I hold a British Wheel of Yoga 500-hour Diploma and I am also qualified with Yoga Alliance to 200 hours. I have completed a 40-hour teacher training with David Swenson. I am insured through the British Wheel of Yoga and hold an Emergency at Work First Aid Certificate. I am an Exercise and Fitness Practitioner with CIMSPA.
I initially started my yoga journey as a teenager in 2000. After a gap I started practicing Hatha Yoga again in 2012 with Lindi McAlpine in Cornwall while I was completing my doctorate there. Lindi is a Mindfulness Practitioner and I found mindfulness meditation very helpful in my everyday life. I also attended Vinyasa Flow classes.
I started classes with Sam Rao in Berkshire in late 2013, which I attended when I was visiting my parents. I liked the references to anatomy he peppers his classes with and it was then I started to think I would like to teach yoga one day.
I moved to Sheffield at the beginning of 2015 and began Ashtanga Vinyasa classes with Nicola Harpin (and occasionally her husband Richard). I immediately fell in love with Ashtanga. I liked the sequencing of the postures and the fact it worked the whole of the body. After a while I discovered it is also a very meditative style of yoga; doing the same postures every time, while not to some people's liking, means you can stop thinking so much and start being present in the practice. It was through Nicola's guidance that I finally understood what the Bandhas were and headstands finally seemed possible! I attend workshops and classes in other styles of yoga such as hot yoga, Yin, restorative, Vinyasa Flow, Scaravelli, Kundalini... I regulary attend Mysore style (self practice) and full primary series led classes.
I encountered Teach Yoga at the OM Yoga Show in London in 2015. In March 2016 I attended a workshop with Elena Voyce and immensely enjoyed her very technical, precise yoga based on a huge array of styles such as Iyengar and Scaravelli. I then successfully applied for the BWY Accredited Teaching Diploma 500 hour course with Teach Yoga, which is taught over 2 years and is very well regarded in the UK and abroad. I achieved YA 200 hour certification in May 2017. I finished the BWY part of the course in July 2018.
I continued to practice yoga throughout my pregnancy in 2017. My partner and his family made it clear they wanted nothing to do with me or the baby when I was just 9 weeks pregnant. Alongside the support of my family and friends, yoga helped immensely with the physical and emotional stresses of expecting a baby and giving birth as a single mum. As a result I have a special interest in yoga for anxiety and depression and hope to complete the Therapeutic Teacher Training at Teach Yoga in the future.
In November 2018 I completed a 40 hour teacher training with David Swenson. Free from dogma or politics, and one of the original Westerners to study Ashtanga Yoga, David's enthusiasm for the practice after 45 years is infectious. David's philosophy is to make Ashtanga accessible to everyone, something I wholeheartedly believe in!
I truly believe in constant learning and bringing together the different styles and types of yoga that appeal the most to me and using these in my teaching. Yoga has improved my physical and mental wellbeing beyond measure and I want to help improve the lives of others.