Teachers

Marzena

Marzena Kierepka has been a practitioner for the last 10 years and Yoga instructor since 2005. She has studied with many prominent teachers in India, such as; the Iyengar family in Pune, Swati and Rajiv Chanchani in Dehradun, and Mr. Rudra in Rishikesh. Marzena trained with Justin Herold in Thailand, as well as the Oasis Centre in London.

She currently travels yearly to Pune in India to study under the Iyengar family, and she completed her Yoga TTC in Bangkok with Justin Herold (March 2009 – June 2011).

Marzena teaches an eclectic mix of Hatha Yoga incorporating Iyengar, Asthanga, Vinyasa and Hatha traditions into her practice. Taking the essence of those styles she creates her unique way which offers the students great benefits and variety. She maintains the balance between mind, body and spirit by including deep breathing exercises and relaxation techniques into her lessons. She believes that Yoga is for everyone regardless of age, sex, lifestyle or ability, and feels it helps us to enjoy life and to be aware of the present moment.

Favourite sentence: “An ounce of practice is better than tons of theory” Swami Sivananda.

Torunn

Torunn started her Yoga and Pilates practice when arriving in Hanoi in 2009. She became fascinated by both practices and loves the combination of the two. As a certified Mid-wife, she was attracted to working with childbirth and pregnancy, so became a Certified Pre-natal Yoga Teacher at the PilateStudio in Bangkok in 2010. Since that moment she has taken great care of our pregnant ladies at Zenith.

Being in constant demand of personal challenge and ever passionate about the understanding of the anatomical body, Torunn completed a 200 hour Iyengar Influenced Yoga Teacher Training Course here in Hanoi in March 2012.

Torunn became a certified Pilates Teacher in May 2012 due to her conviction that both Yoga and Pilates can teach and rehabilitate some of the weakness and injuries of our bodies, mainly caused by incorrect posture and bad habits. She thoroughly enjoys sharing her knowledge and passion for these practices with her students.

Helena Yan

Helena has been trained and certified by Pilates PhysicalMind Institute in May 2012. Not only does she teach Pilates The Method Matwork but also integrates Standing Pilates and POP Pilates into her teaching content.

She had been working in the business field in Brussels before she becomes the Pilates instructor in Vietnam. Nevertheless she regularly participated in fitness training programmes. Pilates is her passion and she wishes to pursue it in a professional way.

She believes that changing brings chance. Standing in front of the mirror. The fact talks. She is convinced that Pilates can change one’s life and make a difference.

Vu Kim Thu

Vu Kim Thu started practicing yoga in 2000 during her enrollment at The School of The Art Institute of Chicago. She fell in love immediately with yoga after her first class and notice the huge difference in body and mind after just an intensive week. Then she decided to study Hatha yoga with Suddha Weixler from Chicago Yoga Center for a few years while he offered his teaching at her art school.

In 2003, Thus practice was deepening in intensive classes at Chicago Moksha Yoga Center. From here, she followed the style of Ana Forrest, Shiva Rea and many other great teachers. In 2006, she travelled to Thailand to study Ashtanga yoga with Paul Dallahan at Yoga Thailand on Koh Samui.

In 2007, a severe back pain injury happened that changed her practice forever. Thu became more interested in yoga therapy, gentle practice and how yoga can play a role as a healing process physically and mentally. This lead her to take the Raja Yoga teacher training with Ron Katwijk at Magic Pond Yoga Center in Seoul, Korea. From here, her practice changed to a meditative and restorative style.

Thu’s favourite quote is; “Practice, practice and all is coming” by Sri K Patthabi Jois.

Emiko

Emiko teaches Yoga classes in Japanese language. She discovered yoga 7 years ago and has been practicing seriously since then. She began by studying traditional Hatha Yoga in 2005 in Japan and Malaysia.

She also studied Iyengar yoga, breathing techniques and Yoga philosophy from Master Parveen Nair at Swarupa Iyengar Yoga Studio in Malaysia from 2007 – 2011.

Wanting to go deeper in her practice and learn how to share this wonderful method, in 2010, she completed a Yoga Teacher Training 200 hours with Yoga Alliance at Yoga Arts in Goa, India.

She is continuing to study many different yoga styles, and also practices meditation.

Emiko enjoys practicing different styles of yoga, however her main focus is Iyengar Yoga. After practicing yoga she feels very satisfied, in her mind and body. Yoga practice brings Emiko a feeling of being balanced and true to herself.

Emiko has a holistic approach to living, from her food to caring for herself and her family.

Tracey

Tracey is originally from Melbourne, Australia, where she first began practicing yoga. In 2005 Tracey moved to Vietnam to become a tour leader with Intrepid Travel and in 2010 completed her Yoga Teacher Training Course with Dominique Renucci at Zenith Yoga Studio.

Now that Tracey is permanently based in Hanoi working full time as a Director of Operations in tourism she can devote her free time to teaching and sharing her passion for yoga.

Vinh

Practicing Kung Fu since he was a young child, Mr Vinh discovered Tai Chi following a knee injury at the age of 20. He was completely unable to practice Kung Fu and was prescribed Tai Chi practice as a healing and recovery method. Tai Chi can help strengthen the muscles, it is gentle and uses circular movements so does not damage the joints.

Mr Vinh enjoys Tai Chi because it helps him to be healthy, strong, calm and more mature. It is a martial art created in the 16th century as a form of self defence, and the movements are based on harmony between yin and yang energies. The key to a successful Tai Chi practice is maintaining the balance of spirit, breathing and movement.

Mr Vinh has been teaching Tai Chi since he was 22, he enjoys teaching a variety of students; from Vietnamese to foreigners and young to older ages. He likes the fact that this form is open to anyone, no matter what age, all it takes is dedication. Practice makes patience and the difference can be life changing.

Nguyen Thanh Thuy

With some inherent health problems from an early age, Thuy began to seek a way of practice to improve physically from doing yoga. Started from 2008, and after some rapid and obvious health improvement, Thuy became more eager with yoga practice, and soon found out that Yoga can also place a much more effective impact on the human’s spirit and mind. Those gentle movements in combination with breath control and meditation have helped her become healthier physically and mentally.

With her long term yoga practice in Vietnam (2008), India (2009- early 2010) and the 200 hour teacher training course with the famous yoga instructor Hart Lazer in Zenith in 2011 and the 100 hour training course with Dominique Renucci 2012, Thuy has gained significant and in-depth understanding of yoga. She is thankful for all the opportunity and aims to continue her passion in yoga practicing with a deeper look and mindset into yoga philosophy, its lifestyle and especially to share with others what she has learnt and gained along the long journey.