About Lucy
Lucy, who is also a qualified reflexologist, has been studying yoga since 1986 and teaching yoga since 2003.
She qualified as a British Wheel of Yoga Instructor in 2005 and has a strong interest in therapeutic yoga, and also offers classes in ante-natal and post-natal yoga.
"I first started practising yoga when my mother was dying of cancer at her home in Hove, East Sussex. I came to look after her at home, and commuted to my job in London. Not having children at that time I wanted something that would nourish me spiritually, and that would also provide a sense of future – the opposite of death being birth. I found a book from our local library in Hove and started doing some yoga postures in the next door room to my mother's bedroom, so I could attend to her if she called out. I particularly found a shoulderstand, which I did against a wall in those days, very rejuvenating. The next year, after her death, I was able to join a regular lunchtime class at my new job in the Department of Health in London.
After that, even when moving around to different places with my husband, from Yorkshire to Perth, Western Australia I managed to find a regular yoga class (and a horse to ride – another of my passions!). I found yoga very helpful during both pregnancies and afterwards to help me 'get my body back', although there were no specialist Yoga for Pregnancy classes 20 years ago."
She has learnt the structural-style Iyengar yoga approach for many years, but decided to train to teach yoga under the broader umbrella of the British Wheel of Yoga . The British Wheel of Yoga is the Governing Body for yoga in the United Kingdom. Teachers are encouraged to explore and develop different approaches to yoga, whilst observing the most up-to-date safety guidelines. Lucy's teaching combines the emphasis on good alignment and structural principles in static poses (asana), with co-ordinated movement and breath in stretches, into flowing sequences.
She has studied Structural Yoga Therapy and Ayurvedic Yoga Therapy with the renowned international teacher and writer, Mukunda Stiles. This has enabled Lucy to use particular techniques to strengthen weak or injured muscles. Lucy has studied and used Ayurveda, the 'yoga of herbs', the sister science that developed alongside Yoga in India two and a half thousand years ago, and can give Ayurvedic advice to students on appropriate nutrition and yoga practice for their particular constitutional type. She has also studied Mantra and Meditation with Muz Murray (Ramana Baba) in Tamil Nadu in South India, which has heightened her awareness of the subtle body and the koshas (inner layers).