A former actress based in London, Sophie B founded GoYoga because she wanted to create a fun, inclusive way for people to exercise in a form that makes them feel good, inside and out. She believes that yoga sorts out everything!
Sophie first discovered and fell in love with yoga in London at the Life Centre and Triyoga. She then worked with Brian Cooper and Nawajyoti in an old hall in Leeds to become a teacher trainer. Fast forward a few years and she has now trained over 200 teachers in 200 hour, Primary and Secondary, Aerial and soon will be running 500 Hour courses. Her published work includes contributing to Bumps In Motion, The Yin of Yoga, Her Yoga Manual and she regularly blogs for the Huffington Post.
As you can imagine, Sophie is a pretty hard lady to tie down for a juice and a chat, but we finally managed to do it!! So, let's find out what makes her tick and her defining yoga moments so far...
Morning Sophie, how are you feeling today??
I’m feeling a bit tired, but I haven’t done my yoga yet today so that’s probably it!
What was the last class you taught?
It was last Tuesday morning. I only teach Tuesdays at GoYoga now as I am busy working on our online trainings and helping running the studio behind the scenes!
Why did you decide to become a yoga teacher in the first place?
My cousin was working on American Idol in LA. I was lucky enough to visit her and we used to escape the crazy music world and run to find different yoga studios there. One of which was called Golden Bridge, there was an inspirational leader there called Gurmukh Kaur Khalsa and what I saw there totally blew my mind.
There were monks visiting, people were sat around drinking yogi tea, people were actually getting happy exercising and reading and drinking tea! I knew that I wanted to know more from that day, everyone seemed to have this secret recipe for feeling good and being happy. I eventually trained to teach yoga in a very different way - Ashtanga, but I always carried Gurmukh with me. Then I began to study more of the art of Kundalini yoga, which I carry in all my classes and also in my trainings.
What does yoga mean to you?
Rescue, sanctuary, growth and inspiration.
Can you sum up GoYoga in 3 words?
Well I was so inspired by Golden Bridge, I would say British Golden Bridge.
How do you want your students to feel after a lesson with you?
Better, happy and energised.
Do you have a favourite yoga pose?
Any Kriya which involves shaking out the bad energy from the body.
What does your average day look like?
I have no average day, every day is so completely different!
What has been your defining yoga moment so far?
Seeing my children instruct a perfect yoga class to 30 children all on their own. So, they have been listening!
What has been your weirdest yoga moment so far?
I’m not sure I like the all or nothing side of yoga. I feel you need to integrate yoga into your daily life. Everyone has to go to work, everyone has to do the washing, sometimes there is no time to eat perfectly, sit perfectly drink perfectly. It’s important to know you can say to yourself it’s ok not to be perfect - yoga is about being you.
So my weirdest yoga moment would be realising that perhaps I’m not very ‘yogic'!?!
What would be your advice to people who have never tried yoga before?
There are so many different styles and types of yoga, so you have to find your type and your teacher. Then you can begin your journey. If you have been to a class and didn’t like it, then try another one. Yoga is for everyone.
What times do you teach at Go Yoga Harrogate?
I teach at GoYoga Harrogate at 9.45am every Tuesday morning.
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