I've been teaching yoga for 27 years and running yoga holidays and detox retreats for 21 years. I love what I do, and love sharing this world with others.
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When the lotus flower blossoms,
it finds a priceless gem at the centre of its being. There is a force within which gives you life - seek that... In your body lies a priceless gem - seek that... O, wandering soul, if you want to find the greatest treasure, don't look outside - look inside, and seek that - Rumi The words of Rumi ring true for me, as I have been a wandering soul my whole life - searching and exploring this magical force within. Even as a child, the Sacredness of Life was always my top priority - spending endless hours communing with Nature - animals, insects, plants...; marvelling at all the beauty surrounding me. I would waken in the dark hours before dawn so that I could listen to the sound of the birds singing in the giant cypress tree outside my window, and then go for a run outside as the sun rose and I would feel the new day filling my being.
Feeling as if I danced to a different rhythm to my peers, I would sometimes wonder why it was that I seemed to lack any motivation for wealth, fame or power; why I was never interested in following a career path or being financially successful. My only ambition has always been to live a simple life being True to mySelf. Originally from South Africa, I began traveling the world at the age of 22, once I'd finished University, and just kept on and on... loving life on the road, and saying 'YES' to whatever Life brought my way. Although there was an outer journey happening - travelling and living in different countries and cultures - for me, the inner journey was always the more profound. The inner journey has always been the more sacred. When I found Yoga (or when Yoga found me), I experienced the body as a doorway, so to speak, into the deeper sense of aliveness I had always been aware of. But now I came even closer to that - which exists beneath all of life's fluctuating happenings, thoughts and emotions. I finally had the tools and terminology to explain what I had always believed and how I had always strived to live. At around this time, I was also studying various healing modalities and therapies, including various massage techniques, Reiki and qualifying as a teacher in the work of Louise Hay. I saw and experienced the common sacred thread running through all I was doing - Love. Yoga, meditation and nutrition are not simply 'subjects' I teach, but rather, how I live... and part of the sacredness of Life. Yoga, meditation, serving and helping others, healthy and ethical living, living close to the rhythms of nature... all help me to live true to myself. When I am being true to myself, I am in tune with the quiet stillness and spaciousness within and around. It is my hope that through the experience of the retreat, others too feel a deep sense of belonging, and enter a space of wholeness (holiness).
For the past two years, I've been studying and exploring various shamanic practices - sacred plant medicines, temazcali (similar to sweat lodge), the medicine wheel and more. I look forward to including some of these practices in future retreats. Prior to my entry into the world of Yoga, therapies and detox, I worked in the fields of Psychology and Education for special needs. I am an on going student of nutrition, Yoga, Ayurveda and in the spiritual tradition of Advaita Vedanta (non-dual Yoga philosophy), as well as in the Buddhist meditation technique of Vipassana. Having always been an avid animal lover, the last few years have taken me down the road of animal and inter-species communication and connection. I am currently based in Portugal with my husband, Keiron, and our five residential cats and a number of visiting strays. |