The French Riviera is a playground for the sports enthusiasts in your life. During the summer season, there are plenty of water sports activities in Nice, of course! What better way to cool off and keep fit at the same time! Between a paddle at Plage des ondes, a snorkelling session in the calanque of Saint Barthélémy or a little wakeboarding in Hyère, you won’t know which way to turn here.
If there’s one activity that stands out from the crowd at the moment, it’s yoga! What better region than Nice and the Côte d’Azur to practise this gentle activity by the sea at sunrise? That’s what the incredible Marie Blanchet, better known as @a.yoga.story on Instagram, is offering. A yoga teacher in Nice for 5 years, her classes by the seaside at sunrise or at the Château de Nice are always fully booked, with Tibetan bowls, background music, sage… everything you need for an hour of total relaxation.
I went to meet her to find out more about her background, her vision of yoga, the advice she has to pass on… She tells us all about it below:
1. Can you introduce yourself?
My name’s Marie, I’m from Nice and I’ve been teaching yoga for 6 years
2. What did you do before becoming a yoga teacher in Nice?
I worked for eight years in London in the nightlife industry: restaurants, nightclubs, etc. I landed there when I was 19. As for yoga, I discovered it in London and then I did my YTT (yoga training teacher) in India. Then I went back to France where I continued to work a bit in the nightlife world in Cannes. What I was doing before was nothing like what I’m doing now 🙂
3. What has yoga given you?
Yoga has given me an enormous sense of well-being. Working in the night world, I was a very stressed person, with a lot of anxiety, I had a lot of demons inside me… When I discovered yoga, it helped me to calm down, to reconnect with my body, a connection I’d never known before. In general, it’s done me a lot of good physically and mentally and I wanted to share it and teach it to people who need it. Yoga has given me a purpose in life, which is to share.
4. Why did you choose Nice to teach it?
After eight years in London, I decided to come back to Nice because my whole family is here and secondly, I really missed the climate, the sea and the sun, and Nice is the perfect town to teach ‘wild’ or ‘nomadic’ yoga, i.e. outdoor yoga. The climate is perfect, it rarely rains and there are some really nice little spots.
5. What are your favourite spots for practising ‘wild’ yoga in Nice?
In winter, I offer classes at the château, on the beach and at the Nice lighthouse. And in summer, I’d add the Parc Vigier, which is a really nice little neighbourhood park in the shade.
6. Is yoga popular with the people of Nice?
Well, having started teaching before the pandemic, I saw a REAL difference after the pandemic. There was a real need to reconnect with oneself. In fact, a number of people trained to meet the growing demand, so sharing the teachings of yoga is great. Thanks to the pandemic for that!
7. What advice would you give to someone who wants to try yoga?
My first piece of advice would be to start with a private class because the teacher will have the time to explain the concepts of yoga and the basic positions to the practitioner. The teacher will also have more time to devote to improving the posture. Whereas in a class open to everyone, things move much more quickly, there are names in Sanskrit that can be incomprehensible at the time… It can quickly be discouraging if you don’t move at the same pace as the others.
8. What advice would you give to someone who is looking for guidance? Can yoga be a good way of finding yourself?
We all search for ourselves at some point in our lives, we grow and evolve, we try to understand ourselves. I think the most important thing is to learn to listen to yourself, to your body, to your intuition, to know what you need. And yoga helps a lot because you learn to listen to your body and get to know yourself. Thank you Marie for this superb exchange!
You can book a class with Marie on her website or contact her directly via her instagram account or via whatsapp at 06 44 90 58 82
Before leaving you, here is a wonderful video I have realized with Marie last Summer 2022
Namaste! 🙏🧘
