We chat with yoga teacher Stacie Graham about her background, practices and inspirations…
Tell us a bit about yourself
This is one of my least favourite questions. I never know where to start, what’s worth mentioning and what I should leave out. I’ll keep this one short and hopefully a little bit sweet.
The United Kingdom is accent obsessed, so I’ll start there. I speak with an American accent, even though I’ve lived outside of the US longer than I lived there. I’m originally from Miami, FL, but we don’t have to talk about the weather or whether or not I miss it.
I’m a creative person, who is easily engaged and can become excited by all manner of interests. I love films and quality tv, but I only allow myself to watch on the weekend. During the week, you’ll find my nose buried each evening in a book – fiction, non-fiction, science fiction. It doesn’t matter. I’ve always been physically active. I played on the first girls’ football team at my primary school. I ran track and field quite successfully until an injury cut my career short. I danced in Germany’s First National League for Modern Dance, etc. Movement makes me happy.
What does a typical day look like for you?
Between the time I’m writing this and the time readers will read it, things will likely look very differently. I became mother to a cuddly, cheeky, inquisitive and headstrong baby girl in November 2023. I’m totally in love with her and, of course, her demands dictate my day. I’ve been so grateful to have so much time at home with her, but I’ll be going back to work by the time this is published.
She’s an early riser, so she normally wakes in the yogic hour, somewhere between 4am and 5:30am, when the outside world feels so still. She feeds, and then we have a cuddle and a snooze together in bed. At the latest, she’s ready to start her day by 6:30am. She’s often quite chatty in the morning, telling me of her dreams of the night before – babababa, mamamama, dadadada. She likes to play with everything in her eyesight, toy or not. Then she eats a breakfast similar to mine that includes oats and fruit puree. I eat soaked oats with hemp hearts, flax seed, chia seed and fresh berries. And if you’re wondering – yes, I eat the same breakfast about 355 days out of the year. If it’s cold out, I’ll heat the oats instead of simply soaking them. That’s the only variation.
When Baby Nayla is ready for her morning nap, then she either sleeps alone in her cot (which means I only have 30 minutes before she’s awake again) or I might take a nap with her if I’m feeling sleep deprived in which case I can get a bit of social media posts scheduled and have a nap because, accompanied, she sleeps 70 – 90 minutes. If we have a playdate, swimming lessons or a play circle to attend, then she sleeps alone in her cot, and I take a quick shower and get ready for our outing. I have always used my shower as sacred time for my gratitude practice.
Now that Nayla’s older, she’s loving her independence and, thus, needs a lot of opportunity to explore and discover the big world around her. So, I try to get us out most days. Luckily, she eats really well from a spoon, so we take lunch on the road with us. Cruising around town is not so easy in London, and everything takes much longer if you need to travel step free. Buses won’t always have space. Tube stations with elevators aren’t well designed, so you might have to take three different elevators until you get to where you’re trying to go. It’s good practice for me for a number of reasons, most importantly to stop the London pace of rushing everywhere. There’s no reason to rush.
Our afternoons are typically very chilled. We play. There’s usually another nap, a feed and some cuddling. Anyone who has ever learned with me knows that I emphasise the importance of a wind down routine. Nayla has her dinner. She enjoys having her two little teethies brushed. She plays with her squeaky duck at bath time. We read a book or two. And then I snuggle her until she falls asleep. Once I put her down in her cot, then I have a light dinner – usually salad and some fresh cut pineapple with yoghurt – before I dive into whatever book I’m reading. I might journal a bit with a wonderful book about motherhood that one of my colleagues gifted me. I’ve loved using it to just have some space to process all the many experiences of this part of my journey.
I practice prāṇāyāma and then I meditate before sleep. But, I might fall asleep during practice, as I’ve been so sleep deprived (but less so these days). Or my practice might be interrupted by someone who needs another cuddle to get back to sleep.
How did your yoga journey begin and what inspired you to become a yoga teacher?
My yoga journey began with injury. I was suffering from chronic headaches, and I didn’t know the cause. I don’t usually have headaches, so I was concerned. I was sent to many different doctors, until an orthopedic specialist said that the headaches were caused by tension in my neck and shoulders. At the time, I was a proper gym bunny, and I couldn’t really understand why I would have tension headaches.
I was prescribed physical therapy. The therapist I worked with obviously couldn’t see me. She kept talking about how women must build strength blablabla. That’s not my issue. I talked to one of my closest friends about it. He’s also a physical therapist and an athletic trainer. He massaged me and couldn’t believe how tight my muscles were. “Hard muscles are unhealthy; supple muscles are what we want”, he said. He suggested I try yoga. So I went to a class. It was okay. I’m not sure what kept me going back, but I’d go from time to time.
The path to teaching yoga was not straightforward. I decided to go to India while I was working on my doctorate. I needed a break, and my close friend at the time was from India. He knew that a part of my studies had taken place at the South Asia Institute of my university, but I had never been. He was already in a postdoctoral programme and recognised that I was in desperate need of a change. So he asked his mom where I should go first, and she suggested an ashram in Rishikesh. That ashram, Parmarth Niketan, was just about to host an international yoga festival, so it was perfect timing. I spent three months in India, traveling from North to South, and making many friends along the way. I spontaneously studied with spiritual masters across different practices and faiths. And I felt called to bring at least some of that back home. In Europe, I hadn’t found a learning environment that was in any way similar to my experiences in India. To authentically honour the origin and lineage was my motivation. I went back a couple years later to complete my teacher training.
What inspired you to specialize in your practice?
I don’t know if I can be called a specialist. I consider myself a generalist across all manner of disciplines. I’d say I do a lot of different things well. But, there’s always someone who does them better than me. Those are the specialists.
My personal practice also differs from what I teach.
I believe the thread that ties my teaching together is an intentional focus on presence and allowing. No matter if I’m guiding āsana or prāṇāyāma or mindfulness, I’m guiding from a place of nonjudgmental awareness.
In posture practice, focusing on what a posture “should” look like leads to suffering. There’s disappointment with the body for not performing. There’s potential for injury because the body is being used and forced as a tool. It is similar across any practice, if one is only concerned with an outcome. Being overly concerned with outputs and outcomes tends to mean that the process, the routes and journeys are compromised, overlooked and underappreciated. But that’s where the magic happens.
When I talk about allowing, I don’t mean complacency or accepting harmful things. Allowing starts from within. Can I make space for all the feelings, all the thoughts, all the emotions? Can I recognise that allowing space for that which arises is the first and, perhaps, most important step in seeing?
How have you seen yoga benefit your students?
In so many ways, but I’d say most of all in their learning to accept and trust themselves as they are.
What is your favorite quote or life motto?
“Tat Tvam Asi” – Thou art that. ~ Chandogya Upanishad
“The mind creates the abyss, the heart crosses it” ~ Nisargadatta Maharaj
What’s coming up for you in 2024/25?
OYA Retreats is excited to host a wide range of sessions. Things were a little quiet due to my pregnancy and maternity leave, but I’m currently planning some exciting events for 2025. They haven’t all been announced yet, but they will include:
Soft Life Sundays – These are our community sessions at Sāmya Studios which take place every first Sunday of the month. These are not strictly yoga sessions; rather they are focused on connection, embodiment and rest.
Befriending My Inner Critic – This is a popular four-part series that offers some simple tools to help you befriend your inner critic. Our inner critic only wants to protect us, but it can get a little too ambitious. With some simple steps, your inner critic can do the job it’s meant to do while wreaking less havoc!
Imagination Gallery – We’ll be offering two urban (day) retreats in London that help reignite your sense of visioning. I have a big imagination, love to daydream and create vision boards every 1st of January. As adults, we would all benefit from getting back to our sense of play and dreamscape.
In addition, I hope to offer another weeklong retreat in paradise (Mallorca) in collaboration with REESET after our successful inaugural retreat, Awaken the Sacred Goddess, that takes place there 29th September through 5th October 2024.
And who knows, there may be more. Stay tuned!
Find out more about Stacie:
Website: https://stacieccgraham.com/
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