Mercedes left her hometown of Buenos Aires at a young age to pursue a ballet career. After graduating from The Royal Ballet School in London, she pirouetted to Amsterdam to join Het Nationale Ballet. A decade of high discipline in pointe shoes was followed by a decade on her feet managing some of Amsterdam’s most demanding restaurants and clubs. Amidst this crazy lifestyle, she was lucky to discover yoga at my local gym, and ever since then her relationship to yoga has been evolving.

She likes to think of practice as a container for self exploration – each breath, each pose is an opportunity to observe myself, to recognize the patterns that keep showing up while opening up to new possibilities. Throughout the years she’s been inspired by different teachers, especially Nancy Gilgoff, Dena Kingsberg, and Andrea Lutz who she is still learning from today.

Mercedes is fascinated by the internal workings of the practice – that which we cannot see. Her classes are, therefore, very much focused around the breath and quality of attention. Sometimes she likes to explain in detail and sometimes she prefers the silence allowing hands-on assists to do the talking. But, in each class, always tuning into the energy of the room and the individual’s need, all while keeping a healthy sense of humor!