Yoga

Carmen

Yoga instructor

“I encountered yoga many years ago in the UK and years later in Mumbai (India) but I just thought it wasn’t for me; too slow, too boring. It wasn’t until 2012 when I moved to Shanghai that my true love for yoga began.

After four pregnancies, I decided I needed to get fit again and took up running, but this led to a persistent knee injury. I was also feeling anxious a lot of the time. For both reasons and after reading about the benefits of yoga, I decided to give it another try.

I found yoga physically hard, which I enjoyed, but I also noticed that somehow I always walked out feeling lighter, it happened every single time and that feeling kept me going back. Despite being the inflexible yogi in the room I persisted with my practice, later completing four teacher training courses and I have not stopped learning. I have trained in Anusara and Hatha yoga, Vinyasa yoga and Pre&Post natal yoga. I have been very fortunate to practice and train both with Western and very traditional and demanding Indian teachers.

My favourite style of yoga is vinyasa (flow), I love the movement, the pace and the challenge of keeping up with it all. I enjoy the endless possibilities of sequencing a vinyasa class.

In my classes I try to teach what yoga has taught me, to be ok with uncertainty, not knowing what pose is coming next, to feel grounded and peaceful as you use the anchoring power of the breath, to develop a sense of play as you stretch and flow into positions that you didn’t think possible, to experience your body becoming lighter and softer as your strength and flexibility improve, and to feel the mental toughness and awareness that the practice as a whole brings.

I came to yoga as a pure physical practice but very quickly it filled all aspects of my life, making me more mindful, more accepting of myself and others, more peaceful and joyful. I teach yoga to share these benefits with the people around me”

Carmen

carmen.masmartinez.cmm@gmail.com
Mobile: +44 7340 323979