Yoga, Meditation and Mindfulness in S.E. London
I am passionate about Hatha Yoga, Meditation and Mindfulness, have practiced yoga and meditation for over 35 years and have taught adults, children and teens. I have studied with many wonderful teachers and organisations to deepen my knowledge and experience. I am qualified to teach Menopause Yoga and run yoga courses and workshops for Perimenopause, Menopause and Beyond. In recent years, I have developed my expertise in bone health – I am a certified Buff Bones® instructor and am qualified to teach Yoga for Cancer. I love yoga because in addition to building strength in the body and calming the emotions, it can raise self-awareness, build resilience and enable us to live as our authentic selves so you can BeWellBeingYou!
Yoga Teaching Style
Yoga is a joyful and uplifting practice and I aim to create a warm and inviting environment where all feel welcome. My teaching focuses on a mindful practice and I use all aspects of Hatha Yoga – postures, breathing exercises, meditation, mudras, mantra, relaxation and Nidra to release stress and tension and build strength and flexibility in the body and mind. I believe that yoga can be practiced by every body and should be accessible to all – it does not require lycra or the body of a gymnast!
Yoga Qualifications
I studied for 3 years with the wise and inspired Saraswati Neville and qualified as a Hatha Yoga and Meditation teacher in 2004. I trained to teach Menopause Yoga Petra Coveney, Yoga for Cancer with Vicky Fox , Chair Yoga with Richard Kravatz and became a certified Buff Bones® instructor with Rebekah Rotstein. I explored Scaravelli inspired yoga with Sophy Hoare, have run workshops with Laughter Yoga teacher Julie Whitehead and attended various Dru Yoga courses and completed the Dru Yoga Back Care and Wellbeing Training Course for Social Prescribing. I am a member of the British Wheel of Yoga and ensure that my knowledge remains up to date by attending CPD sessions with a variety of organisations including The British Wheel of Yoga, Dru Yoga, The Minded Institute, Menopause Movement, The Yogi Doctor (Andrew McConigle) and Petra Coveney founder of Menopause Yoga.
Yoga for Menopause
I trained to teach Menopause Yoga with the inspirational Petra Coveney in 2020. This ground breaking course is accredited by The British Wheel of Yoga and The Yoga Alliance and is the only yoga course of its kind that uses a holistic approach to address the specific symptoms of peri-menopause, menopause and post-menopause. My training with Petra is on-going and has included a variety of C.P.D. workshops with leading experts including nutrition, insomnia, mental health, trauma and pelvic floor health.
I don’t advertise my classes as yoga for ‘midlife’ because I was in perimenopause at 34 and my own menopause journey left me in a state of confusion and despair. Having acknowledged what had happened to me many years after the event, I made a decision to support women in the way that I myself would like to have been helped at the time – with one simple message – you are not alone. Women spend many years of their lives in post-menopause where the need to support bone, heart and brain health become non-negotiable.
I have completed the Menopause Movement Professional Development Training Programme which focuses upon a woman’s physiology to treat, train and nurture women as they enter the peri-menopause and beyond. I am featured as a yoga teacher in Menopause Movement’s advertising and have shared Yoga Relaxation and Nidra sessions in their webinars and as a part of The Menopause Movement Advanced Training Course.
Bone Health
Having been diagnosed with Osteopenia in my thirties and Osteoporosis in my forties, I have a particular interest in bone health. I am a qualified Buff Bones® instructor – a Pilates based exercise programme which offers a safe form of exercise for those with osteoporosis to maintain flexibility and strength while improving balance and posture. I have deepened my knowledge and expertise by attending workshops with various experts including: Dr Timothy McCall; The Yogi Doctor – Andrew McConigle; Marye Wyvil – Bones for Life; and Ann Semylen – The British Wheel of Yoga. I studied with the exceptionally gifted yoga teacher Vicky Fox to qualify to teach Yoga for Cancer – cancer drugs and chemotherapy can weaken bones and impact the health of the skeleton.
Meditation
My interest in meditation began in 1998 when I was taught Deepak Chopra’s ‘Primordial Sound’ meditation, a form of mantra meditation. I have practiced various meditation techniques using the breath, mantra and visualisation and was trained to teach meditation by Saraswati Neville. I have attended training sessions with various teachers to deepen my own practice including Rolf Solvik, author of the well known book on meditation, ‘Moving Inward’.
Yoga for Children and Teenagers
A qualified primary school teacher, I trained to teach yoga to children and teenagers with a variety of well respected teachers including; Joyti Manuel from The Special Yoga Centre, Christiane Kerr from Calm For Kids, Nell Lindsell the founder of YogaBugs and Saraswati Neville. I taught yoga and meditation to children for nearly two decades!
Mindfulness
I qualified to teach meditation in 2004, have completed Saraswati’s Mindful Meditation course and an 8 week Mindfulness Based Stress Reduction MBSR course based on Mark William’s ‘Finding Peace in a Frantic World’. I trained to teach mindfulness to children and teenagers with Calm For Kids and qualified to teach two Mindfulness in Schools Project (MiSP) courses: .breathe which prepares children transitioning from Primary to Secondary school and .b for 11-18 year olds – this can also be used as an introduction to mindfulness for adults.
Authenticity is the daily practice of letting go of who we think we’re
supposed to be and embracing who we are.
Brene Brown
bewellbeingyou.co.uk 