CAROL
Carol is a highly experienced schoolteacher
whose vocation evolved into teaching individualised yoga to adults, teens and children.
As teacher of primary aged children for 30 plus years, Carol worked at Yew Chung International School and with the English Schools Foundation in Hong Kong. She led curriculum initiatives including developing Personal and Social Education for the enhancement of students’ wellbeing. In 2014 she was invited to train with the Academy for Mindful Teaching and so began to regularly lead sessions with the students.
Carol has been practicing yoga since 2005. In 2014 she began the 95-Hour Children’s Teacher Training with Gecko Yoga and from then led exceedingly popular yoga classes for children at school. Carol also ran yoga workshops for teachers, helping them to understand the positive value of yoga and mindfulness for the holistic growth of students.
The gradual transformations Carol observed through children's experience of yoga inspired her along the path of leading yoga with adults. She extended her understanding through teacher trainings with YogaWorks (200-Hour Diploma), Wendy Wyvill (Vinyasa Immersion; Pranayama & Breathwork), Bryan Lau (Functional Anatomy), Sarah Powers of the Insight Yoga Institute (Yin/Yang Yoga & Mindfulness Meditation, Level 1) and Nicky Hadjithoma (Theory & Practice of Yin Yoga, Functional Anatomy, Chinese Medicine Theory). So she began bringing to adults enhanced awareness and self-understanding.
Skilful teachers lead to empower individuals towards improved wellbeing through experiential awareness of the interconnections between the body, the cognitive and emotional mind. This is the essence of Carol's teaching and also of Yoga Therapy. Inclusive, individually orientated yoga practice connects perfectly to Carol’s professional experience of nurturing the “whole” person. In 2023 she successfully completed the 850-Hour Yoga Therapy Diploma with The Yoga Therapy Institute, Amsterdam.
Hiking has always been a passion for Carol. Combining the deepening awareness of Yin and the energy of Yang yoga with the natural environment was an intuitively natural step to take. Hiking Yoga gives us time to pause, slow down and breathe within nature, truly enhancing connection to oneself and our world.
Calm in Yoga
Sit still in a quiet place, inhale for 2 seconds, slowly breathe out for 4 seconds.
Repeat this for about 3 minutes.
How do you feel?
Self-awareness grows through yoga, creating an inner calm, and thereby increasing our focus and attention. Yogic practices of slowing the breath improve our concentration by balancing our energy and regulating the nervous system. So the positive environment of a calm yoga session enhances our neuromuscular and skeletal development, fine-tuning our coordination and motor skills. When we are calm, and consequently distanced from stress, anxiety, irritation and the need to fulfil others’ expectations, we become more open to understanding our true self. This self-understanding and clarity of mind foster confidence and empower us to reach our potential.
Research has shown that diaphragmatic breathing, as practiced in yoga, activates the parasympathetic nervous system and thereby is very effective for reducing stress.
Physical activity boosts the production of oxytocin and endorphins, cultivating happiness and calmness.
Calm in Nature
Being in nature cultivates calmness within us: The sound of a stream, light playing on leaves, clouds forming and transforming, is naturally therapeutic. The stillness gently energises our awareness. The spaciousness and slow rhythms of the natural environment can free our minds and open our imagination. They connect us to our creative nature. After the challenge of hiking up a hill, or rambling far, there is a simultaneous sense of calm, of achievement and self-knowing.
An extensive study showed that children’s self-esteem increased when they were exposed to the natural world, and that, for some, it significantly calms and improves the concentration of those with ADHD.
Connections Through Yoga
Stand upright, your arms stretched wide to the sky, raise your head to look upwards.
Take some breaths, expanding your chest and lungs.
How do feel?
We become aware of the connection between our physical body, emotions and thoughts, and there is integration of body and mind, when we tune into ourselves through mindful yoga. The more we practice yoga, the more we notice this co-dependence and the changes that happen. Our awareness can then gradually extend into daily life, our interactions with others and our responses to life situations. This experiential awareness shows us that we do not have to be reactive, but we can choose how we respond. And within response, there is even more clarity for choice, acceptance, action, harmony and balance.
Emotional states positively and negatively affect every cell in our bodies, including blood chemistry, the organs and the immune system.
Connections Through Nature
The open expansiveness of a natural vista can reconnect us to the world and balance our perspectives on life. It grounds us, and at the same time enhances our appreciation, and energises us. The physical and mental accomplishment of persevering a challenging hike connects us to ourselves, yet the space in which we achieve that cultivates calmness. When we connect we discern. In calm focused awareness there can be connection to everything.
Studies have shown that the experience of being in nature reduces blood pressure, heart rate, muscle tension and the body’s production of the stress hormone cortisol.
EDUCATION AND CERTIFICATION
850-Hour Yoga Therapy Diploma
The Yoga Therapy Institute
Amsterdam, Netherlands, 2023
Bachelor of Education (Honours)
London University UK, 1980
40-Hour Inner Retreat: Pranayama & Breathwork
Wendy Wyvill, Pure Yoga
Hong Kong, 2022
100-Hour Theory & Practice of Yin Yoga
Functional Anatomy, Chinese Medicine Theory
Nicky Hadjithoma, Pure Yoga
Hong Kong, 2019
16-Hour Functional Anatomy Workshop for
Yoga Teachers
Bryan Lau, Pure Yoga
Hong Kong, 2019
70-Hour Yin/Yang Yoga & Mindfulness Meditation
Level 1 Teacher Training
Sarah Powers, Insight Yoga Institute
London, 2018
50-Hour Vinyasa Immersion Teacher Training
Wendy Wyvill, Pure Yoga
Hong Kong, 2018
200-Hour Yoga Teacher Training Diploma
David Kim, Yoga Works
Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, 2017
95-Hour Children’s Yoga Teacher Training
Jenny Smith, Gecko Yoga
Children age 0 to18
Hong Kong, 2015
Paws b - trained to teach
Mindfulness in Schools Project
Children age 5 to 11
United Kingdom, 2016
Mindfulness Matters - trained to teach
Academy for Mindful Teaching (Netherlands)
Children age 5 to 18, 2015/16