Eleni was born in Athens a month and a half premature and weighed 2 kilograms. She took her first breath a little bit later than the normal. Through yoga she found her breath again.
In her early adulthood, after a car accident, she was diagnosed with cervical disk herniations. She learned to live with them until pain became unbearable. At that time, in the United Kingdom, she tried yoga for the first time and realized that the body itself can heal pain through exercise, individualized practice and the right alignment.
Eleni is a modern day yogini. She graduated from the Faculty of Political Science in 2003 and continued her studies in Brunel, in London where she completed her Msc in Management (2004-2005). In 2013, she completed a 200h Yoga Teacher Training at NYSY Studios with Vivi Letsou (Anusara Yoga). Since then, she has attended seminars about various Yoga Schools such as Yoga Swings (Aerial Yoga), Yoga Kids (Rainbow Kids Yoga), Vinyasa Flow, Ashtanga(Eddie & Jocelyne Stern) and Bhakti.
Focused on her daily yoga practice, she lives on the island of Tinos with Giovani and their dog Riki. She always dreams of destinations and has an endless thirst for exploration.

The island of Tinos has always been connected with spiritual practices from the mysticism of the ancient Greeks to present day Christianity as every year a pilgrimage takes place on the date of the Dormition of the Virgin Mary. The yearly pilgrimage for which devoted believers make their way to Tinos from all over the world is noteworthy because many of the pilgrims make their way from the port to the church of Panagia Evangelistria - an incredible uphill 800 metres - on their knees to show their devotion.
In antiquity the people of Tinos worshipped Poseidon, god of the sea. The great temple of Poseidon and Amphitrite in the coastal area of Kionia will become a place of worship for several centuries. The shrine becomes a place of purgatory and catharsis for the pilgrims on their way to Delos. The positive energy believed to be derived from this ancient temple was so significant that in the 3rd century BC Tinos was named Holy island by the Athenians.
The idea of yoga is usually connected with Eastern practices despite this the ancient Greeks also explored the mind, spirit and body connection as many of the great Greek philosophers visited India and returned highly influenced by the spiritual practices they encountered.
The Mystery schools of the ancient Greeks were the ones which laid the foundations for mathematics, astronomy, philosophy, the arts, music and the Olympic Games; Socrates, Plato and Pythagoras were initiates. Meditation was used during the Mysteries for spiritual illumination and purification. It was believed that the contact with the transcendent would both purify and awaken them to their true selves. The ancient Greek mathematician Pythagoras compared the body to a lyre and spoke of keeping the instrument well tuned; he believed in the aligning of the body to a larger consciousness. According to several texts Pythagoreans did rigorous physical exercise after which they did meditations. It is a well known fact that the Greeks believed that there could be no health of the mind, unless the body was cared for. A strict vegetarian diet, the recitation of sacred texts and the participation in theatrical performances were also used for the further purification of the inner being. This is the reason why you will notice that in fact every ancient sacred site had a theatre. The ancient Greek writer Sophocles compared the cathartic purging of participation in the plays to the initiation into the Mysteries.
The sacred sites in Tinos and Dilos were used for the catharsis of the soul or even as the ancients sometimes put it for the henosis; the deepest state of meditation otherwise known as samadhi in Sanskrit. Henosis which literally means unity and is derived from the greek word for “one”, but which the ancients used to describe a unitary consciousness. The Platonic Academy in Athens was one of the centres where one could learn how to stabilise the mind. According to several scholars Plato’s Timaeus discusses the Hindu doctrine of the Kundalini.
To know thyself, to have self knowledge or as Heraclitus famously said “I investigate myself” was the enquiry into the working paths of the inner being which concerned many of the ancient Greeks. Many of them went to Tinos for a catharsis of the spirit. The watchful eye of the Xomvourgo mountain standing majestically over Tinos has seen many pilgrims over the centuries come and go. Fire was widely used for catharsis by the pilgrims in Tinos as part of their worship. The evidence to be found carved in the ancient site beneath the awe inspiring mountain - said to be dedicated to the goddess Demeter and her daughter Persephone - shows that pilgrims from around the 11th century BC to the 4th century BC have cleansed their spirit through the burning of fires. This form of purgatory and worship connected to the summer solstice has not managed to die out with Christianity as every year on the 24th June on St Johns day fires are lit all over the island. These purgatorial fires with the addition of therapeutic and aromatic plants pay homage to the ancient tradition of antiquity.
The yoga we will practice in Tinos will embrace the approach used by the people which for thousands of years passed through the beautiful island and cleansed their body and mind. As the father of medicine Hippocrates said: “νους υγιής εν σώματι υγιεί”, a healthy mind means a healthy body.