Karen Bennett is an Experienced Registered Yoga Teacher (E-RYT) with Yoga Alliance, which acknowledges the completion of a yoga teacher training with a Registered Yoga School (RYS), Karen has more than 6500 hours of teaching experience.
Karen is also an experienced massage therapist, trained nurse, wife and mother. Karen loves all things creative and is a traveler and adventurer by heart. She loves exploring her environment on foot and swimming or SUPing in the mornings when the sea is like a mirror. Passionate about all things health and well-being and a life-long student of yoga.
Karen first started practicing yoga in 1996 and began teaching in 2005 after completing a 200hr Yoga Teacher Training (Yoga Alliance) at the The Life Centre in London. Her initial motivation to start practicing yoga came from wanting and needing to better manage stress and anxiety. Through the practice of yoga on a daily basis her life was transformed. This was what led her to want to teach, hoping to inspire others to find the holistic teachings, benefits and joys of yoga.
For Karen the time on her mat is an essential part of her day. Whether it is to simply sit and be, to move her body fully or to give herself to a restorative practice, or all of these. Ultimately it is to give time in an otherwise busy and full life to honor the needs of her body and mind as she steps onto her mat and meets them fully for the day - to do whatever she needs to help her maintain physical, emotional and spiritual well-being. For Karen the time on her mat grounds her and gives her space to breathe and to be, to connect to herself and life at a deeper level. A place for her to recharge and revitalise. To really feel all of life, unwinding both physically and emotionally so she can experience a firmer, wiser, more joyful and secure foundation and to take this from her mat into the world.
Karen's teaching style is rooted in flow yoga and restorative yoga and her classes are delivered in a friendly and accessible manner. With a background in bodywork and nursing her classes also draw on these influences.
Classes incorporate alignment focused asana (postures), pranayama (breath control), meditation and yoga nidra (deep relaxation). Modifications & progressions are always offered.
Karen has had the good fortune to study with many renowned teachers from many traditions including Ashtanga Vinyassa, Vinyassa, Scaravelli Inspired, Iyengar, Rocket, Yin and Restorative yoga. She is grateful to all of her teachers and students as they inspire her personally and professionally on a daily basis. Karen maintains her ongoing study through personal practice and study, online study and attending classes and workshops whenever and wherever possible.