Marleen Chinowski

From a trained lawyer to surfing yoga instructor: a passion for yoga, surfing, the sun and the sea, drew Marleen last year from Dusseldorf to the entire world.

Five years ago, during her law studies, she attended her first vinyasa yoga session in search of relaxation and balance, and she was fascinated by the intense impact it had on body and mind. “Yoga turned my life upside down. It might sound like a cliché, but I am sure that my yoga practice made me the more happy, open, and positive woman that I am today. It strengthened my self-confidence and led me to accept and to love both my strengths and my weaknesses. The combination of physical workout, deep stretching, pranayama, and a total relaxation of the body can give you power, rest, positivity, and a sense of balance in your everyday life, and this is what I would like to share in my yoga sessions with my yogis. In our everyday life, we are too frequently subject to perfection and the pressure to perform, so in my yoga sessions I try to create a space for acceptance and self-love free of judgement and ego, where my students can listen to the physical needs and feelings and accept them.”

Two years ago, Marleen discovered her love of surfing and has since then combined surfing and yoga in her life in Sri Lanka. “Both, yoga and surfing, led me last year to leave behind my friends, family, and homeland in Germany to travel around the world as a surfing yoga instructor. There is a famous saying that I find quite apt, ‘Everything changes when you enter the water.’ The ocean knows no ego, we are all equal in the water. It is a constant flow that teaches us to be present, down to earth, patient, and attentive. The same is true for yoga and makes the combination of the two so unique.”

Inspired by the power and impact of the ocean, Marleen has since then been creating vinyasa yoga sessions with a focus on flow, building strength, and simultaneously lightness and deep relaxation.