How It All Began
My Yoga journey began in 2003 when fate took me to the island of Skyros on a two week holistic break. There I met Michael Stewart, a well renowned and dedicated Yogi who introduced me to the joys of Yoga.
It was a life changing holiday. I came home in a whirl – emotional and mystified, yet with the door to my future open. For years I had searched for the connection between my career as a Social Worker and my love of dance – as a Gemini I accepted this as my natural, ‘split’ personality. As a Social Worker specialising in mental health I was massively interested in the way the mind
worked – the philosophy of life. My hobby in dance and gymnastics since childhood taught me the value of maintaining physical health and the escapism from the outside world it brought – it kept me sane in the stressful and demanding environment of social work. Michael brought these two opposite parallel paths of my life together and I realised that these two opposing facets of my life were a necessary pathway of my learning to bring me to the ‘Skyros Moment’.
Traditionally in India, yoga was taught in the house of a teacher, the Guru-kula, and Yoga, like all things derived from India, was part of an oral tradition. For this one needed a close relationship with a teacher, a Guru, literally speaking a “remover of ignorance” to bring the philosophy alive.
Yoga became central to my life. Michael became my Guru-Kala. He traveled the world teaching yoga and so I would travel to practice with him whenever I could over the next few years, learning all aspects of Yoga. After two years as his student he suggested that I consider becoming a teacher and so the real work began….
Michael remains central to my learning. I spend time with him at least twice a year deepening my knowledge. He is an inspirational teacher, my Mentor and Guru, guiding me along this spiritual path of Yoga. I feel blessed to be able to learn in this traditional way…
