Read Greg’s story…

“Teaching yoga demands a complete mindset of serving others; sharing and respecting the traditions of yoga with energy, enthusiasm, and joy.

Aged 30 I was a chartered accountant with a daily commute into London; somehow’I’d found myself on a career path that was completely at odds with who I was (on so many levels). My body was doing its best to alert me to this glaringly obvious fact with persistent stomach cramps and sore throats, not to mention my increasing tendency to stutter. Also, the intense sciatica, lower back, shoulder, and calf pains I was experiencing might have had something to do with my three hour daily commute (sitting) combined with being at a desk for ten hours a day (again sitting).

My solution was to ‘throw in the towel’ and start again. Only problem being: what to start?! I decided to go travelling for a year… and so began my adventures of South Africa, Australia, New Zealand, Thailand, Vietnam, Cambodia, and India. What an amazing time!

Upon my return, my family gifted me a birthday present, a 121 yoga session. My mother, who’d been trying to encourage me to practise yoga for the previous ten years, had obviously initiated this. Come the day of the 121 session let’s just say I wasn’t looking forward to it that much. A few minutes into the session I was in Shavasana practising abdominal breathing and lightning struck! I knew, beyond any doubt, that I was going to teach yoga for the remainder of my life!

What followed was 7 years of intense personal practice (I needed it!), teacher training courses, and exposure to many different/authentic/skilled teachers/styles of yoga as possible. In 2007 I felt ready (as one can be) to embark on the journey of sharing the magical practice of yoga with others. I finally quit the corporate world, hired half a dozen village halls, delivered thousands of flyers through letterboxes advertising my classes, and trusted in the process. Come the end of the first week I’d taught fifteen classes, was £21.70 out of pocket, and loving it. Bring on week two…

Today, I have been practising and studying yoga for nearly 25 years; teaching full-time for 17 years; have taught approximately 7,500 classes; completed 1,600hrs of teacher training and approximately 30,000hrs of personal practice.

I feel so fortunate to have completed Sivananda Teacher Training and Sivananda Advanced Teacher Training. Sivananda training demands a high level of self-discipline and affords a unique opportunity to extend the limits of ones capabilities, including strength and stamina, with long lasting effects. Created and first offered in 1969 by Swami Vishnudevananda, one of the first yoga masters in the West, this course is now taught throughout the world to 1,000 people a year. With over 50,000 graduates to date, the International Sivananda Yoga Vedanta Centres is the largest yoga organisation in the world. The goal of Sivananda training is to produce inspiring yoga teachers and yoga masters who are able to draw on their own practice and personal discipline in imparting the yoga experience to others.”