Team

We are HIGH ON YOGA

Meet the team responsible for your yoga high – we can’t wait to meet you (again)!

Mateusz

Mateusz Iwulski is the co-founder and director of HIGH ON YOGA. He has been working in the field of movement and body work since he was 16 years old. This was also the time he got introduced to yoga through his theatre director, yoga teacher and mentor, Grażyna Tabor, in his home Poland. In 2015, after a joint trip to India along with fellow yoga teacher, Anna Tyc, they founded HIGH ON YOGA as a place to celebrate life and yoga. Currently, Mateusz continues his study on Ashtanga Vinyasa Yoga and follows the 'alternative Ashtanga' tradition by Krishnamacharya's disciple — B.N.S. Iyengar. His vigorous classes offer a rhythmic and challenging practice with a strong guidance. Mateusz gets HIGH ON YOGA when movement, breath, sweat and rhythm unite and get him into a meditation-like trance. Mateusz plays harmonium and is a big mantra fan. Music and dance is his other 'high'.

yoga teacher smiling into the camera

Anita

Dr. Anita Jóri, originally from Budapest, is a vinyasa yoga teacher with more than 10 years experience and a researcher with a PhD in electronic music. After several years of hatha yoga practice, Anita experienced a HIGH ON YOGA moment in her first Ashtanga Vinyasa class: the moment when you reunite with yourself. Practicing and teaching yoga changed Anita's life and her perception of ‘body-mind dualism’ completely. In her creative and vigorous classes, Anita also unites her two passions – yoga and electronic music – through finely selected playlists.

Christina Joy

Christina “Joy” Jaumann started practicing yoga when she moved to Berlin in 2018. Coming from a fast-paced professional environment, asana and meditation practice helped her to slow down and (re)connect to the present moment. For Christina, yoga is an exciting journey to our true selves. Her classes follow a light-hearted and open-minded approach to explore the body, mind and soul. Apart from teaching studio and corporate classes, Christina is working as a marketing professional in the healthcare and wellbeing industry.

Christina’s latest education was the 300 hours Dynamic Vinyasa YTT at HIGH ON YOGA Berlin and the 3-month mentorship program with Mateusz Iwulski.

Marina

Marina Emkuzheva, originally from Moscow, has been living in several countries including the UK, Australia and Italy. Based in Berlin since 2016, Marina is always on the move, always looking for personal growth, self-exploration and connection with others. As a product manager in the busy Berlin startup scene, developing a regular yoga practice helped her to cultivate a sense of equanimity. Marina experienced her most memorable HIGH ON YOGA moment during a retreat in Nepal, where she practiced in the stunning Annapurna mountain range being surrounded by the beauty of nature – the sun on her skin and the fresh mountain air in her lungs. As a student and teacher, Marina always reconnects to this feeling, creating a safe space free from constraints of our past and present circumstances.

Marina’s latest education was the 300 hours Dynamic Vinyasa YTT at HIGH ON YOGA Berlin and the 6-month mentorship program with Mateusz Iwulski.

Kavin

Kavinprakash Madheswaran is from Tamil Nadu in the south of India. He is a Shivananda yoga teacher, architect and content creator, currently pursuing his masters degree in World Heritage Studies in Cottbus and supporting the whole team and studio at the front desk, behind the scenes and behind the camera. Kavin describes himself as a multi-disciplinarian, being excited about people, nature and culture. He has travelled across the Indian landscapes from the Himalayas to the Western Ghats, backpacking, wildlife-photographing, camping, dancing and growing as a person everyday, gratefully. Yoga constantly helps him attain an integrity within, even in the midst of chaos. For Kavin, being HIGH ON YOGA means being high on life.

yoga teacher talking to a yoga student

Maria

Maria Birnbaum is a vinyasa and yin yoga teacher as well as a brand development and social media specialist with a focus on yoga and spirituality-related entrepreneurship. For Maria, yoga is an internal journey of self-discovery, an opportunity to connect with yourself and unite body and mind. The main focus of Maria's classes is body awareness and deep stress release. Being HIGH ON YOGA is not about self-improvement or performing the craziest asanas – it's about listening to what is there when you are quiet, it is about accepting your true self and your body as it is. 

yoga teacher in front of lush greens

Ania

Anna Tyc, co-founder of HIGH ON YOGA, has a multicultural background and comes originally from the vivid capital of Poland, Warsaw. Ania's journey to yoga has started with her first travels through Asia in the late 2000s. Once she moved to Berlin in 2012, yoga started to be her biggest devotion since. With friend and fellow yoga teacher, Mateusz, they founded HIGH ON YOGA in 2015. Currently, Ania lives in Tel Aviv, Israel and Madrid, Spain where she continues teaching here vigorous vinyasa classes, heavily inspired by Ashtanga. Stay tuned for guest classes and retreats with Ania and HIGH ON YOGA.