For Pride Month, we are celebrating the individuals in our community who build spaces for healing, connection, and joy. Meet Yaara: a Jaffa-based rehabilitation physiotherapist, Iyengar yoga teacher, and DJ. Living in Jaffa with her partner Roni, Meir the dog, and their two cats, Yaara’s life is a beautiful tapestry of science, emotion, and creativity.
Whether she is guiding a patient through physical recovery, leading a yoga class, or commanding a dance floor of hundreds, her mission remains the same: helping people feel better and connect deeper. In this intimate interview, Yaara opens up about the transformative moment in India that changed everything, how the war reshaped her understanding of her work, and why
living authentically means listening to your heart.
Q: “Was there a moment when you realized yoga, physiotherapy, and music were all part of the same path for you?”
A: "It’s hard for me to point to one specific moment. Chronologically speaking, I started DJing 15 years ago, a year later I began my physiotherapy studies, and I came to yoga in 2019 following an accident.
But I do remember the exact moment, in a remote Iyengar yoga studio in Kerala, India, where I felt that nothing would ever be the same again, because something immense was happening. Nothing in life had ever made me feel that way before."
Q: “Both yoga and DJing are about reading energy and creating connection. How does that feeling show up for you in each space?”
A: "In fact, my three passions are a combination of science, emotion, and creativity. In each of them, I have to observe the person in front of me very closely, whether it’s a single patient, a group of practitioners, or a crowd of hundreds of people. I have to see if my intention is reaching them in the right way, feel the feedback coming back to me, and make adjustments if needed.
They all require humility, sensitivity, a curiosity to learn more, and a genuine love for human beings."
Q: “How has embracing your identity shaped the way you move through the world - both personally and professionally?”
A: "Actually, I try not to identify with any of these titles, because identity is something much deeper.
I simply try to be as fully present as possible for the people I am with,
whether they are friends, dancers, patients, or yoga practitioners, and give my absolute maximum in that exact moment."
Q: “For many people, music and movement are the places where they finally feel free. What does it mean to you to create spaces where others can feel safe, connected, and fully themselves?”
A: "So many times, I find myself choking up with emotion in each of my jobs, feeling incredibly grateful for the privilege I’ve been given to help people reach a better place within themselves. I felt this even more intensely since the beginning of the war, especially during the days of the heavy bombardments. Those were days when music, therapy, and practice made it crystal clear that they are not luxuries, but the bare necessities."
Q: “If you could go back to your younger self at the beginning of your self-discovery journey - what would you whisper to her?”
A: "Stop wasting so much time on boys. :)"
Q: “When was the first time you truly felt at home in your own skin?”
A: "I can't say when the first time was, but this question reflects back to me just how much my fields of work make me feel at home."
Q: “Healing through movement, music, and connection - which came into your life first?”
A: "Movement has always been my language, but not conscious movement. I was that little girl who jumped off trees and kicked balls and basically anything she could. Today I understand that this was my language of self-expression, but back then, it was just life and what there was to do.
I started playing the piano around the age of eight. We had a piano at home, and I would improvise on it every day, until my mother started taking me to music teachers to try and 'make something out of me' :) Ironically, I didn't connect as much to the rigid didacticism of reading sheet music. That’s why DJing is the ultimate embodiment of everything for me, it allows me to be immersed in music and improvisation and to be in movement without any strict obligations."
Q: “What does living authentically mean to you today?”
A: "It means only
DJing in places where I would actually want to dance myself and for couples I truly love, treating only patients with whom I have a real emotional connection, and teaching only in the studio because that is where my heart is, and that is where I grow."
Q: “What kind of energy do you hope people leave with after your classes or sets?”
A: "There isn’t one specific type of energy, but
I certainly hope they leave feeling better than when they walked in, and perhaps having learned something new about themselves."
