%20(5000%20%C3%97%205000px)%20(2).png)
Hello, I'm Anna, a yoga teacher and neuroscientist. My work fuels an ever-present wonder at the beautiful complexity of our physical form and the ways it shapes our experience. My spiritual enquiries and scientific training weave together in my practice and teaching, offering contrasting frames of reference and complimentary ways to explore what it means to be human.
Yoga
Like many, I first found yoga during a difficult period of my life. Gradually, the practices I discovered through the guidance of my teachers helped me find the space in my experience to begin to navigate these challenges. Since then, yoga continues to lead me on a profound journey of healing, acceptance and discovery.
​
I am drawn to the yogic lineages of non-dual Shiva Tantra, emphasising as they do the sacredness inherent in all aspects of experience. Leaning into the wisdom of these teachings, I have come to see yoga as a gradual unravelling of unhelpful self-story, a continual re-remembering of our true nature. My motivation to teach comes from a deep desire to keep the wisdom of these teachings alive so that others may benefit from their transformational power.
​
I have been lucky to have worked with many incredible teachers. I have trained with Padma Nair in Kerala, where I was able deep dive into the poetry of yogic philosophy and Hindu culture, with Sarah Harlow and Sam Burkey at Yogasara in Bristol, whose inspirational teaching has ignited profound growth, and with Christopher Gladwell, whose vast knowledge and experience has taken my practice to new depths.
Neuroscience
I have a long held fascination with the "hardware of humanity". I began my academic life studying medicine but quickly realised it was minds that held the most intrigue for me and ended up studying Psychology. My degree stimulated my interest in the nervous system and the mysteries it contains.
Compelled by the idea of being at the leading edge of knowledge in this rapidly advancing field, I decided to study for a PhD in Integrative Neuroscience. My thesis research explored the epigenetic mechanisms of behaviour patterns related to addiction. I continued working in academia for a further 6 years after completing my PhD, employed on research projects ranging from investigating novel treatments for Parkinson's disease to studying electrophysiologcal signalling within mycelial networks.
I left academia a few years ago, but remain fascinated by this continually evolving area of research. ​I am currently studying for a diploma in Integrative Counselling and am due to qualify to practice in 2025. I am excited to see how these various passions interweave in my offerings over the coming years.
Nerve cells, Ramon y Cajal, circa 1900
Yoga and Science
Yoga does not need scientific support to be valid. I’m a scientist and have huge love and respect for the scientific method but it has its limitations and there are other important ways of acquiring knowledge. If we attempt to reduce the vast and vibrant tradition of yoga down to those practices amenable to, and supported by, scientific study, we would be doing a grave disservice to the wisdom and beauty contained in these teachings.
Instead, for me, considering my experience through the lens of my biology offers a wellspring of awe and wonder at the miraculousness of life which complements the more mystic and spiritual elements of my practice.
