Meet Beth, one of our incredible Yoga Teachers. Beth’s goal is to have her students leave the mat to walk in beauty and with love. Ahead of her upcoming workshop; Flying Dragon/Sleeping Swan, we sat down with Beth to find out more about her Yoga journey and what we can expect from this workshop!
Tell us a bit about your Yoga & teaching journey.
Beth: My yoga journey has been long and winding and began as a teenager in a friend’s garage. Her mum was an Iyengar teacher and, with my love for dance and movement, I was immediately drawn in to play and explore.
Fast forward … yoga has been by my side since my 20’s, through both pregnancies and became my life’s work when I found myself a single mum with 2 young daughters and a need to re-create a career where I could be with them and do what I loved most - yoga and teaching kids.
KarmaKidsYoga was born in2005, taking kids yoga to preschools across Sydney and training yoga teachers to become kids yoga teachers. Within the first year, I had completed my first 200 hour TT, JustBreatheYoga was born and my life became a gorgeous flow of teaching yoga to adults and kids, as well as training teachers and leading Goddess Retreats.
In 2018, I re-branded to become The Karma Class. Alongside the kids yoga, we offer inspired professional development for early childhood and primary teachers giving them tools to easily weave yoga, breath and mindfulness into the classroom every day for just a few minutes. It feels important and necessary work. My adult teaching now centres around just a couple of yin classes/week at TIY, privates, workshops and my beloved retreats.
You've had the opportunity to study with some incredible teachers, how were those experiences and what have they brought to your teaching style?
Beth: I have been blessed to study with, and learn from extraordinary teachers including Nicole Walsh, Wade Morrisett, Mark Breadner, Sindar Kaur Khalsa, Shiva Rae, Twee Merrigan, Sarah Powers, Mel Mclaughlin, Donna Farhi, Brian Kest, Richard Miller, Jambo Truong, Brian Campbell, Sinhee McCabe … the list is long and I know I’m leaving some out!
I guess I found my ‘true north’ when I experienced my first Forrest Yoga workshop at a Yoga Journal Conference in NYC in 2012. My life changed profoundly in those two hours and so began my studies with Ana Forrest. Forrest Yoga is, for me, a style that supports 21st century bodies in all ways. There’s nowhere to hide in a Forrest yoga class. You get on your mat, do your work and discover your extra-ordinariness by going on a journey with your breath. It keeps you strong, safe and curious, and I love that!
What can we expect from your upcoming masterclass, Flying Dragon/Sleeping Swan?
Beth: I fell in love with Paul Grilley’s Flying Dragon sequence over 10 years ago. It awakened the dancer in me and I loved how brave and courageous I felt every time I moved through it. I wanted others to experience its beauty so I created a masterclass Flying Dragon Sleeping Swan. We move through a slow build up to heat all the muscle groups so that your body has the freedom to fly through the sequence - both physically and energetically - and with humility, integrity and above all Dragon courage. And we do it to awesome music! To end, we melt into Sleeping Swan and other Yin yummies. It’s unique and beauty-FULL and I hope you’ll join me!
Flying Dragon/Sleeping Swan is being held on Saturday 18th March ’23 from 1pm-3pm at This Is Yoga Randwick. Sign Up for 2 hours of bliss here.