Anji Gopal is an osteopath and yoga trainer who has spent a decade serving to folks with again ache in hospitals, clinics and studios. Anji runs her personal clinic in London and ran an progressive course utilizing Yoga as a remedy for power low again ache within the NHS for 7 years from 2016 to 2023.
Inform us a bit about your self…
Anji Gopal, BackCare Professional. I’m an osteopath & yoga trainer and I deliver collectively all my abilities to assist my college students & sufferers get out of ache. My space of specialty is power low again ache.
What does a typical day appear to be for you?
It’s busy! I’ve my very own clinics in West London & Central London, work within the NHS sooner or later every week, educate Yoga at London’s Triyoga, Life Centre & Mission and likewise practice different therapists in Yoga for BackCare. So I spend time with sufferers & college students – in addition to my two teenage sons & the canine
How did your yoga journey start and what impressed you to grow to be a yoga trainer?
After College (my first diploma is in Econometrics!) I labored for Barclays for 16 years in a excessive strain job.
When my first son was born, I needed to spend extra time with him and in my spare time, skilled at Triyoga – not intending to show however simply to be taught. I had practiced Yoga since being a teen and extra latterly as a stress-reliever while in a demanding position.
The trainer coaching made me realise that I used to be within the physique and dealing differently, so I spent 5 years coaching to be an Osteopath.
Quickly after graduating, I discovered that a lot of what I used to be sharing with my sufferers got here from my yoga data – the way to transfer, the way to breathe, the way to discover consolation while in discomfort.
A yr after graduating I opened my very own clinic and likewise started work within the NHS with sufferers with power low again ache (CLBP).
In 2016 I trialled a yoga-based programme within the NHS for CLBP. A multi-faceted yoga follow (motion, breath, leisure, philosophy) can goal lots of the causes and signs of again ache. This programme has been working since that point.
So it’s been an extended journey to be a trainer – and I really feel strongly that I’m nonetheless extra a pupil. There may be at all times extra to be taught!
What impressed you to focus on your follow?
Bringing collectively my data of the physique, osteopathy & ache with my yoga data has been transformational – for me & for my sufferers & college students.
I educate Yoga for BackCare across the nation to college students, sufferers & lecturers. In lockdown , I wrote a course that’s now the British Wheel of Yoga’s accredited coaching for Yoga lecturers – to allow them to share this necessary work.
So – Yoga? It provides us an enormous vary of practices to assist us dwell the very best life within the physique that we’ve got – proper right here and proper now – no matter age or stage we occur to be. My clinic is named ‘FindingHealth’ and that’s what I really feel yoga is for.
How have you ever seen yoga profit your college students?
Yoga for backcare will be transformational practices. We be taught to know our personal selves – bodily, emotional, religious, social – and the way these affect our well being. My clinic is named ‘FindingHealth’ and that is what I search my yoga trainer to embody – How can I assist YOU Discover Well being within the physique & thoughts that you’ve now.
What’s your favourite quote or life motto?
Yoga teaches us to treatment what needn’t be endured & endure what can’t be cured – BKS Iyengar
Stay like you’ll die tomorrow, be taught like you’ll dwell eternally – Mahatma Gandhi
What’s arising for you in 2025?
Wow, the place to start out? 2025 is a continuation of the 2020s – with challenges coming at us from all domains – private, societal, worldwide.
It actually appears like we’d like a relaxation, however the Universe has different plans!
Over the previous couple of years I’ve discovered that the follow of Yoga (in all its elements – bodily, emotional, and particularly religious) has been my assist. And this in flip, permits me to assist others.
So each time I discover my very own follow waning, I’ve to get again to fundamentals and sit, transfer, breathe and examine. The Universe has additionally despatched me fantastic lecturers and teachings once I’ve wanted them, so I want to simply accept I can’t repair all the things and be open to studying and taking issues gradual too!
Discover out extra about Anji:
Instagram: @theanjigopal
