I first discovered yoga in the late 1990s, when I had young children and was beginning to put down roots in Bath, practicing about once a week. In 2009, I went on my first yoga retreat with Diane Lee to Kalamata, Greece – memories of torrential rain and classes in a damp sailing hut did not dim my enthusiasm! During this retreat, I saw the enormous benefit of practicing yoga daily.

I continued to practice regularly with Diane after this, and whilst initially, my motivation for doing yoga was to stretch – particularly when I took up running – I gradually became aware of immense benefits of yoga on mind as well as body. Leaning into the healing power of yoga saw me through a number of challenging and stressful years as I entered my 50’s.

At the end of 2017, I took a leap of faith and left my 30+ year career in Education to ‘re-wire’ and reevaluate how I could follow my passions and use this new freedom to help people. In order to find a new ‘dream career’, I attended a well-being event, at which a group brainstorm highlighted a recurring theme for me: ‘teaching yoga on a hot sunny beach’!

Driven by this new confidence, I increased my practice of yoga and began to look into training to be a yoga teacher. On paper, I felt an unlikely candidate for yoga teaching; having been diagnosed with osteoporosis in 2015 following an early menopause, suffering from broken ribs on three separate occasions, and a broken wrist in 2018 which delayed my training. However, yoga has enabled me to build back my physical and mental strength and overcome these challenges, as well as giving me a unique insight and confidence to help others through my yoga teaching.

During my training, my teaching has been on a 1:1 or small group basis, and this is what I excel at. Introducing those with little to no experience of yoga to its potential brings me so much satisfaction. I completed the Yoga Alliance certified ‘Academy for Yoga Training’ Hatha Yoga 200hr course in August 2020; and hope to undertake further training in Yin yoga – an even more accessible form of the practice – this year.

In my classes and one-to-ones, my approach to yoga is gentle and accessible. You don’t need to be ‘flexible’! No matter your age, ability, or fitness level, I believe I can help you to enjoy the benefits of yoga on and off the mat.