Tell us a bit about yourself…
We all face challenges in life whether it be the pressures of work, financial or relational challenges, body and hormonal transformations such as menopause or dealing with mental or physical illness, or with loss or grief.
I have lived with a chronic pelvic condition since the birth of my daughter 13 years ago and I’ve been on a journey of self discovery in mid-life. I have researched, lived and built a robust set of strategies to navigate life with positivity, increased capacity to function and embrace wellness in body and mind and outlook. I now share my learnings with others.
My background is in creative arts, although I have always practiced different forms of yoga; Yin, Iyengar, Vinyasa, Ashtanga. I knew when the systems and structures I operated within were not serving me anymore, that my true path was to pivot and become a yoga teacher, to focus on this as my central practice and to use my past skills and knowledge to enhance this practice. This is when I set up the School of Creative Wellness.
Creativity, teaching and learning are in my DNA. Through combining my past experiences and skills with yoga and breathwork I have created a unique business. Disciplines merge, ways of noticing, seeing and understanding ourselves are explored in a holistic sense.
I use movement, breathwork and image and text/writing based creative methods to observe, process and create, and I help others to do the same. It feels right, a genuine calling in my mid-life.
What does a typical day look like for you?
At the moment I am putting together a new online offering ‘Breathe Easy for Menopause Mums.’ It is based on my experience of menopause, mumming, working and burnout. Burnout can creep up on you. I know so many women who are under such pressure in midlife, juggling careers, parenting, looking after ailing parents and hitting perimenopause all at the same time. I want to share the methods that helped me and share preventative methods to avoid burnout. This offering is a short, easy to digest online breathwork course to help women develop a daily practice of anchoring, breathing and learning to self regulate their nervous systems. There are three daily pranayama video practices (3 per week for six weeks) to practice when you wake, at lunchtime and before bed. It is hard to take time and space for self with multiple daily demands, it is also hard to create new habits so I am there in a friendly, helpful and bitesized way as a source of learning, of comfort and of developing new methods to live by.
I teach online and in person several days a week Yin, Restorative and more dynamic Hatha/ Vinyasa based classes, I have private clients and a wonderful group of regular women who attend each week, ages range from 12 to 88. I walk everyday with my two Cockapoos Bennie & Pickle and being in nature everyday is super important for me. I also meet up with other artists and wellness practitioners to plan and deliver pop up events and experiences. I may also be running a retreat or volunteering at a local market garden called Worthy Earth. It is also important for me to be present on a daily basis with my family, my daughter, my mum and my partner and to laugh, not take life too seriously.
Today I went for a sauna and swim in a lake on private land in Hampshire at Fallen Willow Sauna (one of my collaborators). I have recently bought a rebounder so the day often starts with a bounce. After I attended the amazing Aryveda series of classes in this Yoga Matters community I discovered my Kapha predominant dosha likes to start the day with bouncing to get everything flowing and to avoid stagnation and sluggishness.
Basically I do what feels good and value things such as time, nature, learning and community having stepped away from the grind culture and feeling like I was never ‘enough’.
How did your yoga journey begin and what inspired you to become a yoga teacher?
I have practiced since my early 20s and I am now 48. My first passion and learning was in Iyengar. I really got into the precision of it and went several times to India on Yoga and Ayuvedic retreats. I felt a real pull to become a yoga teacher in my mid to late 20s but I was growing a vibrant career in arts and design education and developing my own design practice. I dabbled with different types of yoga over the years, Ashtanga, Vinyasa, Restorative and Yin. Yin became a huge part of my life in 2018 and over the following two years I would go to a class with my Mum taught by an amazing teacher Daphne. She battled with cancer on and off for years and used Yin to help others with cancer or caring for others with cancer. Sadly she passed away a few years ago but her voice and spirit is etched inside of me. My Dad was diagnosed with Mesothelomia (asbestos related) cancer and Daphne and her classes helped us through a really hard time. After Dad died in 2020 I hit burnout and went on a journey of unravelling and of total recalibration. I worked on rediscovering my joy and reprioritising what I needed, loved and desired in my life. Yoga was a daily must, alongside living more in tune with nature and my creativity and creating space in my life for family. A period of unlearning and relearning happened and is ongoing. So I retrained as a yoga teacher and here I am totally loving what I do and feeling well and rooted and continuing my path and passion of teaching but in new ways, ways that are pertinent to our times and sharing the tools and methods that worked for me. Living authentically and listening to what I need.
What inspired you to specialize in your practice?
Although I trained under Lucas Rockwood at Yoga Body (Barcelona), where the training was scientifically driven, and the style was vinyasa based I have undertaken further training in Yin, Restorative, Yoga Nidra and further applied anatomy & physiology of yoga. I have also trained in the Science of Wellbeing (Yale University) and have attended lots of creative short courses, an Accelerating Women’s Enterprise programme by the School of Social Entrepreneurs. Alongside my own journey of healing with CBT, Trauma and Bereavement counselling. I have worked with alternative therapies such as CST (Cranio Sacral Therapy) which for me found amazing results in releasing buried trauma and my womb. I really look at wellness from a holistic perspective. I suppose I have identified problems that I have faced and that society faces today, disconnected humans, patriarchal systems born out of capitalism that remove us from being connected, societal expectations, pressure, hustle culture, menopause, mid life crisis, loss, trauma… And I have formed a concept and business that helps people to heal, to reconnect, to be human, to find joy,to feel inspired, to create space, to cope.
Therefore the specialist Yoga areas I am really interested in and that seem the most relevant are Yin, Restorative, Nidra but also other methods to process, to unlearn, to explore, to reflect and to create include writing, drawing, printing, narrative exploration using imagery. I am particularly interested in trans-disciplinary collaboration between artists, musicians, psychologists, therapists, yoga teachers. This is what really excites me, this holistic approach to wellness. To create new things, new methods, new ways of exploring who we are and what value we can bring to others and to the world we live in. The world needs creativity right now and it needs healing. This is my calling.
How have you seen your practice benefit your students?
I can feel it and see it. In a class it is palpable both online and in person. People carry in their day, their energy, their experiences. The classes I deliver allow them to shed, to let go, to create space, to heal and most important to listen to their true selves. They shift, there is a metamorphosis. It is beautiful. I can see it in their posture, their tone, their faces, their eyes. It is an individual and a collective experience. We all feel it. It is a certain kind of alchemy. The Yin is amazing because I know have the same group coming over for over 2 years now. I can see how the practice helps them on a weekly basis but also over the seasons – it is really beautiful and cyclical. This gives me such joy.
I suppose it is quite a maternal thing. I have taught since I was 21 and feedback from students was always that I inspired them, I made them feel safe, able to be vulnerable, to share, connect, discover and grow. To find their voice not their style to be their authentic selves. This is a gift. I have only been teaching yoga for 2 years and I know that I am doing the same as I did in an art and design context, I am bringing all that experience with me. I have been so lucky to have such amazing feedback which you can see on our website.
To be a good teacher you need to be humble and to be a good student, to avoid comparison as much as you can in an instagram world and to do what feels right and to never stop learning. I love sharing, laughing, holding, nurturing and creating. This is it. I am a fuller bodied middle aged woman who loves what I do- this is good energy and people are attracted to good energy and it spreads, it is contagious. Come and join me!
What is your favorite quote or life motto?
Honour thy error as a hidden intention.
I want to rethink ‘surrender’ as an active verb.
What’s coming up for you in 2024/2025?
Yin Yoga for Autumn – Yoga Matters Community Class Sunday 13th October 2024
The first of 4 seasonal Yin Yoga classes for Yoga Matters Community
Yin Yoga for Autumn – Om Yoga Show October 2024
6 Week Creative Wellness Course Yoga Matters Community 2025 register interest here
Breathe Easy for Menopause Mums – Online Bitesize Breathwork Course for Women. Learn to Self Regulate Your Nervous System and Manage Peri/Menopause Symptoms. Short, Manageable 2-5 min Morning, Lunchtime and Evening Video Practices, Toolkits and Practical Information. Lifetime Access.
Winter Deep Rest Retreat in Hampshire – SCW X Emily Bruce Yoga Therapy. Experience Yin & Restorative Yoga, Yoga Nidra, Nutritious Food, Science of Rest, Journaling, Nature Walks & Creative Workshop. 7th -10th February 2025.
Summer Wellness Retreat at Three Daggers Wiltshire – SCW X Arc Pilates. Experience Farm to Fork Dining, Yin Yoga with Acupressure, Guided Yoga Nidra, Pilates & Fascial Release, Breathwork & Nervous System Regulation, Sauna with Optional Cold Water Swim, Time to Read, Relax and Use the Wellness Facilities. 20th -22nd June 2025.
Breathwork & Yoga
Online Wellness Short Courses
Online & In Person Wellness Events
Wellness Retreats
Creative Workshops
Visit website to browse through offerings
Personal:
Walking, wild Swimming and Sauna, Foraging, making time for family & friends and going on a retreat for me with Dirish in Spain in November.
Regular Restorative Hatha & Yin Yoga Practice for me and rebounding a lovely morning bounce on my new rebounder to spring into each day!
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