After working as a Personal Trainer in my own studio for many years, I trained as a Pilates Instructor. Pilates taught me to be more mindful of the intricacies of small movements and how they can make a big difference in our everyday lives. It also taught me more about moving with the breath. I was introduced to Ashtanga yoga a few years later and started to practice regularly. I became more aware of the effects of movement on my mind and spirit and this led me to explore many different styles of yoga – from Baptiste Power Yoga to Iyengar Hatha Yoga. I qualified as a Hatha Vinyasa Yoga Teacher after completing my 200hr teacher training with Jim Harrington. I continued to run my practice with private clients, whilst also teaching yoga and Pilates at various gyms and studios. I completed my first 300hr training in Meridian Yoga, which blended my love for Shiatsu and Oriental Medicine with my love for yoga. I was trained in Scaravelli inspired yoga, with a focus on the oriental meridian system, which guided me to going deeper into yoga postures from an energetic perspective. This approach was less physical, allowing me to bring more awareness to connections between the subtleties of breath, movement and flow. This was also the birth of my journey into the connections between yoga, fascia and water. This passion has led me to deeper studies in flow (in psychology, water and yoga), oceanography and the elements of nature, with a special focus on water (our primary element and also the earth’s). I guess, in summary, I could say I study “connection” – whether it is connective tissue (water or fascia), connections between the elements or connections between us and the elements of nature. Everything is connected! And isn’t that the true meaning of ‘yoga’? So yes, I could also just say I’m a yoga student!

I started my 3 year training as a Shiatsu Practitioner after reading a book on Oriental Medicine. I fell in love with this art and the 5-element theory of health and healing. In these traditions, our bodies are viewed as a unified whole with each of our systems interconnected and affecting each other. These connections go beyond within our bodies alone, to how our daily movement, breath, eating and environment affects our health. After learning to see the body in this way, I was better able to assist my clients in balancing their energy within and without – through bodywork, massage and energy practices. To improve my sensitivity to energy, I trained in Reiki up to level 2 – giving me a deeper sensation of the flow of energy within and around our bodies.

During COVID, through necessity, everyone took their work and practices online. As I watched many yoga teachers instruct through low quality microphones and out of focus phone cameras, I just couldn’t bring myself to do the same. I kept asking myself the question: “How do you bring the same transformational experience of a yoga class online?” I didn’t have an answer. I didn’t get into yoga to teach postures from a distance – I got into it because I wanted human connection. I felt I didn’t have a career in wellness anymore. I decided to resurrect my original career in software design – one that had originally drove me into wellness! I’d come full circle. My career in software design had emerged in the early 2000’s – at the birth of Google and the internet – in the days when you would go make yourself a cup of coffee whilst waiting for a web page to load. I found myself drawn to web design from the start. I taught myself HTML from a book and designed my first Personal Training website in HTML, whilst my colleagues were asking me “Why would you want a website?” Eventually I was designing websites for my colleagues and had evolved from HTML to CMS, using WordPress, which I still use today.

As the online world exploded, I kept my finger on the pulse, embracing new software and technologies which enabled me to produce creative projects I could previously only dream of. Having straddled each side of the line between people and technology, I often found myself bridging the gap between the two – teaching technology to those who found it more challenging than I did. It was during COVID, and my renewal of my web development qualifications, that I discovered the field of User Experience (UX) Design. That was the link I was looking for to bring my wellness teachings online! I started applying UX methodologies to my wellness teachings to create my online offerings. This has led me to immersing myself into the newly emerging field of Learning Experience (LX) Design. People learn the best through experience, specifically experiences that make them feel alive and connected. I now work on doing just this – designing transformational learning experiences, online and in-person, through my company Surf Yoga Happiness LTD.

For many years I had a really unhealthy relationship with food and eating. I started dieting in my early teenage years and yo-yo-ed from almost anorexic to being overweight. I completely lost touch with my body’s inner wisdom and its ability to guide me towards a healthier way of eating. After living with an eating disorder for many years, I found peace and healing through fasting and prayer. This allowed me to connect to my body’s basic signals of hunger and fullness and then eventually helped me reconnect to my true self that was hidden behind my dieting and food obsession. Many years later, after finding this peace with food and eating, I studied Clinical Nutrition to understand food more from a Western science perspective. I trained as a Mindful Eating Facilitator to incorporate mindfulness practices into my Mindful Eating Workshops and to assist me in guiding my clients towards healthier eating habits. I continue to study food from the energetic perspectives of Ayurveda and Food Energetics and incorporate this into my private sessions, courses and workshops.

I’ve started to look at water from many different angles – the water we drink, our oceans, our rivers, the water within us, how water moves, what happens when water doesn’t move – and then, how does all of this relate to us, our health, our planet, our planet’s health? … Water? Such a simple substance that we take for granted every day. Yet, it holds the key to everything. Without water there is no life! I’m always on a search for connections between theories and findings. I have grown up playing in oceans and rivers. I always took them for granted. After living inland for years, I yearned for that connection. That pushed me to find other ways to connect with this vital element. It guided me within to find ways of connecting to the water element within me. It also guided me to teachers that understand this connection and how vital it is to our health and wellbeing. This wisdom that water holds is within each of us. We just need to practice connecting to it. In connecting with this deep wisdom, we will find the answers to healing ourselves, connecting on a deeper level with those around us, and then healing our beautiful planet Earth, Gaia.

Of all the courses and training I have done, nothing comes close to what I have learnt as a Mother! My children are my biggest teachers. They have taught me patience, tolerance, acceptance, non-judgement, endurance and this list could just keep going! I am mother to an ‘almost adult’ daughter and identical twin boys, and a step-mother. I have run my practice throughout the challenges of pregnancies and parenting, all which have made me a more compassionate and understanding person (even if I’m not always projecting that in the moment!). Pregnancy, especially with twins, pushed my body to limits I didn’t know it was capable of. And then parenting 3 children pushed my limits even further! Most importantly, though, my children have taught me the meaning of true love.