When I was in my early twenties, everyone and their mother seemed to be getting into yoga. And loving it. I went along to various classes, mostly based on Hatha style, and hated it.
My body wasn’t flexible and I couldn’t do the poses they asked of me. The relaxation felt annoying and totally pointless to me. Looking back now, I see there was often a lack of basic comfort and feelings of safety – the hall was too big, or draughty, or too full of people. None of it suited me, and if you were to say that eventually it would be a part of my life that kept me safe and sane, in this crazy arse world, I would not have believed you one bit. But eventually it was.
I didn’t think of yoga again until after I’d finished my Alexander Technique teacher training. I was recommended by a friend to join a small class, Scaravelli influenced Hatha yoga; this was to start the journey of my love for yoga and mindful movement.
I’d spent three years intensely working on my relationship with my body and mind, in Alexander college, I was now a very different woman. I knew I needed to care for myself and what that looked like in a basic way. I knew I wanted comfort and small classes, and a teacher who lived and breathed yoga. An experienced teacher who had a passion for her own self development which kept the learning feeling fresh and new. But most of all I knew that I could apply my Alexander Technique thinking to everything that we did. Every asana and pranayama was infused with an awareness and connectedness born from my learned Alexander principles. My body loved it. My mind loved it. And my spirit could finally start to feel at home.
As my understanding of my body’s needs, and the practice deepened, slowly but surely my body learned to let go in the poses. Yoga became the framework for my Alexander technique practice, the quiet space where I could put myself back together and understand more fully how to feel good in my skin.
After a couple of decades of practice, I decided to start a class of my own, not teaching yoga, I’m not trained in yoga, but teaching Embodied Mindfulness. A kind of Alexander Technique yoga. If any of the statements below are familiar, then you may like to try it.
Why doesn’t my body bend in this way?
I find yoga too pain provoking.
Why am I struggling in this class?
It feels like nobody is looking after my body.
My body is struggling to teach so many yoga classes in a week.
You’re welcome to come to a trial class and see if you like the way I teach, and more importantly if your body likes it!
It’s not yoga as you would expect it to be, but an opportunity to meet your body in an extraordinarily kind way within the framework of yoga. You can then share this skilled and gentle approach within your home practice, or if relevant your own clients or students.
You can find more information on all my classes HERE