
Hello! My name is Laura.
Its lovely to see you here.
I am a 500 hr yoga teacher and have been practicing yoga for over half of my life, since I was a teenager. My practice started very simply, learning a few poses and breathing techniques from a small blue book my Mum had.
I had no idea of the depth or breadth of yoga at that point in my life, but it didn’t matter, those few poses and breaths helped me to release tension in my body and calm my mind.
Yoga can be many things to many people. For some of us it is just about the physical poses, for others the mental awareness and yet others a spiritual stillness.
Over the years, my yoga practice has changed hugely. It is always evolving. For a few years, in my early twenties, I had Chronic Fatigue. I struggled to do anything and slept a lot. My yoga practice became small, gentle. It helped me to keep moving, even if only a little.
After I recovered my energy, I was haunted by a constant feeling of making up for lost time. I was always busy. I always said Yes. Perhaps I was even a little frantic. Yoga switched. It was the only time I ever seemed to stop. It was only after practicing yoga that I could pause in Savasana and be still for any length of time at all.
In my later twenties, I spent a few years travelling around Europe and Asia. I cycled to Turkey and back again, from my hometown of York in the UK. I rock climbed all around the world. I kayaked. I surfed. After travelling to Asia by bus and train, I spent some time working and living out there, I eventually cycled back from China.
All this time, yoga complimented my life and all the other sports I did. It gave great relief to tired joints and achey muscles. But as I practiced more, particularly in Asia, it started to creep into deeper parts of me too. It was no longer just a physical practice, I began to understand the huge mental, emotional and even spiritual benefits it had.
I had wanted to train as a Yoga Teacher for some time and finally got the opportunity during the first Covid Lockdown in 2020.
My understanding of yoga, and love of it, only increased as I began to teach.
I am still an active person and teach and practice yoga that compliments other sports that I do (rock climbing, wild swimming, running, cycle touring, you name it, I'll try it). I like yoga to be fun and playful, but also a type of moving meditation.
Yoga continues to help me to slow down and pause when life has got a little too busy, but also to keep moving when life stops or slows down.
Most recently, I became a mum to my lovely daughter. My yoga practice has once again, changed. No doubt it will continue to change and I can't wait to see how it develops, and what I will continue to learn from it.