Meet Hope: Children's Yoga Teacher

I’m a children’s yoga instructor, based near Crystal Palace, living with my husband and our lively (and lovely) Cocker Spaniel, Peggy.

Before training as a yoga teacher, I spent 10 years working in media marketing & analytics. The pandemic made me reflect on how I spend my time, and in 2023 I decided to leave the full-time corporate world and focus on making some of my long-standing dreams happen. I really wanted to be a closer part of the community that I’d relied on so heavily while working from home since 2020. I couldn’t be more thrilled to now be working in schools & nurseries across South London with Beam Academy.

But beyond this, yoga is a fantastic non-competitive activity that’s brilliant for mindfulness and strength. I’ve always had a slightly complicated relationship with exercise - I’m not naturally very good at it, which must be quite rare for a yoga teacher! I’m not the fastest, I’m not competitive, and have no hand-eye coordination… a recipe for a childhood spent being picked last in PE! But now, I think it’s such a shame that I didn’t prioritise movement when I was younger. I’m so glad that my mum started taking me to her yoga class when I was 12, long before that was a normal thing to do! It helped me to develop a healthier relationship with my body, it gave me a way to unwind during the turbulent teens, and without it I would’ve probably become one of millions of people in the UK who just don’t do any regular exercise.

For these reasons and more, I am delighted to be part of the childhood yoga movement in South East London and beyond! It’s a fantastic way to help make sure that everyone in the next generation can live more mindfully and positively, including feeling more confident moving their body regularly, which is important for living a long and happy life.

5 Get To Know Questions For Hope

 What's your favourite season and why?

An easy one to start with! It’s Autumn, hands down. Summer’s nice, but I’m a pale redhead, so by June I’m already hiding from the sun! I love the feeling of the nights drawing in, and hunkering down for the quietness of the winter. Warm, cosy indoors and chilly outdoors, big comforting cups of coffee and bowls of soup, candles… that festive feeling starting from about October… It's all just lovely.

 Are you into podcasts or do you only listen to music?

I love music, especially when I’m exercising, but for background listening when I’m driving or doing DIY, it tends to be podcasts. The current ones on rotation are: My Therapist Ghosted Me, Films to be Buried With, The Rest is History, and the warm bath that is Desert Island Discs - especially the classic episodes.

 Do you like going to the movies or prefer watching at home?

I can get distracted at home, so I love going to the cinema as it actually forces me to watch a film all the way through! Since living in London I’ve been making my way through the IMDB top 250 in the cinema. I’ve ticked off about 150 so far! (Let’s not do the maths on how much money I’ve spent on that mission…)

 What's one thing you can't live without, and why?

Community. I don’t think humans are supposed to be islands, but in the modern Western world we usually act like we are. Then there’s online, where we’re connected to thousands if not millions of other people, and it’s overwhelming! Neither way is good for us. I’m always happiest when I have a solid, close community around me.

 If you could relive one moment in your life, which would it be?

The night before my wedding, some of our closest and most musically talented friends and family formed a one-night-only band. They played our favourite songs, and everybody sang along all night, many taking to the mic to lead the vocals. I was bouncing around wearing a feather & sequin jumpsuit, in a room full of people I loved, watching my maid of honour play ‘Fairytale of New York’ on the accordion with my father-in-law and 3 of our closest friends supporting, my parents and siblings and friends singing and dancing and wearing fairy lights… knowing we had the wedding the next day, then our honeymoon… utter joy, take me back!