I teach yoga as a practice of breath, presence, and real life
Julie is a yoga and breathwork teacher in Edinburgh offering calm, accessible practices shaped by resilience, recovery and lived experience.
My work is grounded in the belief that yoga and breathwork aren’t about perfection or performance, but resilience, awareness, and learning to meet yourself where you are.
The seed of curiosity
My relationship with yoga began in my early twenties, while I was training as a hairdresser in Edinburgh. I wandered into one of the city’s first yoga studios, drawn more by curiosity than any clear intention.
That space, and the teachers I encountered there, opened something quiet but lasting. Yoga became less about shapes and effort, and more about attention, breath, and listening inward. What began as curiosity slowly became a practice, and then a way of understanding myself and the world.
This early grounding would shape everything that followed.
Early Edinburgh yoga days
As my practice grew, so did my desire to understand yoga more fully. I continued studying in Edinburgh, learning from dedicated teachers and becoming part of a small but committed yoga community.
In 1999, I travelled to Mysore, India, to study Ashtanga Vinyasa Yoga. Those mornings, rising before dawn, practising in quiet rooms, sharing chai as the day began, shaped my understanding of discipline, rhythm, and breath-led movement.
Alongside this, I studied with Acharya Venkatesha, whose calm, compassionate approach to yoga left a lasting impression. His teaching and the wisdom he shared would later become deeply important during a time of significant change in my life.
Mysore and the heart of yoga
In 1999, I travelled to Mysore, India, to study with K Pattabhi Jois, the founder of Ashtanga Vinyasa Yoga. Those early morning practices, rising before dawn, sharing chai, and moving with the rhythm of breath, left a lasting imprint on me.
While there, I also studied with Acharya Venkatesha, whose calm, compassionate teaching would later support me through one of the most challenging periods of my life.
Resilience and returning to practice
In 2008, after completing my yoga teacher training, I experienced a brain injury that forced me to slow down completely. Much of what I had taken for granted, movement, memory, energy, had to be rebuilt with patience and care.
Yoga, in its simplest form, became a lifeline. Gentle movement, breath awareness, and deep listening offered a way back, not to where I had been before, but to a new understanding of practice altogether.
This experience completely reshaped my understanding of what yoga is. It was no longer about strength, flexibility, or form. It was about resilience, presence, and learning to meet the body with kindness, especially when things felt uncertain.
How this shapes my teaching today
Today, my teaching is informed by all of these experiences, curiosity, discipline, disruption, and recovery. I offer practices that are calm, accessible, and responsive, with a strong emphasis on breath and nervous system awareness.
My work centres on Yoga Nidra, Breathwork, and Gravity Yoga, supportive practices designed to help people rest deeply, move with greater ease, and reconnect with their bodies in a way that feels sustainable and respectful.
I teach yoga as something that supports real life, not something that asks you to escape it.
Breath, as your best friend
Throughout everything, I’ve learned to lean into the breath. It is the one constant we all carry with us, through change, challenge, and everyday life.
I believe the heart of yoga lives here: in breathing meditation, in presence, and in practices that help us stay connected to ourselves, whatever stage we’re at.
