Inform us a bit about your self…
Howdy! 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 previous, so very a lot within the thick of it proper now with childcare and educating, however can’t say I’d have it every other means!
What does a typical day appear to be for you?
I’m normally up fairly early, round 5am, to present myself a little bit of time earlier than the youngsters get up to floor myself by practising or planning courses for the day forward. I discover that with being a working mother or father, 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 normally a light-weight packed lunch too. (My dosha could be very pitta, so ‘hanger’ is an actual difficulty for me!) On a mean day I’ll be educating a bunch class within the morning then maybe seeing a non-public consumer. I’ll attempt to match a energy exercise in on the gymnasium, and normally have some admin to do for upcoming workshops or retreats that I’m working with my enterprise associate whom I began The Wellness Philosophy with. Then to choose 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 ft up. A superb guide in mattress by 9pm is normally how I finish the evening!
How did your yoga journey start and what impressed you to grow to be a yoga trainer?
I made a decision to do my preliminary 200hr trainer 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 particular light-bulb second, solely the sense of figuring out a 9-5 workplace job wasn’t for me, feeling a bit disillusioned, and intuitively searching for out one thing extra. I skilled firstly with a deeply educated Vinyasa yoga trainer, Claire Missingham, who instilled a precision and self-discipline into my apply, in addition to a love for intelligently crafted and artistic sequencing and music! Claire additionally launched me to the fantastic thing about the Sanskrit language (the language through which 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 apply?
Vinyasa and Restorative yoga practices might be seen as being on two reverse ends of the yoga spectrum, and on this means really stability one another fantastically in my expertise. I’ve at all times been a really movement-oriented individual, and as a younger trainer I liked the fluid grace of a well-crafted Vinyasa class. However as I’ve grown older, I respect the necessity to stability motion with stillness and relaxation. And as I’ve grown as a trainer, I additionally respect subtly and nuance in my apply, which is one thing that I discovered within the Restorative model, below the professional steerage of my trainer, 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 need to honour the necessity to each transfer and discover stillness as a solution 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 actually 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 typically in trendy city environments. The softer, extra open expressions on individuals’s faces as they end apply, and the pleasant conversations that quietly buzz on the finish of sophistication is a valuable 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 ‘Anticipate nothing. Respect all the things.’
What’s arising for you in 2025?
In 2025 I’ll be internet hosting a week-long yoga & wellness retreat in Portugal in Might, working bi-monthly Reiki & Restore workshops in east London, and have some thrilling plans to launch a web based yoga library! All particulars for my workshops and upcoming retreat will be discovered on www.thewellnessphilosophy.co.uk
Discover out extra about Rachel:
Instagram: @rachelskipperyoga
