Inform us a bit about your self…
Hiya! I’m Rachel. Yoga Trainer of 10 years, specialising in Vinyasa and Restorative practices, graduate of SOAS College with an MA within the Traditions of Yoga and Meditation, and co-founder of The Wellness Philosophy. I’m additionally Mummy to Flo and Ted who’re 4 and 1 years outdated, so very a lot within the thick of it proper now with childcare and educating, however can’t say I’d have it some other means!
What does a typical day appear like for you?
I’m often up fairly early, round 5am, to present myself a little bit of time earlier than the youngsters get up to floor myself by training or planning courses for the day forward. I discover that with being a working mother or father, preparation is vital, and helps handle my stress ranges all through the day. So, whereas I get the youngsters up and prepared for the day, I’ll put together a giant smoothie to take with me on the go, and often a light-weight packed lunch too. (My dosha could be very pitta, so ‘hanger’ is an actual difficulty for me!) On a mean day I’ll be educating a bunch class within the morning then maybe seeing a personal consumer. I’ll attempt to match a energy exercise in on the fitness center, and often have some admin to do for upcoming workshops or retreats that I’m operating with my enterprise companion whom I began The Wellness Philosophy with. Then to select up the youngsters.
My evenings are usually spent both educating, supporting the Yogamatters on-line neighborhood, or having dinner with my household after which placing my toes up. A very good e book in mattress by 9pm is often how I finish the night time!
How did your yoga journey start and what impressed you to turn into a yoga trainer?
I made a decision to do my preliminary 200hr trainer coaching again in 2013 on the age of 23, after travelling round Australia as soon as I’d accomplished my BA diploma in Movie Research. I don’t keep in mind a selected light-bulb second, solely the sense of understanding a 9-5 workplace job wasn’t for me, feeling a bit disillusioned, and intuitively searching for out one thing extra. I skilled firstly with a deeply educated Vinyasa yoga trainer, Claire Missingham, who instilled a precision and self-discipline into my apply, in addition to a love for intelligently crafted and artistic sequencing and music! Claire additionally launched me to the fantastic thing about the Sanskrit language (the language through which many yoga texts are written), which I then studied in additional depth at SOAS throughout my MA and past.
What impressed you to concentrate on your apply?
Vinyasa and Restorative yoga practices could possibly be seen as being on two reverse ends of the yoga spectrum, and on this means truly stability one another fantastically in my expertise. I’ve at all times been a really movement-oriented particular person, and as a younger trainer I cherished the fluid grace of a well-crafted Vinyasa class. However as I’ve grown older, I recognize the necessity to stability motion with stillness and relaxation. And as I’ve grown as a trainer, I additionally recognize subtly and nuance in my apply, which is one thing that I discovered within the Restorative fashion, underneath the skilled steerage of my trainer, Anna Ashby. A quote involves thoughts that I’ve been reflecting on lately from the Tibetan Buddhist, Sakyong Mipham, which says that ‘the physique advantages from motion and the thoughts advantages from stillness.’ This can be a reminder to me that I need to honour the necessity to each transfer and discover stillness as a method to domesticate wholeness.
How have you ever seen yoga profit your college students?
Neighborhood and connection might be the most important profit that I see. And I solely actually recognised this as soon as going again to in-person courses after COVID. Folks coming collectively on the identical time every week to consciously breathe and collectively transfer their our bodies is a robust antidote to the detachment and indifference that we will encounter so usually in fashionable city environments. The softer, extra open expressions on folks’s faces as they end apply, and the pleasant conversations that quietly buzz on the finish of sophistication is a valuable reminder to me that the yoga is most profound when you step off of the mat. In order that’s an enormous profit I’d say!
What’s your favourite quote or life motto?
There are such a lot of! However one which involves thoughts is ‘Count on nothing. Respect every thing.’
What’s developing for you in 2024?
I’ll be operating my first workshop for Yogamatters, Deep Relaxation: Restorative Yoga & Breathwork for Nervous System Well being, on June 30th which I’m very excited to share. I additionally run month-to-month Reiki & Restore workshops by means of The Wellness Philosophy that are at all times a pleasure, and one other means that I attempt to facilitate connection and relaxation as a method to elevate my college students sense of wellbeing and wholeness. I’m additionally co-hosting a weekend wellness retreat at Florence Home in East Sussex this December (all the particulars are right here). In fact, I’m trying ahead to collaborating an increasing number of with the fantastic workforce at Yogamatters as effectively and connecting with different academics and like-minded peeps on the neighborhood platform!
Discover out extra about Rachel:
Web site: https://thewellnessphilosophy.co.uk/
Instagram: @rachelskipperyoga
