My qualifications

Nursing diploma
Post-graduate certificate in Public Health
YTT, 250, Yoga Point
Yoga therapy diploma, 600hr, Dru Yoga
Yoga4Health, 60hr PCI-accredited training with YIHA

I’ve also accumulated around 300 hours of training in anatomy, Ayurveda, women’s health, meditation, trauma awareness, antenatal yoga, and yoga for arthritis.

Yoga for living in a human body

I’m not really interested in yoga as a fitness regimen. For that, there’s running, weight training, calisthenics and frisbee. And, if you happen to live on a smallholding like me, life in general.

I’m interested in yoga as a practice for becoming more aware, and that awareness starts in the body.

Do you ever notice yourself with tense shoulders, a clenched jaw, or pain in your hips? It’s not that you’re literally holding your emotions in your body, but that your body may have become accustomed to being held in particular ways.

As a child, whenever I pulled a funny face, my dad said: “Be careful. If the wind changes, you’ll be stuck like that.” Well, the wind is always changing, and we do get stuck.

We develop habits of tension, in our breath and in our bodies. We learn ways of responding to the world, and sometimes, those habits continue, long after we need them.

In this world of escalating stress and anxiety and with many chronic health conditions on the rise, you may sometimes feel that your body is letting you down. I find it more fascinating to consider that our bodies are doing what they’ve learned to do. They’re trying to keep us safe.

From health and social care to yoga

In 2007 I qualified as a nurse, then went on to study public health. But through all of my wild student days, difficult placements and unhealthy shift patterns, yoga was the toolkit I kept coming back to. I discovered yoga at the age of 18 (over a quarter of a century ago), and was lucky enough in the early days to have some truly inspiring teachers from whom I quickly learned:

• You don’t need to get onto the mat for an hour each morning to have a dedicated practice.

• You don’t even need to own a mat.

Learning a few tools that work and coming back to them frequently can make the difference between an average week and a great one.

That’s still my experience with yoga.

My classes aren’t a set of instructions

I’m not here to be the expert on your body.

I want you to be your own expert.

You don’t need to be strong or flexible to practise with me. The yoga will help you on both fronts.

But I’m much more fascinated by the effects it has on your nervous system, your interoception (the ability to notice what’s happening inside), and your knowledge of yourself.

Over time, you may start to notice things you previously missed, developing a better understanding of your body, mental habits, and emotional triggers.

You’ll learn to move with your breath (rather than trying to fit your breath to movements). And though a lot of the movements we do are slow and mindful, don’t think they’re always easy! I like to give you something to work with.

Yoga therapy & Ayurveda

My clinical background eventually led me to yoga therapy, where the sessions become much more individualised.

I love working 1:1, helping people find their own potential. Rather than trying to fit your body into a generic class, we start with your story and go from there, working towards goals that are specific to you.

I’m also a student of Ayurveda and will be a fully qualified Ayurvedic Health Coach by the end of 2027. Ayurveda emphasises living in harmony with the seasons and our own unique constitution. It works for me, and I’m looking forward to sharing it more widely.

Yoga beyond the mat

Most importantly, I want you to walk away feeling a little more robust, with a new kit of tools to help the day-to-day flow more easily. This might look like:

• A few gentle movements to help you start the day;

• A new awareness of where in your body you hold tension;

• A breathing practice to help calm your nervous system.

The point isn’t to become better at yoga. It’s to find better ways of living as a human being.

My writing

I was taught that you can’t teach yoga without being a poet, and I’m inclined to agree. Alongside yoga, I write Words & Yoga, a monthly letter about creativity, nature, and living in a human body.

It’s completely free, but for £6 a month, you’ll also get a 45-minute guided practice to sit alongside each month’s letter.