My Yoga STORY (& MY BOOK!)
Getting hit by a van while cycling to work in July 2014 and breaking my collarbone/generally messing up my right shoulder was the catalyst for the start of my yoga journey. But even then it took me a good long while to realise the damage wasn't going to magically undo itself before I got tentatively on a mat. That was in December 2015.
At that point, I could not touch my toes or do a single push up (I have ZERO background in sport/dance/gymnastics). Achieving those two things took me about 6 months of 1-3 classes of Iyengar yoga a week. I started adding vinyasa yoga classes, 1-2 a week, in September 2015, and by May 2016 I started flowing by myself at home. And the rest, as they say, is history.
The latest installment of which is pouring my mind, body, soul into a book - The Book of Yoga Self Practice - where I share my unique, simple and transformational framework for creating and sustaining a creative and fulfilling independent yoga practice. You can buy it on Amazon here, and read more about how it came about and what it contains here.
Check out the "My Yoga Journey" section of my blog to read more about my yoga journey so far...
My Yoga Practice
Currently, my yoga practice is a real mixed bag. Which I love. I attend a mixture of Vinyasa, Iyengar, Rocket yoga classes, though my self-practice is nearly always Vinyasa. At this is where my heart really lies.
I am PASSIONATE about the impact an independent self-practice can have on both your yoga and your life, and creative Vinyasa is the type of yoga that inspires me the most.
Check out the my Instagram to keep up to date on what my practice looks like at the moment...
MY INSTAGRAM & COMMUNITY
I took my personal Instagram public in Oct'15 to participate in my first yoga challenge. I had about 250 followers and zero plans or intentions for my account, other than to use it as a tool to inspire me and help improve my practice.
Some 120,000 followers later, and that is exactly how I still think about it, except with the addition of perhaps inspiring others and helping improve their practice too. Because paying it forward is the very least I can do.
Which is why in 2018 I founded the Instagram community Yoga Self Practice. I wanted a place where real people practicing their own real yoga could see themselves represented online: all body types, all races, all practice levels, all genders - which was, and sadly still is, sorely lacking online.
This community has now grown to be bigger than my personal account, and I remain committed to holding space on Instagram for all sorts of people practicing all sorts of #yogaselfpractice in amongst the reality of their busy lives and wonderfully unique bodies and practices.
Check out my Instagram, the Yoga Self Practice Instagram to see more...
My Work
I have a big career in an industry that couldn't be further away from the full-time yoga world. I've spent 12 years working my way into a role I love and plan to spend many more years enjoying the fruits of that labour and continuing along this path, hopefully encountering some new and exciting challenges along the way.
I choose not to speak about my job or the industry that I work in out of respect for my fantastic employer. However, I do want to use whatever platform I have to talk about how it is possible to have big job and a big passion.
How you can not only combine the two, but how they can each serve the other to create a wonderfully broad and balanced life full of light, love, and success. I am better at my job because of yoga, and I am better at my yoga practice because of my job, and I hope I can show you that here.
MY TEACHER TRAINING
In May 2017 I qualified as a 200hr RYT with the one and only Dylan Werner. I went into the training with zero expectations of actually teaching at the end of it. All I knew was that I wanted to learn more about yoga, and from someone who's personal practice deeply inspired me: read more about how I knew this was the right training for me here.
Three mind-blowing weeks later and I left the training with commitments to teach when I got home to London. While I have no plans to teach full time (read the next sections to see why!), I am so grateful to say that I have real experience of teaching regular classes and my own workshops.
Keep an eye on the Teaching section of this site for all the latest, and do reach out via the Contact page to inquire about anything on this front.
My FAMILY
This section used to be dedicated to the cats: my 5-year-old lilac Burmese brother and sister litter mate, Noodle and Zeppelin. But while they are the stars of the show on my Instagram feed, the centre of my universe really belongs to my husband (aka Mr RAD) and my toddler son. You won't see a huge amount of either on them on my feed (though I can't resist on my Stories!) but needless to say, learning to practice yoga safely while pregnant, still fitting it in once I became a mother have both been massive 'next steps' in my yoga journey.
