yolga.co.uk@gmail.com

About Olga.

The beginning

I was born in Athens, Greece and since then I have lived in over 12 cities in Greece and abroad. My family, following my father, a military general, in his different positions was given the chance to get to know many places and people.
My lifetime companion, no matter where I live has always been piano. I started learning playing the piano when I was six. I haven’t let go since. I completed my studies as a classical pianist after high school, earning my diploma with distinction. My career as a concert pianist took off since, with performances in Greece, Romania and the U.S.A. In parallel, I discovered the special connection that I have with children and the impact that music can have in their development and battling with learning disabilities.

University years

After finishing school, I decided to study a subject that I seemed to be naturally good at: human relationships. I have also always been drawn to the learning more about different cultures, customs and behavior. I studied Social Policy & Social Anthropology at the Social & Political Sciences Panteion University in Athens, returning to the city where I was born.
The four years during university were proven to be extremely important as I had…freedom; Freedom to do whatever I wanted; to decide who I was, what I liked, and try new and different things. You see, when a family is moving cities almost every two years there are priorities that need to be followed and obstacles to be overcome. A place, where everyone and everything is new; new school, new neighbourhood, new friends.
Dance and everything around body movement has always been part of who I am and top on the list of what I was drawn to. The piano studies were too demanding to fit dance though.
So, during my university studies I started trying as much as I could. I was introduced to the world of Latin dance which I fell in love with right from the start. I also became part of my university Karate team and within a year I was part of the Greek national karate team and champion in my weight category. I kept competing for the next three years, never leaving a competition without a medal. Who knew I had it in me!

Introduced to Yoga

While a Karate champion, I decided to try Yoga. Everyone was talking about it and the fancy gym I had a membership at was offering Yoga and Pilates classes; and it was hard! The first few times I couldn’t believe how it was possible for someone to do all these things without laughing, I fell flat on my bum a few times, everything felt so damn hard and my legs were shaking as I was walking back home. You see, it was a very challenging type of Yoga called Ashtanga and the instructor was not the best at giving instructions. At first I hated it, but for some reason kept going. After some time I started seeing a difference in my, what I thought could not get any better, body. After some months my injuries (bad knee, tendonitis in wrist and ankle, you name it!) melted away and I was stronger and healthier than ever.

Certified Yoga and Pilates instructor

At that point, I moved to the U.S.A. following my father as a representative of Greece at the delegation against terrorism in Tampa, FL with representatives from more than 65 countries. I was in the perfect place, since the American Yoga movement is the most influential and the one focused more on the principles of anatomy and kinesiology. I enrolled to one of the best teacher training programs for both Yoga and Pilates. The next one and a half years proved to be an extremely productive period for me. I finished a Management and Supervision course at the University of South Florida, took over the Music Education program at the Mac Dill AFB Youth Centre, kept performing as a concert pianist and of course earned my Yoga and Pilates Instructor certificates and started teaching!
I haven’t stopped practicing and teaching Yoga and Pilates since. Going back to Greece, I started working with gyms, dance schools and spas in Athens and my home town, Karditsa. Sometime later, I was given the chance to work in Marketing at an International company in Athens. For a person like me, Athens was perfect as there were so many things I could do. I was working with the largest gyms and a number of magazines like Shape, Prevention etc.

As I was teaching Yoga and Pilates to more and more people, I started focusing more on rehabilitation. It is so moving whenever someone comes to me to tell me how they are not in pain any more, how their quality of life has been improved and how many benefits they experienced through my guidance.

Birmingham, my new home

I have been living in Birmingham, UK since 2011. I keep doing all the things I love the most, and have come to realise for one more time that helping people to get a stronger and healthier body gives me endless happiness and satisfaction. Birmingham is a wonderful place and people have embraced my style giving me busy classes and great friends!

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