How I got here
Hello beautiful friends,
I’ve been reflecting a lot recently on yoga, meditation, mental health and physical health.
After 21 years of teaching yoga, coaching and going through my own personal healing journey, I’ve somehow ended up here in Peru.
And as idyllic as that might sound, it’s also been a huge learning experience.
Moving to another country has taken me into new places within myself that I’ve had to look at. My shadow sides. The places where I avoid being with my fear. The times when I distract myself with new people, new experiences or simply staying busy.
And one of the things I’m discovering more and more is that when I was 24 and went to India to do my yoga teacher training, I never imagined that I would eventually go full circle.
25 years ago I was teaching yoga in Wokingham and Reading.
Maybe you were one of my students?
I trained with the Sivananda Centre, which teaches a very traditional yoga and way of life.
I was so enthusiastic and I remember so clearly the first time I visited the centre in Putney. The students and the atmosphere of peace and joy were infectious.
We sang a beautiful mantra at the beginning and then moved our bodies with intention and presence.
And I have to say, I feel yoga has moved quite far away from this in many ways.
I was lucky enough to teach yoga three days a week at Nirvana Spa, as well as running my own classes at various other venues, and I met some of the most wonderful humans who I’m still in touch with to this day.
I ran classes at Leighton Park School on Saturdays for students and teaching staff, and in the summer we had classes outside under the trees.
And then, one day, something changed in me.
I wanted to serve people in a different way.
That’s when I had the privilege of visiting Camp Mohawk, a beautiful respite centre run by the Woodland Trust near Henley-on-Thames for families with children with disabilities and neurodivergent children.
During that time I became a support worker and ran yoga classes for the children.
We played.
We laughed.
We ran around the woods playing laser tag.
I also supported a teen youth group for neurodivergent teenagers and, honestly, this felt like the place where I was meant to be.
It felt like family.
And I could bring all of my training as a holistic therapist, yoga teacher, somatic educator, trauma and mental health practitioner and ADHD coach into practice.
Then during the pandemic Camp Mohawk had to close.
I was hosting teenage yoga classes online and mentioned to Camp Mohawk that I could invite some people from our youth group.
And then, even better than that, I was invited to run coaching sessions for the young people and their parents to support them.
It was incredibly well received.
And I think this was another turning point for me.
Because I began to see that yoga was only one piece of the puzzle.
Now I’m mainly coaching people who want to increase their self-awareness and learn how to lead their families, teams and employees with greater awareness.
And this is where my work has brought me.
From yoga.
To the body.
To the nervous system.
To trauma.
To emotional regulation.
To self-awareness.
And ultimately, to the question I keep coming back to:
How do we actually learn to know ourselves?
Because I don’t think more information is necessarily what we need.
I think we need more awareness.
More honest conversations.
More connection with our bodies.
And more willingness to look at ourselves when life shows us something we don’t necessarily want to see.
And that is what I want to explore with you over the next couple of newsletters.
Because after 21 years of doing this work, I’ve become increasingly convinced that our body has a lot more to teach us than we realise.
And I’d love to invite you to experience this for yourself.
I’m going to be offering a free online group session where we’ll explore self-awareness through practical somatic practices, grounded conversation and a little group coaching.
Nothing complicated.
Nothing you need to prepare for.
Just an opportunity to slow down, get out of your head for a while and actually notice what’s happening inside you.
If you’d like to join me, I’d love to have you there.
More details coming very soon - make sure you're subscribed to my newsletters to keep in touch.
With love,
Francesca
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