Yoga & More with Julie

r an intensive exercise to music course in Leeds. It was such a memorable course with great people. Hard work but so much fun. I began teaching classes as a hobby in addition to my main job in IT. I began teaching in the community, then for private gyms & local authorities. Over the years I’ve continued to lap up various other training courses and qualifications e.g. gym instructor, exercise referral, older adults specialist, postural stability falls prevention instructor, seated exercise etc as well as more generalised group fitness like Boxercise and various Les Mills programs. Following a major health blip in 2011 I was unable to teach for a while, lost my confidence as a result and thought I maybe wouldn’t ever go back to it, but when I eventually did I took a course called purestretch & begin to realise I could enjoy these less intense classes. In 2015 I finally trained to teach Les Mills BodyBalance - something I had resisted for years due to my lack of flexibility and the fact that my balance had been affected by surgery a few years earlier. It’s weird looking back how we resist something for so long even though we know it’s probably the thing that would help us the most??! Teaching BodyBalance gradually become my favourite thing, however I still “resisted” being “yoga” enough. Fast forward to 2019 after adding a 200 hour Yoga Teacher Diploma to my qualifications, I possibly felt even less “Yoga” enough. Through the challenges of lockdown and restrictions due to Covid, moving my classes on line etc I have certainly grown and continue to grow in both my teaching and my personal yoga practice. Yoga is so much more than the physical postures and we are all students. We are all on our own learning journey no matter how long ago or how recently we started it. Over the past 15 or so years I have worked with clients aged from 14 to 90+ but despite their age difference they have all had something in common - they (like me) are motivated by being with others. I believe that the enthusiasm of a group of likeminded people is contagious; we all want to feel part of something. My main objectives for every single class I teach, as well as obviously being safe and effective, is to ensure that every single person feels successful and included, whatever their goals or reasons for being there. We may not be able to do this in the same physical space at this current time, but at least we can still continue to encourage each other in the same virtual space, via the power of technology! If you’d like to ask any questions please do drop me a message or leave a comment. Thank you for taking the time to read this.