Job title: Area Development Officer (ADO)
Name of organisation: Director and co-founder of YogaBugs, a children's yoga teaching company
Location: Clapham, South London
Age: 42
Duties
We currently offer training for two courses - YogaBugs (for children aged two to eight) and Yoga'd Up (for eight- to 12-year-olds). We have so far trained 1,100 teachers and they bring classes to around 35,000 to 40,000 children each week.
I am responsible for the intellectual property and the writing and updating of our training manuals. I liaise with course instructors and organisations responsible for the accreditations of our programmes. Together with my business partner Lara Goodbody, I am involved in structuring the day-to-day and future developments for YogaBugs in the UK and overseas.
Both of our courses are designed to maintain a child's natural flexibility, which can begin to change from a surprisingly young age. Classes combine stories woven together with yoga postures, which include birds, fish, reptiles and animals who all become part of an exciting YogaBugs adventure.
Our teachers all work independently under licence, which means that we have copies of all their up-to-date CRB and insurance information.
YogaBugs practitioners can use our website for promoting their classes and have access to an interactive Teacher's Zone to share class plans and information.
I have a lot of contact with our teacher base, which is very broad. They may also be working in special needs, as nursery teachers, child psychologists or be full-time mothers. They work in nurseries, schools and after-school clubs and in the extended schools programme.
The demand for YogaBugs and Yoga'd Up teachers is fantastic. One, in St Albans, was teaching 28 classes a week (around 400 children) prior to Christmas. She has now handed some of these classes over to another teacher in order take her older children on to Yoga'd Up classes, which she has just trained to teach.
To maintain our profile we attend trade fairs such as the Vitality Show and the Yoga Show. Teachers find if very rewarding to share their own enthusiasm with an age group whose energy is limitless.
Yoga is now recognised as an inclusive, non-competitive and imaginative activity for children and we are seeing increased funding from the Government and support at local council level.
Start date
I've been in this job since 2003.
Likes/dislikes
I enjoy taking yoga classes myself with children aged two and-a-half to seven who, through yoga postures, take part in exciting adventures to underwater palaces, to outer space, to jungles and to the giant's castle. I also enjoy teaching older children who love to be challenged and enjoy the benefits yoga brings.
I dislike the fact that I spend my life playing 'catch up' at work and at home with my four children. There is never any time out!
Best achievement I am very proud of having appeared on BBC Two's 'Dragons' Den' last August.
By turning down the investment that was offered to us on the programme we gained fantastic publicity and subsequently received investment from a private individual.
Training
I have been teaching and practising yoga for 17 years and teach children from age two and-a-half to adults in their nineties. I have had extensive experience in the pre- and post-natal yoga world and will be taking part in a project with Queen Charlotte's Hospital in London to investigate how yoga and complementary therapies can help reduce the rising levels of caesarean sections.
Career path
In addition to teaching yoga I worked for 12 years in the travel industry, organising overseas conferences and incentive trips for international companies. I learned a great deal about people and their expectations. I also travelled extensively and became familiar with other spiritual paths and cultures. This helped to prepare me for my current role.
Career progression
I am passionate about what I do. I would like to further extend our teacher training courses so that as many children as possible are enjoying the fun and benefits of yoga.
Advice
To be a YogaBugs teacher, you will need to have a minimum of two years regular yoga practice. You need to be familiar with the yoga postures that are taught and comfortable giving instructions to young people.
Interests/hobbies
I go running and play tennis three times a week, and do yoga on a regular basis. I find exercise focuses my mind and releases the day-to-day tensions of working in an office. NW
