My yoga journey started much like many of yours – a true A type personality, I found yoga when the rest of my life became hectic and stressful.
I started my career within the fashion industry. At the age of 18, unsure of what university to choose, I left school with my A-levels and decided to take a year out before studying full-time.
Unlike most people who travel South East Asia on their gap year, I found myself interning within the fashion industry and three months in, I end up in a full time role that I loved; I was working in the wholesale side of fashion, selling to luxury department stores like Harrods, Net-a-Porter and boutiques around the world which meant a lot of travel too.
I couldn’t imagine possibly giving this up for student halls? So I carried on working and made a side-move into fine jewellery still continuing to sell to the contacts I had made. I decided that whilst working and still trying to fit in my love of Yoga, I would begin my university journey, juggling everything to enable me complete my Business Management degree.
Aged 23, I was running the production and wholesale departments of an Italian fine jewellery brand, whilst committing my evenings and weekends to my dissertation and of course I was exhausted, stressed and burnt out.
I realised I had defined myself by my job and how hard I was working and that in doing that, I may actually have missed the point; I felt like I had forgotten to actually live my life. So one Monday morning in November, I handed in my resignation and by that afternoon, I had booked a flight to India to complete my teacher training.
I had been practicing yoga for about 4 years by then, having discovered the practice when I developed back pain from long hours sitting at a desk. I soon realised how after classes, I felt calm and content and I wanted to feel that way all of the time.
So following my gut, I completed my first Yoga teacher training (a 200hr certified teacher) in Feb 2016 and then decided to really immerse myself, get deeper into the asana knowledge, anatomy, philosophy and chakra training so enrolled for a further 300hr certificate in Nov 2017 (to become a 500hr teacher). Since then I’ve also spent 2 separate weeks building up my knowledge about Yin Yoga which is a passion of mine.
I remember a friend once telling me her grandmother’s advice: that at the end of the day, all you want is to close your eyes and to be filled with wonderful memories. I try to live by this mantra; to create wonderful memories, which to me means travelling, experiencing the world and chasing as many sunsets as possible. I am so grateful to have a job that allows me the freedom to do this and over the past few years, I’ve spent a summer living in a rainforest in Costa Rica, explored Sri Lanka and fallen in love with Bali, where I’m returning this Christmas.
I’ve been teaching now for nearly four years, teaching Vinyasa and Yin styles of yoga.
Whilst I can’t imagine not teaching or sharing the love of yoga, it’s actually a lot of work involved in planning classes, workshops and being self employed means you have to do your own accounts etc. I have 3 gorgeous dogs who make for the best company, they remind me of the important things in life.
Being driven and not afraid of hard work, I’m also working on starting my own business, which has always been a dream of mine; I’m working on launching a collection of premium, ethically-made yoga clothing, all designed to reduce the environmental impact of our yoga outfits. I’m really excited for this project; sustainability within the fashion industry is a passion of mine, and it’s amazing to be able to combine all of my passions and interest into this one project, as well as being able to channel my creativity again into designing these beautiful products.
My life, much like my classes, is truly a journey towards balance 😉