Rachel was first introduced to the practice of yoga during a time of great personal grief. Discovering the healing that comes from the practice of asanas she developed a hunger for knowledge on the therapeutic elements of yoga and the wisdom to be found in its ancient philosophy. She has been meditating under the guidance of Sahaj Marg; a form of Raja yoga (yoga for the mind) for almost a decade and she credits this practice for keeping her healthy and sane.
Heartfulness Yoga is a form of Hatha yoga which integrates body, mind and spirit in the true spirit of Patanjali's eight-fold Ashtanga Yoga path, which offers guidelines for a meaningful and purposeful life. Rachel integrates Heartfulness into her classes by outlining links between the stillness of the body as an aid to quietening the mind, thereby naturally leading it into a meditative state. With less emphasis on the aesthetics of an asana and staying closely connected to the felt sense in the body, this allows for the true magic of yoga to become a personal internal experience, nurturing her strongly held belief that every body is a yoga body!
Awarded a master’s in philosophy from Trinity College Dublin, Rachel’s knowledge in both an academic and contemplative setting lends itself well to finding correlations between the East and the West, aiming to make the teachings of yoga easily accessible and digestible to all. She completed a Yoga Mala in Samadhi Dublin Studio, trained under the guidance of Dr Veronique Nicolai in the Heartfulness Yoga Institute in Chennai, India and she has completed advanced training in Trauma Sensitive yoga and yoga for stress and anxiety with Ciara Cronin in The Yoga Room.
Rachels yoga style is one of grounding and centring; beginning and ending in the heart space, or heart chakra. Using this point of focus, the group will naturally move from ‘me-centric’ to ‘we-centric’ as they experience the underlying natural connection of the hearts.
For more information please visit theyogiberry.com
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