At number 8 rue des Chaudronniers, there is a door that is not really different from the other doors in Geneva's Old Town. You enter a code – 0105 – go up one floor, and enter an apartment where old wood, the white light from the high windows, and silence immediately make you understand that you have changed tempo. It is here, a few steps from Saint-Pierre Cathedral, that Iris Cazals has been welcoming her students since the opening of Fancy Yoga. The studio is guided by a simple, almost old-fashioned motto: quality first, never quantity.
From a Bank Open Space to a Yoga Mat
Iris Cazals' trajectory is not obvious. Several years spent in Geneva's banking sector, a classical dance background started in childhood, three children, then the decision – assumed, meditated – to reorganize everything around yoga. She has been teaching it for thirteen years, with a pedagogical rigor that owes as much to her initial training as an interpreter as to her regular stays in Indian ashrams, where she returns for training at fixed intervals. This dual culture – the rigor of the dance studio and the oral transmission of Indian masters – gives Fancy Yoga classes their signature: precise alignment, exact technical vocabulary, silent attention to each body.
Traditional Yoga, Against the Grain of the Wellness Industry
The yoga market, in Switzerland and elsewhere, has grown significantly in ten years, sometimes at the cost of concerning dilution: online classes for fifty people, timed forty-five-minute sessions, postures linked together without explanation. Fancy Yoga refuses this trend. Classes are limited to twelve practitioners, each posture is held, corrected, repeated. Four disciplines structure the weekly program: Hatha for the fundamentals and alignment, Vinyasa for flow and breath, Yin for deep release, and Pilates on the mat taught by Vanessa Haerry, a former classical and contemporary dancer. In addition, there is individual coaching and so-called *body language* work, which is rarer in French-speaking Switzerland.
The Old Town as a Setting
The choice of rue des Chaudronniers is not coincidental. At the corner of the Saint-Antoine promenade, the neighborhood is one of the quietest in the center of Geneva: little traffic, morning light generously entering the studio, old walls filtering out external noise. For those who work in the city, it is one of the few addresses where you can leave class and find yourself, within a five-minute walk, by the lake, at Bourg-de-Four, or at your office. The studio leverages this geography: students are asked to arrive five to ten minutes early, and classes start and end on time – basic courtesy that, in Geneva as elsewhere, is no longer always guaranteed.
Clear Pricing Structure
Fancy Yoga adopts a transparent pricing policy, tailored for actual practice, not for forgotten subscriptions. The first class is 20 CHF, a single class is 40 CHF, a 10-class pack is 340 CHF (34 CHF per session, valid for six months), and a 20-class pack is 620 CHF (31 CHF per session, valid for one year). Private sessions start at 120 CHF. Booking is done through the studio's online platform, and the weekly schedule is published in advance. No hidden commitments, no automatic renewals: the verifiable promise is that you pay for what you practice.
What Students Say
Testimonials published on reference platforms (Google, Trustindex) converge on three points: Iris Cazals' pedagogical precision, the calm atmosphere of the place, and the attention paid to individual limits. Sofia A. mentions "a calm and soothing space," Mikael W. praises "an exceptional coach" for inversions, and Marion G. recounts that after a few months, she "finally managed to let go of back pain that had been present for years." These reviews implicitly suggest that a well-led yoga class remains, in 2026, one of the best non-pharmacological responses to chronic low back pain, the prevalence of which reaches more than 80% of the adult population at least once in their lifetime, according to the WHO.
Editorial Opinion
There is a rare coherence in the way Fancy Yoga is constructed: a location chosen for its light, a teacher trained at the source, a deliberately low capacity, a pricing structure that does not try to trap the practitioner. At a time when yoga apps sell thirty-day programs "to become flexible," perhaps it is necessary to recall an obvious truth: yoga is, first and foremost, a body, a breath, and a teacher who observes. Iris Cazals does precisely this job – and she does it well.
Key Takeaways
- Fancy Yoga, 8 rue des Chaudronniers, 1204 Geneva, a 1-minute walk from Saint-Pierre Cathedral.
- Founder and main teacher: Iris Cazals, over 13 years of teaching, trained in Indian ashrams.
- Four disciplines: Hatha, Vinyasa, Yin, Pilates (Vanessa Haerry), plus private classes and coaching.
- Maximum capacity of 12 practitioners per class, for truly individualized pedagogy.
- Prices: 20 CHF for the first class, 340 CHF for the 10-session card, 620 CHF for the 20-session card, 120 CHF for a private session.
- Booking and schedule on fancy.yoga – recommended to arrive 5 to 10 minutes early.
Useful links:
*Sponsored content · Fancy Yoga partnership. Sources verified on fancy.yoga on May 28, 2026. OrChair Ethics Charter.*
