Ali Wates 500+ certified

I currently teach yoga with colleagues, within an NHS community mental health setting.  I try my best to channel my learning from the Vajrasati teacher training to offer a space where we have an opportunity to come home to, and back into relationship with our bodies, through both playful and gentle practice. Yoga for me is a personal journey, and I aim to make classes as accessible and adapted as possible.  I try to offer a space where physical āsanas are part of a wider meditative practice. 

My path to yoga teacher training involved a mixture of an interest in Buddhism, and my work within clinical psychology. I seek to interweave elements of these throughout my personal practice, yoga teaching, and clinical work.

In the future, I am hoping to see more trauma informed, body-based practices within the NHS, and an increase in the accessibility of yoga to those experiencing social and emotional distress. At the same time, I acknowledge both the philosophical paradoxes, complexities and social inequalities involved in this, and hope to see a critical dialogue as part of the development of this work.