OMYogaUK_December_2016

Adventure-Yogi-270x69-Print-Advert-with bleed.indd 1 02/09/2016 20:

Why did you start yoga

In 2013, my husband walked out on our marriage,

leaving me with two little girls aged just three and

11 months. My whole world literally collapsed

overnight and two years of acrimonious divorce

were to follow. The anxiety and stress took its toll –

I couldn’t eat or sleep and would frequently run to the bathroom, tearing off my clothes

in agony to find my whole body covered in hives. But mostly, I couldn’t breathe. It sounds

so silly, but it was like my body had forgotten how. Someone suggested I tried yoga. I had

dipped in and out for years – never properly connecting with the practice – but I was so

desperate I was willing to try anything. I found a class locally and was instantly hooked.

The teacher was amazing and the way it made me feel was indescribable; it was lifesaving.

How has yoga changed your life

After one particularly intense week of divorce battles, I arrived at my class. I will never

forget my teacher’s face – I must have looked terrible. She walked over to me, placed

a hand on my shoulder and said: “You need an angel. I can help”. It was the first time

anyone outside of my immediate circle of support saw how much I was suffering and I

felt so much love and kindness. The class that night was very emotional for me but it

confirmed one thing – I wanted to make yoga a major part of my life. Roll on almost

two years, I am now a fully qualified teacher and about to open my own little studio in

Muswell Hill, north London.

Favourite yoga haunts

My ‘angel’ of a teacher sadly left the UK not long after but I have continued to practice

locally in north London. I also like to try out different studios around the city – there is

a never-ending pool of extraordinary teachers out there and there is something to gain

from everyone I think. But I also really enjoy my home practice, upstairs in the tranquility

of my bedroom with the happy sounds of my children playing downstairs.

Best yoga moment

Learning to breathe again. That’s been the biggest revelation for me – the power of deep

restorative breathing. But also when my little girls take an interest and want to join in. I

will never force yoga on them but often, when I’m practicing at home, they will creep into

my bedroom to watch and inevitably we end up trying out poses together.

Anything else

Opening a studio is the most terrifying thing I have ever done and I am fully aware that it

will be a long, tough road ahead to make it work. But the driving force for me is that feeling

of love and support I received when I needed it most. If having this space can do anything

remotely similar for someone else then I will have achieved everything I set out to do with it.

Send your Yoga Changed My Life story to: [email protected]

YOGA

CHANGED

MY LIFE

Yoga helped Ali Schilling bounce

back from a difficult divorce

NAME: Ali Schilling

AGE: 39

OCCUPATION: Photographer,

yoga teacher, single mum

YOGA YEARS: 15 (three years

extensively)

om beginnings