Inform us a bit about your self…
Whats up! 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 I’m additionally Mummy to Flo and Ted who’re 4 and 1 years outdated, so very a lot within the thick of it proper now with childcare and educating, however can’t say I’d have it some other approach!
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 children get up to floor myself by working towards or planning lessons for the day forward. I discover that with being a working dad or mum, preparation is essential, and helps handle my stress ranges all through the day. So, whereas I get the children 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 median day I’ll be educating a gaggle class within the morning then maybe seeing a non-public shopper. I’ll try to match a power exercise in on the fitness center, and often 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 children.
My evenings are usually spent both educating, supporting the Yogamatters on-line group, or having dinner with my household after which placing my toes up. An excellent ebook in mattress by 9pm is often how I finish the night time!
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 particular light-bulb second, solely the sense of realizing a 9-5 workplace job wasn’t for me, feeling a bit disillusioned, and intuitively searching for out one thing extra. I educated 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 by which many yoga texts are written), which I then studied in additional depth at SOAS throughout my MA and past.
What impressed you to focus on your observe?
Vinyasa and Restorative yoga practices might be seen as being on two reverse ends of the yoga spectrum, and on this approach truly stability one another fantastically in my expertise. I’ve at all times 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 admire the necessity to stability motion with stillness and relaxation. And as I’ve grown as a instructor, I additionally admire subtly and nuance in my observe, which is one thing that I discovered within the Restorative model, underneath the skilled steerage of my instructor, 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 approach 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 lessons after COVID. Individuals coming collectively on the similar time every week to consciously breathe and collectively transfer their our bodies is a strong antidote to the detachment and indifference that we will encounter so typically 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 ‘Anticipate nothing. Recognize every thing.’
What’s developing 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 could be discovered on www.thewellnessphilosophy.co.uk
Discover out extra about Rachel:
Web site: https://thewellnessphilosophy.co.uk/
Instagram: @rachelskipperyoga
