Dear Clair,

Hi, so it’s me… well, you, five years from now.

Firstly, congratulations! You are pregnant with your first baby, and I know how excited you are. You are finally going to have a baby, the one you have wanted for as long as you can remember. All those hours spent playing with dolls, babysitting and watching Supernanny on TV have definitely fully prepared you for being the world’s most awesome mother (ahem)…

I took my first yoga class when I was 19 years old, but If you’d told me then that I’d be teaching yoga in my thirties I’d have struggled with the idea! My yoga journey has been a very subtle process of undoing, letting go and finding stillness, and it’s shaped my life profoundly. 

What I find most amazing about yoga is that it starts out, at least for me, as being this thing you do for an hour or so, once a week until, at some point, you start to feel something from your practice. I distinctly remember a moment in class when I experienced a feeling of inner space expanding between my shoulders, it felt really extraordinary at the time. For others it might be the feeling of relaxation, the quiet, the feeling of being present, the sense of well-being after class, or simply being able to touch your toes for the first time. 

I carried my baby in my womb for nine months.

I can do anything. 

I stayed positive when my belly swelled and my
back ached and my feet were sore.

I can do anything.  

I remained patient when my due date came and went.

I can do anything.

I kept calm through my labour and birth and trusted in my body.

I can do anything.

I was mindful when I could have been afraid.

I can do anything.

LushTums teacher, Kate, talks about her journey from London high-flyer to pregnancy yoga teacher.

 I decided to train to teach pregnancy yoga because there wasn’t anything in the town where I live – Haywards Heath – when I moved here expecting my second child in 2012. Throughout that pregnancy I used to make the journey to Brighton to attend Clare’s classes every week, and I absolutely loved them. I was happy to make the journey as I’d been practicing yoga for years by that point, so understood how the classes would benefit me both mentally and physically. But I worried that any ladies who were new to yoga and living in the area wouldn’t feel compelled to make such an effort to attend a class, and I did feel frustrated that nothing was available locally.