Mara Konstantinidi

''γυμναζεις'' νου σωμα ψυχη ...φευγεις με ενα ωραιο μεγαλο χαμογελο και περιμενεις την επομενη φορα που θα σε βολεψει ωστε να το ξαναζησεις !!!! ευχαριστω μαρα :-)

Mara's classes are rather spiritual than sober and rather demonstrating than explaining. Nevertheless, she has been watching, correcting and helping her students throughout the practices.

The accommodations were clean and convenient, and the daily schedule offered facultative activities, such as hiking, swimming or Chora walks in addition to one yoga class a day. The retreat fully fulfilled my expectations according to how it was offered and described on bookyogaretreats.com.

I would definitely join one of Mara's upcoming journeys or intensive yoga weekends again.

It was a pleasure to meet Mara and her husband - very friendly, open-minded and loving people. Although we did not join the entire retreat, we had fun hiking with them + doing three Yoga classes with Mara. I thought it might have been quite challenging for Mara to find the right level for all students as the yoga level of each student was very different. Nevertheless, I really liked the scenic locations (winery, platforms with sea view) and the Yoga lessons were adapted to the different levels of each student - there was room to go further if you were able too. She engaged people to work on the posture and was assisting to please everybody the same way. The entire island hopping meant to be a combination of holidays and yoga - well done. Love to you, dear Mara!

Mara's uninspired style of teaching seems to be a spontaneous combination of contemporary dance-, warm up- and stretching moves with long non-guided "meditation" sequences, two Pranayama exercises (which were exactly the same in every lesson), 2-3 (!) Shavasanas and a very small amount of further asanas.
There was not such a thing like what I'd rather call a Yoga lesson: a chain of diverse asanas eventually combined with meditation, pranayama, spiritual ideas/ impulses beneath the roof of a specific topic for the current lesson.

During the classes with the exception of 'Shavasana' and 'Triconasana' no posture was called with its proper name (neither in English nor in Sanskrit). Instead we had to cope with lengthy explanations of movements/ postures in deficient English so that we were only able to follow the lesson by watching and imitating the teacher.
The only breathing advices we got during the whole week were "breath normally"/ "breath slowly"/ "calm down your breath" whereas we haven't been encouraged to breath Ujai once!

Furthermore did the classes lack corrections, different options for different bodys and explanations of asanas and their meaning. Another problem was that there were no props like blocks available, which made the long sitting sequences unbearable for many of the participants.

Outside the classes no exchange of experiences (neither with yoga or with life in general) was initiated and no feedback concerning the yoga lessons or the organization was requested. The only important thing for Mara and her husband seemed to be the posing for as many nice instagram and Facebook pictures as possible to promote their business. (I thought yoga was about learning to put the ego aside?)

The health form we had to fill in was also not recognized. One participant e.g. suffered of gluten and lactose intolerance which in the end was not considered in the organization at all. So basically the participant paid for not suitable food and had to be driven to a village to buy gluten free bread additionally.

I cannot recommend this extremely overpriced vacation or Mara as a yoga teacher!

Very self-centered individual who focuses solely on her own image and advertises it well via taking pictures and constant posts on social media. I really wish I could say something positive about her style, but I haven't found anything - except if you are looking for a commercial stretch and a pretty body in front of you. It makes me very sad to see such a lack of understanding of the essence of yoga practice when someone's ego takes over humility and self-awareness.

After every practice, I would leave in a state of awareness, peace, inner balance and always with a big smile on my face, feeling proud of myself, of what I have achieved, all thanks to my wonderful teacher. Even though the practice is group-based, Mara makes sure her guidance is individualised, she knows our needs, our limits, and she sets new targets for each one of her students, expanding our mind/body horizons! She is an inspiration as a yoga teacher and as a person to me.