“It’s a matter of life and breath.”
Like many others, I came to yoga for the physical fix, but soon found the magic went deeper. With a degree in philosophy I’d spent most of my 20s exploring the good life as one half of the Loose Cannons band/DJs, remixing, recording and touring the world, living the dream.
Football was my first love but the union of mind and body came through martial arts. I was enchanted by the tradition and self-discipline of ninjutsu, but I found a spiritual connection to the freedom and flow of Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu. Yoga arrived much later as an attempt to recover from lingering injuries that weren’t healing like they used to. And then it took over everything.
An undying desire to fly landed me on the Ashtanga inspired Rocket system. I soon became interested in the practice (“the martial art you do against yourself” as Nic Gregoriades, the BJJ black belt once said), as a way of life- more than just a way of moving. And yoga has continued to make me think and feel like the best version of myself.
My first Rocket class (and teacher training) was with The Yoga People. They later introduced me to Yin Yoga, as an antidote to the up & up of Rocket (and the yang of daily London life.) With that came a deepening appreciation of meditation, stillness of mind and yoga beyond the asanas that originally got me hooked. I went on to advanced trainings with David Swenson, David Kyle and Jason Crandell (earning my Yoga Alliance E-RYT 500… before realising how pointless that accreditation really is.) The final piece of the asana puzzle came through practising Iyengar, which taught me what I was actually doing in the individual poses.
I now run my own teacher trainings at Mission e1 and with Hannah Whittingham at the Good Life Yoga School in London and online. We have also co-written two books : ‘Greed, Sex, Intention- Living like a yogi in the 21stCentury’ on yogic philosophy in the modern era, and “How To Win at Yoga” on postures and posturing in the age of social media.
These days I like to incorporate different movement modalities into the traditional yogic form, with influences from Jiujitsu, Capoeira and FRC (functional range conditioning), but the overarching intention is always to find meditation in the movement by tuning the breath into the beat. Feel more, feel better.
4-BEAT: take the practice seriously, not yourself.
I have a deep gratitude and respect to all my teachers past and present, including Stewart Gilchrist, Mark Kan, Eileen Gaulthier, Alaric Newcombe, Christian DiGorgio, Claudia Dossena, Lolo Lam, and Shaya G & Baris Bambu. A special shout out to The Yoga People- Jamie and Dulce- for introducing me to the Rocket, and of course the Godfather Larry Schultz up there for inventing it. Last but not least, salutes to the triumvirate of Phoenix, Claudius and new baby Lucius who have been throwing down some advanced yoga life-lessons since their magical births and throughout their reigns.
I always try to embrace the joyful rebel spirit of Rocket while keeping to the path of self-inquiry at it’s origin. It should be physically challenging, but the breath-focused moving meditation of the “4-Beat” is the true core of the practice.
My personal teaching epiphany came when I realised I could use music to optimise the breath, deepen concentration and even entrain the flow state, rather than simply provide a background atmosphere. If yoga is about placement with special care, attention and control, then the beat of music is the active, primal driver, creating a synchronous breath, bass and movement, following the arc of the sequence and controlling the flow.
I remember what it was like to not feel flexible enough for yoga as that’s where I started (and how I still wake up most mornings) so for any yoga doubters, I always like to reiterate: this is what should get you onto a mat, not what keeps you off it. Bend with strength, don’t break from lack of it.