"Are you searching for your true self? Then come out of your own prison, leave the little creek and join the mighty river that flows into the ocean..."
Rumi
I still remember the sound and feel of the ocean when, as a child, I spent many long summers visiting my family in Fiji. Away from the hustle and bustle of London life, I ran barefoot around the islands with wild abandon. Free to inhabit the vastness of the nurturing forces around me, I ground my feet to the earth, felt the warm sun on my skin, the pure air to breathe and the ocean to cleanse and replenish my body, mind and spirit. In those moments, surrounded by nature, family and friends, I felt a rootedness, a sense of nourishment, safety and connection and a coming home to my self that lay the foundation for my unfolding spiritual path.
Sounds idyllic, I know, and these were undoubtedly moments of pure bliss. But life is one long spiritual journey with the magical and the messy ups and downs that teach us what it is to be human. As I continued through my late teens and early twenties, I explored many different forms of yoga and meditation, including hatha, vinyasa, Iyengar and hot yoga. All of these practices helped me to expand my window of tolerance for life and my capacity to be present with the pleasures and pains, losses and gains, fears and hopes that make up the fabric of life.
After a decade of developing my career in health and social sciences, a new spiritual path unfolded as I got married and started a family. Like any deep spiritual practice, parenting requires energy and commitment, it is the task of a lifetime. I often found myself asking, "how can I carry on doing this on top of everything else?" and so my yoga and meditation took a bit of a back seat. Motherhood is one of the richest experiences I've had in terms of getting to know myself and it continues to be a huge spiritual awakening. But I'm sure I'm not the first to say that as well as the bountiful rewards I embraced, it was also a period of exceptional challenge. I lacked confidence and trust in myself and, paralysed by voices of self-doubt and self-criticism, I kind of lost my way.
"New beginnings are often described as painful endings"
Lao Tzu
Then in 2014, my world split wide open and I experienced a heartbreak. It was a painful time as I adjusted to life as a single parent. Instinctively, the yoga and meditation is where I returned to for nourishment and solace. It was hard but I stuck with the practices and found freedom in letting myself really feel and experience the depth of my emotions and waking up through my body and my senses. Looking back, I can see the wisdom of that spiritual breakdown and why my soul called in that experience. Although it was painful and uncomfortable, it took me to the edge so I could expand into the next cycle in my life.
"Yoga is a way of Being that is realised through practice."
Donna Farhi
Over the last several years I've had quite a beautiful spiritual awakening where I've been able to rediscover the aliveness, joy, love and compassion inherent in my soul and in each and every one of us. Sure I still have moments of self-judgement, fear and doubt, I'm human after all. But what's true is that this pathway towards wisdom and compassion has been established and with each day of practice I am building a threshold for being with everything just as it is, in this vast infinite place called life.
"The best way to find yourself is to lose yourself in service of others."
Gandhi
Today I now find myself in this serendipitous position where my professional and spiritual selves have aligned, I can merge science with spirituality and realise my soul's purpose which is to be in service to others. As a health professional working in the NHS and a certified yoga teacher, I have a deep understanding of human anatomy, physiology and psychology and I teach intelligent movement principles using an inquiry-based somatic approach.
I have been honoured to complete the 200-hour Daoist Flow yoga teacher training at Triyoga, London and draw inspiration from my main teachers Mimi Kuo-Deemer and Jean Hall who both continue to be an exceptional source of wisdom, creativity and knowledge for which I am eternally grateful. I was a mentor for the Daoist Flow teacher training cohort for 2021-22. In 2021, I completed the Menopause Yoga teacher training with Petra Coveney. And I'm very excited to deepen my skills and knowledge on my current 300-hour advanced teacher training with Jason Crandell at Mission, London.
All qualifications are fully accredited by Yoga Alliance Professionals.
As I now reflect on my life's experiences, I have come to understand that we are all part of the natural world and the natural world is part of us. I appreciate the aliveness and radiance of the natural elements, the rhythms and cycles moving around outside and also within me, the pulsating fabric of the universe that inhales and exhales, expands and contracts, grows, dies and reinvents.
I hope that by sharing my knowledge and experience of movement and meditation and working with the natural rhythms of the seasons, I can help you to find the strength and inspiration to embrace life fully.