'Find the seed at the bottom of your heart and bring forth a flower.'
 -  Shigenori Kameoka


When Deb first stepped onto a yoga mat she felt like she had come home. It wasn't long before yoga became an integral part of her life and she felt she wanted to share this life practice with others. Inspired by the teachers she met she signed up to the CYF teacher training course and began teaching yoga in her local community.

She had always enjoyed working with children and so, when she was asked to teach a group of children it seemed natural to pursue training in teaching yoga to children. She completed the Calm for Kids children's yoga course with Christiane Kerr. Now she teaches children in schools and clubs around her home town as well as a monthly drop in class.

Deb believes that by incorporating yoga into our daily lives we can become healthier, happier and calmer people. She teaches mixed ability classes using vinyasa flow, prananyama, mudra and bandha. She teaches us to be aware of our inner voice, making the yoga mat a playground to explore our bodies needs and awaken a heart centred practice that transforms not only the yoga practice but everyday life.

She lives at home in Stoke-on-Trent with her husband, daughter, dog, cat and 4 chickens.

Resume

CYF dip, IYR, Calm for Kids, DTTL's, IFL

Continued Professional Development

with international and national teachers including Shiva Rea, Donna Farhi, Simon Lowe and Cliare Missingham. Deb attends regular classes with Jill Amison at Blue Lotus Yoga and helps to organise local yoga charity events. She has assisted on retreat with her teacher Jill and is Education Coordinator for Training days for the CYF teacher training course as well as being a tutor. She is also an active member of the CYF committee. 

Deb holds a current CRB check, safeguarding certificate & First Aid Certificate.

 

 

 Shanti & Jai Yoga

 Shanti and Jai Yoga came about as a name for Deb's Yoga when she began teaching children's yoga. Deb had two yoga dolls designed and made for her by her talented parents and she named them Shanti & Jai. Shanti means peace and Jai Light. It seemed logical to call her children's yoga Shanti & Jai Yoga and then to incorporate all her teaching under the name.

 

Shanti & Jai yoga runs friendly and relaxed classes that integrates asana/poses, pranayama/breathing, mudra and bandha. Yoga philosophy is often woven into the class so that a fully rounded practice is developed.

   

Vinyasa
Nothing in life is staitionary, everything pulses with life, flows and moves so why do we hold our bodies stiffly in an asana. For me there is nothing more natural on my yoga mat than moving from one pose to another, from flowing in and out of asana with the breath and even pulsing in the held posture to find the ultimate, sweet place of unity.

Vinyasa means simply to place one pose after the other, synchronising with the breath. Nyasa means 'to place' and vi 'in a special way'. We move organically through a series of asanas that help us to develop unity in our breath and movements, strength, fluidity and balance. Vinyasa flow yoga is a moving meditation which can incorporate not only asana and pranayama but also mudra and bandha.
Krishnamacharya saw vinyasa as transformative, as an artful aproach to living so that the skills could be transferred off the mat and into our lives. Desikachar said in his book Health, Healing and Beyond (Aperture, 1998) that vinyasa is 'one of the richest concepts to emerge from yoga for the successful conduct of our actions and relationships'.
   
A good student will practice within his own body's capabilities and needs and a good teacher will provide instruction to lead students through kramas, gradual steps of asana just as in any other style of yoga. Vinyasa flows with the cycles of our breath, the seasons, our individual bodily needs and cultivates awareness of these dimensions of life.