Being and Doing Yoga – in conversation with Jonathan Cooksey

Being and Doing Yoga is Episode 31 of The Mindful Living Show on SpiritFest TV  in which I explore with my teacher Jonathan Cooksey, how yoga is becoming increasingly accessible and adaptable to our everyday needs. Balance is a key component of effective mindful yoga practice.

Jonathan’s bio: “I qualified as a fitness instructor/PT in 1991. I worked in a gym in Bristol and then went onto cruise ships in 1993. I did that until 2000. The ships were an amazing experience as my clients would change every cruise; and the wealth of knowledge and experiences were so enriching. I was introduced to Yoga by Elena in 94′ and that laid a seed which I nurtured by buying a book and teaching myself.

Over the next few years through my own practice and the people I met I infused some of the aspects of Yoga into my stretch and relaxation classes and the passengers started to give me feedback and comment how I would make a good yoga teacher. At the end of 2000 I felt that it was time to leave the ships. I went to India to study and gain my first Yoga qualification at the Sivananda Ashram in Kerala. I then returned to England and started to teach as well as completing the 3 year British Wheel of Yoga Diploma under Derek Thorne. I met my partner on that course and we had Finn our son in the final year.

Since then I have continued to study yoga under various teachers. I am now a full time lecturer at a local college teaching people to be PT’s as well as teaching classes and workshops at various places, including Yoga holidays in Greece at The Spirit of Life. I don’t follow any one style of Yoga. I have practices different styles under different teacher and draw from all of them. My classes are simple and my acronym is KIS – Keep It Simple. I feel that this allows my classes to be accessible and achievable. I’m not a full blown Yogi but it is part of my toolkit for life: and it works.”

Jonathan will provide full details of his online courses, studio classes and retreats if you contact him by email.

This episode is also available on podcast