Peters Practice history
After discovering yoga in Manchester, my home town, the trail of yoga has lead me around the globe, through India, to Australia, all round Europe, to Japan and (always) back to India.
I started Astanga vinyasa yoga in 1998 at age 23, then advanced to a diverse range of Hatha yoga, that focuses mainly on meditation, asana and pranayama. In 2002 I started to give professional classes and workshops. Yoga has opened my intuition that has led me to long Indian retreats with Clive Sheridan and alone.
A teacher-training course with Glenn Ceresoli in November 2008 led me to realign my practice and teaching more closely to the highest purposes of Hatha yoga. Six months of teaching at the Yogamagic Eco Lodge in Goa, India, after the course was a great platform to establish the essence of Glenn’s teaching, that of reestablishing balance, in the teaching of my classes.
For me the yoga journey has been one of learning by doing… regular self-practice is the essential core of insight. The classes I offer are based on my direct experience of the power asana can have on balancing the whole (body/mind) system. In the workshops I offer, I integrate techniques from subtle awareness up to gross physical movement always taking time to explain the relevance of the practice to the aim of yoga.
As has been the case with so many people; my experience with yoga was “love at first sight-and-breath”. I soon found that weekly classes weren’t enough and asked teacher Mike Nevitt what to do at home. “Roll out your mat, stand in Samastihi, take an OM then lie down and rest” he said, “call that a practice.”
This often led into a sun salutation and standing postures, becoming a full-scale self-practice. The length and frequency of the practice grew, and with that came proficiency. Regular practice produced great changes in the body initiating a transition into awareness and the feeling of recognizing an old friend after a long separation.
In Byron Bay, Australia, after traveling and practicing alone for months, I found myself on an Ashtanga Yoga Teacher Training course at Yoga Arts. Louisa Sear Directed the course and we had with intensives with Consta and Matthew Sweeny. I was blown away by the people I met there; Glenn Ceresoli, Dena Kingsberg, and Clive Sheridan, Brendon, Anrna, Mary, Rosa Rachel Hull, Lance Shculer to name a few. Louisa’s 9 month course exposed me to a wide range of teachers, practices and information, dispelling any thoughts of some kind of standardised practice/teaching/ or even existence.
I learn about my emotions, self expression, my voice and nutrition. My world would never be the same and I am still extremely grateful for all those I meet in those years.
Finishing the 9-month full time Yoga Arts course in 2001, I stayed in Byron to practice Astanga with Dena Kingsburg and to do more yoga therapy with Glenn Ceresoli. Returning to UK I opened a teaching practice independently, as well as for Evolution Arts, Brighton. The range of classes I can offer include; yoga therapy, pre-natal yoga, personal session based on individual needs (this was a specific part of my training with Yoga Arts), yoga workshops on technique, teaching skills, inner guidance, vinyasa, Iyengar styled alignment and retreats.
In these first years in Brighton I ran a one-week yoga retreat in Lanzarotte.
After five years of intensive practice, drawn deeper by an inner longing I started to connect with the art of meditation. I had done bits of meditation even as a child and we were presented various techniques on the Yoga Arts TT. By this point however, I was needing something more, which is when I turned to the guidance of Clive Sheridan. Clive invited me on one month-long retreats with in Rishikesh, India (2003, 2004). These rough retreats in ashram were a joy for me and they feed my ever present longing to connect to the raw energy of nature, found there in the Ganga.
After the Rishikesh Yoga Retreat in March 2004, I took a year to practice around the world: finding places alone on mountains, by rivers and on beaches, attending courses between self-practice retreats.
I navigated many turns on the journey, gaining new insights and freedoms found through witnessing long held patterns of pains revealed by the practice.
Back in the UK for 2006- 2007, I practiced and taught in Brighton, while continuing to seek out teachers and to inquire into the techniques of the asana, the power of breath and the nature of reality. I use all of this in an intuitive teaching style, which I calls Byoga for the purpose of distinction. The ‘B’ (from Bhoga) in ‘Byoga’ is used to denote when yogic powers are used to enhance the enjoyment of sensory delights. The yoga comes when yogic powers are used to merge into unity with the creator. The tantric path I conceptually use sees the nature of bliss as a direct experience of the creator with in.
This journey has brought me back to Goa for the last 5 years. I have continued my massage and teaching in various places around the world and then come back to Goa to offer my services each season.
I have been blessed with a connection to the Watsu Pool in Goa (Watsugoa.com). Session I received there have taken me deeper into my being, supporting the physical development of my body and tranquility of my mind. I have learnt to employ yogic focus in the warm water pool and take long pauses in the breath to go under the water in Water Dance. This has enhanced the clarity of perception called ‘witnessing’, giving me many insights and embracing me into the wonderful feeling of being ‘moved by the universe’.
I enjoy traveling globally to inspire and support like minded friends on my journey. I feel the guidance of “Jagatambe”, the Principle intelligent energy of the universe. I I give thanks, Daily.
Photos on this page by Sophie Costes and Hiroshi Kusuhara