Who are we?
Benjamin
Benjamin started his Yoga Journey in 2010 after living in Thailand for the purpose of Thai boxing. Before he went back to Europe he decided to visit India where he attended his first Yoga classes in Shivananda Yoga. Deeply inspired by the inner peace his teachers expressed he started with his own Yoga practice until he completed a 300h Teacher Training in Shivananda Yoga at Yoga Vidya in Germany in 2012.
His own practice eventually changed to Ashtanga Vinyasa Yoga, and he still continued with Thai boxing and general fitness training. Influenced by different Styles like Ashtanga Vinyasa, Jivamukti and Rocket Yoga as well as other forms of bodywork his teachings are a lively mix of balance and improvement of strength and flexibility working with the breath and the body.
With light heart and open mind and his background as a Physiotherapist Benjamin tries not to fit his students into his classes but rather modify their practice according to what his students need. Since he completed his teacher training he focused a lot on his own practice as well and got the chance to learn from teachers like Saraswathi Jois, Rolf and Marci (Yogabones), Mark Darby and Boris Gueorguiev.
Natàlia
Natàlia was already interested in Yoga in her teenage years, attending Kundalini and Power Yoga as well as Thai Chi Classes in Barcelona. In 2012 she started to practice regulary with the main focus on Ashtanga Yoga and Vinyasa Flow Yoga. It was then when she realized at how this practice helped her to achieve a better personal balance. The same year she started with Benjamin, her partner, their practice in Acroyoga and Acrobatics in Barcelona.
In 2013, Natàlia moved to Austria and started attending to Ashtanga Mysore Style classes in Ganesha with Boris Gueorguiev. Afterwards she travelled to India to practice Ashtanga Mysore Style in Shri K. Pattabhi Jois Ashtanga Yoga Institute with R. Saraswathi Jois, daughter of the Ashtanga Sri K. Pattabhi Jois.
In 2014 Natàlia completed her 200+ hours Ashtanga Vinyasa Teacher Training with Samyak Yoga. Trupteesh Nagaraj Hurikadale, Stéphanie Viu-Kessler and Arvind Prasad, were not just her teachers, but they became her greatest inspiration. Later on, Natalia went to Goa to practice Ashtanga Mysore Style in Yoga Bones with Rolf and Marci, and complete her Level 4 in Ayurvedic Yoga Massage course with Ananta Sylvain Girard.
In her classes, you will experience the combination of the traditional Ashtanga Yoga method of Sri K. Pattabhi Jois and the correct body alignment coming from B.K.S. Iyengar Yoga. As all the bodies are different, Natàlia complies the practice with the individual needs and constraints of each student to avoid injuries or pain when practicing, guiding them to deep in their practice without pushing them physically into the asana. She focuses on encouraging her students to listen, feel and explore their bodies respecting where they are at on any given day, because she believes that one of the most important points is how the students do feel while performing asana practice.
Shiva Shakti Yoga
Their journey together in Acroyoga and Partner Acrobatics began in 2012, when they started practicing in Barcelona/Katalonia. Since then they completed several workshops deepening their understanding of acrobatics, partner acrobatics, therapeutic flying and healing arts. Assisted by their personal Yoga practice and the guidance of teachers like Daniel Scott, Chelsey and Jason Magness, Det Rijven and Jim Klinkhammer, Niko Dowes, Wybren da Silva, Noël, Fons Bennink, among others, they quickly advanced in the art of flying and in 2014 started to give courses and workshops on their own.
Since 2015 Natàlia and Benjamin are both Level 4 Ayurvedic Yoga Massage therapists certified by Ayurvedic Yoga Massage India. You can find more information about the massage here.