Carla Ricci

Carla Ricci dedicates her life to practicing, studying and teaching Yoga.

She began practicing Yoga (Iyengar Yoga) in 1985 with her theatre group, Zona Franca, under  the guidance of Rena Mirecka, a collaborator of J. Grotowski.

In 1987 she continued to study under Moreno Lupetti  of the Italian Yoga Federation (FIY)

A free spirit,  researcher and curious character,she discovered Ashtanga Yoga in 1993 organizinga course with the Canadian teacher, Danny Paradise and since then she has never left this practice of Yoga.

It was on this occasion that she met her future teachers:  Lino Miele and Tina Pizzimenti, and with the former organized yoga retreats in Umbria. She continued practicing Ashtanga Yoga under Lino Miele, following him in all of his retreats  and workshops in Italy and in many countries in the North of Europe.

Carla was Lino’s assistant for many years and she is grateful  for his teaching in the traditional  way of  Ashtanga Vinyasa Yoga.

In 1995 she travelled to Kerala in India where she studied with John Scott, Guendoline Hunt, Lino Miele and Tina Pizzimenti before joining Shri K. Pattabhi Jois in Mysore.

She returned to India for a retreat with Lino Miele and in 1997 remained in Kerala studying for a month under the guidance of John Scott.

In 2003 Carla left the school of Lino Miele and dedicated herself to the search for a new point of reference to help her to grow from a philosophical and spiritual point of view and which would help her focus on alignment and awareness in the practice of yoga postures.

Carla has practiced and studied in Rome with Tina Pizzimenti, in Crete with Radha and Pierre and followed several workshops with David Swenson and Shelley Washington and Mark and Joanne Darby.

In 2006 she followed a teacher training course in Vienna with Nancy Gilgoff .

In Perugia she organized a series of workshops for the Master Manju Pattabhi Jois, son of Shri K. Pattabhi Jois, including an intensive teacher training course in Umbria.

In 2005 she was in London following a further teacher training course, this time with Richard Freeman.

Among all these experiences, the teaching that most suited Carla’s parsonality was that of  Richard Freeman, who became her Master and guide.  Since 2005  Carla  has followed him every year in his teacher training in north Europe.

In 2008 she travelled to Boulder, Colorado to follow the intensive teacher training course with Richard Freeman and his wife Mary Taylor.

In 2008 she opened her InYoga Studio Centre in Perugia with her life partner Giampaolo Piazza.

In 2004 in Assisi she met and followed Father Anthony Elenjimittam, a pupil of Mahatma Gandhi and founder of the Sat Cit Ananda centre. The Father left his body on 5 October 2011 and Carla is deeply grateful to him for all the love, coherence, poetry and passion that he transmitted to her through his teachings.

She is also grateful to Tich Nhat Han, who is still today her meditation Master and a great source of inspiration in both his teaching and in daily life.

Carla is a member of YANI (National Association of Yoga Teachers), of which she has been the regional coordinator for Umbria for several years.

She attended a two-year course in Milan on the study and analysis of the texts of yoga philosophy held by Alessandro Manià and recognised by the YANI.

During these years of activity she has also attended courses in the centres of Sathyananda   in order to learn the practices of kriya and kirtan.

Carla has written several articles on the practice of Ashtanga Vinyasa Yoga  for the journal “Percorsi” published by YANI

and her interview with Richard Freeman was published in the Yoga Journal in 2010.

At her InYoga Studio she organised a course for the teaching of Yoga to children with the Master Didi Ananda Paramita following her also in her teachings in Parma.

From 1986  she dedicated herself for almost 20 years to the study and practice of shiatsu massage,  becoming familiar with meditation and zen buddhism. She then left shiatsu  (but not meditation) in order to dedicate her energies entirely to yoga.

She attended the Academy of Fine Arts and her love for Yoga and Buddhism is often also present in her works and contemporary art performances.