yasmin zaman - the portable guru
For 20 years I’ve dedicated my life to inspiring others by teaching the
self-awareness and self-care practices of connecting to the body and mind
through various styles of yoga, mindfulness meditation, physical activity &
trauma sensitive approaches to healing and recovery. My own life, and decades of
working with diverse groups of people all over the world, taught me that when we
take good care of ourselves, we value and appreciate others, and forge a better
connection with the natural world on which we depend. My Bio includes more on my
background, training, research papers and publications About four decades ago,
yoga originally began as a way to care for my sore bones and tender tissues
traumatized by a childhood fall, taught by a specialist teacher, practising what
was then known as remedial yoga, today commonly referred to as yoga therapy. I
know, without a doubt, that yoga and mindfulness meditation can heal the body,
centre and focus the mind and restore sagging spirits. But being human and
subject to the pressures of life, I didn’t always listen! Insecurity had me
chasing a career: from teaching to working my way to senior roles alongside the
great and the good in global Public Relations and communications for various
not-for-profits and humanitarian organisations. The stress levels were
stratospheric though it provided a dubious kind of glamour! Then one day I was
diagnosed with a TIA (a stroke). And I listened. You don’t have to go through
the same! Today, my work is varied: working therapeutically with patients
referred for psychiatric care in a team of psychiatrists, psychotherapists and
others; to teaching mindfulness-based and yoga classes & courses to the public
who come in all shapes, colours and sizes. I am also interested in healing
traditions from other cultures as a pathway to wholeness, e.g., shamanism. It’s
been my privilege to lead programmes in partnership with local government
agencies, GPs, academics, schools and corporate organisations to support
everyone from children, young adults, working people, stressed, anxious and
clinically depressed people, & those suffering with trauma diagnoses to learn
ways to restore their wellbeing with skills and knowledge with an evidence base
in science, mindfulness and yoga-based traditions. I have enhanced DBS and teach
either group or one-to-one sessions online or in person: Weekly group yoga and
mindfulness-based meditation classes (online & in person) One-to-one sessions
and courses (online & in person) Yoga and mindfulness courses & workshops for
all levels (dates to be confirmed) A blog and social media posts to inspire and
provide resources to oil the wheels of your week (irregular!) A few retreats a
year where you can immerse yourself in learning body wisdom and mind craft among
kind, friendly and welcoming groups of like-souled people. In my free time I
enjoy travel or watching travel documentaries, learning languages, walks with
Mother Nature, the gym (not really but I do resistance exercise), music, art and
dancing – Argentine tango and historical dances from the Baroque and Regency
periods with the Winchester Baroque Dancers and Duke of Wellington’s Dancers. I
am a Jane Austen superfan or Janeite and appear in a BBC documentary
commemorating 200 years of her death in 2017! I have twin nephews and a niece,
who all started practising yoga while very young. I’m hoping to add a rescue pug
to the family very soon.
