Yoga with Amy

If you are new to yoga, it originated in India. Yoga, as I learnt it, derives from Hatha Yoga in which postures, breath practices and meditations are used to rouse dormant energy to awaken in the body. Our fascia and energy channels spiral like ferns and galaxies. Our breath flows in waves like music and the ocean. In yoga we open to these deep forces within and around us; they teach us to ground, to centre and sometimes to soar. In this way, over time, yoga loosens the physical, energetic and psychic knots of our being. This deep unraveling frees us to experience our lives more intimately. We cultivate an interiority that is not separate, but viscerally connected to nature, to all beings and to life itself.

This is one story of yoga practice, but yoga, like India, has many stories – feel into as many as you can. When we find yoga practices that support us, they help us to meet our daily lives with a sense of support and connection. Hopefully, our practices evoke zest, not zeal; we can take them seriously, without taking ourselves too seriously.

Amy

Other than my early attempts (me above), I began practising yoga with my mum in 1997. It’s been a refuge for grounding, healing and awakening ever since. Since 2008, Ashtanga has been the warm beating heart of my morning practices. I teacher trained in the method with John Scott, and apprenticed for three years with Sarah Durney Hatcher. I completed Ashtanga’s Advanced A and B (3rd and 4th) series in the traditional method under their generous guidance.

These days I give my Ashtanga practice more space to breathe, adapting intuitively with more emphasis on energetic ease, breath and meditation. Since 2021, I have been practising with Joey Miles, whose keen eye for alignment has refreshed my movement practice, and whose teachings create fertile ground for spiritual growth. I teach Ashtanga Vinyasa in the assisted self practice (Mysore) method, both online at Ashtanga Yoga Edinburgh, and in person at Lime House Yoga. My aim is to help people to build an Ashtanga self practice suited to their constitution and life. I believe in keeping it accessible, soulful and joyful. In this way, the practice nourishes and supports the student’s growth, rather than the student attempting to conform to an idealised image of each pose.

This model of personalising self practices in Ashtanga draws on gems from my Ashtanga teachers, my own self practice and my first training in Anusara Yoga with Bridget Woods-Kramer in 2004, which had a strong emphasis on postural alignment. My Vinyasa Yoga classes are also deeply informed by this method. They offer meditative flow sequences cued with an emphasis on alignment, energetics and breath. I also love rest and recuperation practices, and share them alongside my dynamic teachings where I can. I have a masters in Philosophy and continue to read voraciously about Yoga.

Whilst the history of Ashtanga has been marred somewhat by the behaviour of its founder (likewise with Anusara), these practices support me greatly and it is this I hope to share.

BA and MA Philosophy
BA and PGDip. Literature
500 Hours Training and Mentorship with Bridget Woods Kramer (Anusara)
200 Hour Training and subsequent Assisting Apprenticeship with John Scott (Ashtanga)
3 year Ashtanga Assisting Programme with Sarah Durney Hatcher
50 Hour Trauma Informed Training with Lorraine Close/Edinburgh Community Yoga

Short Courses
40 Hour Training with David Swenson (Ashtanga)
Outreach Training with Edinburgh Community Yoga
Chair Yoga Training with Special Yoga