It was Saturday morning and I was anyway pumped by a lot of messages and blog ideas – the invitation to Yogalives was the cherry on top! I didn’t really know what to expect but I was already in awe of Olive, who many teachers quote as their teacher.

After the warmest personal welcome from Olive, I inspected the studio: bricks, concrete, wooden floors, kind of “industrial hip”. This didn’t feel like Zurich… and yoga here really was nothing like I had experienced in Zurich before!

Class started with breathing exercises, mobilization movements and chanting, all done in the first 5-10 minutes. What ensued was not a yoga class, it was yoga practice. It was what you do to improve and perfect, to strengthen and extend.

Usually I go for the first row in class because I want to best follow the teacher. Well, I was ill advised on this one as Olive mostly guided verbally, with great precision and humour. She and her two assistants (yoga teachers in training) corrected often and supported when needed. Yogis were addressed by name, even guests Olive had just met (!)

Olive’s teaching style is eclectic, her English is impeccable and her American accent coupled with the industrial looking studio made me feel for a moment teleported to a NYC-Brooklyn studio (without the fancy lifestyle/Lululemon vibes).

I won’t lie, it was an intense 105-minute session! It reads “Vinyasa Open” and it is open to all – it opens you up for a better, safer and stronger practice.

You’d probably either love or hate her class, but you won’t know until you go. I’ll end here with a strong personal recommendation and a quote from today’s session:

“That’s why we call it practice. You’ll be fine.”