Martina Sergi

I discovered the world of yoga when I was writing my thesis. It was a particular time because I was a bit stressed and at the same time a bit stiff. On the one hand I was looking for something to stretch and be flexible physically, and on the other hand I was looking for an activity to feel better mentally, just because I was going through a very stressful time. I discovered yoga on Instagram, thanks to so many people who were doing fitness and had integrated this discipline into their routine. I started to see what they were doing and saw that it was something that could be useful for me as well and that could meet these two needs of mine. I started looking for classes on YouTube and right away I realized the benefits I was experiencing on my skin, at first on a physical level and, as I practiced, mentally as well.

Yoga helped me to be calmer, to break away from my stressful routine and to know how to take my time. I remember, while writing my thesis, being able to say, “no wait, this half hour I’m going to unplug from everything and devote myself to my yoga class.” From my experience, I can say that my “Why” emerged, that is, if I felt good, if yoga gave me so much, helped me and introduced me to parts of myself, then I can help others as well.

We should also consider that a career as a teacher did not start immediately, but has matured over time, with awareness and a desire to share. Another aspect to consider is the fact that in 2016 in Italy yoga was not a very popular discipline, especially online. Here in Italy, I was the first one to share so much online on social media, and at that time my thought was “if it has been helpful to me, I can share it because it can be supportive to others as well.”

I have to say that professionally at first it was not so easy because the positive principles of yoga are not always echoed in every reality you encounter. In the beginning I found a lot of exploitation and also a lot of judgment. Obviously I was not very happy with these two aspects, which then were also the push to immediately create something of my own, in which I could convey passion and the authentic aspects that I sometimes did not find in many studios and realities. Just think that in the beginning a lot of people judged me because I was doing yoga online, and for a lot of people that was something completely unheard of. In my own way I am a strong and committed person, however, at that time I was 25 years old, and it was heavy to hear all this judgment against me, and my thought has always been, “Why should we judge a person the moment they do something ‘positive’?
I also want to point out, that I also found studios where I found a lot of good and over time I learned to be selective, to say “wait, this reality is aligned with my values, this one is not.” My past taught me so much: to be able to embrace challenges, to be stronger, to let some things slide and also to say, “No, if you are convinced that this is right, go ahead.”

Now the general view is very different, online yoga is much more widespread, and a lot of teachers teach only online. The approach to this discipline has changed a lot, there is more openness.

Absolutely. In fact, before covid I was addressing an international community much more, I was often speaking in English in stories and creating content aimed at an international audience.

After covid I started addressing people more by speaking in Italian because the sensibility of the Italian community had changed and I responded to a market segment that was not there before.


Today I can say that challenges often lead to satisfaction, because with hard work and sweat, my two partners, Martina Rando and Claudia Casanova and I, and our team have managed to create a solid community that practices every day and writes to me or other teachers to share feedback. This is gratifying and makes me realize that the values, which I mentioned earlier, over time find tangible feedback.

So, to date, I’ll tell you about the Community that has been created and continues to create and develop, specifically because we create a relationship with those who follow and practice with us. We also have a Telegram group where just the girls who are members of Yome write and compare notes. Every day I go in and read the posts and it is always nice to see feedback from people who feel good, who find the classes effective and who, most importantly, are experiencing mental and not just physical benefits.

We all three started from different backgrounds. Martina and I, however, had a more similar path since we both went to many gyms, did similar studies, and had had the same difficulties. Claudia came from the corporate world in business. The great thing was that all three of us had the same belief, which was that “unity is strength.”

So many teachers and personal trainers, not only in the yoga field, have their own method, their own platform. Often the projects are followed only by a single trainer, and we, on the other hand, have the belief that you can’t be an all-rounder, that no one has the best method than everyone else. Each professional specializes in a specific area and will know how to meet the needs of a specific group of people. In this regard, during the covid so many trainers were doing live feeds on Instagram saying “every week I train you,” “let’s do yoga together.” The three of us from the very beginning said, “We offer three weekly classes, one from me, one from Martina and one from Claudia so we create a complete package for those who follow us.” This is exactly where Yome was born. We are also aware that the three of us alone are not enough.

Today on Yome you can find different styles of yoga, for different levels, there is fitness, pilates, meditation and nutrition: it is a large project. The mission is just that, which is to provide an all-around wellness tool through certified, passion-driven professionals. In fact, we never collaborate with professionals unless they are certified in what they teach. Let me give you an example, for the meditation section we have psychologists, who have a very in-depth study of the human mind and have developed a superior sensitivity. This is true for every area, such as nutrition, pilates and the new self-care area that we are developing day by day.

Certainly a very powerful means is breathing, which we often underestimate. Breathing is able, for example, to cool the body or warm the body, is able to calm us down to manage anxiety in a mindful way.

What I recommend is to stop when we feel overwhelmed and to dedicate even a few minutes to it, in full awareness. For example, in a moment of high stress, we can stop for a second and implement calming breathing. This is something that needs to be deepened and studied because it is a tool that can help you in moments of “emotional emergency.” In the yoga world we do a lot of breathing, we learn to use our diaphragm because very often we breathe with our chest, instead we need to breathe with our diaphragm. If we learn to breathe well in the moment of need we can do it and use it to our advantage. I then recommend finding within one’s day 10-30 minutes in which to dedicate ourselves completely to us, for our own well-being. It doesn’t have to be 30 minutes of yoga. For example, we can commit half an hour to our skin-care in the morning. In those 30 minutes you don’t look at your phone and devote yourself entirely to yourself from a “mindful,” conscious perspective. Dedicating time to yourself has multiple benefits. First, physical and mental health, and then you get to know yourself and recognize what makes us feel good and what doesn’t.

Absolutely! We work with companies or hotel facilities always carrying out the same values and principles that we dedicate to individuals. We can align and agree to give access to internal employees or it is possible to develop ad hoc packages, because some realities may be interested only in one section, or basic courses, exercises to do at the desk and so on. With hotels and companies we can also organize events for their employees.

Thanks to you, it was a pleasure!