Yoga with Natalie

“Health is wealth, peace of mind is happiness, Yoga shows the way” - Swami Vishnudevananda RYT200 - Yoga Alliance London My yoga journey & love for it began 9 years ago through a few personal life experiences. Firstly I held a demanding career in the corporate world in Training & Development which was hugely rewarding helping employers progress in their careers, however extremely stressful and a struggle to keep a good work life balance & too many late nights - thinking that work hard, play harder was a great way to destress. We live & learn. I too was going through a divorce as well as being diagnosed with having a strain of Chron’s Disease - Ulcerative Colitis. Not for the faint hearted. After 3 years of being in & out of remission, on steroids & so ill I couldn’t leave home for days at a time I knew something had to give or I was going to end up burnt out & living on steroids to help me function. My mat become my sanctuary /retreat from the daily stresses & challenges of work life and pain & symptoms of my disease. I discovered the more I practiced, the easier it became to switch off & process all the noise in my head and fully love, appreciate & heal my body, eventually kicking steroids, monthly blood tests & a whole raft of other nasty hospital treatments to finally remain in remission.. which I have done for many years now - and I give all my thanks for my yoga practice. As my love for my yoga and understanding of my body grew, it naturally lead me to deepen my practice and gain the knowledge to share my learnings with others to help them in their practice / life journey. I hold 200YTT in Vinyasa Flow with YogaLondon. This was one of the most incredible journey’s & experiences of my life. I really found me. Forged amazing friendships & networks with fellow yogis & am forever grateful to the amazing teachers who guided & encouraged me through. Vinyasa Flow places importance on the way in which poses are linked together – by choreographing movement with breath the practice becomes a moving meditation. This can be emotionally & physically challenging - however there are always options and understanding your body, limitations and exactly when to push that little bit further. I have since continued my CPD (Continuous Professional Development) studying with the amazing Katy Appleton of Apple Yoga qualifying in PreNatal, Post Natal recovery, Mum & Baby Yoga & baby Massage. This too was an incredibly amazing & challenging journey as I took up the intensive studies while working a full week & in my final trimester. Having the privilege & joy of an incredible pregnancy & birth - I have so much gratitude for my practice, teachers, friendships forged & of course my baby girl & the incredible bond we formed from the moment I discovered I was pregnant throughout our pregnancy & yoga journey. After taking a year off to nurture & watch my little girl grow & develop, keeping my 6 day a week practice & brining my little girl onto the mat I am now hugely excited to be able to share my teachings with other expectant Mama’s / new Mama’s. I personally can not imagine day to day life, let alone my pregnancy without my yoga practice - it kept me I calm, in control and in a complete bubble of bumpalicious happiness throughout - even when the unexpected stormiest curve balls were thrown my (our) way in my pregnancy as well as moving across two countries, selling & moving house within a few months we were blessed to have an amazing home water birth and again - I thank this all to my practice & precious baby girl. My yoga practice was & still is my life line. It is an escape from the noise to bring me back to me & fully connect with me, my then little bean & now little girl. It is an honour & blessing to pass my teachings on to other Mama’s and encourage, help in any way I can through yoga for them to nurture their growing bellies and help new Mama’s in their recovery process post pregnancy & bonding with little your little ones through yoga & massage. I currently offer one to ones, group session - wether it be a group of friends, NCT groups or scheduled classes - please do get in touch to book / tailor your specific yoga requirements or group sessions. Scheduled classes coming soon - watch this space. Namaste x