Newness Dance

Background

I started practicing Ashtanga yoga in 1994 and learned this type of yoga from Baba Hari Dass at Mount Madonna Centre in the Santa Cruz Mountains of Northern California. As resident of Mount Madonna Centre from 1994—1998, the focal points of the yoga practice taught to me here were pranayama, meditation and yoga philosophy. Immmersed daily in the teachings of Ashtanga yoga made this period an intense time of learning. As someone with a background in dance, I always enjoyed the asana aspect of Ashtanga yoga and in 1996 Babaji (Baba Hari Dass) authorised me to teach asana classes at Mount Madonna Centre. Between 1996—1998 teaching asana at retreats became a regular part of my yogic life and the beginning of my passion for teaching yoga.

In 1998 I left Mount Madonna and moved to London to pursue a Masters degree in dance. After the completion of this degree I started attending Ashtanga yoga classes at Yoga Place and took some classes with Aina Wethal (now a dear friend and a rigorous teacher!). I rapidly learned that the Ashtanga yoga taught here was very different to the Ashtanga taught to me by Baba Hari Dass. The Ashtanga yoga here was centred around the execution of a very specific order of postures called the Ashtanga Yoga Primary Series as taught by Sri Krishna Pattabhi Jois in Mysore, India.

In 2002 I had the privilege of attending a workshop on the Primary Series with John Scott, a student of Pattabhi Jois, and my yoga practice was changed forever. John has been a major influence on my asana practice and my teaching and I have been lucky enough to have been able to work with him (and his fantastic wife Lucy) regularly since our initial meeting.

Yoga has continued to draw me in. I have also been fortunate enough to be taught by Pattabhi Jois and David Swenson, in shorter, more intensive bursts. I believe that it is valuable to experience different teachers as each one can illuminate for you another facet of your own practice.

I have been teaching yoga in London since 2003, starting out with just one class at the Mary Ward Centre and now I teach 6—8 classes a week to private clients and in other institutions. My class schedule is set out below.

Style

There are three main influences behind the style of yoga that I teach and these come from firstly, my lifetime study of contemporary dance; secondly, the teachings of Baba Hari Dass, and finally from the teachings of John Scott. The basis of my own style aims to work with the complete integration of breath and movement. This stems back to my pranayama work with Baba Hari Dass but his synchronicity of breath and movement is also an absolute in the teachings of the Ashtanga Yoga Primary Series. My classes, although Ashtanga based, do integrate some postures from Hatha yoga that are held for a longer period of time and in the last year I have also become interested in Yin yoga, which is a wonderful complement to the rigor of Ashtanga yoga. Norman Blair, who introduced me to the form of Yin yoga, is a lovely teacher.

In my classes, it is my desire that my students are able to experience on a physical level the wonderful flow that comes with the Ashtanga form but to also glean an understanding of the anatomical and kinesiological workings of the body as they move into, through and out of a posture. Like in dance, it is exhilarating when you experience being ‘in the flow’. I teach with lightheartedness and humour. It’s important to remember that yoga is enjoyable as well as a discipline.

Class Schedule

Mondays 7.30—9.30pm

Location: The Mary Ward Centre (Holborn/Russell Square Tube). These classes, are booked via term (12 week blocks) at the fee of £63.00 per term or £182.00 per year (a total of 34 classes). You can book online through the Mary Ward Centre website or phone 0207 269 6000. Unfortunately (as of September 2007) this class is full with a waiting list.