February 2026 saw my youngest daughter turn 33 years old. Goodness where have the years gone? This celebration reminded me that it is also 33 years since I first got involved in yoga.
About 5 weeks after she was born I went to a Health Spa for the day and there was an 'inclusive' yoga class timetabled. The tutor, Jean who I remember so well, turned out to be well into her 70's (although who would have known, she put me to shame). When I said to her "if I could be like you in my 70's I will be very happy", she told me to find a yoga class. She recommended a tutor that she worked with based in Marlow and Henley, at least 25 years my senior, but goodness a woman I will never forget, who I still hold in high esteem and whose foundation to my yoga I will be forever grateful for.
I was at the time a mother of 4 very young daughters and alongside my then husband was runnning one of the biggest pubs and music venues in Windsor, The Old Trout, as well as the smaller pub along the river, the Donkey House.
Life was ridiculously busy, late nights and early mornings, very few days off and constant excitement, drama and work commitments. I was not the typical 'yogi'.
Without knowng it at the time, yoga and my frst tutor were actually going to be my life savers, and opening the door for a complete life and career transformation, although at the time I think I only really went to class as it was a place that gave me some personal space outside of the very insular and intense life of a publican and what was by now also becomnng a troubled marriage. I am not sure I was there for the yoga!!
A year after that first introduction to yoga, I embarked on a very difficult marriage break up which ultimately lost me both my home and career all at the same time. I found myself a single parent with no support and living in rented accommodation. Back then (perhaps still) pub landlords/managers and ther families lived 'upstairs' on site and employment contracts and salaries were joint between married couples. Split up and you both lose your home and job!!
It was only later I realised the overall benefits to general mental and physical wellbeing that the practise was giving, and that yoga and the people I met were probably the glue that held things together at that time.
Prior to joining my first yoga class I had only heard of yoga via my Grandmother. She was a very 'up to the minute' lady of her time, she lived through 2 World Wars, she was still taking shorthand and typing notes for a GP well into her 80's until she was finally told she had to retire. She and my Grandad were perhaps some of the first to take advantage of the then opening up 'world travel for everyone' and started 'jetting off' to Yugoslavia, Austria, Majorca - all very 'fashionable' but done on a budget as money was not abundant by any means.
She was very much a believer in 'standards' and never left the house without a hat pinned in place by one of several very elaborate hatpins, a matching bag, an 'appropriate' dress suit, and clean underwear just in case anything untoward should happen and she might find herself in an ambulance - heaven forbid - not dressed in her 'best'
That's my my Nan there on the motorbike in 1921!! She often rode pillion in my Grandad's bike's side car too. Back in the day.........
Anyway, she decided yoga was to be explored in the late 60's and early 70's as it had started to become popularised in the UK and the West. It was mostly Iyengar influenced Hatha Yoga, and ladies mostly wore long sleeved, long legged (with stirrup foot) black leotard. My goodness, how things have changed, we have a multitude of different interpretations of yoga now (see my styles of yoga blog ), and the range of clothing is vast. We seem to have everything from the wide legged harem pants with loose tops, to leggings with tee shirts and also what is not much more than a sports bra and high waist pants.
Yoga mats back then, were all creamy white cut from a long roll to the right length by the tutor, blocks were heavy and made of 'chip foam' and belts were buckled and creamy white. One's yoga expertise and experience was accessed by how worn the mat was and how obvious the foot marks were at each end. Now we seem to replace our mats often and colour coordinate them with our latest Sweaty Betty outfit.
She attended for about 2 years, but then hurt her back and proclaimed that yoga was 'dangerous' and not be attended anymore. To a degree she might have been right, back then there was no need to be officially trained or certified or insured, and pretty much anyone could hire a hall and teach a class. Goodness how that has changed too.
After my first yoga experience at the Health Spa way back in 1993, I started weekly classes with my first tutor, Danielle Arin. She was truly an inspiration and I went on 3 or 4 yoga retreats with her to Portugal. My family was fabulous and between my then widowed Mum, brother and sister-in-law, my girls were taken care of for a week (I think they actually had more fun than a holiday with me would have been).
Through Danielle, and at one of the retreats, I met another tutor (Carole Rolls) based in Windsor who I started to train with her at the Windsor Leisure Centre. We became friends and she eventually persuaded me to train as a yoga teacher. I often say she 'nagged' so much I only agreed to satisfy her and stop her pestering, but in reality it was one of the best decisions, and subsequently best outcomes, that could have happened. Carole was also the start of my teaching 'real' classes, by asking me to take cover classes for her while I was still trainng. It was a perfect kick start for me in the tutor arena, and gave me a 'name' quite early on.
I completed my 4 year BWY training in 2004, but as I was still bringng up my daughters now aged between 11 and 17 time was challenged, so I started my teaching career with cover classes and a couple weekly classes at Windsor Leisure Centre and a local Community Centres.
However in June 2006, due to some very unusual and fortuitous circumsances I opened my own studio, Yoga for Harmony in Windsor, which has a story all of it's own.
By this time I had also been introduced to my most influencial tutors, Peter Blackaby, Gary Carter and John Stirk, who I can honestly say shaped and influenced my own practise, my knowledge and my teaching beyond anything I could have otherwise have achieved.
My yoga is now an evolution of all my experiences and teacher influences. I am not sure if I can categorise what I teach, but my studies started with Iyengar, and then came from teachers who have either been taught by Vanda Scaravelli herself, or who have been taught by students of hers.
In line with how I see yoga has changed and evolved through the years since I first knew about it, I believe we all change and evolve as our practise changes and evolves, and that is what the essence of yoga teaches us so well. Adaptation, change and development can only be a healthy approach, in both life and our yoga.
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