They say sometimes you just have to be at the right place at the right time and things just turn out great. Well, I was at the wrong place at the right time and it worked out great for me! 🙂

That’s what happened when on a Thursday evening, exhausted after a crazy work day and a gym session, I was well on my way to what I thought would be a yoga nidra session (i.e. very restorative, yogic sleep) at Yoga Tribe Kreis 6. Imagine my surprise when I arrived at the studio and realized that the nidra class was in Yoga Tribe Kreis 3 (on the other side of the city), and I had shown up for a “yolates” community class!

OK – this was suboptimal considering my energy levels, but hey, I’m not one to say no to yoga and certainly open for new experiences, so let’s do this!

Sophie was the teacher for the evening (sorry Gina in Kreis 3!) and she explained the Living Yolates concept briefly before class: me and 2 other yogis were in for a combo of dance moves, vinyasa yoga and pilates… and we were promised a nice long shavasana – which had been my initial intention for that hour 🙂

We started with led meditation and first mobilized the body with flowy movements that reminded me a lot of BodyART. Sophie often made references to elements of Chinese medicine, by explaining certain meridians and pressure points that we activated in the practice. Slowly the pace picked up and we started warming up the lower body with hip movements and some stability exercises. On well chosen music beats, we were shaking the hips, engaging the lower back, activating the core – yep, the whole program!

I was definitely wide awake by the time we got to the yoga part, which was a true power vinyasa session – from sun salutations to deep lunges and backward bends, that flow had about everything. We did a few planks but apparently not enough for the core, so that’s where the final pilates section came in. In about 4-5 well chosen pilates exercises we got that covered as well, and truly activated all muscles in our bodies before releasing in a well deserved shavasana.

That was indeed one of the most comprehensive movement classes I have been to! I really liked the diversity, the perfectly chosen background music for each section of the class, and most of all, Sophie‘s naturally confident and motivating teaching style. As we enjoyed tea after class, she told us a bit about her background as a nutritionist and what attracted her to Yolates. But the most incredible fact she shared was that she was fasting that week, and had just given this kick-ass class after having worked the whole day and eaten only fruit and veggies! She really is a force of nature!

I left the studio very happy and pleased with my mix-up – definitely not physically restored as I had planned, but very grateful for the opportunity to meet Sophie and some lovely fellow yogis 🙂 Just one of those beautiful surprises in life ♥