My Yoga Journey began almost 30 years ago in Rishikesh, India. Having used my student loan to fund a trip to India, I was keen to add to my bona fide hippy credentials by ‘finding myself’ - I soon learnt that you are far more likely to lose yourself in India than find yourself!

Like most people on a first visit, I tried to see as much of the vast country as possible in as little time as possible. After time in Delhi, contracting amoebic dysentery in Agra - who knew saag bhaji could be so mean! - and spending time in magical Varanasi, the next stop was Rishikesh.

As Rishikesh is dubbed the Yoga capital of the world, I was keen to embrace all things Yoga. That said, the 19 year old me was not quite ready for the discipline of Ashram living and so I opted to stay in a local guesthouse and made the daily walk across the Ganges to the Ashram.

The lessons were intense, nurturing is not a word that comes to mind and I remember being chastised with comments like “the body shakes because the mind is active, still the mind”. One of my favourite memories is our class being told, “always remember, Western medicine knows very very little!”. Despite the brusque approach and the ‘muscle fever’ that was only relieved by more practice - Yoga has found me!

After returning to the UK I began to practise Iyengar Yoga and continued with this practice for many years. As a Yoga Teacher and Therapist, I am a huge advocate of the precision of Iyengar and am always concerned when Yoga is led, not taught, with no attention to alignment. Yoga Therapy training has taught me the importance of function over form and that alignment for one body might not ‘look’ the same as it does for another.

It was on a return trip to India that I began a dalliance with meditation. Unlike my asana practice, it has taken many years to embed meditation into my personal practice - now that I have, it has allowed me to open my heart and mind, and heal my body, in ways asana never did.

In 2000 I had my daughter and it was whilst pregnant that I began my personal practice. I discovered the joy of tuning into your body and moving in ways that it directed. Developing my personal practice whilst pregnant taught me to listen and to be kind to my body - to treat my body like a sacred animal or treasured friend.

A few years later, I moved to North Cornwall and decided I wanted to teach Yoga - I completed my Yoga Teacher Diploma (Hatha Yoga) in 2006 and have been teaching Yoga, in a variety of contexts and settings, since then. More recently, I completed a Post-Graduate Diploma in Yoga Therapy and a Level 3 Qualification in Healing & Recovery after Sexual Violence.

Around the same time, I trained to teach Religious Education. After a few years I became the head of department and completed a MEd in Professional Development in 2012. Shortly after, I progressed into wider leadership role and completed a Post Graduate Diploma in Pastoral Leadership.

Today I am fully convinced that Yoga has a role to play in the personal development of all people, especially teachers and leaders.

My experience in education and leadership has also shaped the way I think about wellbeing at work. I am particularly interested in how mindfulness, movement and self awareness can help people navigate the demands of working life and how boundried compassion and mindful leadership can create workplaces where everyone can thrive.

This has led naturally into my work with organisations, developing practical, evidence-informed workshops around workplace wellbeing and mindful leadership. The work brings together many of the strands that have shaped my own journey: Yoga and Yoga therapy, education, leadership, personal development and community wellbeing.

In recent years, alongside building my private Yoga therapy business, I’ve become increasingly committed to using 30 years of practice and almost 20 years of teaching to share Yoga with those who - for a whole host of reasons - might not otherwise be able to access all that Yoga & Yoga Therapy have to offer.

As well as my work alongside charities and councils, I have recently set up Gentle Yoga Rebellion CIC with a mission to make Yoga and Yoga Therapy truly accessible and inclusive - reaching individuals and communities in Cornwall who may face barriers to wellbeing.

Of course during all of this training and teaching, life has happened. It has taken twists and turns; there have been highs and lows. It has taken years to embed a daily practice, both on and off the mat, into my life and I am, of course, still learning.

But one thing that I am sure of is that Yoga has been my guiding light throughout and I will be eternally grateful that Yoga found me.

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