"Throughout liver cancer treatment, including 7 major surgeries, I practiced yoga breathing & meditation techniques
I discovered a form of yoga when I was 20.
I was a gym bunny, I loved all high impact classes, spin, Body Pump, weights, treadmills & Pilates. I was so highly strung & inflexible. Suffered from frozen shoulders & gym related injuries, I even broke my ankle!
A friend introduced me to Body Balance classes. However they couldn’t get me to stay put for the relaxation, I just couldn’t handle doing nothing for 10 minutes. Little did I know how much I actually needed it
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Discovering a love for making shapes I was keen to find a yoga class.
I stumbled across an Incredible teacher who was running a master class at my local gym: I was hooked! But she wasn't local.
Sadly for years I went from teacher to teacher trying to find her way of teaching.
In 2005 I was diagnosed with dukes stage 4 bowel cancer which for obvious reasons put my life on hold! The next few years were dedicated to just surviving. I spent many months in hospitals & wheel chairs
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As soon as I was able I decided I wanted to seriously look into yoga so at the end of 2006 I embarked on my first foundation course with the British Wheel Of Yoga. Sadly it was short lived as in 2007 I was diagnosed with secondary liver cancer so again my family & I went into survival mode. More surgery and treatment. In all, I think I had 7 major surgeries related to cancer.
I was to return to a physical yoga practice a couple of years later. However throughout my treatment I used breathing practising & meditation techniques as much as possible
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I believe everything happens for a reason.
In 2009 I discovered Iyengar & an incredible senior teacher, who made me realise that there was far more to yoga than just making shapes. In yoga heat is generated within the body, she made me sweat in simple tadasana. That was a light bulb moment for me. Understanding alignment!
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Around the same time, I was blessed to stumble across two of the most amazing yogis in the world who I now call my ‘yoga papa and mama...