My Yoga Journey

I first came to yoga in my twenties but at that time enjoyed it pretty much purely as a form of physical exercise. I loved the stretching, the challenge and focus required of the poses but that was about it. I’d rock through the breathing exercises, look forward to getting to the physical challenges and then enjoy the feeling of having done a nice workout at the end.

I had always been self-critical and impatient and really wasn’t ready to spend time on self-inquiry, a deeper connection and self-acceptance. I was too busy travelling widely as a TEFL teacher, keeping fit and generally avoiding any deep and meaningful goings on! Then, at thirty years old, life took a turn and three complicated gallbladder operations left me physically and mentally on the proverbial floor. It was during this time that a friend, who was training to be a yoga teacher, suggested I went to a yoga class and I remember clearly thinking as I took my first few stretches - “This could work!” This was a pretty significant moment as I had been told by my doctors that I would most likely be attending the Chronic Pain clinic for the indefinite future.

This was the period when yoga really started to serve me on more than a physical level - the magic of the breath to release tension in the body and mind; the non-judgement; non-attachment; stillness. Suddenly, I was hooked. My pain decreased significantly and as I resumed my normal life I realised that I wanted to train to be a Yoga teacher. If it had helped me so profoundly, then I wanted to be able to share that with others. Shortly after completing my Sivanada Yoga Teachers training and starting to teach, I became pregnant with my first child. I went on to have three more children over the next six years and so my yoga teaching career took a natural break. During this time of being a stay at home Mum, yoga was a constant in my life: it supported me through four births; kept me sane in the mayhem of family life and offered me a quiet space to rebalance body, mind and spirit. When my daughter started school, returning to yoga teaching seemed the obvious thing to do but my confidence was low. My body had changed; my asana practice had changed; my outlook had changed. I really doubted what I could offer. A friend quietly advised me, “Just be yourself and people will love it”. The realisation that I didn’t have to be something amazing, that I just needed to be authentic and share the yoga that I loved has been at the heart of my teaching since then - a desire to guide students to acknowledge the body and the mind that they bring to the mat and to find what feels good - for them in that moment. This is what yoga continues to be for me - a journey of self-acceptance, an opportunity to recalibrate and reconnect so that I can hop off the mat feeling a better version of myself. For me now, the joy is in really exploring an asana rather than fitting myself into it; feeling the breath rather than ‘doing breathing’; embracing self-enquiry with an open heart. Like all good things in life, the more I open up to the practice and philosophy of yoga, the richer the rewards. It will be a privilege to guide you through your own yoga journey to find what works for you.

“Life is a journey, not a destination” ~ Ralph Waldo Emerson