O_Y_UK_2015_05_

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T

here are no big classes at Eve

Menezes Cunningham’s quaint

countryside yoga studio deep

in the heart of Essex. With room

for just five mats (and, yes, that

includes the teacher), you’re always guaranteed

close attention from your instructor.

But it all seems positively spacious

compared to what she had before. “My old

space was actually smaller, just big enough for

three students and me,” she says.

Cunningham offers a range of holistic

therapies for mind, body, heart and soul

at her Feel Better Every Day Consultancy

(feelbettereveryday.co.uk) in Witham,

including regular yoga classes.

She’s happy with the cosy surroundings

and so too are her students. “Although this

is very small for a yoga studio, it’s a good

sized space for up to four students and me.

Sometimes, I don’t have any availability for

my classes and other times I might only have

one or two students in a class. I can never tell

in advance which days and times will fill up

fastest week to week.”

You can start to see the benefits. This might

Could this be the smallest yoga studio in the world?

be a problem if she were hiring a large hall

and had to guess the numbers coming in.

But because she has the lease and can offer

additional classes any time that fits around

her other work (seeing private clients for

psychosynthesis counselling, life coaching,

coach-therapy, yoga therapy, NLP, EFT and

crystals as well as working as a freelance

psychology, health and wellbeing writer), she

has the freedom to experiment. “I also hold

small workshops here. If it weren’t for my

private clients, it wouldn’t really be financially

viable at all but I absolutely love teaching

these little classes.”

Confidence boost

Cunningham says that teaching tiny classes

also helped her build her confidence as a

yoga therapist and instructor, especially at

the start, when she admits she was “scared to

teach an actual yoga class”, as opposed to

offering individuals yoga therapy. Initially, she

was inspired by a celebrity cook, Rachel Khoo

and her Little Paris Kitchen, a teeny restaurant

run from her studio apartment that could

cater for just a couple of diners at a time.

beautiful

small is

The Feel Better Every Day Consultancy is
based at the river end of Witham’s high
street in Essex. Find out more about Eve
Menezes Cunningham’s small yoga classes
at: yogaessex.co.uk