My Qualifications
E-RYT 200 + E-RYT 500 Senior Yoga Teacher
RYS Yoga Alliance 300hr Vinyasa Yoga Teacher Training - Celest Pereira and Nina Vakus
RYS Yoga Alliance 200hr Ashtanga Vinyasa Teacher Training
RYS Yoga Alliance 50hr Yoga Alliance Trained - Yin Yoga
Where the journey began…
After finishing a Master's Degree at Edinburgh University, I started working for the Human Rights Commission in London, before studying Arabic in Oman to compliment my job as Editor and Research Developer. On returning to the UK, I decided to re-focus on education. I became fascinated by education in the context of International Development so I moved to Ghana with International Service to run a project fighting against disability discrimination, with a focus on sustainable inclusivity of the disabled community within education and society. I then worked as the Director of an international development charity based in India and the UK, focusing on improving education for socio-economically disadvantaged children.
Just before leaving for Ghana, I took my first ever yoga class. I was 25. I was inflexible and entirely intimidated by the yoga studios, the advanced yogis, the deities… all of it. But there was something that held my attention and wouldn’t allow me to let it go. I was clueless and probably a nightmare for the teacher, but I persevered and kept going back. This ‘stretching’ was the first time I’d felt truly connected to my body and my emotions for a really long time. It wasn’t that enjoyable at the start, but it was like a wake up call - like I was genuinely waking up to the reality of who I was and what I was about.
Fast forward a couple of years, after consistent daily practice, I felt ready to do my teacher training and dedicate my life to the practice of yoga.
My philosophy…
Modern times create unnatural disturbances within our minds and bodies through the food we eat, environments we live in and the high pressure of our socio-economic systems. This makes us stressed and in a lot of cases, sick.
This lack of wellbeing both mentally and physically results in the highest levels of chronic illness that's ever been recorded, as well as the highest rates of depression and anxiety, obesity and type II diabetes. But it also creates problems for us on a day to day basis. It is now considered normal to have a lack of energy, problems sleeping, shortness of breath, weight gain, migraines, bloating, mood swings and stress.
There will never be a time when we don't have moments of fatigue, feeling ill or getting stressed, but this shouldn't be accepted as how we live regularly. If the way we live perpetuates the symptoms listed above, surely, we have to change it, not just because we want to be healthy and fit, but because we want to be happy.
We cannot be happy when we are stressed and sick.
Everyone has their own mechanisms to cope with the demands of daily life, and different things work for different people. However, whatever path you take, the only way to do this successfully is to re-connect with yourself and your body through quietening the busy mind. My way of getting the most out of my life, every day, is to practice. Meditation, philosophy and asana of Yoga.
'Practice becomes firmly grounded when well attended to for a long time, without break and in all earnestness.'
(sutra.14)