Helen was advised to do the yoga because she had years of back pain and damaged knees, caused by horse riding accidents.
She was amazed at how quickly her back pain reduced and how the flexibility in her knees and hamstrings improved, having been so stiff for so long.
She practised for 2 years in her own living room, with electric heaters, to get the room as hot as possible, as there were no Bikram studios in those days. “So great was my determination to do the yoga, that each week I would move all the furniture out of my living room to make space for a small group of people to practice”. Helen went to LA to study with Bikram Choudhury to become a teacher in 1998.
Helen met Sydney Saboonchian at the training. They have been friends ever since. Sydney now teaches at Chiswick also.
Helen then taught for a number of years for Michele Pernetta in Chalk Farm and Queens Park. “It was fantastic when Michele opened her first studio. To be able to practice and teach in a hot and humid Bikram studio was brilliant. I met other Bikram teachers and I learnt so much.”. After 5 years of regular teaching (including Boston, USA), Helen opened Bikram Yoga Chiswick, in November 2002. The studio has been flourishing ever since. Helen is a mother of 3, two of which were born during the first three years of opening the studio: she has been very busy! She loves the yoga and you can tell that from taking her class. She will make you work hard and you will learn lots about the postures and your own body. Her classes are always inspiring and fun. She likes to keep a sense of humour when she teaches, it helps to get you through the class!
The studio, for many students, feels like a second home. The yoga is challenging in a way that brings confidence and joy into your life, as well as health and energy. “I am very lucky to run a studio and teach the yoga, I am inspired by people everyday. “Embrace the yoga, make it part of your life, it works!”.
Q&A Time:
How did you discover yoga?
I discovered yoga through a friend and I did not realise I needed yoga so much until after my first class! Life changing.
How long have you been practising at BYC?
I have been teaching the 26 and 2 since 1998, gosh!, I heated up my living room in my flat as there were no hot yoga studios back then.
What is the best piece of advice you’ve ever been given in yoga or life?
The advice I remember the most that I received from a yoga teacher was, practice with curiosity and compassion and keep turning up for yourself.
If you could only choose one word to describe your teaching style, what would it be?
One word to describe my teaching , Charming.
If you could give one piece of advice to a fellow yogi just starting out on their yoga journey what would it be?
One piece of advice to a newbie starting yoga, just get in the room and have no expectations.
Favourite Album/Albums (who can have just one)?
One of my favourite albums is Rumours, Fleetwood Mac
Favourite ‘Dad/mum/bad’ joke?
Favourite Dad Joke has to be “When is a door not a door, when it’s a jar”
As well as being a yoga teacher what else would you love to do?
As well as being a yoga teacher I also used to do motor sport, as in hill climbing and sprinting. I would love to be taught how to sing in a choir, being taught how to sing in tune being the priority.
Who would you choose if you could pick one person, living or dead, to have dinner with?
I would love to have dinner with Jim Carrey.
If you could only eat one meal for the rest of you life what would it be?
If I could only eat one meal for the rest of my life it would be kimchi rice.
