Iceland review - 2016, Page 55

52 ICELAND REVIEW ICELAND REVIEW 53
I never intended to teach yoga. It just
happened to me. I went to a yoga
teacher’s training only to deepen my
knowledge, but when I was forced to
teach my first class to my teammates at
the bank, I just fell in love,” says Eygló
Egilsdóttir, the founder of the program
Jakkafatajóga (Yoga in Suits), of how
she came to teach yoga from working in
corporate finance at Landsbankinn from
2007 to 2010. For Sólveig Þórarinsdóttir,
who went from being a trader and stock-
broker at Landsbankinn from 2003-2008
and later the head of derivatives on
the resolution committee until 2012, to
founding the Reykjavík yoga studio Sólir
in 2015, the process was similar. “After
the collapse of the banks the stress level
was really high,” she says. “I thought I
might lose my health if I kept doing what
I was doing. Yoga was the perfect answer,
the perfect getaway. But [teaching] was
not intended. It just happened.”
Now, eight years after the financial
crash, both Sólveig and Eygló, who met
for the first time at a yoga event in
Reykjavík last spring, have made pro-
fessional careers out of what was once
simply a personal practice to escape the
high stress lifestyle of the banking world.
Sólir is a large, airy studio in the bur-
geoning Grandi area by Reykjavík’s old
harbor, with a design aesthetic that com-
bines the professionalism of a gym with
the intimacy of a meditation hall. With
15 teachers on staff, Sólir offers a wide
range of styles of yoga—from Kundalini
to Nidra, Hot Yoga to meditation, not to
mention Pregnancy and Mommy Yoga.
YOGA THAT COMES TO YOU
Eygló does not have her own studio;
instead, she goes to the customer. She
explains that her idea for Yoga in Suits
began while she was still working at the
bank. “I felt the need to move around
and stretch to get my energy up while
I was working those long hours.” What
started out as a small-scale experiment
has transformed into a business model
in high demand. Now Eygló has five
people working for her and Yoga in Suits
is being taught in four locations around
Iceland: Reykjavík, Akureyri, Selfoss and
Reykjanesbær.
The appeal of the program is that it
fits seamlessly into the workday without
disrupting productivity. Eygló explains
that she first had to get managers to
accept the idea of their employees taking
a pause in their day. “I actually market-
ed it as the perfect coffee break,” she
explains. Classes last for 15-20 minutes
and the poses are gentle and easy enough
to be done in work clothes so people
don’t have to change—hence the name
Yoga in Suits. “Everybody has problems
with their shoulders, neck, and upper
LIFESTYLE
Yoga instructors
Sólveig Þórarinsdóttir and
Eygló Egilsdóttir.
ACCIDENTAL
YOGISRachel Mercer speaks with two former
bankers about their journey from
finance to finding themselves.
PHOTOS BY PÁLL STEFÁNSSON.