And how we came to be. Part 1
Hi, I’m Sheryl and I’m the face behind Inhale Meditation And Yoga. My first ever experience with yoga was when I was in my 20’s when I borrowed a book from the library explaining the various poses and very little else. This was in the early nineties when yoga was heavily stereotyped (the stereotypes still remain, but that’s a whole other can of worms!)
There was probably classes somewhere, but in the industrial Northeast of England, it was seen as something ‘posh people or Americans ‘ done. I think my yoga practice lasted, at most, 3 months and just as quickly as it started, it was forgotten about. In another 20 year, it would turn up again and have a massive impact on my life.
Ten year later I would find myself having to rebuild my life and that of my two teenage children after suffering years of domestic abuse. It would take me years before I was able to find an even keel and indulge in another passion of mine, travel!
Travel when done correctly, opens your mind and heart to other cultures and people, especially when you travel solo. It takes you out of the ordinary and shakes you by the shoulders. India was no exception! A riot of sensory overload and mixing pot of cultures, it both excites and shocks you at the same time. It was on my last day in India that I had my real introduction to Yoga.
First Yoga class.
The owner of the hotel in Jaipur where I was staying asked if I was interested in a yoga class at an ashram that was nearby . This was my last day, and did I really want to exercise the day before a long flight. I could do without aching muscles and discomfort. I initially said no, but that went against all the reasons why I traveled. How could I come to India and not even try yoga, one of the reasons I travel was be open to new experiences.
I reluctantly said yes and turned up a few hours later not knowing quite what to expect. We held pose after pose with the teacher calling out the poses in Sanskrit and motioning me to close my eyes. I shook, I sweated, I didn't have a clue what the teacher was saying but at the end of the class, sitting in easy pose, the vibrations of the teacher's chanting seemed to call to my very soul.
Later that night, I realised that a calm, an inner peace if you like, seemed to settle over me for the first time in my life. After suffering with depression most of my adult life, this was a revelation and I knew in that moment this was something I needed to explore back home.
Lockdown.
It would be 4 months before I finally found a beginner class at a studio not too far away from me. I signed up for a 6 week beginner course at a beautiful studio called Wellness Space that was owned by yoga teacher Clare Lormor. I turned up every Sunday and my teacher, Shalini , guided me through the poses and correct alignment.
Lockdown swiftly followed, and like everyone else I had to find a way to make sense of a restricted way of life. I threw myself into yoga, online classes, online research, what began as something that I had only turned up to once a week, became a massive part of my life. Guided by beautiful teachers, each one of them unique in their own way, I came out of the pandemic as a different person and in the best place mentally that I had ever been in my life.
Inspired by these women and my thirst for knowledge, I began my journey into teacher training. The first 200 hour teacher training left me with more questions than answers and the past 3 years has been a journey into different schools of thought and disciplines, from Tantra and Kundalini to Hatha and Meditation, and many more in between!
Inhale.
A major lack of confidence and imposter syndrome became a barrier to me going into teaching. Who would possibly want to come to one of my classes? Self-doubt and being overly critical of myself stopped me enjoying yoga for a while. I started a new job, which after 16 years in my previous one was stressful. Me being me, after being in my job less than 4 months , I threw myself headlong out of my comfort zone, approaching senior management and offering my services as a meditation teacher to help combat workplace stress. I also wrote for the company newsletter bringing desk yoga to the office.
Wellness Wednesday's were born and I had the privilege of guiding over 60 colleagues through meditation sessions and breathing exercises. From that first session, I knew that was what I wanted to do.
For the first time, some of those colleagues were able 'to take a breath, a pause, an inhale' and yoga had gave them the tools to do so. Experiencing that for the first time as a teacher is an extremely powerful moment, seeing someone totally relaxed and with out stress, just totally in that place of peace. It is a selfless place, there is no teacher or student, just a pure sense of love for a fellow human being.
That was the moment Inhale first came to be.