My 'Why'

About 12 years ago, I was teaching a very challenging Year 5 class. It was exhausting! Every day was becoming more and more of a struggle and I could feel the stress building and building: restful sleep was difficult to find, I had no energy to exercise, my shoulders were wrapped around my ears by the end of each day and I was beginning to feel worse and worse mentally and physically.

In a desperate search for calm, having woken up in the early hours yet again, I had a crazy idea to just get up and do some Yoga before work. I was awake anyway and Yoga is supposed to make you calm, right?

And you know what? It did! Just 10-20 minutes of a class I found on YouTube made such a difference to the start of my day. Rather than arriving at work, frantic and tired in dread of what the day would bring me, I arrived calmer with a clearer mind and it made all the difference to how my day unfolded.

Move forwards a number of years and things in education were beginning to get more challenging with micromanaging and scrutiny as well as children's behaviour. I was going to Yoga classes at my gym and my mat felt like my safe place. How lovely to be in a room with people who smile and greet you as you enter. How lovely to be in a space where if you can't do something it is ok. How lovely to be told to do what feels right for you even if that looks different from everyone else.

And then, one day, I went to this Yoga class, my safe space, I laid down on the mat to 'arrive land and settle' and a thought popped into my mind: 'What a great job this teacher has - she gets to come into a room, roll out her mat and make everyone feel safe and welcome as they arrive. Then she gets to teach a room full of people who want to be there, listen and do what she says. There is no-one coming in with a clipboard questioning how she is going to get everyone to look the same in every Yoga pose because this is a space where difference is accepted. And then, at the end, she rolls up her mat, everyone says 'thank you' and off we all go feeling rested and valued. And this is what she gets to do as her job! That is amazing! She is living the dream!'

And it was that moment, that thought, that made me realise that this is what I wanted to do for others. It was really shortly after this that I requested to go part time so I could complete my Yoga Teacher Training and eighteen months later I started teaching.

Now I teach 3 in-person classes and 2 online classes as a part of my business as well as a weekly session at a local health club. I cover a numerous classes at several different clubs both in my local area and further afield. And every time I teach a class, whether it be my own or someone else's, I aspire to make everyone feel as welcome as other Yoga teachers have made me feel in the past. The space I create is safe and non-judgemental. The practises I plan and deliver are accessible to everyone there. The people who come are lovely and new communities build as new friendships are formed.

This is my 'why'.

Life is stressful and pressures are high. Judgement feels constant - from others or how we measure ourselves against them. I create spaces with the aim to find a release from all of this. A safe place, coming back to yourself through breath and movement. An escape from the busyness, an escape from the stresses, an escape from the judgements. If everyone gave themselves the gift of practising just one aspect of Yoga - movement, breath or meditation - for even 3 minutes a day, I believe the world would be a calmer, kinder place.