It all began for me in the late sixties in Twickenham. As I reached toddlerhood, I began my slow migration west with a small blip of less than a year in Milton Keynes, as my parents quickly realised their mistake. Correcting this, we followed my maternal grandparents and aunts to a racing village in West Berkshire, with a larger population of horses than people. Here I spent the majority of my formative years, developing a deep love of animals and nature.

After leaving school, I initially trained as a veterinary nurse and it was during this training at agricultural college, that I met my husband, a West Country farmer, and thus continued my migration westwards. We settled on the family farm and a little while later had three children. As my children started to grow, I became friendly with other mums who were keen to practice yoga. I was intrigued to try it too.

My first experience of yoga was in my early thirties with a wonderful teacher called Sushi who worked with us as a small group for a couple of years. I was hooked! When Sushi became pregnant, she was unable to commit to us regularly and I refer to the subsequent years as sparse, in terms of yoga because I tried many classes but didn’t find the same connection and satisfaction with the practice as I had with Sushi.

Meanwhile, professionally, I retrained as a primary school teacher and when my youngest child was eight, I began teaching. After a while I took on the responsibility of Special Educational Needs Coordinator and became a member leadership. Around this time, I found a fabulous local yoga class taught by Sarah Stokes. Her classes were to become a lifeline to me as my job spiralled. Yoga restored me during that tricky time and helped me listen to my body and learn to know myself. It enabled me to cope and make the scary but informed decision, to quit my job and seek growth elsewhere.

The healing process began and then through Sarah, I learned about Holly Warren’s 200hr Embodied Yoga Teacher Training course which landed at just the right time for me, when I was ready to take on a new commitment. Holly’s teaching was inspirational, and I still miss the very special training weekends we spent together. However, the yoga community has staying power, and we all regularly go to each other’s classes or meet socially to offer friendship, support and sangha. One other person, who I must mention, has had a profound impact on my learning, understanding and development - Ruth Timms, who I observed during my training, and I have become a dedicated follower of ever since.

So here, my fellow Holly Tree Yoga Collective founders have provided a sanctuary, given support and built confidence in a safe and loving environment. My motivation for yoga teacher training was to deepen my knowledge, not particularly to teach, but that’s exactly what I am now doing now, thanks to them. I feel so privileged to count them as friends and colleagues.