Oksana is a qualified Yoga teacher (500RYT) and Pilates Mat and Reformer instructor. Her yoga journey started in 2004. Over the past number of years she was practicing a variety of a Yoga styles (Ashtanga, Hatha, Vinyasa, Iyengar, Yin). She completed 500-hour Yoga Teacher Training with Yoga Therapy Ireland and has also completed training in Yin Yoga. Her first experience with Pilates was at a mat class at the local gym in 2014. “I knew that the benefits of Pilates go far beyond simple core strength and flexibility, but in my first class I was mostly frustrated. In order to understand and fully benefit from Pilates, you must understand both the concepts and the principles and feel them in your body. I have a keen interest in understanding how things work, and that is why I decided to train as a Pilates teacher to get to the bottom of my frustration. The more I learned about Pilates the more I fell in love with it”. She likes to bring a bit of yoga into her Pilates classes and visa versa. “Yoga and Pilates - the two together can be very powerful for the body and the mind. The strength and flexibility exercises of a yoga class and core strengthening of Pilates - the combination of both helps you to achieve a strong, flexible body and gives you sense of well-being. Yoga is a full body experience. Pilates strengthens your core. And when we have a stronger core, we can do more in our yoga practice. When we learn how to engage specific muscles in Pilates, we can use that to strengthen our yoga flows, and when we learn breathing and mindfulness in yoga, we can bring that into a challenging Pilates class”. Her classes are challenging, creative, but safe. She encourages students to focus on their own progress, to listen to their body and enjoy