Alex

Alex has been practising yoga since she was 18. The moment she stepped into the yoga shala for the first time she felt a real sense of homecoming and completely fell in love with it.

She has been teaching regularly for 13 years and has been running the Yoga Barn in North Devon for 10 years, where she also lives with her partner, her two teenage daughters, a dog and a cat.

She is also a reiki healer, a thai yoga masseuse and a yoga therapist. She believes that all of these practices complement one another so perfectly; in all four we are bringing awareness to prana or qi and encouraging the free flow of energy in order to facilitate physical, emotional, mental and spiritual healing.

‘Ancient Yogic science and philosophy, can offer us an uncountable and very diverse set of tools from which we draw upon when helping ourselves and others on the healing journey. We use meditation and mindfulness techniques, mindful and breath-led movement (sometimes dynamic, sometimes very, very slow), stillness, compassionate touch, visualisations, breath work, sacred sounds, heightened awareness and deep listening to encourage the peeling off of the layers of conditioning and protection that we build around ourselves, to get to the root cause of pain and to only then be able to soften and release that of which is no longer serving us.’

The Photoshoot

Alex doesn’t separate yoga from life anymore, ‘Yoga is very much a way of life. Over the years, I have become increasingly fascinated by the healing aspects these teachings and practices, and how we can bring them to life in the connections and relationships that we make; and how we can use this method, this knowledge, to be more genuinely present in life and more gentle towards ourselves and others, developing, through practice, a softer and more inclusive perception of the world.

‘The more we practise and live yoga, the more we understand that we are simply undoing and unlearning the many ‘truths’ we were conditioned to believe in and respond to. These beliefs may have been, at times, holding us back and preventing us from experiencing the beauty and the essence of who we truly are.’

I really enjoyed using this photoshoot as an opportunity to slow down in my photography style. I didn’t want to disturb the class, so rather than rushing around taking loads of photos I meditated and waited until I knew that there was a beautiful moment that I would be able to capture. I feel pleased that I captured some of the peace and warmth that radiates out of Alex’s classes.

90

minutes in flow