Celebrating twenty years as a yoga instructor, Isabelle Thill was among the first Luxembourgers to set up a commercial studio in the grand duchy in 2008. In 2016, she moved to Cape Town and founded Exhale Yoga in Woodstock in what was then an edgy part of the city. Isabelle also taught yoga for underprivileged teenagers in townships while living in Cape Town.
Now back in Luxembourg, there seems to be a plethora of yoga studios in the grand duchy. As Isabelle says, even though she was only away in South Africa for five years, “everyone seemed to become a yoga teacher” in the meantime.
Isabelle has her own studio--also named Exhale Yoga--in Merl. Besides a schedule of public classes in various styles, she teaches mostly private classes. “Mostly with men, funnily enough.” That has made her more compassionate, she explains. Men who take yoga suffer more, she reckons, because they are not used to the kind of moves required.
A class at Exhale Yoga in Merl Exhale Yoga
“Also I think for western men it has to do with diet and also physique. You know, being tall compared to Asian men who have been on a vegan or vegetarian diet for generations. It really affects your body, and that's not a judgment, simply a fact.”
Isabelle certified as a Jivamukti Yoga teacher in New York, having started with Ashtanga, ”which is really the strongest practice that you can do.” Her first teachers were Denise Pesch and Fredric Bender from Yoga La Source in Luxembourg, whom she says both had a strong influence on choosing the path of yoga. “Many more inspiring teachers all over the world followed.”
I'm open to all styles of yoga because everything, everyone has something to give.”
Jivamukti is more like vegan activism, says Isabelle. “They live what yoga preaches, which is that everyone should be equal. No one should suffer, particularly in regard to animals. Then again, I'm open to all styles of yoga because everything, everyone has something to give.”
Yoga as part of education
Isabelle believes yoga should be part of education because there are so many different aspects to the practice. She thinks teenagers, for example, would benefit from sitting in silence for a while every day. “It’s magic because you find different ways to connect to people in silence.” On the retreats she leads, Isabelle often starts the day with a silent walk. “We get used to filling the void--it sharpens your senses and you get a real feeling for the person who walks next to you or for nature.”
But while there may be a wealth of studios in Luxembourg and several classes focus on fitness--not to mention that several yoga practitioners seem to be very active on Instagram--Isabelle does not want to judge. “You know, there's something for everyone and if there's one thing that I learned in South Africa, it’s that we have more than we need. And that's why I'm so grateful for the life and opportunities I have .”
Indeed, despite the obvious differences between teaching yoga in Luxembourg, Paris (where she was a resident teacher at the Jivamukti school) or Mallorca (where she also teaches on occasion), and South Africa, Isabelle seems to have found contentment. “I do what I love, and it doesn’t really matter where,” she explains.
It was her time in Cape Town that made Isabelle realise that life is precious. “It’s the best thing I’ve ever done, despite the existing crime rates. You live life more fully than when you are in this bubble, afraid of everything. I'm so much happier because I don't feel so much part of this society anymore, in the way that I don’t measure happiness in regards to my material possessions but rather in regards to the people who are precious to me here and in so many other places in the world.”