HELLO!

I'm Kathy White

I'm delighted to share the story of my ongoing journey with yoga here with you.

 

 I took my first yoga class in 1991 in Victoria, Canada. 

 

For the next few years I dipped in and out of a few classes, moved around,  met my husband and settled in Scotland.

 

Yoga was something I did from time to time.

When I became pregnant with my first baby I was like most soon-to-be mums, very excited and joyous.

 

Tragically after a full term pregnancy and an emergency c-section our baby was still-born.  His death put shockwaves through my body.

 

In the aftermath of our son's death, I completely disconnected from my physical self and my healing journey from the grief and loss involved yoga and art to be able to regain a relationship to my body and heal my soul.

 

A few years later, having used yoga as a healing tool,  I went to the Bahamas to take the Sivananda Yoga teacher training and I started teaching shortly afterwards. That same year I began my training to become an art psychotherapist. And I began my journey to become a mindset coach which would eventually lead to my being a Certified Facilitator of The Work™

 

The influence of yoga teacher Vanda Scaravelli came into my practice in 2005 and brought in a new understanding of how to explore the breath, the spine and the use of beauty, kindness and gravity in the practice.  At that point my teaching changed and developed quite considerably.

 

Fast forward another decade and now I was a busy mum of two, working as an art psychotherapist, having private clients of The Work™ while continuing to teach yoga… and I was heading for a burnout.

So in 2013, our family went to live on a remote Island called Erraid on the west coast of Scotland. 

 

This new life in the inner hebrides gave me a break from everything.  Even teaching Yoga.  That whole year, I taught just one class.

I was also growing in awareness that my body was no-longer the young 20 something yoga bunny it had once been, and something had become stuck, stale and habitual in how I saw myself on my yoga mat. 

 

And I was feeling stiff, painful sensations growing in my joints.  

 

During this time there was very little yoga. I attended a few classes and workshops with other teachers, and would briefly be inspired, it felt like quite a dark place of not having a true practice for myself that worked for my mind, my soul, as well as my body.

I could feely my body was getting older and what I was doing in yoga just didn’t speak to me in the same way.

 

Then in the spring of 2017 we went on a three month family trip to Hawaii and Canada.

 

For the fun of it, because Yoga outside on a beach in Hawaiian temperatures can be quite different from a dreary Scottish climate,  I found some classes to join and got back into practicing everyday - it was fun!  And I was delighted to build up a regular practice again. 

 

The teaching styles, expertise and techniques of all the classes I attended varied tremendously and I just didn't care.

From that beach in Hawaii, as we continued our travels, I experienced a kind of wild abandon and joined classes all across Canada: hot yoga, bikram,  power yoga, ashtanga, Iyenga, Hatha, Yin, Moksha, Vinyasa. I tried them all.  I let go of all notion of what is right or wrong in yoga. I became a yoga junkie,  took the trip to as many yoga studios I could find and tasted them all. 

 

I can see now that what I was doing was letting go of any preconceived idea of what Yoga is or isn't. 

 

It was delightful to forget being a teacher and become a student.  Once home and still on my mat, I continued by trying out various different yoga videos on YouTube.  And despite all this activity and exploration, I was still hungry for something in my practice that was eluding me.

 

I was still noticing my joints were aching.  I was fed up of having a sore knee.  I didn't know how to address the pain in my spine.  I didn't know why my hip was sometimes aching so much it kept me up at night. 

 

A few months after our big trip, I came across yet another “method” of yoga, but there was something radical, different and powerful about this practice that really spoke to my body, my age and my situation.

 

I did a deep dive into learning about aging, joint rejuvenation, and I decided to invest and re-train. 

 

The research I did, the training I took shifted the whole alignment of my body.   My joints responded incredibly well to these new ways of doing postures and sequences, hip pain was brought into focus and released, knee pain that had been growing disappeared, ankles opened, shoulders hunched over computers for years started to be freed up.

 

AND what was so beautiful that the previous Scaravelli inspired yoga that I had spent many years studying and teaching started to be re-integrated  and re-ignited.

 

I also started to return to my original hatha yoga training where I had studied breathwork, pranayama, and could really see how oxygenation of the joints was so important to fully renew and restore flexibility and mobility. 

 

I began to develop my own unique style of yoga for longevity. And I called my system The Joint Renewal Sytem(TM)

I continue to train, explore and develop for myself.  It was so perfect for the aging body and stiffening joints.

 

I introduced both my elderly parents to the practice. (This is a picture of my dad who practices twice a week with me aged 90). My husband joined my classes, my friends wanted to know what I was doing and joined my classes as I continued to explore this extraordinary process of bringing mobility back into joints that had lost it.

 

When my family and I moved to Canada in 2018, and I fulfilled my dream of having my own studio and opened a beautiful space to teach in the basement of my home.

The ancient lineage of yoga is transformational. 

The wisdom within yoga passing from teacher to student for 1000’s of years.  It is my wish to live by the wisdom that is contained in the beautiful philosophy and spiritual teachings and I truly believe in the power of transformation and healing available within yoga – especially for the aging body, especially to those who want to live long, and live well.

 

 I have learnt myself that I can trust my own body, and I tell my students - your body is there for you.  Listen and respond to it’s inherent wisdom. And be kind and beautiful in your practice.   Love each moment of being in the body. Smile.  And if you don’t love your body yet... be gentle as yoga will help you love it 

 And little by little the deep spiritual understanding of yoga and the path to longevity will be revealed through these beautiful body postures that bring you to consciousness itself.  The practice of yoga teaches you to be very, very present to everything you feel, notice and see.  And the gift of yoga is how this extends well beyond your yoga mat into your life and the lives of those around you.

 

The our bodies need yoga more than ever, planet needs those of us who are willing to transform with yoga more than ever.

I welcome you to my practice, my yoga studio, live classes online, my membership area all there to help you move well in your life.

How To WD40 Your Joints…

Move Well, Live Well, Age Well With Joints That Can Do Anything

 

If you are an active man or  woman who is over 50 and starting to feel your age,  if you are feeling your bones are creaking, your joints are stiff and you may even be in pain then I'd love to support you to start moving freely again.   I love to share this easy way to apply WD40 to your joints, regain mobility and flexibility with my yoga based Joint Renewal System(TM) so that you can keep on doing the sports and activities you love. 

 

Yoga transforms.  And not all yoga is created equal.  I've seen it in my own life.  I've seen it in my students.  I know what works and what doesn't for the aging body.

 

Watch this mini-course I've created about Joint Renewal so see how you can apply this system to help you move well in your life. 

Acknowledgements:

I want to express my deep gratitude and love for the many teachers from whom I have learnt so much about yoga:  Sivananda,  Vanda Scaravelli, Louise Simmons,  Diane Long,  Sophy Hoare,  Sandra Sabatini, Michal Havkin,  Ayla Sarnoff,  Francisco Kaiut,  Cris Prengle and others. 

And those who have taught me about mindset: Byron Katie, Adyashanti, Tony Parsons, Jac O'Keefe, Hale Dwoskin and others

      

And the greatest teacher of all:  life itself

Namaste​

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