Lexi Elven - Vinyasa, Creative Flow, Yin, Pre + Post Natal & Sound Meditation

Hailing from Hong Kong as a motion graphics designer, Lexi has been practicing yoga since 2003 to complement her martial arts and dance background. You may occasionally catch her name in tv and film credits, but more often than not, you’ll find her on the mat.

Lexi founded Blithe Yoga in 2016 as a yoga supper club in her Forest Gate home's living room. Two years later she opened up the Blithe Yoga community studio space in the heart of Stratford. 

Blithe Yoga is a welcoming space, providing quality, affordable and accessible yoga for everyone in London's most diverse community in Stratford; a diversity which is reflected in their fantastic teaching faculty.

Lexi’s classes combine strong asanas (postures) with an energetic and playful spirit. 

Blithe Yoga offers a variety of yoga but also events too including sound-baths, retreats and yoga supper clubs. Their supper clubs run twice a year with the Winter and Summer solstices - which Lexi hosts with her mother Norah (or “Auntie Norah”) who recently moved over from Hong Kong - complete with Chinese Buddhist food and a sound bath to finish. This year Blithe Yoga has also expanded to offer a therapy and treatment room to provide holistic treatments. 

Lexi's personal yoga practice has proved to be transformative, evolving with her life. From an initial athletic and meditative standpoint, to softening whilst being pregnant and giving birth to two children. As a musician with a keen interest in pranayama (breathwork) and philosophy, facilitating soundbaths yokes her musical and yoga worlds with how the mind and body can benefit from sound-work and meditation.

2020-2021 Yoga Alliance qualified 300 advanced yoga teacher training (RYS300) - Radical Darshan

2019-2020 Yoga Alliance qualified, Naad Yoga Sound Meditation (RYS200) - Leo Cosendai

2019 Yoga Alliance qualified, Mandala (RYT50) - The Yoga People

2018 Royal College of Midwives approved, Baby Massage Instructor - Hands on Babies

2017-2018 Yoga Alliance qualified, Prenatal and Postnatal Yoga Teacher (RPST85) - Yoga London

2016-2017 Yoga Alliance qualified 200 yoga teacher training (RYS200) - Yoga London

Lydiana Abbott - Ashtanga, Vinyasa + Restorative

Lydiana was first introduced to yoga 10 years ago and was instantly hooked. She found peace in the stability and routine of the set sequences of Ashtanga yoga. With over ten years of yoga practice, Lydiana is now a certified Ashtanga, Vinyasa and Pregnancy yoga teacher.  Her classes are dynamic, focusing on alignment and controlled motions of the body to get deeper into postures and ultimately bring more self-awareness. Classes are designed to aid students feel prepared to take their practice further. Lydiana is is overjoyed to finally be offering a skill to others that she feels so passionate about. She comes to you with an open heart, ready to share what she has learnt over the years. 

Ramila Patel - Traditional Hatha

Ramila was initially recommended to restart her ritual of yoga in 1998 by the Head of Physio Therapy. Yoga practice has always given Ramila more than physical well being, it’s also given mental serenity and joy.  In addition it was working at a deeper level of consciousness that things started shifting for her.

Regular meditation has taught her a valuable skill to live a balanced life.

“Favourable and unfavourable situations is part of living but dealing with it gracefully is the real art of living.” - Ramila Patel

Kim Gichinga - Vinyasa & Hatha

Kim’s introduction to yoga began in 2012 when her then workplace started offering Hatha classes. Through health issues and life changes, her yoga practice was the thing she always came back to for grounding, comfort and rebuilding strength. With a growing curiosity and thirst for knowledge, she undertook teacher training and qualified as a Vinyasa Flow instructor in 2018. 

She has been sharing her passion ever since and her classes incorporate physical postures, breathing exercises and philosophy, as well as how to integrate these practices into everyday life. 

Nadia Khalaf: Community Yoga & Sunday Slow Jams

Nadia Khalaf has been a dedicated yoga practitioner for over ten years, but it was only recently that she felt called to teach. Her interest in movement goes back to childhood when she fostered a deep love and keen interest in dance. She’s carried that artful curiosity into adulthood and approaches her yoga practice with the same joyful enthusiasm.

In her teaching practice, Nadia unites embodied movement punctuated with moments of space so her students can discover the inherent mystery and magic available in each pose. Last year Nadia entered into a Yoga Teacher Training in the Shaiva Tantra tradition, the teachings of which resonated very deeply. It opened up new ways of being and reinvigorated her world. Amongst other things, a daily meditation practice changed her life.

Her interest in philosophy and love for embodied experience really met during her training but what has really led Nadia to the teaching path was a desire to be of service. She is passionate about holding others as they rise to their awakening, whatever form that may take.

Mayra M Ganzinotti - Sound Facilitator

Mayra M Ganzinotti is one of our sound facilitators.

The singing bowls that she plays take a very specific sort of gentle sensitivity to play and Mayra has that talent.

As well as having a history in art and academia Mayra is an intuitive empath and sound healer, breathwork and flower essences practitioner based in East London. She is passionate about guiding people to the awareness of who they truly are and their divinity.

Sabina Bhandari - Women's Only Yoga

Sabina is a Hatha and Tantra Yoga Teacher.
She's passionate about reviving the unbroken oral traditions of India for spiritual liberation and making them accessible and relevant. Her holistic approach blends movement, breath, energetic seals + locks and sound vibration to work with the subtle body; the psycho-energetic centres (chakras) and channels (nadis) as well as developing strength, flexibility and balance in the body, mind and spirit.

Shana Begum - Prenatal Yoga

Whilst seeking to slow down from London’s fast-paced life, Shana discovered Yoga as a way to keep her grounded and balanced.

In an attempt to make her classes accessible for all, Shana noticed the lack of pre-natal education on offer during her Vinyasa training, so embarked on a specialist Pregnancy Yoga course and hasn’t looked back since. Falling in love with the restorative nature of pre-natal yoga, Shana’s interest in pregnancy has opened her eyes to the miracles of the human body.

Supporting the ongoing physical and emotional changes during pregnancy, Shana offers a gentle grounding practice, through using calming sequences and breath work, aiding women through all trimesters.

Raj Bual - Hatha Yoga

Raj is a yoga and meditation teacher. He came across Yoga many years ago especially as it was part of his upbringing and culture however he choose to ignore it and push it away and you know what they say what you resist persists! Fortunately for Raj a traumatic event set him down the path of Jnana Yoga (The path of knowledge / Union by Knowledge) following the works of Sri Ramana Maharishi, Sri Nisargadatta Maharaj and the classical yogic texts such as the Upanishad, the Bhagavad Gita and my personal favourite the Ashtavakra Gita. 

He spent 6 months travelling around Asia learning from great teachers about the true essence of Yoga. This included training in Meditation, Pranayama, Asana and Mantra chanting. This transformed his life and allowed him to deepen his practice. 

Having experienced the power of Yoga first hand, Raj decided to become a teacher to pass on what he had learnt to help those struggling. With this new found purpose and passion, Raj had the privilege of teaching in India at a Yoga School, an Ashram in Nepal and a beautiful resort on the island of Gili Air. 

Raj also has a podcast under the name of ‘Walk To Life’ on Soundcloud, Spotify and Apple Podcast which covers various different themes around mental health and spirituality.