My first Ashtanga Vinyasa Yoga workshop in 1995 left me breathless, I couldn’t believe that I had found the exact form of * hatha yoga for me.

Here was a yoga sequence that had rhythm and breath, moved every muscle in the body, caused me to sweat and get rid of toxins and kept my body firm and toned. Keeping my body fit had not been an easy task for me as I have 5 fractures in my spine, neck and hip, including my sacroiliac joint. Sometimes the practice has been difficult for me with this back pain, but it is surely better than staying in bed when the pain becomes too intense or taking painkillers as I did for many years and suffering the side effects of mood swings and a clogged up body, though when the pain is intense the best natural anti-inflammatory is Yoga Nidra, it is quite magical at pain removal.

So after my first workshop with Mark Leonie in Kendal Cumbria in 1995 I went to the brilliant Texan teacher David Swenson in Totnes Devon for a Christmas retreat, the following Easter, the amazing New Zealander John Scott in Turkey and the year after another trip to India to become a student of Guruji Patabi Jois in Mysore. Other teachers include my friend the fabulous Granville Cousins, said to be the ‘hard man’ of Ashtanga Yoga but now softening into his own style.

I went to many teachers and workshops and found a lot of them either too physically hard or many more who didn’t incorporate the breath, which is surely the purpose of the practice. Ashtanga yoga is a breathing practice. The purpose of the ujjayi breath is to soften and prepare the body to move deeply and to its full capacity, if you are not making ujjayi breath you are not practicing Ashtanga yoga!

When I came back from India my student base was so huge I couldn’t fit them in the small space I was teaching in, so I opened a beautiful yoga studio on St Leonard gate in Lancaster for 7 years, these 7 years were some of the most deep, intense years of my life…so far! I was celibate, focused and completely enthralled with what I was doing.

The 7 years finished in July ’07 when the lease ran out on my building, I was tired and had a very difficult landlord and was pleased to leave. Since then I have taught from the friends Meeting House in Lancaster which is a beautiful building with wonderful gardens where they have been praying for peace for over 300 years. And then New Zealand…..

*people seem to believe that hatha yoga is the slow form taught in most classes that don’t specifically name the yoga style, when in fact all forms of movement to stretch the body in yoga is hatha