om body
A keen Vinyasa enthusiast, TV personality Fearne Cotton tells OM she’d love to
further explore the big wide world of yoga
Fearne Cotton
OM meets...
F
earne Cotton is one of the most
popular faces on our TV screens
right now. The celebrity host
has appeared on shows ranging
from the Red Nose Day telethons
to Top of the Pops; she’s also a regular
Radio 2 presenter and a team captain on
Celebrity Juice.
But that’s not all. As well as having her
own fashion and homeware range (with
online retailer Very.co.uk) and supporting
various charities in her spare time, she’s
also a hands-on mum to two young children,
aged four and two.
Most recently, she’s written a new book,
Yoga Babies, to inspire other mums and
dads to experiment with a fun (albeit, at
times, chaotic!) yoga practice at home with
their own tots.
Managing this head spinning mix of
high profile professional work with a busy
personal life may not be for the faint of
heart, but she says she holds it all together
with yoga.
Cotton has been practicing for the best
part of a decade, although she remembers
being dragged to draughty old church halls
years ago with her mum. “Yeah, it’s great, I
love it. You know, back in the day, my mum
used to do yoga when I was little and I used
to go to the church hall with her where she’d
be doing a class and I’d kind of join in at the
back. I’ve got really vivid memories of doing
that. It’s great that yoga is so much more
prevalent now.”Vinyasa style
In the years since, she’s tried many different
yoga styles, but seems settled with Vinyasa.
“I’ve been practicing Vinyasa yoga for
about seven years now. I did a few other
different types of yoga before but I really,
really love Vinyasa and that’s been the thing
that I’ve done so frequently.”She lists a few of her favourite teachers,
including Zephyr Wildman, who teaches at
the Life Centre in Notting Hill, among other
places, and has previously taught at the
OM Yoga Show.
“She’s become a really close friend
of mine,” says Cotton. “She’s obviously
massively ingrained in the whole yoga
community and does a lot of talks and
workshops, so whenever I’ve had a tricky
time or wanted to talk about something,
she’s definitely been someone I’ve been to
for advice, grounding, inspiration and maybe
a deeper level of wisdom.”
Another favourite, she says, is Tim Sibley.
“He’s amazing and my husband loves him as
well. He does really strong Vinyasa classes
that get your blood pumping but also he
says a lot of really amazing things that I then
take away and apply to my own life.“I find his classes just brilliant all round.
We try and make his class once a week
and sometimes we might meet up with
Zephyr and she might come to the house
and do a class. They’re the two main ones
really; they’re the ones that we’ve really
connected with.”Yoga Babies
A keen writer, Cotton’s recent books have
reflected this growing interest in all things
yoga. A previous book, Happy, includes
tips for finding greater joy in everyday life,
incorporating elements of mindfulness.
“I guess the two sides of me have collided
in quite a nice way. Certainly some of the
stuff I’ve learned in yoga and the techniques
I’ve learned along the way – from different
weird and wonderful friends that I have that
practice acupuncture and do shamanic work,