Inform us a bit about your self…
Hey! I’m Rachel. Yoga Instructor 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 I’m additionally Mummy to Flo and Ted who’re 4 and 1 years outdated, so very a lot within the thick of it proper now with childcare and educating, however can’t say I’d have it some other method!
What does a typical day seem like for you?
I’m often up fairly early, round 5am, to provide 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 dad or mum, 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 problem for me!) On a mean day I’ll be educating a gaggle class within the morning then maybe seeing a personal shopper. I’ll attempt to match a power exercise in on the gymnasium, and often 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 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. An excellent e book in mattress by 9pm is often how I finish the evening!
How did your yoga journey start and what impressed you to turn out to be 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 bear 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 looking for out one thing extra. I skilled 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 great 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 concentrate on your observe?
Vinyasa and Restorative yoga practices may very well be seen as being on two reverse ends of the yoga spectrum, and on this method truly steadiness one another superbly in my expertise. I’ve all the time been a really movement-oriented individual, and as a younger instructor I cherished the fluid grace of a well-crafted Vinyasa class. However as I’ve grown older, I respect the necessity to steadiness motion with stillness and relaxation. And as I’ve grown as a instructor, I additionally respect subtly and nuance in my observe, which is one thing that I discovered within the Restorative fashion, beneath the professional steerage of my instructor, 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.’ It is a reminder to me that I need to honour the necessity to each transfer and discover stillness as a strategy to domesticate wholeness.
How have you ever seen yoga profit your college students?
Neighborhood 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. Folks coming collectively on the identical time every week to consciously breathe and collectively transfer their our bodies is a strong antidote to the detachment and indifference that we are able to encounter so usually in trendy city environments. The softer, extra open expressions on folks’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 developing 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 The Wellness Philosophy that are all the time a pleasure, and one other method that I attempt to facilitate connection and relaxation as a strategy 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 wanting ahead to collaborating increasingly with the fantastic workforce at Yogamatters as nicely 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
