When New York reminded me to believe in what I do

For those who don't know, my husband Yoav works in New York. We usually spend that time apart when he travels for work, but this time I managed to steal a week off and join him.

While Yoav goes to the office in the morning, I go to train and get to know the city a little better. As you know, the thing I love most is being in motion – moving and training – and that's exactly why, as soon as I landed in New York, I booked myself one class every day. Some studios I'd already visited on previous trips, and some were new to me. My first goal in booking the classes was simply to enjoy myself! To experience new workouts with new instructors and an unfamiliar culture, and to recommend places worth discovering to friends and clients. But this time something a little different happened. After every class I felt the need to write or talk – and above all, to share the experience with you.

Ready to come on a New York journey with me?

New Vibe Yoga | yoga studio

The only studio that offered 3 intro classes – which is also why I went back a second time, even though the first class felt a little strange to me.

And I think that's a good thing: understanding that we won't always fall in love with a studio at the first class. Even if we didn't connect with a particular class or group, that won't necessarily be our experience of the studio as a whole. That's something I'm bringing back to our studio, and one of the reasons we recently introduced an intro card – to give you the chance to train more than once without committing to a full card. Remember that it takes time for an instructor to get to know you, and for you to get to know the studio, its values and its goals. Like a good relationship… love at first sight is lovely, but a deep, meaningful acquaintance is what makes you fall in love and builds a real connection.

The first class was led by the studio director. "Led" is a big word, but he was there. For the first time in my life I was in a class where the instructor sat to the side – no corrections, no fine-tuning, no demonstrations. At first it felt very strange. But a few days later I decided to look at it a bit like a Mysore practice – self-practice, in a group. The practice was mine; I didn't feel I had to look like the instructor or do what he did. I didn't feel I was in an exam and needed to be perfect. I was independent and knew the series. I do think it isn't suitable for beginners without a deep knowledge of the Ashtanga series, but it's certainly very much in the spirit of the method: giving the power to the practitioner. They lead, not the instructor – and I really connect with that.

The second time I went to the studio, the class was taught by one of the other teachers. Somehow it was the exact opposite with her: she did the whole class with us, demonstrating every pose on her own mat, but I felt she hardly looked at us. I felt she was new, still unsure of herself. And the best part of the class, for me, was when she briefly lost track of the series, suddenly giggled and looked at us. She was embarrassed, but I suddenly felt something very authentic and real. It's natural to get mixed up! It happens to all of us all the time… I get mixed up sometimes too, and it's something I tell my instructors a lot: glance at your plan for a moment, be real even if you forgot… we're not at a ballet performance where everything has to be perfect. We're in a studio that celebrates movement and humanity, with clients who matter to me like friends and family – and just as we want them to feel comfortable with us, we should feel just as comfortable with them.

Basi Pilates | Pilates studio

A Pilates studio that developed the split method and teaches it in New York, London and other places around the world.

The studio has group reformer classes, private sessions on all the apparatus, and physiotherapy treatments – all in one place.

In videos or photos the studio can look messy and not as aesthetic or "Instagrammable" as most places, but it has magic. I could just sit for hours watching the different instructors teaching private sessions alongside group classes, the huge windows overlooking the streets of Brooklyn, the mirrors that are more for beauty than for the clients' use – and to me that's magical.

At Basi, the group classes are completely classical – no right or left turns. A bit like Ashtanga practice. Everyone knows the exercises and the springs; it's a shared dance we do together.

What I choose to take from this studio is the beauty of precise classical work. As instructors, it's easy to fall for trendy exercises that look good on camera, for the urge to vary things and always bring new exercises – different, unfamiliar, sometimes disproportionately challenging.

There's something I call "young instructor syndrome". Almost every instructor I've met at the very start of her path finishes the instructor course and feels she has to vary the classical exercises she learned and practised over and over again. And I really understand them – I was there too. In the early days of my studio, when I was the only instructor, I'd come in every day an hour before the first class and try out those impressive exercises from Instagram and YouTube on my own body, with every good intention to keep things varied. In practice, 90% of those exercises didn't work. There's a good reason this method has worked for so many years and helped so many people.

Don't get me wrong – I'm all for variety, for using different props in class, changing the order of the classical plan and bringing colour to every class. But it's important to always know why. Why are we choosing this exercise in the second slot? How does it contribute to the class? Does it really serve my goal?

And now, at Basi, even though I've done footwork so many times in my life, I loved doing it again with an exaggerated smile on my face, feeling my thighs working and remembering once again the qualities of classical Pilates.

Souk | yoga studio

I'd been here before too, and even with the same instructor.

I signed up for a Vinyasa class – a style I usually don't connect with. I don't connect with the fluidity and the teacher's free hand. I'm an Ashtanga addict – I love the certainty and the fixed order of the series. And yet, I'll say it unequivocally: it was one of the best yoga classes I've ever taken!

A class that had everything, in the right measure: meditation and a philosophical conversation about yoga and about us as practitioners; a pleasant, attentive instructor who remembered me from the single class I'd taken four months earlier; a physically challenging class with lots of thought and personal attention put into it; and a class that held a wide range of levels! I could of course go on praising Maria for that magical class…

But above all, I want to share the important conclusions I took away from it.

I'll start with people coming to a class for the first time –

• Come early! Arrive 5–10 minutes before, introduce yourself, say you're new, share your background and any medical information we should know so we can take it into account if needed. Those few minutes will change your experience as a client and help build that connection I mentioned – the kind that makes both sides fall in love. And most importantly, come with an open mind. Every instructor is different, every studio is different, every day is different – and so are our mood and how we feel when we arrive.

Instructors –

• When a new client arrives, always ask their name and introduce yourself! Tell them about yourself and the class that's about to start. Take an interest in the person in front of you – do they have experience? Any injury? I remember my first yoga classes – I had no idea what Ashtanga or Vinyasa was, and of course I didn't know what I was practising at the time. Totally clueless. Explain to the client that it's fine for the first class to feel confusing and unfamiliar, and that you're there to help. Give it that time, even if it takes a few moments from the group – it'll be worth it, because the shared experience will be better.

• A pro tip – rely on your longtime clients. Place the newcomer next to someone you feel comfortable with, and you'll be surprised how happy clients are to help. (At least ours at the studio…)

When I walked out of my last class in New York, I left with an important reminder of why I teach.

We all have hard days at work – days of overload, frustration, pressure. Even when I arrive to train you with a smile, it wasn't necessarily there before. But when I'm with you, it always changes! The worries I had disappear for a few hours. That's where the magic happens – and it happens only thanks to you. Thanks to the connection, the attention we give each other and our time together.

And that's really all I'm trying to do here, at the studio: create a small, lovely community of people who love being in motion, who want to listen to their bodies – and who simply want to be.