MY TRAINING
I completed a BSc (Hons) in Sports Studies at Roehampton and became interested in Sports Massage, as it proved to be the most effective treatment for a selection of chronic injuries that I had developed from high mileage road running whilst at University. I wrote my dissertation on sports massage and after graduating went on to do a variety of massage courses, including the critically acclaimed diploma in Sports and Remedial Massage at the LSSM under Mel Cash. This is the highest level of Sports Massage diploma currently available and was the first of it’s kind in the UK when I originally qualified. I have also completed a full Myofascial Release Course at the LSSM (ISRM) under Alex Fugallo, cadaver dissections with Julian Baker (principle of the European College of Bowen Studies), Anatomy Trains with Fiona Palmer, Kier Shumaker and Tom Myers, Institute of Yoga Sports Science with Hayley Winter and I will continue to study a range of CPD courses to further deepen my knowledge and advance my practice. I love to learn and am keen to share!
I am a fully qualified, registered and insured LSSM/ISRM practitioner.
I have been extremely luc
ky to have encountered some hugely talented and inspiring yoga teachers on my own journey so far. In 2010 this culminated in me studying with Claire Missingham on her thoroughly intensive and fully comprehensive teacher training course in London. I continue to study and practice with a variety of highly esteemed Yogis and Yoginis, such as Alessandra Pecorella, (Aditya Yoga School 500hrs and Shiva Rae Prana Flow 100hrs), Melanie Cooper (Ashtanga) , Swami Nityamukatananda, Jeanne Heileman (TantraFlowYoga), Dr Gabor Mate (Compassionate Inquiry), Institute of Yoga Sports Science with Hayley Winter, Gary Kraftsow; and Nikki Myers to deepen my own personal practice and enhance my teaching. There is much overlap with my yoga and massage practice and I aim for each to further enhance and consolidate the other.
I am RYT600 qualified and a YOGA ALLIANCE UK Senior registered/insured teacher. I qualified as a Y12SR leader with Nikki Myers at Project Yoga, Richmond, Virginia (USA) in 2012. The Y12SR classes I taught at the Boiler House were the first to be held anywhere in Europe and I now host the Leadership training programme for Y12SR for the UK/Europe. I also provided twice weekly yoga classes for all clients on the Focus12 drink and drug rehabilitation programme for 8 years, as I am a firm advocate of the integration of yoga into rehabilitative programmes and aftercare for addicts, and have been extensively involved in research with Cambridge Neuroscience (Cambridge University) to test the efficacy of this.
Currently I am nearing the completion of my RYT500 with the hugely inspirational Alessandra Pecorella http://adityayogaschool.co.uk/ and in 2021 I completed Pilates Reformer training and certification with the brilliant Joanne Cobbe to better inform my teaching of injury rehabilitation and Functional Flow.
MY JOURNEY (so far…)
My background is primarily a sporting one, having participated and competed at many levels in most. If skill was lacking, enthusiasm for movement did not falter !
As a child, my father motor raced and my mother was a riding instructor and I quickly gravitated towards anything involving going anywhere at high speed. I have ridden horses for most of my life and used to show jump at an affiliated level, although my true passion on horseback was for cross country.
Throughout my whole life, middle to long distance running has always played a major part too, and I owe the demise of my knee cartilage to many happy years of fell walking and running in Cumbria!
Other principal sports and activities have included cycling, rowing, kayaking, skiing, all mountain sports (running, climbing, walking, scrambling, mountain biking – whatever it takes to get up there!) Muay Thai boxing and all aspects of strength and conditioning work in the gym with some highly esteemed PTs and coaches.
I have, over the years, acquired a vast array of sporting injuries. These have been through excessive training, biomechanical imbalances (such as over pronation and scoliosis…although the actual list is far longer….) and impact/accident related – the latter being principally prompted by exiting a horse’s saddle at speed and meeting a variety of stationary objects such as jump wings, fence posts, the ground and so on.
Due to these injuries and their subsequent postural and movement compensations, I started to struggle to maintain my training volume and this combined with working long hours at a desk/car in a different professional career field, along with general escalating life stress meant that continuing in that way on that path was unsustainable.
Having had my training curtailed, I reluctantly tried ‘a bit of yoga’ to see if something more than my usual, somewhat limited stretching regime would help. It utterly changed my training, my attitude, my awareness and my career.
I am happy to talk enthusiastically and relentlessly to anyone who will stand still long enough to let me impart the transformative benefits that yoga has had on all aspects of my mind, body, soul and life as an integrated whole!
There are many organisations that I am especially passionate about supporting but this one was especially ignited through my yoga practice and studies.
Y12SR: YOGA OF 12 STEP RECOVERY
The work of Nikki Myers has and continues to be integral within my yoga exploration.
There are many therapeutic based courses for yoga teachers out there for studying the links and benefits of yoga in dealing with addictive patterning (whether they manifest as substance or behavioural), but the way in which this work weaves together the ancient wisdom of yoga, the most up to date evidence of addiction neuroscience with yoga therapy, all alongside the 12 step programme caught my attention because of it’s support in PRACTICAL APPLICATION for life on and off the mat, within the community at large; saving and changing lives.
One of it’s strengths is that it is open to all As (AA, NA, Al-Anon and so on) but also to anyone affected by addiction or the addiction of others, those in long term recovery and those whom may not be working any programme.
That’s about as inclusive and yoga as it gets – no separation or judgement, just integration – on an individual and on a social and multi fellowship level – support and practical application out within the community where everyone can access it, with no waiting lists, referrals or expensive class fees.
I am happy and humbled to have been working under the teaching guidance of Nikki Myers since 2012, continue to study the programme and have been holding weekly Y12SR classes in my home town of Bury St Edmunds since then. From 2018 I have been one of the leadership trainers for space holders for the International Y12SR movement – assisting the inclusion of yoga and recovery in communities all over the world.
If you are interested in knowing more about this inspirational work, either as attending meeting/practices or to train to offer this within your own community, please check out www.y12sr.com for a more fully comprehensive understanding of what Y12SR is, where your local classes may be and where and when the next training courses are in your part of the world.
The next Y12SR leadership training programme for UK and EUROPE is happening on November 18th /19th 2023 – please click on the link above to book your space.
