The golden thread….

I follow my path of yoga and meditation back to where I am now along a ‘golden thread‘.

I was first introduced to yoga as a child when I joined a relative at her class.  This must have piqued my interest somehow, as I then dipped in and out to a lesser or greater extent over the intervening years as an adult, until one day I realised I felt most like my ‘real self’ on a yoga mat.

This realisation inspired me to deepen my practice by taking a yoga teacher training at Ashram Yoga in New Zealand, situated on the beautiful Coromandel.

So, a few weeks after I had made this decision, I found myself there.  I had no idea what depths and summits ‘yoga’ would take me to:  I had no idea how much more it was than making shapes on a mat.

Every morning we rose before dawn to chant in Sanskrit. Each evening we would take part in a call and response kirtan.   Every other day we took part in a yoga nidra guided meditation.  All yoga practices in its most subtle form. It was like nothing I had experienced before.

I couldn’t fathom why I had travelled so far to do this.  But, as the days went by, the mantras and the teachings did their work, opening me to knowing my true self more and more.

When I returned to the U.K I started to teach as well as continue along the thread of learning.  I was led to my iRest Level One Yoga Nidra training with James Reeves where we were invited to ‘feel, feel, feel, feel, feel….’ and ‘welcome everything in, just as it is’ which was a profound breakthrough for me after a many years in a corporate career which centred around constant positivity and ‘fixing’.

Completing my Level Two and Certification was hugely transformative for me, including the required ten day silent retreat in California with the founder of iRest, Dr Richard Miller and Stephanie Lopez.

I am deeply honoured to share this practice and see the impact it has on the people I teach it to.  I love that it’s language is secular and that it has been designed with the ‘non-yogi’ in mind.

A spiritual pilgrimage to Tamil Nadu, led by Sanskrit and Tantric scholar-practitioner Christopher Hareesh Wallis crystallised the culmination of my yogic studies thus far and brought to life what had been theoretical up until that point.

My kirtan training with Nikki Slade was also transformative  in letting my voice be heard – probably to myself most of all – in a way which is both liberating and joyful.

I have been lucky to have been taught by and continue to learn from my teachers – all of whom are world class but also grounded, straight talking and compassionate.

And now I wish to share these practices and philosophies with you.  Perhaps in a class, at an event or workshop or on retreat or even in your boardroom / place of work.

I look forward to meeting you on this continuing golden thread…