Yoga Alliance Professionals Training Academy

Although we may guess, in reality we don't know why we are here or what our definitive purpose is. Often I don't think that it even matters, there is joy in mystery and discontent in needing to know all the answers. What we do know is that life is for living, it’s precious and we shouldn’t squander it, of that I'm certain. We conjure all sorts of stories about ourselves, they are all subjective, we can never really know the truth even about ourselves. I grew up as an anxious, school phobic infant and teenager - remnants of that have stayed with me for my entire life - they have been my greatest teachers and an inspiration to explore more about what all of this means. Although I find something fascinating to learn from all teachers, whether I like their style or not, I have always preferred to practice on my own than to attend classes. We are more free to experiment, to move at our own pace and to really feel what is needed mentally and physically on a day to day basis. It has always seemed perfectly normal to infuse asana practice with natural movement patterns from the rest of life - elements of surfing, kitesurfing and paddleboarding through to martial arts and climbing, all seem to find a way in. Breathing practice is inspired just as much by my lifelong relationship with asthma and freediving techniques as it is by Russian systema, buteyko and more traditional pranayama practices. Philosophical musings and meditation draw upon almost any source, from Krishnamurti to Taoism; biohacking and flow state science to Bruce Lee, Patanjali and Buddhism. I think that this has helped me to teach meditation and mindfulness to everyone from billionaires to a group of 150 16 year olds through to 5 year old kids! Everything has value and you will draw on it at some point. If you cant see the value then you aren't looking hard enough or you are closing yourself off to its potential Over the past 30years of practice and teaching I have shared my understanding with thousands of students, as the meditation teacher at the famous Yeotown retreat to village halls, from gold medal winning olympic athletes and extreme sports people to the elderly and immobile; every age group from 5 to 80 and every walk of life from 'Forbes 40' personalities to disadvantaged inner city youth groups. Basically whoever we are we all share the same worries, fears, anxieties and misunderstandings about the world For the past 7 years we have focussed on delivering our Yoga Like Water Teacher Training as well as further teacher training programmes for experienced teachers with a focus on mind based practices from flow state theory to self investigation. I contribute general public classes to Movement for Modern Life, the well known online wellbeing site and specialise in delivering live classes and courses for them. We run meditation retreats and training at our of the track home, outside of St Agnes Cornwall, surrounded by protected woodland and a nature reserve. For me there is genuinely no separation between practice and the rest of life. The last thing we want from yoga is to inadvertently put up entirely new walls in a misguided effort to liberate ourselves from other things that we perceive to be trapping us! Everyone's personal journey is all about feeling, about being intuitive, authentic and true to yourself. You can’t take someone else's coat and think that it will ever be truly comfortable by squeezing into it. I'd say that I encourage everyone to make their own coats, we don’t want them to try and wear ours but are happy to give them a needle, thread and some fabric if it helps. No matter what the topic is that we are sharing, the experiential method is the same: self-guided investigation, me doing 40 percent of the work via questioning and the students doing 60 percent themselves by discovering and exploring what they really need for themselves.