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31-32 Aston Business Park
Shrewsbury Avenue
Woodston
Peterborough PE2 7BX

 

 

Teachers

Sandra Heider (Forrest & Jivamukti)
Peter Wilkins
(Ashtanga)
Christina Masingell
(Forrest)
Mark Stevens (Sivananda & Jivamukti)
Helen Manning
(Hatha & Pilates)
Luz Verkiel
(Hatha)
Sarah White
(Hatha)
Anita Barker
(Pilates)

Sandra Heider - Founder of Equilibrium
Sandra Heider, MA, MA, grew up in Germany, but left her home country when she was 19 to study in Edinburgh (1998). It was there when she started practising yoga with her first Ashtanga Yoga teachers Brian Cooper and Nawajyoti. Although she moved to England in 2002, she went back to Brian to do her teacher training (200 hour diploma with Yoga Alliance) in Edinburgh and Scoraig (2005 and 2006, http://www.unionyoga.co.uk/training/tt-home.html ). In April 2007 under the guidance of David Life and Sharon Gannon she qualified as a Jivamukti teacher in New York. In June 2007 Sandra finished her month long intensive teacher training with Ana Forrest - becoming a Forrest Associate. In February 2009 she certified as a Forrest Yoga Teacher. Since then she has completed her Forrest mentorship programme with Heidi Sormaz in New Haven (CT) and assisted Ana Forrest at workshops (Peterborough and London 2009) as well as at a 5 day teacher training (Berlin 2009). She also currently studies with the Cambridge Body Psychotherapy Centre to gain more insight into how the body, mind, spirit and emotions are connected - in fact are one.

Love and gratitude go to all her teachers and in particular Ana Forrest, Colleen Millen, Heidi Sormaz, Yogeswari, Sharon Gannon and David Life who are a true inspiration for her teaching, her practice and her life.

For Sandra yoga is about finding stillness in the body and also in the mind. It is that ever lasting happiness and peace we can only find when we are truly present - in the moment. When we reach this stillness we can see the interconnectedness of all beings, all harming and violence stops and we feel in harmony and love with our surroundings. Real peace and happiness can only come from within. Joy and bliss will come out of this changed state of consciousness.

Peter Wilkins
Peter has a rich background in martial arts. He started Tang Soo Do - a Korean Martial Art - in 1973. He took his black belt in 1979 when he started teaching - eventually becoming a 6th Dan and a chief instructor for Bedford, Northampton and Cambridge. When he stopped teaching, he was looking for some physical activity and discovered Ashtanga yoga in 2004. He completed his intense teacher training with Brian Cooper in Southern France in June 2008. He now teaches Ashtanga yoga at the centre, drawing from his teacher training, his past teaching experiences in martial art and most importantly from his own daily practice. 

Christina Masingill
Christina Masingill is American, originally from Virginia.  She has lived in London for 8 years with her British husband.   After 13 years of teaching children, she now teaches yoga.  Christina began practising yoga in 1999, replacing her already active lifestyle of dance and sports.  When she came across Ana Forrest she knew she wanted to teach Forrest Yoga!  Forrest Yoga has brought deep fulfilment, freedom, strength and constant growth to her life.  She is a Forrest Associate certified through UK Yoga Alliance and empowers others to discover and grow their own freedom, power and self-expression igniting their passion for life!

Mark Stevens, www.sivanandayogastudio.co.uk/
Mark owns his own yoga studio in Little Downham, Ely, where he offers regular classes Monday to Friday.

Mark started practising yoga in 1986. The Sivananda Tradition has provided the main focus for his practice. He undertook Teacher Training in Kerala Southern India in 2003 and Advanced Teacher Training in the Himalayas in 2007. He continues to study within the Tradition. In May 2009 he also certified as a Jivamukti teacher under the guidance of Sharon Gannon and David Life. He is one of the very few Jivamukti teachers outside London and we are pleased to have him in the centre teaching on a Saturday morning!

The Iyengar, Ashtanga and Vini Yoga traditions are also part of Mark's background and inform his style of teaching.

Helen Manning
"Learning Yoga will often feel as though you are learning something you always knew how to do…..the joy and refreshment of a deep, full breath in combination with the exhilaration of a deep, strong stretch is rejuvenating”.[1]

Helen has been practising Yoga, under the kind and supportive instruction of a number of Yoga teachers, many of whom are British Wheel of Yoga teachers, since 1995.

Helen is qualified as a teacher in both Pilates and Yoga - matching both methods of movement with breath to that instinctive urge we all have to stretch the body. She feels passionately that the practices of Yoga and Pilates connect us back to the deep rooted instinct to unwind, to refresh and re-balance the whole body with thoughtful movement and breath. Imagine the end of a long car journey, the need to move, to breathe in deeply and stretch off the journey – then we feel calmer, more relaxed, rejuvenated.

Already working as a Pilates Institute (London) Matwork instructor since 2004, Helen qualified as a Freestyle Fitness Yoga instructor in 2006 – this subsequently ignited her interest in deepening her own knowledge and teaching of the massive subject of Yoga. To achieve this Helen embarked on the British Wheel of Yoga Teacher's Diploma Course in September 2008. The British Wheel of Yoga is the largest Yoga organisation in the country and is recognised by the Central Council for Physical Recreation (CCPR) and Sport England as the national governing body for Yoga in the UK.

"Be happy you know how to practice. The practice will make you happy."[2]

[1+2] Eric Schiffman - Yoga, The Spirit and Practice of Moving Into Stillness

Luz Verkiel, www.heartandsoulyoga.co.uk
Luz’ love of yoga started in 1997. She experienced first hand the power that Yoga can entail.

Emotional and physical barriers can be over won by a daily yoga practise. Being a mother of three helped Luz to relate her own views of life and she hopes by giving the gift of Yoga to her children and others that they themselves can handle life more creatively, as she does.  Her chance to become a teacher came when she moved to the USA in the year 2000. That is where she qualified with YogaFit, and got certified to teach yoga in pregnancy. YogaFit is an organisation that works with modifications in their postures. It focuses on where you are at that particular moment, on how your body feels and on how you feel mentally. She also recently took a course with CalmForKids, to teach yoga to children. Yoga changed her live and her love for yoga is so deeply integrated with whom she is that she would like to pass on her passion for yoga to others.

Sarah White
Sarah was born in Peterborough district hospital on the 19 September 1980. Having completed her 3 year degree in Leeds in media, communication and cultural studies, she went to Meribel, France to become a chalet girl.  It was here, her love of the mountains and desire for an alternative lifestyle began. This led her to move to the ski resort of Verbier in Switzerland where she created a successful domestic services company. After 5 years, her path brought Sarah back to the UK, where she spent a year working for Bauer Media.

During this time Sarah suffered from intense bouts of anxiety and was directed to Equilibrium, where her journey of self understanding, healing and discovery began. This propelled her to want to teach and help others.

With a passion for yoga and a committed practice, she booked her flight to Australia to experience the alternative lifestyle of Byron Bay. Here she embarked on a new life, gaining a keen interest in holistic healing and qualifying in April 2009 as a certified teacher in Purna Yoga. This form of yoga represents a holistic approach that creates a safe and individual teaching style with emphasis on posture and alignment.

Sarah is passionate about the yogic lifestyle and giving students the opportunity to deepen their awareness and practice with integrity and fun.

Through dedication, openness and kindness to the self, the external and internal transformation this ancient practice has to offer in our current busy modern world continues to astound her as a student and as a teacher.

Anita Barker
When Anita couldn't stand the cut and thrust of the business world any more, she retrained as an exercise teacher. She also took a nutrition qualification at the University of  East London because she thinks what you eat and what you do go together.  Then in 1999 she discovered Pilates.  A history of sports (netball, tennis, volleyball, and hockey) had left her knees and back in less than perfect condition, and Pilates has changed her body.  She trained as an instructor with the Institute of Pilates in London, and now works with people of all ages and ability one-to-one, small groups in people's sitting rooms, classes in village halls, the Parkinson's Disease Society, and Nene Valley Harriers Juniors.  What she finds amazing is the diverse range of people Pilates exercises make a difference to, whether it's being able to lift an arm above the head for the first time in ages, improved breathing ability, or simply taking time to relax.