I remember my first yoga class very distinctly – the yoga instructor who later became the one who would inspire and also train me to become a yoga instructor myself, asked me what had brought me to yoga. I remember telling him that I wanted to heal my body, my mind and my spirit. That was over 17 years ago. Since that first class, I know that the healing that I sought, was not a destination but a pathway and a journey.
I studied with Being Yoga on the Sunshine Coast in the Vinyasa style completing my studies in 2009. Venturing out on my own, running my own classes in New South Wales, I found my style of teaching and practicing has evolved into a slower version of the vinyasa. I love to really feel what is happening in the body, the mind and the heart and the body then finds the next pose in the flow.
Practicing this way also helps to keep the body safer, especially, if like me, you have experienced injury. One has time to notice and decide whether to go deeper or to ease off and keep the body safe. This slower paced style of teaching naturally led me to study restorative yoga and yin yoga, both deeply nurturing and nourishing practices that allows the business of my goldfish brain to find stillness and quiet.
This is also what I endeavour to pass on to my students. I believe that there is a way for everyone in the world to practice yoga, and that everyone in the world should practice yoga in some form or other.
I consider it a great privilege to be able to share yoga, for it has not only allowed me to help others find the many layered benefits of yoga, but been an incredible journey of healing that I am still travelling. I really cannot imagine my life without it.
The light within me bows to the light within you and may we find unity and connection together in our yoga practice.
