I’ve wanted to teach yoga pretty much from my first class. When I got home that day I googled yoga, and realised people were doing it, a LOT of people. The more I googled the more I found. I found cute studios, cool studios, Hot (?!) studios. I found clothing brands made for yogis with leggings of different lengths different patterns and all the colours of the rainbow. I found out there were 1001 different mats you could buy. I found people on Instagram like Rachel Brathen and Kino McGregor who did Instagram in beautiful places and made it look more like art than exercise. I started spending my (small) paycheck in Sweaty Betty. I would spend my days at work googling and found that yoga teacher training was a thing (remember I was new to the game!) and would look at the entry requirements for most of the courses ( a minimum of 2 years continuous practice) and wish the time away. Basically, I was obsessed. I was like a child in a candy store.
I continued in this way for a couple of years before moving home to Newcastle from London. In Newcastle, or rather my small hometown outside of Newcastle, there were no studios I could get to easily so I had a break from yoga. When I moved to Leeds and found Yoga Hero a short walk from my house, I started going to yoga again infrequently. I loved it while I was there and wished I was there when I wasn’t, slowly I started going more and more regularly. I started attending workshops and different classes I hadn’t tried before (having only ever done Ashtanga). After about a year of attending more frequently in Leeds, I saw Yoga Hero offered a YTT course. I considered it but I decided I wasn’t ready, I didn’t have enough money, other people were better than me, I couldn’t handstand. I couldn’t stop thinking about it though, so about 6 months later I set myself a challenge. If I could save the money for the deposit, I’d put it down and sign up. My savings after a few months didn’t even come close! But then finally, I got a call from my mum, she was calling her to say she had found a lump and it was cancerous. I had just finished an intense yoga class in London with Cat Meffan when she called me and the emotions were conflicting. I’d just achieved a goal of mine (to go to a class by Cat Meffan) so was happy and excited, not to mention zen 🙏🏼. But I had also just had some pretty bad news which was shocking and obviously devastating. I drew strength from yoga, as I have many times since my first class in 2013. And in that moment I realised life is too short not to follow your dreams. You can make excuses forever but you’ll only regret what you don’t do, not what you do, do. My mum will be fine, she’s had it rough but things will get better, for all of us. I am focusing on yoga this year, and preparing myself for YTT as much as I possibly can to help with the ‘am I ready?!’, Im working on my handstand 😉 and selling anything I can get my hands on to help with the ‘I can’t afford it’ Finally, I’m keeping this blog to share my thoughts and progress along the way 🌠
Lucy Does Yoga 