Now a yoga teacher for almost 9 years, below is my little story of how I became a yoga teacher and what I’ve been up to until now for anyone that may be interested.
I started practising, actually when I was a child. I remember trying the ‘Lotus Position’ because it looked cool. I also dabbled with meditation as I got older but didn’t really “get it”
Later after a 4-month spell in California, I returned to the UK with a renewed interest in Yoga and Meditation. I had also quit a pretty serious smoking habit and was attracted to a more holistic approach to my health and lifestyle. A friend encouraged me to try a Yoga class with her. I was completely shocked at how hard I found the practice.
In particular, these repeated postures that were forcing me to open in my shoulders, hips and stretch my hamstrings. Also, inversions that highlighted weaknesses in my wrists and hands and exposed a fatter belly than I had previously acknowledged!
I realised my core strength was almost non-existent. But I stuck at it.
At first, it was the physical side that interested me, but pretty soon I noticed it was having a positive effect on my mood. Slowly I became increasingly interested in what this practice was doing for me. It was making my life better/easier. I was more focused. More interested in other people, a happier person.
During a six-month music contract performing in Doha Qatar, in my spare time, I attended Yama Yoga Studios.
This was my first proper introduction to Ashtanga yoga. The teacher Valerie Jeremijenko was inspiring. The practice was remarkably hard. However, I loved it.
Maybe not so much during the class! but the feeling after was amazing. I could feel it transforming me. After this experience, I was now fascinated with yoga.
One time I attended a teacher training class by mistake but was kindly allowed to stay and practice with the other trainee teachers. It was very embarrassing for me as I had no idea what I was doing. Despite this, the first seeds of thought of passing my very limited knowledge to others started to occur to me.