And a journey it has been, as I sit here, yoga mat and block to the left and teacher training manual to the right, I reflect on how and why I decided to look to yoga and start the 200 hours teacher training.
Yoga has been a part of my life on and off for the last 25 years and I can remember vividly my first lessons. I would have been around 20, maybe a bit younger and they were at the local sports centre in the nearby town I grew up in in the UK. The teacher ‘Jeannie’ (actually for the longest time I thought it was Janey, but it is in fact Jeannie and who incidentally is still teaching), was the most lovely friendly lady, calm and serene and very bendy lol. Her classes were like a little slice of heaven and I remember she would always do a guided mediation at the end which I just adored, one week I can remember feeling like I floated out of the class – I felt that good!!
After that dipped in and out of yoga for years, I moved to Basel Switzerland when I was 23 but in all honesty never really found a class I vibed with while I was there and it wasn’t until I moved to New Zealand 8 years later that I really dived into yoga again.
I tried out several classes in Christchurch but really fell in love with the Les Mills body balance class which I went to religiously for many years. Though some might argue it’s not Yoga in the traditional sense it gave me enough yoga to continue my love of it and I really enjoyed the ‘flow’ and music of balance, almost like dancing!!
Again for the next few years I would dip in and out, do some at home, go to a class, then not practice for months, years even.
It was after relaunching my business back in 2020, just as we went into lockdown, of course we were all doing the free yoga sessions online and so once again it came to the forefront of my mind. My business then took a turn to crystal jewellery and I started exploring more of a spiritual path personally. It was when an online friend and fellow spiritual business owner suggested on her stories one day that we should all be looking at our own ancestral lines for guidance that I decided to do just that.
After getting a dna test done and tracing my family tree quite extensively I found out on my mums side I had a strong link to India. My mum was born in India, leaving after the partition when she was 11, she grew up thinking she was British/Irish/Portuguese- this was what she was told. However my dna showed a rather hefty 20% Indian (zero Portuguese) and I was able to trace her family through India through 100’s of years. This absolutely fascinated me and I admit I became a little bit obsessed, I was able to trace lines back to Ireland, England and France but many lines just stopped at dead ends, presumably my Indian ancestors? Anyway, this particular story is for another blog post!!
The more I researched the more I wanted to learn about yoga again, particularly the yoga philosophy which absolutely fascinated me and totally resonated. Perhaps some of my ancestors were yogis?? Who knows but I definitely needed to know more. I started reading, listening to podcasts and audio books but it was a little confusing putting all the pieces together. I had contemplated yoga teacher training before but it’s expensive and time consuming, I work full time and have a family and small business I wasn’t sure I could manage it. Then I came across Alice Cammock- Yoga as Embodiment, who was offering the yoga teacher training here in Christchurch in separate modules. This suited me perfectly as I could do each module as and when I could afford the time and money, I signed up for the first module!
I’ve done one weekend so far with my second in a few weeks and then a week intensive in September. The first weekend was fanstastic, there’s nothing quite like having the opportunity to dive into a subject you’re passionate about with others who share that passion. I could live and breathe yoga for a full weekend- heaven!!
So long story, but that’s how I’ve ended up going down the Yoga teacher training route, I will definitely share more once I have done more and I really don’t know where this will lead but I’m excited for the ride! Stay tuned!
