yoga teachers Peterborough Sandra Heider, Simon Thompson, Helen Manning, Alison Duff, Michelle Helstrip, Anita Barker

Teachers

Sandra Heider (Forrest & Jivamukti)
Peter Wilkins (Ashtanga)
Mark Stevens (Sivananda & Jivamukti)
Helen Manning (Hatha & Pilates)
Luz Verkiel (Gentle Yoga, Pregnancy & Kids)
Anita Barker (Pilates)
Dan Matovu (Forrest)
Michelle Helstrip (Dru Yoga)

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.

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.

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.

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.

Dan Matovu
Dan, MSc, ACCA is passionate about learning. His journey in life has taken him through Asia were he was born, to Africa and to Europe. He first came across yoga when he was 4yrs old and lived in India. It took him another 20 years to rediscover yoga in his search for practices that could alleviate tonsillitis. He discovered the kriyas and the neti pot and has never looked back.

In 2010 after many years of practice decided the allure of sharing his passion of yoga was too great. He embarked on a teacher training course in Forrest yoga with Ana Forrest. Forrest yoga offers a physical practice yet places great emphasis on healing. I thank Ana and Forrest yoga on setting me on the healing path and making me rediscover what truly matters.

Dan has also practiced with many renown teachers in other lineages of yoga. He would like to share his gratitude for those who have shaped his yoga journey

Ashtanga yoga – David William, Chuck & Maty
Vinyasa – Seane Corn, Shiva Rae, Annie Carpenter
Yin –yoga – Sarah Powers
Triyoga London- All the great teachers

Dan is also the Co Director for Yoga Action Movement Community Interest Company. The company provides yoga to communities with access to yoga for free. Thank you Seane Corn and the Africa Yoga project for inspiration. Thank you, Sarah Powers and Ty Powers for your words of wisdom and encouragement.

Michelle Helstrip, BA(Hons) Dip.Yoga

Michelle, the only fully qualified teacher of Dru yoga in the region, seeks to share this ‘yoga of the heart’ in a compassionate, straightforward and accessible manner, with an emphasis on connecting body movement to the breath. Training with leading teachers from different traditions has given her a unique insight into the many benefits of yoga.

Michelle studied in the Iyengar tradition while living in the US. She then travelled to Australia, spending twelve months on an intensive non-denominational yoga teacher training course at the Qi Natural Therapies and Yoga Centre in Sydney, under the tuition of Mark O’Brien (Director), student of T.K.V. Desikachar, in the tradition of Sri T. Krishnamacharya. Returning to the UK Michelle added a specialisation, embarking upon a three year Dru yoga teacher training course provided by the Life Foundation School of Therapeutics. This was followed by the twelve month British Wheel of Yoga integration course for certificated yoga teachers.

Michelle is a registered Teacher Member of the British Wheel of Yoga (BWY), the Yoga Teachers Association of Australia (YTAA) and a teaching Member of the Register of Dru Yoga (MRDY).

Michelle teaches yoga-related workshops, classes and private clients, and enjoys co-leading monthly kirtan (chanting) sessions at Equilibrium. She is currently involved in the Lottery-funded campaign to ‘get Britain active’ and also writes articles for yoga publications. Michelle divides her time between Australia and the UK.