THE WELLBEING MENTOR
For Cosima Spender, 43, a documentary maker, close friend Tara Lee, 42, a yoga teacher, is personal trainer, doula, nutritionist and natural health practitioner all rolled into one
+6
'Tara (right) is full of great tips, but she never preaches – it is more a case of leading by example,' said Cosima
Cosima Tara has been a source of inspiration to me since she transformed from your average teenager (we went to boarding school together) to toned goddess on a trip to Thailand aged 18.
When I joined her there, she encouraged me to be healthy. She had discovered vegetarianism and yoga, and her passion was infectious.
Every summer for the next eight years we went backpacking together, and our adventures would also be my time to detox.
Tara is full of great tips, but she never preaches – it is more a case of leading by example. She taught me yoga and used it to heal the lopsided shoulder I’d developed carrying heavy cameras for my work.
+6
We both live in Bayswater, London, and see each other once a week, whether it’s running in Hyde Park or shopping at Planet Organic (Tara points out the latest superfoods).
I also attend her yoga classes at the Life Centre in Notting Hill. I’m proud of how successful she is, now teaching celebrities including Rosamund Pike, Laura Bailey and Cat Deeley.
Tara’s pregnancy yoga classes were instrumental in the birth of my second child Marlon, now seven, which took just three hours.
I’d had a difficult time with my first Aeneas, 11, suffering a postpartum haemorrhage, but second time around her lessons made me more supple and calm.
I asked her to be my doula. My husband Valerio was happy to have her there to relieve the pressure. It made us even closer to share that moment.
When Aeneas developed eczema, it was Tara who suggested I try probiotics when steroid creams failed. But it’s her optimism that really cures ills.
She knows me so well that I don’t need to tell her I’m stressed – she’ll sense it and let me vent. She’s like family without the baggage; a therapist without the front.
Tara I’ve never consciously tried to advise Cosima, but when you’re spending an intense amount of time with someone you pick up the other person’s habits.
She could see how calm, happy and energised I had become since learning yoga. Cosima still comes along to my classes.
She filmed my first pregnancy yoga DVD – I’ve since sold over 60,000 copies. We know each other so well that we can be very honest.
When she’s stressed I know how to make her laugh. During Marlon’s birth, I told her to hurry up so I could make my 11am yoga class!
Bump, Baby and Beyond: Pregnancy and Postnatal Yoga With Tara Lee is available on DVD, price £24.99; taraleeyoga.com. Palio, directed by Cosima Spender, is out on DVD
https://www.dailymail.co.uk/home/you/article-3395471/My-mate-mentor-meet-women-friends-life-coaches.html