Ruggero Monelli

My teaching style: My style is first based on the fundamental mobilization of the spine, drawing in the meantime attention to our breathing capabilities; a dedicated pranayama break allows time to explore one of the many variations of breath. The overall aim of my classes is to enhance respiration and body flexibility in order to come into deeper contact with the essential nature of ourselves and develop the sensitivity of our potential, creating mental space and awareness.

Some surprising exercises will introduce little challenges with unusual positions. What is not feasible today will probably become within our reach in the future. Fundamental is the pace & regularity of yoga practice, everybody has to find his own rhythm.

About me: When I was a child, I adored exploring the surroundings with my bike. Growing up I kept doing it with a motorcycle, which became my real life companion. Relocation to Athens when I was 14, definitely changed my perception of life from “local” to “multicultural.”

When I was an engineering student, I understood that I needed breaks to engage me physically. The meeting of my first teacher, an ex-acrobat who integrated his knowledge with Yoga, definitely opened my horizons.

Traveling and build fantasy characters with parts disassembled from old objects is one of my favorite hobbies. Also to draw in perspective an interior.

Learning other languages attracts me too; I always try to expose myself to the ones I known less or to add a new one to the list.

Most memorable yoga experience: In 2017, I had the crazy idea to teach yoga in a prison, so I proposed a course to the director of a jail in Milan, offering “freedom” to those who have temporarily lost it. She answered enthusiastically and so I entered that environment for the first time in my life. One day a prisoner came to me at the end of a lesson saying: “I could not attend today’s class because I had to meet my lawyer” … It was such a gift for me!

Soundtrack of your life: Morricone’s “A Fistful of Dollars”

Favorite food: Cheese - pasta & lentil soup – lasagne - dark chocolate – red wine