Yoga has had a profound and lasting impact on all of us at Byron Yoga Centre. Here, we share the yoga stories from our team members…
Meet regular Byron Yoga Centre teacher (and divine cuisine creator), Chloe.
How did your yoga journey start? In my very early twenties I was having a pretty rough time with one thing and another. I had always exercised regularly participating mainly in competitive sports and one day my good friend Katy dragged me along to a community centre in Dulwich in London for a Hatha yoga class. I remember lying on the floor and really connecting with myself and my breathing. I felt such true sense of peace which at the time was surprising. From then I was hooked. I practiced everyday mainly just to feel better when everything externally felt like it was falling apart. It was after about two years that I travelled to India to complete my first training where I was lucky enough to practice with my first real teacher Swami Brahmanand. From that point I travelled back to the UK and continued to practice and also to teach at the high school I was working in at the time as Physical Education Teacher. A few years later I arrived in Byron to complete my Certificate IV with Byron Yoga Centre.
Why did you become a yoga teacher? From about age 10 I knew I always wanted to teach and at first this calling was to teach Physical Education. It wasn’t until I developed so much love and respect for the practice of yoga that I had a change of heart. I noticed that within the PE curriculum the participation of female students between 14-18 was really low. I discovered that this was because they no longer wanted to be involved in competitive sports. I approached my head of department and asked for permission to introduce yoga onto the senior curriculum. It really was a great success and the girls were so full of enthusiasm for their practice. This really was my inspiration to continue training / teaching and move to Byron.
What yoga pose puts a smile on your face? Generally I enjoy the whole experience of yoga, the asana, pranayama and the stillness. If I had a choose a posture, then probably Vrksasana (tree pose) and Trikonasana (triangle pose).
What have you learned about life from yoga? Non-judgment towards myself and therefore those around me. When I first started yoga I had to let go of my desire to be the best in the postures and this took time. My yoga helped me let go of my head chatter about my body and physical expression and found my practice to be my peace, when I truly connected to what I was experiencing. Yoga is really just away for us to get back to basics and focus on what is happening in the moment. Often this is a much more manageable experience than getting so caught up in everything around us. Our natural state is love and joy, and yoga facilitates us back there.
How would you describe your yoga classes? Pretty traditional Hatha with some flow. I always like to include some philosophy which is often some inspirational words from Rolf Gates’ Daily Reflections on the Path of Yoga. I love to get people connected immediately with their breath with some pranayama before we get moving into the asana practice. For me yoga encompasses so much, I try to include the things I consider the key aspects of the practice. Recently I have enjoyed making some playlists for my classes as music is something that carries so much energy for us all.
