Nadine
In 2000 I came out from NZ for greener pastures. While working in a cafe on Burton Street in Darlinghurst, I was gifted an intro pass to Bikram Yoga Darlo from my boss. He had started going to this hot yoga and wanted to rope me in! It was around 2003/2004 and the 3:45pm class after work became my regular spot - it defiantly started as a case of making pretty shapes in the mirror and wearing killer yoga shorts - As the years rolled by and I found myself living in London, I would seek out Bikram schools and make the sometimes 4 hour round trip to the 'Old Street' studio or the London Bridge studio, or the Canary wharf studio just to scratch that itch .... It was becoming a stronger thread in my life. Eventually settling back into Sydney life years later, still coming to class, I had a chance encounter with Amrei Marden and wondered if I might be made of the stuff to make it through Bikram Teacher Training.
In 2017 I headed off to Mexico and came back a very different person. Once wasn't enough so in 2022 I went down to the Sapphire Coast and also completed Amrei's Teacher Training. There are still moments of trying to make the pretty shapes and the killer shorts have given way to leggings! But I still turn up on the mat as we all do to 'shift the shit' - this practice has helped me to shift through some of life's unimaginable ups and downs.
I am a better person for this yoga, my mental health is clearer and gone are a lot of the old 'vices' that I would once lean on, now it is 'mat, towel, water' repeat.