Movement as therapy
“Sport is my way of life, my therapy, and my strength. At Mundo I want to help you find the same!” That’s how Mundo, a boutique fitness studio in the Bulgarian town of Pazardzhik, welcomes its visitors. Behind the message stands Aneliya Toshkina—a woman who moves to feel well and wants to help others discover what movement can do for them, too.
“When I have a problem, I go out for a run,” she says. Mountain running gives her the space to clear her mind and sort through decisions. She trains with renowned mountain runner Kiril Nikolov – Disl, but much of her wisdom comes from consistency—from the many kilometers that have taught her to listen to her body and slow down when she needs to.
Her love for indoor training began years earlier, when she lived in Spain and discovered group workouts and spinning. The feeling was entirely different: rhythm, lights, music, people arriving drained and leaving smiling. That shared energy quickly became part of her own self-care.
For Aneliya, trail running and indoor training aren’t opposites: they are two expressions of the same belief: movement heals, steadies, and restores confidence. That belief eventually grew into Mundo.
Today, Mundo isn’t just a place to work out. It’s a space where people discover what their bodies can do when treated with a bit more attention. “Through sport, I take care of people,” Aneliya says. And anyone who steps inside understands exactly what she means.
From Spain to Pazardzhik, the long journey of an idea
Mundo’s story runs straight through Spain. At 20, Aneliya left her applied mathematics studies in Plovdiv and joined her family near Alicante, a sun-soaked place where people live outdoors, and sea walks are part of daily life. That’s also where she first heard the word mundo—“world” in Spanish—a word that later named her own world of movement.
Spain is where she joined her first group workouts and discovered spinning. She entered her first class out of curiosity and walked out with a new passion. “Spinning is very popular there… I really got hooked. I burned for those classes,” she says. She fell for the music, the rhythm, the collective energy that exists only when you move shoulder to shoulder with others.
After several years abroad, she returned to Bulgaria, lived in Sofia, studied marketing and entrepreneurship, worked for international companies, and helped her father manage his small business. Her days were varied and fast-paced, but she always found time for movement.
After the pandemic, she felt the need to slow down and moved back to her hometown of Pazardzhik. She worked remotely and spent her free time in the mountains with a group of hiking enthusiasts who climbed peaks almost every week. Somewhere along those long ridgelines, a persistent thought appeared: What if Pazardzhik had a spinning studio?
A thought that soon began to look less like a dream and more like a plan.
Kom–Emine, a turning point
The real decision came high in the mountains.
With a friend, Aneliya set out along Kom–Emine, Bulgaria’s legendary long-distance trail. They didn’t reach the very end, but the journey offered something else: clarity.
“People kept saying that whatever you say on Kom–Emine comes true,” she laughs. Friends joined them along the way, bringing food, walking a stretch beside them. And every time someone asked what she wanted, she said the same thing: she hoped to open a spinning studio in Pazardzhik.
A few months later, the business was registered, a space was secured, renovations began… and in February 2024, Pazardzhik got its first spinning studio. With it, Aneliya took her first confident step into entrepreneurship.
Professionalism with heart
From the very beginning, Aneliya knew Mundo wouldn’t be “just a place to sweat.” She wanted to share her energy, yes, but she also insisted on international standards.
The studio started small: ten bikes, then fourteen. Many people in Pazardzhik had never heard of spinning—group classes with music, rhythm, and intensity. Yet interest was enormous. First came her family, then people who knew her only through word of mouth. Many hadn’t worked out in years.
“I believe in energy—when you walk into a space and feel the person leading it… I gave all of myself, and people really felt it,” she says.
Behind that energy stands serious training. Aneliya is certified by Mad Dogg Athletics, the American company behind Spinning®. Shortly after opening, Mundo became the second official Spinning® facility in Bulgaria. The bikes, the programs, the methodology—she delivers the real thing, brought from the global spinning world straight to Pazardzhik.
Mundo Pilates: The story continues
A year later, the spinning studio was full, and Aneliya began planning her next step. “If you stop taking care of your business, it’s like flowers—stop watering them and they wilt,” she says. That was how the idea for Mundo Pilates was born.
Pilates classes take place on a reformer—a special bed with a moving platform and springs that strengthens deep muscles, improves posture, and relieves tension in the back and shoulders. Groups are small, just three people, so the instructor can work closely with everyone.
The sessions are ideal for people who spend all day at a computer, on their feet, or behind the wheel. “People come and give themselves therapy,” Aneliya says. “They tell me they’ve never felt their bodies that way. I tell them to thank their bodies—and themselves.”
A community of runners: Saturdays in the park
Saturday is officially her only day off, but Aneliya rarely stays home. Instead, she laces up her running shoes and heads to the park in Pazardzhik, where people gather: some regulars, others simply curious.
The idea is simple: movement and community, without pressure. “I want to bring together a community of runners, even those who show up just to try a gentle run. You only need sneakers and a simple outfit,” she says.
The group changes from week to week. Sometimes fifteen or twenty people show up; other times there are just a handful; some Saturdays the park fills up. One week a basketball coach brought a team of teenagers; another week a regular showed up with a friend who hadn’t run in years. And there are those unforgettable firsts: people who manage to run one full kilometer without stopping and shine as if they’ve just conquered Everest.
“I get people moving, constantly,” Aneliya says. Her dream? One day, Pazardzhik will have its own marathon.
BASE: because everyone needs a strong foundation
When she opened the spinning studio, Aneliya was still working remotely for a large corporation. She juggled meetings, renovations, classes, and clients, constantly switching between two worlds. And right then, a cousin from Varna told her about Business Academy for Starting Entrepreneurs (BASE), supported by the America for Bulgaria Foundation.
She checked it out and saw that the program had an edition in Pazardzhik in autumn 2024. She signed up immediately.
She had already studied marketing and entrepreneurship and worked in major companies, but this time was different. This was her business. Her risk.
“I went with so much excitement. I couldn’t wait for class days,” she says. “It was incredibly useful to go through everything again… to see how big the process really is and what I had already gone through.”
During BASE, she developed the full project for Mundo Pilates: financial planning, branding, website structure, digital reservations. At the end, she won first place and invested the award directly into the new studio.
No such thing as “I can’t”
Most of her day is spent in her two studios, moving with people, pushing them, pulling them in, keeping them going. When she’s not on the floor, she is everywhere else: fixing what’s broken, reshuffling schedules, checking in with her team, shooting photos, creating content.
“It’s nonstop work. There isn’t a day when we haven’t done something,” she says. She hits walls, of course—days when exhaustion wins for a moment and she thinks, Why am I doing this? Then she exhales, adjusts her course, and gets back to it.
“My motto is ‘there’s no I can’t,’” she says. “If something doesn’t work, I try a different way.”
At 1.57 meters (5’2″) and about 50 kilos (110 pounds), she jokes she’s “a small person.” But in Mundo, she’s the engine—in the studio, in the park, everywhere movement happens.
Give yourself the gift of movement
If you live in Pazardzhik — or simply pass through — Mundo is just one reservation away. Spinning and group workouts take place near the old bus station; Mundo Pilates is right in the city center, on the pedestrian square. Both studios are open Sunday through Friday, and booking is easy at mundo.bg.
The classes are for anyone who spends too much time at a desk, behind the wheel, or on their feet. For anyone whose body is quietly asking for change. And for anyone who wants lighter shoulders, better posture, or simply the feeling of moving again.
Start with a trial class or go straight for a monthly pass—a small step with a big payoff. Book a session with Aneliya or one of her other wonderful instructors and see what happens when, instead of buying more stuff, you choose strength, energy, and a little more trust in your own body.
