Maria Rigopoulou

1) Name: Maria Rigopoulou

2) Lives in: Kallithea, Athens

3) From: Aighio, Achaia in Peloponnese, Greece

4) Occupation: Self-employed at Maria Rigopoulou-Nutrigenomics and Well-Being. I offer personalised nutritional and lifestyle coaching according to my clients’ genetics and individual needs

5) First three jobs (ever!): First as a pharmaceutical company worker as summer-time job when I was in my teens, then I worked at a bar/café waitress and then distributing leaflets.  🙂

6) Zodiac sign: Cancer with Scorpio rising

7) Enneagram Type:  TBD..

8) What you love about Greece: The SUN🌞 and brighter days. The “real” people even though sometimes they can be intense! The beautiful smells from flowers and trees wherever you are..even in the city! The jasmine and orange trees smell divine when in season..

9) Tell us something most people don’t know about you.. My life has changed dramatically over the last 10 years so there a quite  few things that most people don’t know: I used to be an electronic engineer, I am a qualified yoga teacher (over 600 hrs certified training) and I love dancing!

10) Where we are most likely to find you in Lynn’s Kundalini Yoga?  I just joined the community as I have been away from Greece for 20 years… But I love the night yoga classes with the view of the Parthenon.

11) First time you tried Kundalini Yoga? I think the first time was in 2013  at a yoga studio in Guildford in Surrey where I used to live.  A friend  offered me her spot for a Kundalini Yoga and gong bath class with Mark Swan. This was also my first gong bath experience and since then I have become a sound-bath addict!! Mark is a very well-known gong master and Kundalini teacher, but I had no clue when I first stepped in that class! It was totally different from anything  I had experienced before. Both the Kundalini Yoga and the gongs had a very powerful effect on me that is difficult to describe. I felt elated and revitalised but at the same time it was almost like having a panic attack as my heart was beating too fast. It was transformative.

12) Top tip to combat climate change? Stop wasting food! I am always amazed and surprised by the amount of food that we waste.

13) Anything else you’d like us to know?
I am building my business and practice here in Greece as a nutrigenomics expert helping men and women over 30 and 40 feel and look their best. I teach people to learn how to use the power of their own DNA to inform their nutrition and lifestyle choices in a way that works. You can learn more here!