Trust and Surrender

How did you first get into yoga Rachel?

The first time I tried yoga was in high school in a gym class, and I just loved it. Although I was already into dancing, I remember particularly liking the feeling of my body really opening up – the stretching out. Along with my friends encouraging me to go, my Chiropractor also suggested I try yoga to help alleviate my anxiousness and stress. I was 19 or 20 at the time. But while I loved it, I also recall not really ‘getting’ savasana (corpse pose). I didn’t really understand what I was doing. Regardless, my friend’s kept encouraging me to keep going. So I did. After about 20 classes I finally understood that yoga wasn’t just about stretching and opening up. Without a thorough relaxation at the end of the practice there was no benefit to doing the postures. That’s when I finally ‘got’ savasana.

Then I moved to Byron Bay when I was twenty-three and came across Louisa Sear, who took me under her wing. Louisa introduced me to my first Ashtanga Yoga class with teacher Dena Kingsberg. I fell in love with Louisa as much as the yoga. It was largely because of her that I kept practising.

So I began doing a daily routine. Previously my body had a