Hello - I am Joanna Vladescu, co-founder of Alpha Yoga School. I specialize in intelligent sequencing (aka putting a class together that makes sense, is balanced, and prepares you for what is coming), teaching skills, and helping you deepen your practice. My core philosophy when it comes to yoga teacher training is this:
A yoga teacher training is a yoga education.
Once we get this part right, results follow. And while other yoga schools are proud of the number of their students, we are proud of the quality of our students.
Before becoming a yoga teacher and running Alpha Yoga, I worked as an account manager in a total facility management company. Yawn! Now, you will find me traveling, practicing yoga, and cooking, all while leading yoga courses, improving the curriculum and manuals, and posting on Instagram. If you want to follow me, go here. While I enjoy posting on Instagram, I share most of my knowledge in the newsletters. They are a bit rare but worth reading. You can sign up here.
My top blogs:
If you're new here, here are a few places to start:
Yoga related:
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9 Styles of Yoga Explained
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Difference between Ashtanga Yoga and Vinyasa Yoga
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How to practice yoga off the mat
Yoga Teacher Training:
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How to choose the right Yoga Teacher Training for you
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Reasons (excuses) not to take Yoga Teacher Training
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Chiara's experience in our 200hrs Yoga Teacher Training
For Yoga Teachers:
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How to make money as a Yoga Teacher in 2025
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9 Hindu Gods every Yoga Teacher should know
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How to do a headstand: step-by-step guide
My story:
I started doing yoga at the gym next to my house in Athens, Greece, around 2007. I was practicing Vinyasa Yoga regularly, loving the teacher and his classes. I did my first headstand with that teacher, and soon, I started to see the benefits of regular practice.
One day, to my biggest disappointment, the teacher announced that he would stop working at that gym. I was so devastated. I was losing my first yoga teacher, my favorite teacher; how could that be? I was shocked at why he would leave us..... I had to accept it, and so I started to look for another yoga teacher/studio. I asked myself, "How hard could it be to find another great teacher?"
Well, I have to tell you that it was hard. I searched and tried different teachers, but their classes were boring and not challenging. I wasted a lot of time. All this process made me wonder: Are these teachers real yoga teachers? Why aren't their classes like the other classes I did and loved?
One day, as I kept searching for the perfect yoga class and teacher, I walked into an Ashtanga Yoga studio. The teacher was not guiding the class, and the students were doing the poses on their own. The teacher was there to give them personal feedback and hands-on adjustments. There was no music; wait, there was music: our breath.
I fell in love with Ashtanga Yoga on the spot and never looked back. I love the consistency, the discipline, and the repetition. By the way, I still practice Ashtanga Yoga. That's why Martin and I have included Ashtanga Yoga in our 200-hour yoga teacher training courses. It's the only style of yoga that deepens your practice and changes your lifestyle.
Once you start practicing Ashtanga, you adapt your lifestyle so that it suits your yoga practice, not the other way around. In other styles: "Oh, I'm a bit tired today, so I will practice for 15 minutes." It doesn't go like that in the Ashtanga Yoga. You don't practice by counting the time. In Ashtanga Yoga, you say: I will practice only Sun Salutations, or I will do only the standing postures or half of the sequence.
When I ask people who practice other styles of yoga how many years they have been doing yoga asanas, and they say 10 years, IT MEANS NOTHING. Why? Because there are many yoga teachers out there who put random postures in a random order and call it a yoga class. Students go to these classes and don't even notice they don't make progress. If there's one thing that makes people happy, it's PROGRESS!
That's why both in the 200hr and 300hr yoga courses, we put a lot of emphasis on how to create an intelligent class, how to teach it, how to cue it, how to demonstrate, and how to offer options for different levels. By the way, any yoga class with more than one person is a mixed-level class.
I joined forces with Martin in 2018 (how we met is another story, very romantic), and we put together a 200hour YTT that includes everything a 200hr YTT should include.
Our non-negotiable values are integrity, purpose, contribution, and honesty. Oh, and we are clear about our offerings and believe clarity is power. We collaborate only with experienced yoga teachers and support our students through their yoga teacher training. Other yoga schools call it a yoga journey. We call it a yoga education and, at the same time, a journey to the self.
What you'll find me teaching:
During the 200-hour yoga teacher training courses, I teach Vinyasa classes that will take your practice to the next level each time you enter my class. The intelligent sequences I focus on and precise verbal and hands-on adjustments will show you what your mental and physical body is capable of. Redefine what you thought was possible 🙂
In the teaching skills module that I also teach, I show you how to become a teacher. I share all my knowledge and experience so that you can become an amazing yoga instructor yourself. Most students who join the training without wanting to become teachers often say that after my teaching skills classes, they feel ready and confident to start teaching because they learned so much.
Hope to see you on the mat!
More details about my yoga training courses:
Who is my favorite teacher? My experience on the mat.
Since 2009, I have completed workshops and advanced studies with first-generation teachers of the Ashtanga Vinyasa lineage, including Manju Jois, David Swenson, Eddie Stern, Laruga Glaser, Kristina Karitinou, Rolf Naujokat, and David Garrigues.
I completed two teacher training courses in Ashtanga Yoga and an advanced 300-hour course in Vinyasa Yoga.
I completed a one-week 50-hour Advanced Vinyasa Teacher Tune-up course with Noah Maze and a one-week course with David Swenson.
Even though I am a teacher, I am mainly a student. I am a firm believer in the saying, "What I don't know is more than I know."
Since 2015, I have taught in 50+ yoga teacher trainings.
By Yoga Alliance, I am a 500-hour Experienced Registered Yoga Teacher. (These are just numbers). I also know Thai massage and have a degree in Economics from the University of Athens.
