Mandy Haynes Yoga Chelmsford
“Yoga is the practice of quieting your mind”
Patanjali, The Yoga Sutras
I came across yoga in my late teens during a time when I was struggling with eating disorders and depression. I was looking not just for physical exercise but a way to get out of my head and quieten my mind, and yoga gave me that. It also helped in teaching me a new way to think about my body and shift my thought process towards myself.
In 2015 I embarked on my yoga teacher training - I was looking for a new challenge and realised that teaching yoga would allow me to do something that I love, and share it with others.
My ethos now as a yoga teacher is the importance of making time and space for ourselves. It is all too easy to get caught up in our day, our to-do lists; to get lost in our thoughts and our emotions; to put our wellbeing at the bottom of the pile. Yoga gives us the chance to move out of our heads, out of whatever is going on in our day and life, and bring our awareness back into our body and our breath. The practice of yoga can bring balance and emotional stability and it brings us back to the present moment, which is the only place we are truly alive.
I am a firm believer in making each yoga pose fit YOUR body and not fit your body to the pose - in my classes the emphasis is placed on moving mindfully and exploring how your body feels in each pose. I also use pranayama and guided meditations to allow my students to move deeper into their practice and enjoy the benefits of deep relaxation.
I trained as a pregnancy yoga teacher when I was expecting my first child. Teaching pregnancy yoga enables me to share with other women the benefits that I experienced through my practice during my own pregnancies. It’s a lovely way to bond with your unborn child, meet other women and prepare the body and mind for childbirth.
I am also an Indian Head Massage practitioner - I love this form of massage and feel that its Ayurvedic nature works in beautiful harmony with my yoga teaching.
I teach my classes in Chelmsford and the surrounding areas, as well as online.
Qualifications
