Inform us a bit about your self…
Hi there! 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 I’m additionally Mummy to Flo and Ted who’re 4 and 1 years outdated, so very a lot within the thick of it proper now with childcare and educating, however can’t say I’d have it another manner!
What does a typical day seem like for you?
I’m normally up fairly early, round 5am, to offer myself a little bit of time earlier than the children 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 essential, and helps handle my stress ranges all through the day. So, whereas I get the children up and prepared for the day, I’ll put together an enormous smoothie to take with me on the go, and normally a light-weight packed lunch too. (My dosha may be very pitta, so ‘hanger’ is an actual concern for me!) On a median day I’ll be educating a gaggle class within the morning then maybe seeing a personal shopper. I’ll try to match a power exercise in on the health club, and normally have some admin to do for upcoming workshops or retreats that I’m working with my enterprise accomplice whom I began The Wellness Philosophy with. Then to select up the children.
My evenings are usually spent both educating, supporting the Yogamatters on-line group, or having dinner with my household after which placing my ft up. ebook in mattress by 9pm is normally how I finish the evening!
How did your yoga journey start and what impressed you to develop into a yoga instructor?
I made a decision to do my preliminary 200hr instructor 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 realizing a 9-5 workplace job wasn’t for me, feeling a bit disillusioned, and intuitively searching for out one thing extra. I educated firstly with a deeply educated Vinyasa yoga instructor, Claire Missingham, who instilled a precision and self-discipline into my observe, in addition to a love for intelligently crafted and inventive sequencing and music! Claire additionally launched me to the fantastic thing about the Sanskrit language (the language wherein many yoga texts are written), which I then studied in additional depth at SOAS throughout my MA and past.
What impressed you to specialise in your observe?
Vinyasa and Restorative yoga practices could possibly be seen as being on two reverse ends of the yoga spectrum, and on this manner really steadiness one another fantastically in my expertise. I’ve at all times been a really movement-oriented individual, and as a younger instructor I beloved the fluid grace of a well-crafted Vinyasa class. However as I’ve grown older, I recognize the necessity to steadiness motion with stillness and relaxation. And as I’ve grown as a instructor, I additionally recognize subtly and nuance in my observe, which is one thing that I discovered within the Restorative fashion, beneath the professional steering of my instructor, Anna Ashby. A quote involves thoughts that I’ve been reflecting on not too long ago from the Tibetan Buddhist, Sakyong Mipham, which says that ‘the physique advantages from motion and the thoughts advantages from stillness.’ It is a reminder to me that I have to honour the necessity to each transfer and discover stillness as a technique to domesticate wholeness.
How have you ever seen yoga profit your college students?
Group and connection might be the largest profit that I see. And I solely really recognised this as soon as going again to in-person courses after COVID. Individuals 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 typically in fashionable city environments. The softer, extra open expressions on individuals’s faces as they end observe, and the pleasant conversations that quietly buzz on the finish of sophistication is a treasured 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 little thing.’
What’s arising for you in 2024?
I’ll be working 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 way of The Wellness Philosophy that are at all times a pleasure, and one other manner that I attempt to facilitate connection and relaxation as a technique 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 (the entire particulars are right here). In fact, I’m wanting ahead to collaborating an increasing number of with the fantastic group at Yogamatters as properly and connecting with different academics and like-minded peeps on the group platform!
Discover out extra about Rachel:
Web site: https://thewellnessphilosophy.co.uk/
Instagram: @rachelskipperyoga
