YOGA
CHANGED
MY LIFE
From school teacher to yoga teacher:
Caroline Rose says her time on the mat
has helped her redefine success and
achieve a better work-life balance
Why did you start yoga
I was working in a challenging secondary school and under a
tremendous amount of stress. Someone at work recommended yoga
so I tried a class at the gym where I used to work out. I was instantly
hooked. Somehow it gave me an immediate sense of serenity I felt
compelled to seek over and over again. I wanted more so I joined
a Sivananda class at the Buddhist Centre in Ipswich, where I lived
at the time. I started reading about yoga and my passion just kept
growing. It led me to explore other styles such as vinyasa flow and
ashtanga.
Favourite yoga haunts
I was living in Chelmsford when Yoga at the Mill opened. I love their
approach: inclusive and heavily influenced by mindfulness, with a
strong focus on yoga that is safe and nurturing. When I qualified
as a yoga teacher last November, I was flattered to be asked to
teach there. Lucia Cockroft, the owner, as well as Sarah Nunn, one
of the teachers, were instrumental in my decision to undertake
yoga teacher training. I had always dreamed of it but felt I didn’t
fit the young and skinny stereotype. They opened my eyes to what
compassion I could bring to my students with my experience of
journeying through yoga with scoliosis and bulging discs and later
major abdominal surgery.
om beginnings
How has yoga changed your life
Yoga has rewired my brain to the point that I am no longer the person
I was before yoga. I used to be permanently anxious and didn’t know
how to deal with stress and whatever curveballs life threw at me. Over
time, my practice and study has turned me into someone grounded,
stable and rarely anxious. It didn’t happen overnight, but consistency
has definitely reshaped me. And, of course, my passion for yoga led
me to embark on yoga teacher training at the age of 47, dropping
to three days a week in my ‘day job’ and pursuing a career as a yoga
teacher. This has helped me redefine success, what it means to me,
and achieve a work/life balance I had never experienced before. Yoga
is truly transformational.Best yoga moment
Teaching chair yoga in the village where I live and getting feedback
from so many of my senior students on how yoga is starting to
change their lives and how they feel about themselves. To me, this
is the essence of what being a yogi and a yoga teacher is about:
sharing and spreading the joy and the transformational power that
is yoga.Anything else
I hold a very strong belief that yoga is for everybody, that everyone
has something to gain from it, regardless of gender, age, body
shape or ethnic background. My yoga is far from all the Instagram
stereotypes but far closer to a philosophy in which what we learn on
the mat, we also take into our lives off the mat.NAME: Caroline Rose
AGE: 49
OCCUPATION: Yoga teacher and
school teacher
YOGA YEARS: 18