Walking into the SooYoga studio in Northampon’s Sol Centre is a breath of fresh air for all things health, wellbeing and fitness. The moment that Kristina Rihanoff enters the room it’s literally impossible not to smile for the pure warmth, energy and enthusiasm that she emits and I couldn’t wait to participate in her yoga TRX class.
The Yoga TRX programme was just the challenge that I’ve been looking for to kick off an active and productive morning after a delicious oat milk flat white at their Soo Greens cafe. SooYoga offer many varieties of yoga from vigorous styles to increase fitness like Hot Yoga, Ashtanga and Vinyasa to more gentle styles like Hatha, Yin, Yoga Nidra and meditation classes. They also specialise inpregnancy yoga, mother and baby yoga, reformative, anti-gravity, chair and children along with family and individual sessions to name but a few – there’s something for everyone.
Yoga is a fantastic way to reduce anxiety, improve cardiovascular ability, increase flexibility, wellbeing, build muscles, burn calories and balance the mind and body which can benefit all ages and abilities. Sometimes I enjoy a peaceful restorative yoga session and meditation at the end of the day and other times I like to sweat, shake and get my heart racing, so their TRX yoga programme really appealed to me as it’s something that I’ve never tried before and looked like a fantastic physical challenge.
With her husband, rubgy star Ben Cohen, Kristina created SooYoga which is a unique class-based fitness centre in Northampton that adopts a holistic approach to wellbeing offering an extensive range of classes including all styles of yoga, reformer Pilates, dance, cycling, spin, Hiit and meditation with an exclusive onsite creche facility, Soo Greens café and free parking to support and enable all members, and families, to prioritise their physical and mental health.
Kristina Rihanoff is a world finalist professional ballroom dancer, instructor, choreographer, author and mother. She has a degree in Tourism and Hospitality and studied with the St Petersburg Branch of Modern Humanitarian Academy. With so many triumphs in life, her welcoming and down to earth approach gives her the ability to put others completely at ease and made my introduction to her TRX yoga such an enjoyable and memorable experience that I thoroughly recommend to all abilities.
A modern twist on the traditional style of mat-based yoga, TRX is a form of suspension training which uses suspended straps that hang from the ceiling to allow you to work against your own body weight. When combined with yoga it deepens stretches and boosts the demand on your muscles which left me feeling so satisfyingly pumped, stretched and flexed much like after a gym session but a hundred times more fun along with flexibility and core stability – it’s an all-in-one workout that can be modified and adapted to suit every individual.
The fully booked class was 45mins in duration and progressed through a range of stretches to pulsing, resistance training and heart racing poses that had me smiling through my postures and feeling so energetically enthusiastic to return.
It was so wonderful to meet a class of kind, welcoming and like-minded yoga enthusiasts of all abilities and try something new. I’ve been a fan of yoga since I first began taking classes at the age of 17yrs and didn’t think that it was possible to love it anymore than I already do; SooYoga’s TRX class took yoga to a whole new level for me and instructor Kristina was incredibly professional, knowledgable, motivating and inspiring throughout. I cannot wait for my next class!
www.sooyoga.com
Instagram: @sooyogauk
SooYoga, Sol Centre, Mare Fair, Northampton NN1 1SR