My Yoga Journey - Part I
By Karen James
As I sit here dressed in my favourite pair of pyjamas. Reflecting over the last 12 months of my yoga journey and wondering how the hell to condense it down into one post. My wonderful friend Ericka Bell (IG @thezestfulmovement) suggested do more than one – obviously!
Prior to March 2020 I taught once a week to work colleagues, with a full-time job and daily commute to London that was more than enough. Or so I thought.
Pandemic, lockdown and working from home changed my view and I ventured into a world of online teaching. Confessing here didn’t have a clue what I was doing, but then again who did?
A close friend persuaded me to start meditation classes, which surprised me as hadn’t entered my head, but apparently ‘had the voice for it’. Got to love friends who can see your potential. A local studio was kind enough to offer a place on their schedule. Then I did something out of my comfort zone approached a fitness club and offered my services (still teach for the latter every Sunday).
I’m acutely aware during the early stages of lockdown 1.0, these classes were literally a lifeline a connection to the outside world, that helped keep my spirits up even though my nerves kicked in every time I launched a zoom meeting.
Do Words Matter
Do Words Matter
“Pandemic, lockdown and working from home changed my view and I ventured into a world of online teaching”
With little connections in the yoga world, relatively new to teaching, and with extra time on my hands, delved more into social media, as wanted to see what the yoga landscape looked like. Quite an eye opener, especially searching on Instagram #newtoyoga or #beginnersyoga. Think will talk about my social media journey in part II.
I finally finished ‘Yoga For All’ training (Dianne Bondy & Amber Karnes) which as an advocate of support based yoga found this incredibly useful. I was told once that you can’t possibly teach outside of your own body size. However, disagree, having compassion and a willingness to be accessible goes a long way.
The weekly meditations opened my curiosity to learn more about the slower paced side of yoga. Through Yogaleela expanded my teachings to include Yin and Yoga Nidra. Which were not on my radar prior to lockdown but a welcome change of direction.
More importantly discovered along the way that like teaching online and it is possible to cultivate a community of people through a small screen. Although I understand it depends on who you talk to on this one!
So this is the start of my sharing my 12 month yoga journey.