Yanna was born in Thessaloniki, Greece. She was trained as a competitive swimmer until 2004, when after a point she was introduced to the world of Dance and instantly fell in love with it. She trained and performed contemporary dance in Thessaloniki, where she roughly spend 8 years training with different choreographers and teachers. But she was really searching for something beyond the dance techniques she was learning to execute. That’s when she decided to travel in the U.S.A. to search for deeper movement practices where she discovered methods of embodied techniques that bring the body and mind into connection. She practiced and trained in somatics, contemplative practices, Contact Improvisation, composition, movement improvisation and group awareness.
The relationship with Yoga and meditation essentially started in New York in 2010 and has been evolving ever since. At that point Yanna was so inspired by Body Mind Centering and Yoga that shifted her entire worldview. In 2010 she met her teachers and trained as a Hatha Yoga Instructor in Integral Yoga Institue. With the quidance of her teachers, she has been teaching Yoga ever since and continue her education up until now in order to be able to adapt and offer the practices to everyone. She recently started her studies in Nada Yoga (the yoga of sound) and Sound healing massage.
Yanna is a Certified Yoga Instructor (700hrs) from the Integral Yoga Institute (NYC) and the Yoga Impact Institute. Her studies apply in all levels of practitioners (begining-advanced) and her core approach is mainly therapeutic. Her classes combine philosophy, asana, pranayama, meditation, stress management in a creative way of communication. Her goal is to guide individuals towards an awakening of their own potentials so they can experience holistic health and well-being.
In 2016 she has been trained in Accessible Yoga, a path of yogic practice that comes closer to people with kinetic limitations, dissabilities or autoimmune diseases that are usually excluded from many types of exercise. ‘Accessible Yoga makes Yoga practices accessible to everyone can experience the benefits of the practice beyond the physical level’, that is something she strongly believes in.
Yanna loves teaching Partner Yoga, Restorative, Chair Yoga, Creative Movement for Children and adults. She is the co-founder of the Thessaloniki Yoga Festival which started in 2012, she loves writing, her articles are published in free press journals (Parallaxi, Natura, HolisticLife).  Her personal practice and guidance is under American-based teachers, and for the past 4 years she has been practicing Vipassana meditation as taught by S.N.Goenka. ‘Vipasana’ means seeing things as they are, is one of India’s oldest meditation traditional techniques.
Her personal goal is to become a better human being and to share unconditional love. Carrying and using the tools of Yoga, movement and meditation is one great jewel that helps her to spread her love for a coscious way of living.

 

Certified Yoga Instructor 700hrs
Integral Yoga Institute NYC
Accessible Yoga Ambassador