We are so excited to be welcoming international Teacher Mel back twice this year for her signature and renowned 50hr Yin Teacher Training and for the first time ever with an opportunity for Part-Time!
We sat down for a chat with beautiful Mel ahead of her trainings at BodyMindLife this July and October.
Can you tell us how you came to find Yoga?
Running away from one love I found another ..Yoga.. I had a feeling at 25 there was something else out there other than what I'd always known - I was already doing Reiki in my facials and bodywork as a beauty therapist and felt the call to go to India for 2 weeks on a yoga studying holiday and that turned into my first teacher training, 6 months in an ashram and India, a sold house in the uk, a new love, and a calling I didn't even know was there (or where it would end up taking me) has blown my mind!
What Teachers have inspired your Journey?
This gets asked a lot and there are so many in my 22 yr + journey ..and not only of the yoga tradition, also Acupuncturists, Qi Gong masters, Metaphysicians and Energy workers ..I've had a LOT of good quality, leaders in their field type teachers and for this I'm humbly grateful, including internationally Paul Grilley, Master Robert Peng, Baron Baptiste, Daniel Keown, Tiffany Cruickshank and locally Nic Walsh, Ray ford, Paul Balch and many others along the way via books and podcasts, online learning etc .. I'll be an eternal student :)
What did you do before Teaching?
When I danced ballet in my teens I taught the little kindergarten kids ballet/movement to help pay for my own dancing fees so I feel like I've been teaching something for a long time but career wise I was a beauty therapist for 10 years alongside Yoga for a while, I loved that feeling of making someone FEEL and look better, and before that when I was figuring out my life post car crash I did office work /sales ..I've tried on a few hats!
What have you learnt from the practice?
The Practice being under the umbrella of 'Yoga' and all its limbs?
All styles and phases of practice (focus on more asana at times, or more meditation, more breathwork, more devotion etc) taught me something about myself and myself in relation to myself, others and the world Relationship and communication with ourselves and each other and our world and everything in it are key to our peace, joy and fulfilment in my opinion.
..and it's still kicking my arse just in a different way to when I first started :)
What impact have you seen these practices make for your students?
The thing that strikes me most, especially these days as I've matured and have experience, is the space you hold for someone to have their own experience in, IN the practice, is everything. Not that one particular practice is better than another for a person as we don't know where they are at and what they need at that particular time.
But throughout the 20+ yrs of teaching hot Vinyasa flow to specialising in Yin today and everything in between - I've seen and had feedback on all levels of someone's life and being, from physical transformations and shifts in their body, pain, comfort and even fertility to mental healing and clarity and spiritual awakenings and connections. Iyenagr said 'practice and all is coming' and you have to walk the path a bit to know this from your own experience and for me it's true, the good the bad the ugly and the downright miraculous!
How would you describe your teaching style?
Interesting as I'd not really thought about that, only from a what style am I teaching. I'd say my own 'teaching style' is probably best expressed as a blend of creating safety in the body so someone can come home to it and that includes the environment they're in (my presence and the room etc). In that way they can be in communication with what they need and want in any style/moment of their practice. I blend Eastern knowledge and philosophy with western science (often backing up now what the East has been saying for a while) and my mind is always on, how is the body going to feel when it gets up off the mat, balanced? hydrated? comfortable? and then what seeds of inquiry/inspiration am I able plant in the mind and how will that leave them energetically ..so there's always a lot to a practice but I try to weave it together simply somatically as well as mentally/emotionally rich and connected to their own 'spirit' or energy body.
What can students expect in this training with you?
Let's stay with the food analogy and say a buffet of Five days of a deep dive of all things YIN from the most superficial look to the deepest WHY. They will be fully prepared and also understand the practice and medicine of YIN both to teach well and craft intelligently sequenced and prepared classes simply by understanding why we do what we do in YIN. This will be beneficial for themselves as Yin yogi's and also anyone who comes to learn from them in the future.
Who is this training for?
ANYONE interested! Both teachers who want to teach (again read above) and also for the student who comes to class and hears the little snippets and is curious and wants more ..they definitely won't be lost in the teaching side as its relevant whether you want to understand TCM (traditional Chinese medicine) and fascia, organs, meridians etc for yourself or to teach it to someone else - it's the same. We always have a lovely mix in the training's of teachers and non teachers.
Lastly, tell us three things you couldn’t live without?
Besides the obvious basics ...(amazing absorbable water, good clean air, nutritious food, gentle sunlight and quality sleep)
1) My closest and most important familial and friend relationships ..good people who love and let you love
2) Ocean and ocean swims/dips at times have revived me from daker places
3) This was a toss up between coffee /nature time and dogs ...DOGS!