Who am I?

Well I’m not a super impressive pretzel posing yogi or a very virtuous liver of life. Just another flawed human bumbling along doing the best I can on any given day. I do really like yoga though. I believe that as a movement practice it is really brilliant at connecting mind and body, building awareness of sensations within our bodies. And that this awareness in turn can aid us in regulating our emotions, help us with our mental health, and probably just be useful in living life. It isn’t the be-all-and-end-all, or the answer to any problems, and it may not be for everyone. But I like it, and I enjoy sharing it with others.

I’ve done it on and off for most of my life (mainly off!), and some years ago I got a bit more regular in my practice in a bid to try and involve some form of consistent exercise in my life by focusing on one thing I did actually enjoy. Then I wanted to learn more, so signed up for my 200 hours teacher training with MoreYoga in London. I didn’t expect to end up wanting to teach, but the desire grew as the course progressed. I then did an advanced 150 hour teacher training with MoreYoga, 100 hours Art of Yin with Grace Tempany, and another 100 hours of Yang with Grace. To really develop my skills as a functional teacher.

Teaching functionally really simply involves recognising that everyone’s body is different. Our skeletons are all different which pretty fundamentally defines what movement is available to you! But how we use our bodies day-to-day, their history, our muscles, size of boobs, life experiences - all of these things make us all unique too. They shape how we can currently move, what movement may be possible over time - what movement may be habitual and comfortable, what movement may be awkward and difficult or uncomfortable (physically and emotionally). To be accessible to all, yoga needs to recognise this. To recognise that ultimately - each individual is the expert in their own experience - and the role of the teacher is to guide them towards feeling the desired sensation in their own body. I strive to teach in this way. For yoga to be about a felt experience and sensation in the body (strengthening & stretching) - which we achieve by moving our bodies into different shapes. The purpose of yoga is never the aesthetic appearance of the shape of the pose - but the bodily sensation that we can experience by moving our body into the right shape for us.

Outside of yoga I work part time as a mental health support worker, and am currently studying to be a mental health nurse. I am also very into going for long long walks, which is the source of many of the pictures here, it would probably be more fitting if this site was all about walking! I shall strive for more yoga pics - but just like all of you - I get pretty self conscious about my body whenever I try, so we shall see!