In the heart of Vienna, Austria, Loka Yoga & Café brings together yoga, community, and conscious living under one roof. Founded by Maria and Ksenia, the space was created as more than a yoga studio. It is a place where people can move, connect, slow down, and feel at home.
How Did Yoga Lead You to Create Loka?
Loka was born from two different journeys that eventually met in the same place.
Maria discovered yoga in 2013 through a friend’s recommendation and continued practicing consistently for more than a decade. Over the years, yoga became a source of inspiration, stability, self-awareness, and support through many different stages of life. It influenced not only her physical and emotional wellbeing, but also her lifestyle, relationships, and sense of purpose. While she never became a yoga teacher herself, she always felt inspired to share the benefits of the practice with others. Drawing on her experience in marketing and business leadership, she found another way to contribute to the yoga world – by helping create spaces and communities where people could connect, practice, and grow. This eventually led to co-founding Loka in Vienna.
Ksenia discovered yoga in 2015 while working as a lawyer and pursuing a PhD. What began as a way to manage stress gradually evolved into a much deeper path of personal growth and self-discovery. After years of dedicated practice, she completed the official 300-hour Jivamukti Yoga Teacher Training and later continued her studies through the Jivamukti Apprenticeship Program.
Together, we created Loka as a place where people can experience some of the same benefits yoga brought into our own lives.
While Loka began with our shared passion for yoga and wellbeing, it has never been a two-person project. Our life partners have been part of the journey from day one – contributing countless hours, practical expertise, encouragement, and support throughout the construction process and now in the daily life of the studio. Loka may have started with two yoga practitioners, but it was built by a much bigger team.
Who Has Influenced Your Yoga Journey Most?
Over the years, we have both been fortunate to learn from many inspiring teachers. For Ksenia, one person who has had a particularly profound influence is Olga Oskorbina, founder of Jivamukti Yoga Barcelona and facilitator of the Jivamukti Yoga 300-hours Teacher Training.
Through the Jivamukti Apprenticeship Program, Ksenia spent several months studying under Olga’s guidance, assisting her classes, and observing not only how she teaches, but how she leads and lives.
What inspires most about Olga is her rare combination of strength and kindness. She is deeply committed and disciplined, yet remarkably warm, generous, and approachable. Through her example, Ksenia learned that yoga is not ultimately about mastering difficult postures – it is about the kind of person you become and how you show up for others.
Many of the values we try to bring into Loka today – authenticity, dedication, compassion, and service – have been inspired by her example.
What Inspired the Creation of Loka Yoga & Café?
Loka started with a simple question: what if a yoga studio could be more than a place where people come for class and leave immediately afterwards?
We wanted to create a space where yoga, healthy food, community, and everyday wellbeing naturally come together. A place where you can arrive early, stay after practice, have a coffee, read a book, meet a friend, or simply sit quietly for a few minutes and notice how you feel.
For us, wellbeing is multidimensional. It includes physical health, mental clarity, emotional balance, meaningful relationships, and the small daily rituals that help us feel more connected to ourselves and the world around us.
That idea shaped every part of Loka – from the yoga schedule and café to the way the space is designed and how we welcome people through the door.
We didn’t want to create a spiritual retreat, sanctuary or a fitness studio. We wanted to create a modern, human-centered place where wellbeing feels accessible, grounded, and part of everyday life.
Vienna has a long-established yoga culture and many excellent studios, and we felt inspired to contribute our own perspective to it.
What Makes Practicing at Loka Unique?
We offer a diverse range of practices, from dynamic and physically challenging classes to slower, more restorative experiences. Our schedule includes Jivamukti Yoga, Black Lotus Yoga, Rocket Vinyasa Yoga, Power Yoga, Hatha Yoga, Vinyasa Flow, Pilates, Yin Yoga, Sound Healing, Breathwork & Meditation
At the heart of our offering is Jivamukti Yoga, a method we are deeply passionate about because it brings together physical practice, breath, philosophy, music, and mindfulness in a way that feels relevant to modern life.
What matters most to us, however, is not a particular style but how people feel when they step into the room. We aim to create a supportive, contemporary, and welcoming environment where both complete beginners and experienced practitioners can feel comfortable.
We believe yoga should be accessible without becoming superficial, and meaningful without becoming intimidating. Our teachers offer clear guidance, thoughtful modifications, and hands-on support where appropriate, helping students build confidence, consistency, and trust in their own practice.
Ultimately, we want people to leave class feeling a little more connected – to their bodies, their breath, and themselves.
Why Is the Café Such an Important Part of the Experience?
The café is an essential part of Loka, not an addition to it. For us, wellbeing extends beyond movement. It is also shaped by how we nourish ourselves, how we spend our time, and how we connect with other people throughout the day.
The café offers specialty coffee & matcha, healthy smoothies and thoughtfully crafted drinks, and vegetarian food, but its deeper purpose is to create space. Space to arrive early without rushing. Space to stay after class and reflect. Space to meet a friend, read a book, do a bit of work, or simply enjoy a quiet moment.
Some of our favorite moments happen after practice, when conversations begin naturally over a drink. We have watched people who met in class make plans together, exchange ideas, and become friends.
Many studios talk about community. We believe community needs more than a shared class. We wanted to create the conditions that allow it to emerge naturally: time, space, conversation, and the freedom not to rush away the moment class ends.
What Can Students Explore Beyond Regular Classes?
Our workshops and special events usually grow from ongoing conversations with our teachers and from listening closely to our community.
Some workshops focus on physical practice–helping students explore arm balances, inversions, mobility, or specific movement skills in greater depth than a regular class allows.
Others focus on breathwork, meditation, and pranayama, offering practical tools for mental clarity, emotional balance, and nervous system regulation.
As a studio deeply inspired by the Jivamukti tradition, we also create space for yoga philosophy, chanting, kirtan, and discussions that explore the broader dimensions of yoga beyond the physical practice.
Finally, we host experiences centered around rest and recovery, including sound healing journeys and restorative events that help students slow down and reconnect with themselves.
Together, these offerings allow students to deepen their practice, explore new perspectives, and build a richer relationship with yoga.
How Was Loka Designed to Support Wellbeing?
From the beginning, we wanted the entire experience – before, during, and after class – to feel thoughtful and comfortable.
Loka is located on the ground floor, making it easy and welcoming to enter. The yoga room is spacious and filled with natural light from large floor-to-ceiling windows, creating an open atmosphere where the gaze can travel beyond the walls and maintaining a connection to the world beyond the studio.
We also invested in the details that shape the quality of practice: fresh air ventilation, air conditioning, comfortable changing rooms with showers, and a café and community area designed for lingering rather than rushing.
Visually, we aimed for a calm, contemporary, and minimalist design language. Green became one of the defining colors of Loka almost intuitively. For us, it feels grounding and alive at the same time.
What Makes the Loka Community Special?
As a young studio that opened in February 2026, we are still at the beginning of our community journey. But even in these first months, something special has started to emerge.
Loka has become a meeting point for a diverse and international group of people. Our community includes locals and expats, students and entrepreneurs, creatives and corporate professionals, long-time practitioners and people attending their very first yoga class.
One thing that has surprised us most is how many newcomers have found their way into yoga through Loka. Being located on the ground floor with a welcoming café makes the space feel approachable and accessible, even for people who may have felt intimidated by traditional yoga studios environments.
Because our doors remain open throughout the day (which is not very typical for Vienna), people often come not only for class, but also to work, meet friends, read, or simply spend time in a calm environment. These everyday interactions create opportunities for connection that cannot be scheduled or forced.
Some of the most meaningful moments happen during practice itself. In many classes, especially Jivamukti Yoga, students work in pairs and support one another while exploring postures. Helping a stranger balance in an arm balance or forearm stand often becomes the beginning of a conversation afterwards.
For us, community is not something you create through slogans. It grows through shared experiences, small interactions, and the feeling that you belong.
How Do You Help Students Build a Sustainable Practice?
We believe consistency grows when people feel supported rather than pressured.
Our schedule offers a variety of classes throughout the week, making it easier for students to build a practice that fits realistically into their lives. We also offer beginner-friendly classes and thoughtful modifications, helping newer students feel comfortable while allowing experienced practitioners to continue growing in their practice. Many of our teachers, particularly within the Jivamukti tradition, offer hands-on assists to help students practice safely, build confidence, and deepen their understanding of the postures.
We also believe that a sustainable practice includes both effort and recovery. Alongside dynamic and physically demanding classes, we offer restorative options every evening, including Yin Yoga and Sound Healing, giving students space to slow down, recover, and restore balance.
We also host workshops and posture labs where students can explore specific aspects of practice in more detail, and we share educational content related to wellbeing both on and off the mat.
Most importantly, we try to create an environment where people feel comfortable learning, asking questions, making mistakes, and progressing at their own pace. Yoga doesn’t have to begin with flexibility, experience, or confidence–it can begin simply with curiosity.
What Is Your Vision for the Future of Loka?
Our vision is simple: to create a place that becomes part of people’s everyday lives.
We want Loka to be more than a yoga studio and more than a café. We hope it becomes a space where people can move, reflect, learn, connect, and return to themselves – again and again.
As we grow, we would like to expand not only our classes, but also the conversations and experiences that surround them. Through workshops, events, collaborations, books, and carefully curated products, we hope to inspire curiosity, self-awareness, and a more mindful way of living.
We are not interested in becoming the biggest studio. We are interested in creating something meaningful, sustainable, and deeply human.
If people leave Loka feeling a little healthier, more connected, more inspired, or simply more at ease than when they arrived, then we are moving in the right direction.
Why Did You Choose Manduka as Your Studio Partner?
One of the essential things that shapes your experience in a yoga studio is the equipment you practice with. When choosing mats and props for Loka, we spent a lot of time researching different options, reading reviews, speaking with teachers, and practicing on the products ourselves. Manduka consistently stood out for its quality, durability, and attention to detail.
We use PRO Lite yoga mats throughout the studio because they feel stable, supportive, and reliable in daily practice. Their closed-cell surface is also easy to clean and maintain, which is especially important in a shared studio environment.
Beyond the products themselves, we appreciate Manduka’s commitment to sustainability, product safety, and responsible manufacturing. Those values resonate strongly with how we approach our own business.
Morning Jivamukti Flow guided by Ksenia
This uplifting Morning Jivamukti Flow is designed to awaken the body, focus the mind, and energize your day ahead.
Loka x Manduka Playlist
Connect with Loka Studio and Café
Website: lokayogacafe.com
Instagram: @lokayogacafe
Studio Location: Spengergasse 42, 1050, Vienna, Austria
Class Offering: Jivamukti Yoga, Black Lotus Yoga, Rocket Vinyasa Yoga, Power Yoga, Hatha Yoga, Vinyasa Flow, Pilates, Yin Yoga, Sound Healing, Breathwork & Meditation
Partner with Manduka
Interested in bringing Manduka into your studio space? Explore our Studio Equipment Program to learn more.
