The Teachers

Olga Alexiou / Swami Nirvikalpananda Saraswati

The Yoga Studio Maroussi is run by Olga Alexiou / Swami Nirvikalpananda.

She studied Political and Economic Sciences in Thessaloniki, and Education in Mytilini, but her love for yoga drove her to dedicate herself to it exclusively since 1984. That was the year she completed her first round of studies in yoga at the school of the Satyanandashram Greece, where she also began teaching new students.

She has travelled around India, and spent time at the Institute of Advanced Studies in Yogic Sciences, run under the direction of her guru, Swami Niranjanananda. She has also attended international yoga conventions and seminars in numerous European countries and Australia. She founded the Yoga Studio Maroussi in 2002.

As well as running the Yoga Studio, she also writes magazine articles and presents television and radio programmes on yoga (visit the blog for more information). She is the Vice-President of the recently founded Greek Yoga Teachers Association.

Thanos Pappas

Thanos Pappas is a graduate of the Patanjala Yoga Teacher Training of the Yoga Sutra School in Manhattan, New York. He was taught by Christopher Hildebrandt, Carl Horowitz, Guta Hedewig and Sarah Plumer, all of whom studied under Sri Krishna Patthabi Jois and T.K.V. Desikachar.

He has taken part in numerous yoga-related workshops and teacher training seminars in the U.S. and Scotland, led by prominent teachers such as David Williams, David Swenson and Srivatsa Ramaswami.

Katerina Karasmani

Katerina Karasmani trained as a nursery teacher and holds a dance teacher diploma from the Rallou Manou Higher Vocational Dance School in Athens. It was her involvement with dance that inspired her to explore the connection between body and mind, and eventually led her to yoga.

In 2007, she graduated from the Hatha Yoga teacher training school of the Athens Philosophical and Cultural Association, “o didaskalos Cheiron”. Her teaching style is influenced by several seminars on movement that she has attended, and also includes elements of Anuasara, Ashtanga Vinyasa Flow and Ιyengar Yoga.

Fotini Spiliopoulou

Fotini Spiliopoulou first became acquainted with pranic techniques in 1995, initially through Dasira Narada and then through Reiki.

Since 2000, she has been working with Aromatherapy, Bach Flower Remedies, Tachyon, Deep Tissue Massage and Ayurvedic Massage. Her personal need for spiritual development and her interest in the healing exchange of energy led her to attend courses on Personal Coaching and Neuro-linguistic Programming (N.L.P.) at Natural Health Science. She has also trained in Bert Hellinger’s Systemic Constellation method, under Jane Peterson, Schneider and Judith Hemmings.

Fotini keeps up-to-date with new techniques and is always looking for ways to enrich those she’s already practicing.