Ella, the woman behind Ella Yoga, is a colourful character who experienced first hand how yoga can transform your life. Ten years ago she gave up her carrier as a successful marketing manager to devote herself to Yoga.

Her mission at Ella Yoga is to provide a place where the people of Tel Aviv can enjoy a peaceful hour in the midst of hectic urban life. She also wanted to enable people to try different disciplines of yoga and choose the one that best suits them.

Cleanliness is next to Godliness
At Ella Yoga there are three spacious yoga studios with lots of props and equipment available. The studios are spacious and light and the changing rooms are of a decent size. The whole place is clean and drenched in sunshine and the sizeable windows offer views of the promenade and the sea. A friendly receptionist greets you upon arrival. The facilities are actually ideal.

You Name it, We Teach it
The most impressive thing about Ella Yoga is the schedule. There is Ashtanga, Iyengar, Sivananda, Vinyasa, Kundalini, yoga for children, yoga for babies, yoga for senior citizens and yoga for women. I am also personally curious about the active meditation, which I saw taking place when I was at the port one evening. It seemed to be an Osho dynamic meditation. I am already aware that there are places to take part in such classes, but they aren’t promoted to the general public as well as at Ella Yoga.

On the website brief video guides describe the styles to people who are trying to decide what the go for. You can also book your place in a class online. There is literally something for everybody at Ella Yoga and every teacher seems to be free to teach in accordance with their individual style.

I took a class with Sami, who was actually replacing another teacher, and who’s voice is probably as deep as Barry White’s. The class was Ashtanga level 1-2 and perhaps I would expect something a little more dynamic at that level. The number of postures were cut short in favour of taking time to address details and including some partner work at the end. Partner work isn’t everyone’s cup of tea as some may be sensitive to sweat sharing or reluctant to trust people to hold their weight. It is also not the regular end to a traditional ashtanga vinyasa class, but as a one off I thought it was educational.

Very Clever and Very Helpful
Ella hasn’t only done her community a favour by providing such an accessible place to practice, her experience in marketing shines through in her business. It has a broad appeal, to all age groups and people of all levels of experience. It is approachable and draws positive attention to itself from outside and from the website. Her concept is quite simply fabulous as she is really bringing yoga to the masses. When something comes in a certain packaging it draws in those who may otherwise consider themselves unable or too unfit. Ella has packaged yoga in such a way that it can appeal to anyone.

There are an array of offers and different price ranges:

You can chose to walk in on occasion without any commitment and then a class will set you back 80 shekels.

A trial class is 25 shekels and then you can chose to sign up for 6 months or 1 year unlimited (330 shekels per month).

You can also choose to buy 25 classes (at 60 shekels each) or 50 classes (at 50 shekels each).

Ella Yoga
Tel Aviv Port
Hangar #4