Ashtanga full time. Kristina Karitinos-Ireland has been her teacher since 2003, from whom Eleana received an extensive teachers’ training course, which she completed in 2006. Following this, she continued training and learning from various gifted teachers from America and Europe. In 2007 she participated in teachers’ training courses by David Swenson and Danny Paradise and will travel to the US to participate in the Yoga Mela conference held at the Kripalu Yoga Center in Lenox, Massachusetts. Eleana has been teaching privately and group classes in Athens since 2003, as well as on summer retreats on Crete and at her home on Mykonos.She loves to teach with laughter and learn as much from her students as they from her, giving thanks to all her teachers, past and present.
Eugenia began practicing yoga in 2004, as a student of Contemporary Dance at the Scottish School of Contempray Dance in Dundee, to which she turned upon completing her intial studies in Psychology in Athens and an MSc in Sport and Exercise Psychology in Bangor, Wales. She gained a Yoga Teacher qualification from the Sivananda Yoga Vedanta Centres, in Cuenca, Spain, in 2005 and in 2006 organized the first yoga holiday in Sfakia, Crete. Since then she has revisited the Sivananda centres in France twice and has attended workshops and classes with various teachers, such as David Swenson, Jean Claude Garnier and Caroline Boulinguez. She is currently living in Athens and practicing at the Iyengar Yoga Centre. Her classes strive to create a safe and nurturing environment. The focus on the breath, as a powerful tool for gaining awareness of the body and controlling the mind, is integral in her teaching, while she also emphasizes correct anatomical alignment. Ultimately, her interest lies in finding links between the mind centered practice of psychology, the physical practice of dance and the spiritual practice of yoga, in light of a holistic approach to well being.
Dion began practicing capoeira in 1997 with Jimi McAvoy a martial arts Master in various disciplines in North East England. In 1998 he moved to Edinburgh where he trained and became a helper to Catriona Tocher (founder of capoeira in Scotland). By 1999 he was put in charge of capoeira in Scotland. Mestre Chamine’s visit propted his first trip to Brasil for four months’ dedicated training under the guidance of Mestre Gato and Mestre Marrom. Two other study trips to Brasil in 2001 and 2003 followed, for two months each. 2002 marked the birth of the Capoeira Angola group mão no chão, running classes in Dundee, Glasgow, Aberdeen and mainly Edinburgh. Nowadays Dion visits regularly and supports capoeira Angola in Scotland running workshops, training tutors and overseeing kids and special needs classes. During 2008 and 2009 he was based in Barcelona developing work, doing theatre, running personal training sessions, instrument making, as well as classes and workshops. Dion is currently undergoing intensive study and is developing work under one of the great minds in Greece.
Lauren and Paul Roys
Lauren originally hails from the United States where she obtained a degree in Communication Studies at the University of North Carolina at Wilmington. A feeling that she was meant to live abroad led her to Italy, and then France to live in Paris, during which time she discovered yoga by completing an introductory course at the Sivananda yoga center. Then for two and a half years she maintained a regular Bikram practice. Finally she was introduced to Ashtanga yoga which, with the combination of dynamic flow of asana, philosophy and sense of well being it brought, resonated beautifully within her. She studied at the Ashtanga Yoga Paris yoga shala and completed their Yoga Alliance certified teacher training programme in 2008. She taught in Paris and also led a beginner’s seminar in Tolo, Greece. Lauren recently moved to Chania, Crete with her husband Paul and their small daughter in pursuit of a life in harmony with nature and the ideal of living their respective passions. Lauren is currently teaching Vinyasa Yoga classes at the Body and Soul centre in Chania. Her holistic teaching style aims to keep yoga accessible to everyone. She feels that yoga can be with someone throughout all times of their life. It is a matter of knowing one’s body and listening to it, seeking guidance, and making a commitment to health.
Paul was raised and educated in Paris, France. As his family is French/Greek, he spent his summers in the Peloponese. These summers influenced him greatly and fuelled his passion for boating, fishing, nature, and cultural exchanges. He took three trips to Bangladesh serving as a volunteer for a NGO and spent a cumulative year there. Paul possesses a great talent for languages, has written poetry, plays guitar, and is now teaching himself to surf! He worked for 7 years in Paris as an office space planner. Realizing that the corporate world would never satisfy his dreams of a healthy life by the sea, he and Lauren left Paris and decided to go back to Paul’s maternal roots of Greece.
Constantinos Giannetakis
Constantinos is a dedicated Iyengar yoga practitioner since 1992. He received his Iyengar teaching certification in 2002. Since then, he has been running the official Iyengar yoga centre in Athens. He is a current student of various certified advanced Iyengar yoga teachers, with whom he undergoes further training. Constantinos is also an authorized clinical psychologist with a particular interest in lacanian psychoanalysis.
Thespina Calogero-Allen www.workingwithlight.co.za
Thespina’s journey as a yoga practitioner in the B.K.S. Iyengar method of Hatha yoga started in 1971; ten years later she started teaching her own classes. During her association with the Iyengar Institute, she met many wonderful teachers who inspired her along the way and gave her a very strong foundation. In 1997 Thespina started attending workshops with Angela Farmer and Victor Van Kooten in Greece, Mexico, America and Ireland. Their teachings took her deeper into her body and gave her a greater awareness of herself. She enjoyed the direction in the poses that Victor offered, while Angela focused on being sensitive to the process of the direction. Angela in particular is a firm believer in finding one’s own inner teacher influenced her greatly. In 2007, Thespina let go of all teachers so that she too could hear the voice of her own Inner Teacher. This is how Inspirational Yoga was born.
Through her intense work with the human body, Thespina has become very sensitive to its messages and needs. She now wishes to pass this knowledge on to whomever is open to receive it. The course she leads at YogaOnCrete is designed to assist the individual find their own Inner Wisdom. Beginners and teachers are most welcome. However, there is one requirement and that is to come with an open mind and be open to change in order to discover something new.
Thespina is from South Africa and has Greek lineage. Her grandfather came from the island of Hydra and married a South African woman. Both her grandparents had healing abilities, which she also inherited.
Dusanka Tomsic
Dusanka was born in Slovenia and has been working in the field of body-therapy, energy healing and spirituality for 20 years. She is qualified in Therapeutic massage, Shiatsu, Energy Healing, Metamorphic Technique, Relaxation Therapy and Stress Counselling. Her passion for healing has taken her on many spiritual discovery journeys, from studying Astrology to undergoing Intense Self-healing Programmes, meditation retreats, learning different self-healing techniques, and currently pursuing to become a Qi Gong teacher. Her healing therapies involve deep soul to soul communication, providing support, love and guidance. She is unconditionally devoted to serve Divinity through her work with people that come to see her. She enjoys working in Yoga & Healing centres, where she can apply all her skills and share enthusiasm for spiritual life.
Svenja was first involved in theatre, circus and dance improvisation in Germany, were she was born, before going on to train at the Scottish School of Contemporary Dance in Dundee in 2004, where she also started practicing Capoeira and Ashtanga Vinyasa yoga. Upon graduating, she was invited to work as an apprentice with Scottish Dance Theatre, danced with Nu Tempo Dance Company and performed works by various other young and upcoming choreographers. In 2008, she received funding from the Scottish Arts Council to train in Dance Improvisation with Shahar Dor in Israel. During the same year, Svenja created her own work in collaboration with dancer and choreographer Jack Webb, working as a member of the company
Little White House, and as a founder of the collaborative group
Hiccup (
www.hiccuphiccup.com). Her dance work has been influenced by various artists and artistic forms, conventional as well as improvisational and experimental.
Currently, Svenja is working on various creative projects with different artists, as well as teaching dance classes in Edinburgh. Her teaching is a fusion of different techniques, such as release, contact dance, improvisation, capoeira and body work; it offers people the opportunity to become aware of, challenge themselves, and explore new terittories.
Maria Hrisoheraki
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Maria was born in Darwin, Australia. From an early age she became involved in body and mind training, practicing track and field, rowing, climbing, as well as ballet and contemporary dance. In the meantime, from the age of 13, she was introduced to yoga by the south african yogi Barbara Boyle, start off on a journey that continues until today. Through her various searches Maria has come across different methods and systems of yoga, and has completed the YogaWorks training. She teaches and attends yoga classes, taking part in workshops in Greece and abroad, while at the same time following a teachers’ training course in Iyengar yoga. She is the founder of www.yogaonline.gr, the first online yoga magazine in Greece.
Malena has always been interested in physical training. Her work as a contemporary dance performer brought her to gradually deepen her understanding of the body and, as a consequence, led her to yoga. She was introduced to Ashtanga yoga by choreographer Teresa Duggan. In 1999, she started to take regular Ashtanga classes and practiced in a yoga school in Argentina, where she comes from, for 3 years. From then onwards, yoga was introduced into her daily training and became an important part of her life. In 2002, the desire to share the benefits of yoga motivated Malena to start teaching and, shortly after, begin a teacher training in Ashtanga Vinyasa Yoga with Caroline Boulinguez, in order to share and find answers to the questions that rose from her own practice and teaching. She is currently living in Paris, where she teaches privately and at the Rasa Yoga Center, while also continuing to create and perform dance.
Born in Toronto, Canada, Cathy is a professionally qualified healer and Reiki Master Teacher in levels I, II and III, and has 7 years experience of healing and energy work in the UK. She is based in London, where she practices in a holistic centre, while also teaching students who want to learn reiki for personal development or to go on to practice professionally. She trained through Reiki Evolution, an organisation that tries to follow the original Japanese Mikao Usui system of reiki healing and has recently qualified in Reiki Drum healing, a practice relatively new in Europe. She also practices Tai Chi and Qi Gong, and is an assistant teacher at the Mei Chuan Academy of Tai Chi in London.
Cathy strives to develop her own healing journey through courses, workshops and continued personal development. She also enjoys helping others and empowering them to help themselves with self-healing through meditation,visualization, sound healing and reiki.
Myriam Lefkowitz is a professional modern dancer, trained in Paris, Berlin and New York. After working as a performer in various dance projects, she created her own dance company, Débribes, in 2004, which now counts four dance pieces. In parallel to her artistic research, she has been teaching dance and body alignment to a wide range of people, professionals and amateurs, kids, adults, babies, and seniors. She considers teaching as a main part of her dance activity, defending the body awareness as a necessity for life. Very early in her training, Myriam started practicing yoga and chi gung, in order to enhance her knowledge of the body and with the prospect of connecting movement to a therapeutic practice. In turn, she became interested in shiatsu. She trained with Mario Duarte, a shiatsu teacher affiliated to the Shiatsu French Federation.
Nikos Zografos
Nikos started practising Iyengar yoga in Brighton, UK, in 1998, where he was studying towards a PhD in Experimental Psychology, and was soon devoted to its practise. A year later he turned to Ashtanga. He began teaching yoga at the Brighton Natural Health Centre between 2001 and 2002, under the supervision of Julie Martin and Kristina Karitinos-Ireland. After completing his PhD he returned to Greece in 2003 and has taught yoga ever since, in Athens and wherever else his travels take him. Nikos deeply trusts the capacity of yoga to transform the individual both externally and internally, primarily exerting its effects at the level of the human energetic field.
Yamuna began her yoga practice suffering from extreme chronic pain from functional scoliosis and a rotated pelvis, which she corrected through self practice (4-5 hours daily) over 5 years. She got her teaching certification in 1992 with Yogi Hari and Leela Mataji and also has several years of training in Iyengar and Ashtanga Vinyasa yoga. The renowned Ukranian Yogi Andrei Sidersky has been another important influence to her development.
Yamuna has taught professionally since 1991, and was an original co-founder of the Three Rivers Yoga Institute in the Pittsburgh area, PA. She has also created the BodyMantra Posture Clinics, and her speciality is classical Surya Namaskar (sun salutation), specifically, a program called Surya Namaskar – Solar Powered Sadhana (daily practice), which includes the bija (root) sounds and mantras for each position, as well as chakra activation. She has an extensive background in Yoga therapy and posture modification for special needs, is well schooled in philosophy, which she likes to incorporate into her classes – especially the yamas and niyamas of Ashtanga, and has been a student of Sanskrit for 15 years. Yamuna has also studied classical Hindustani music for 10 years and has been doing kirtan for about 12 years, during which she has also played with the renowned american kirtan singer, Krishna Das. Yamuna has taught over 17,000 classes, workshops and privates in her career and has trained yoga teachers for about 12 years.
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