Fini les Vacances ! The Holidays Are Over !

I imagine that you all enjoyed your summer, I know that I did. Well its back to Paris and back to the wonderful world of Yoga Fitness & Dance. Not like I ever really stopped being active over the holidays. The benefits of having a healthy lifestyle is having a healthy body. My summer was spent waking up early & enjoying the stillness of Sunrise on empty beaches & waking countryside. The older I get the more I love waking up early to greet the new day. Ahhh the joy of peaceful breakfasts , long walks , dawn bike rides , & outdoor Yoga.
Well September is here & I am excited to catch up with friends & make new ones. I am full of energy and good intentions , I hope that you are too.
Hope to see you soon.

• Mondays - NEW CLASS

YOGA @ 9h15 (60 minutes)
Studio de danse Irina Grjebina
11 rue Jules Chaplain 75006 Paris
From the 13th of September

•Mondays - NEW CLASS
Body Coaching @ 18H (60 minutes)
Centre de Danse d'Alesia
119 Av. du General Leclerc 75014
From the 6th of September


• Wednesdays
Step & Danse @ 20H (60 minutes)
Centre de Danse d'Alesia
119 Av. du General Leclerc 75014
From the 8th of September

• Thursdays

Body Coaching @ 9H30 ( 45 minutes)
Yoga @ 10H20 (70 minutes)
École de Danse Dominique et Janine Solane
1 rue de la Grande Chaumiere 75006
From the 9th of September

• Sundays
Step & Danse 17H30 @ ( 60 minutes)
Centre de Danse d'Alesia
119 Av. du General Leclerc 75014
From the 5th of September

Exceptionellement : il n'y aura pas de cours le 12 Septembre
Sorry there will not be a class on the 12th of September.

If you are interested you are more than welcome to join in a group class or contact me. You can also become my friend on Facebook & even join my Page YogaFitness.fr

For you expats or those of you who want to improve your foreign language skills the classes are in English and in French.

Learning Yoga poses

Yoga is the art of non violence, non violence against others and yourself. Non violence in your actions in words and even in your thoughts. For me, non violence is the most important and profound lesson in the practice of Yoga . Please keep this sense of peacefulness in mind when you find yourself struggling to get into a Yoga pose. We come to Yoga not to stress ourselves out about doing a 'picture perfect pose' we come to Yoga to release tension and to be in a state of love. Of course it is important to try all the poses. I often tell my students ( even the advanced ones ) to " try not to try so hard."

Yoga is about patience, study, perserverance and acceptance.

Yoga has sadly become an Industry where more often than not the media uses only images of body beautiful Fitness models or teachers doing fabulously difficult poses. I call this 'Glamour Yoga' . Real Yoga is quite different. Real Yoga is about people of all shapes , ages and sizes over coming physical and mental blocages. Its about gracefully falling and getting back up again and trying again until one day , maybe after weeks , months or maybe years that 'difficult posture' is'nt so difficult after all.

Real Yoga is a wonderfully long journey. Along the way we may come across dead ends, round abouts, blocages and difficult situations. Real Yoga is not about performance nor perfect alignment , these are mearly superficial physical elements .Yes a regular Yoga practice will help us become healthier, more flexible and stronger yet if all the aspects of Yoga are sincerely practiced we also become more peaceful , kinder and more accepting. We learn how to be more self -accepting and how to calmly go with the flow. As the branches of a tree sway in the wind we also should learn how to calmly surrender while holding our ground.

All those years back when I first began learning Yoga I saw it as a physical challenge, as a sport. I huffed and I puffed but I kept falling down. I now realise that Yoga is a life lesson . Just between you and me I still have quite a few postures that I still can not do. I have accepted the fact that for now some things are just beyond my reach. However now I am more loving to myself . I no longer grit my teeth and hurt myself or my ever diminishing ego. Now I simply try the poses with a smile in my heart and with my fingers crossed ;)

Be kind to yourself and keep on trying , the journey is long.

I am a qualified Yoga teacher in Paris who speaks both English and French. I am available for Private Coaching in small or large groups for enterprises, at Home, in The Garden and in a Private Dance Studio. If you are interested you are more than welcome to join in a group class or contact me. You can also become my friend on Facebook & even join my Page YogaFitness.fr

For you expats or those of you who want to improve your foreign language skills the classes are in English and in French.

Step & Danse - Back to the 80's - en Septembre !

This tongue in cheek trimester brings us back to the glory days of exercise. The 1980's. When the Fitness craze had us all excitedly squeezing in to garishly bright lycra leotards and sporting legwarmers with matching head bands. The lastest music was synthesized pop and the energy in the dance studios was heart pounding. Gyms were springing up everywhere. They were full of eager bodies all of them wanting to be 'Perfect' ('Perfect' the cult film about an journalist and Aerobics teacher starring John Travolta and Jamie Lee Curtis)

Everybody was 'Going for the burn', ' Pumping up', 'Slimming down ,' 'Cutting up, ' and 'WORKING OUT'

I began teaching Exercise to music in 1988 for the YMCA. Over 2 decades later well alot has changed. We now have a deeper understanding and respect for the body and its limits. Repetitive jumping ,High Impact and Contre Indicative movements are now a thing of the past, in my classes ,at least! Since the 1980's the baby boomers have aged and the Fitness Industry followed suite by becoming more holistic . We all evolved , along with our chorégraphy and fashion sense. We even replaced our beloved collection of cassettes with CD's and Mp3's !

I don't know yet if I will be showing up for class this trimester dressed in a tight Lycra leotard but thankfully after all these years of Fitness I still could if I wanted to.

I introduced the Step into my Dance classes back in the 1990's to maximise the fat burning effects of the sessions. It was so effective and such a fun hybrid that I have kept teaching it . The Step is used to increase the effort which enables the tempo of the music to be slower than a typical Zumba or Aerobics class . As the Step & Dance classes are mainly low impact it is therefore also safer for the articulations than most other forms of Cardio training whilst ensuring that the body is in its Fat burning zone..
So come on are you ready to enjoy this physical and amusingly retro trimester.

Olivia Newton John Lets Get Physical

Step & Danse style 1980's
Wednesdays @ 20h
Sundays @ 17h30
Centre de Danse d'Alesia
119 Av. du General Leclerc 75014

From Septembre.

Expats in Paris - Yoga Fitness & Dance in English

It has been 9 years now since I arrived in Paris. I had been a British Expat in America before moving to France for about the same amount of time. There are many differences between my 2 Expat experiences . Of course it took a lot longer to make friends and to feel at home here in Paris as I did not speak French when I arrived . It took longer than I would care to mention to figure out how to pronounce even the simplest of street names and Metro stations. Where as it took just a few months to feel at home in the US of A. Bagel in one hand and the New York subway map in the other.
Even after so many years in France I am still a tad nervous when I go to the hairdressers espeacially when the scissors come out and I just hope that I correctly expressed myself. My French is pretty good now to say that I somehow never 'had the time' to go to a language school & study.
Who in their right mind would want to suffer for hours, learning all that grammar when there is so much more FUN Things to do in Paris ?'
If only those French language books where as interesting as reading the menus in the Cafés and the Restaurants I would have a degree in French literature by now and not a few extra cute kilos !!!!
I teach Yoga Fitness Step & Dance in Paris. I first decided to write this blog so that my French clients could understand me better. I have been teaching all my classes in French now for 8 years yet I thought that this (French) blog would help to bring us even closer together . That it would put us all on the same page ! I had the intention to write a new article each week in French so that I could fully express myself. It took me a few days to sadly realise that no matter how hard I tried , it is just easier to communicate in English. I began to post more and more in my own language. (Note to myself- POST this article in French Melanie)
Well it's been a few months now that my French/English blog has been out there online. The more I write in French the more I improve yet the more I truely prefer to keep to my own tongue. I have even begun to ask myself the question
'Has speaking French for so long actually diminished my ability to speak in my native language? '
So I came to the conclusion that I will now teach some of my classes in English. I am sure that my French clients will enjoy exercising their language skills at the same time as they exercise their bodies and maybe I will get lucky & have a few Expats in my classes. As a teacher it is normal to have to repeat oneselves so I will make the classes in both French & English . This way everybody gets to learn their Left from their Right & leur Gauche de leur Droite. I shall call the classes 'Gymglish'.
If you are an Expat in Paris & you want to workout in French &/ or English, well here are the details of my classes.
I do love living in Paris. The French are friendly if you give them a chance. Most of them do speak English which is wonderful until you realise that they would rather practice their English than have to patiently wait while trying to understand what you are saying in your terrible foreign accent.
Enjoy your time here in France whether you are here just for a short period of time or you are here for good. I will try to keep up to date on the 'Fun Things to do in Paris' and share my insiders tips. I hope that you also find my blog useful.
As Madonna said " Express yourself don't repress yourself"
A Bientot .......


I am a qualified Yoga & Fitness Instructor here in Paris. I am available for Personal Training in small or large groups at Home, in The Garden , & in a Private Dance Studio.

If you are interested you are more than welcome to join in a Group Class or Contact me. You can also become my friend on Facebook & even join my Page YogaFitness.fr

Body Coaching in Paris

'Body Coaching' is a Fitness program that is available for group classes & for Private Coaching. The focus is on getting into better shape , staying fit, improving muscle tone, coordination and endurance. A typical class will globally work the entire body yet each Fitness session will focus on certain muscle groupes. Examples of such classes are " Hips, Tums & Bums", "Chest, Wings & Thighs", " Sexy Back & Stomach" " Fat Burning" etc ....

Body Coaching intelligently incorparates elements of Pilates, Yoga, Fitness and Dance to form a Fitness program that is effective, safe and pleasurable to do.

Depending on which class you choose a few simple Dance mouvements are placed into the first section of the session to both warm up the body & to burn extra calories. We use this time to have fun, release stress, enjoy the music and to let go. The group classes are open to all levels as the movements are fluid and easy to follow and the exercises are progressive and adapted to the physical abilities of each individual.

" We have so much fun with Melanie that sometimes I forget that I am working out, but the proof that I am exercising is that I now fit into my old jeans "

Pleasure is an essential ingredient to an effective Fitness program, this is why the musical styles and ambiance changes for every trimester. Here are a few examples of the variety of styles of Body Coaching classes and trimesters ;

Body Coaching style 'Burlesque'

Body Coaching style ' Modern Jazz'

Body Coaching & Danse style 'Jazz'

Body Coaching style 'Dance Oriental'

I am a qualified Fitness Instructor here in Paris. I am available for Personal Training in small or large groups at Home, in The Garden , & in a Private Dance Studio.

If you are interested you are more than welcome to join in a Group Class or Contact me. You can also become my friend on Facebook & even join my Page YogaFitness.fr

For you expats or those of you who want to improve your foreign language skills the classes of Body Coaching are in English and in French.

Paris Summer Festival - Festival d'été à Paris

En tant qu' expatriée Anglaise vivant a Paris, je dois admettre (si j'ose) que j'adore cette ville en été.
Les parisiens etant , en grand nombre, partis, les rues laissent place aux touristes emerveillés "Ohhhh les bonnes Baguettes", "Mais quel Fromage !!"Hmmmm le vin..." "Olala, c'est Romantique !"

Une fois de plus, le Festival Paris Quartier d'Ete ouvre ses portes pour la 20e édition, du 15 juillet au 9 aout.
Danse, Theatre, Musique, Culture et Fun animront toute la Capitale. Parfois Gratuit :) Parfois pas...
L'un des concerts qui me semblent le plus Coloré et Vivant est Oquestrada, un groupe Portugais plein de joie et de Swing. A bientot dans le jardin du Luxembourg pour ce concert !

As a British expat living here in Paris I must admit ( if I dare) to loving this city in the summertime. The Parisians flee from the Capital as they rightly merit, leaving the space to be half filled with open eyed and appreaciative tourists. "Ohhhh the bread", "ahhh the cheese", "mmmm the wine oh la la the romance".

Once again the Festival Paris Quartier d'Ete is upon us for it's 20th edition from the 15 July to the 9 August. Throughout the Capital there is Dance, Theatre , Music ,Culture and FUN to be had. Some of it's free some of it is not. One of the free concerts that looks delightfully colourful is Oquestrada a Portuguese group full of joy and swing. See you there in the Luxembourg garden for this concert !

Melt your Heart Blow your mind World Tour in Paris the 4th of July

What Jerry Garcia was to music, John Friend is to Yoga. He comes across as that enlightened surfer dude you wished you had befriended . The workshop that I have just finished in Paris was my first time with John . I have never giggled so much on my Yoga mat. John is quite simply a one man show in Spandex®.
For all those searching for a modern day Rock n Roll Guru I would say that he fits the bill (& Ted). He is an an auspicious dude. I look forward to our next adventure together. What I gathered from the 2 day event was the need for us all to unite to make our communities and world a more caring and joyous place.
Infact thinking about it, there are many similarities with the Anusara Tour and those of The Grateful Dead Shows. This Amercain Yogi also grooved me and at the end of our Yoga session as with the Dead shows I walked home with more love and freedom in my heart. Both the Yoga and the Dead concerts did actually melt my heart and blow my mind.
I had experienced that very same feeling many years ago after my first Grateful Dead concert. I had spent my time with kind peaceful people, my body was shaking and I was HIGH.
Only this time around I was high just from shakti ;-)

Be excellent to each other. Quote from Bill S.Preson, Esq.