I was lucky enough to find my self immersed in the world of yoga since the mid 90s, and studying with teaching masters in Los Angeles, such as: Erich Schiffmann, Maty Ezraty, Richard Freeman, and David Swenson.

My interest in yoga started when I was about five years old, finding a picture book belonging to my cousin. For months I followed the poses (asana), even before I could read. However, opportunities for studying yoga were few and far between back then.

That began to change for me when I rekindled my interest as a young designer working in London during the mid 90s, initially at the Iyengar Center in London’s Maida Vale.

In 1997, I was living in Santa Monica, California. In hindsight, it was a very special time and place for the renaissance of yoga that took hold at that time. It was at YogaWorks, Santa Monica, that I began my daily Ashtanga practice.

After completing my first teacher training with Matty Ezraty, I returned to London to continue a daily practice with John Scott, and subsequently Hamish Hendry, when he took over John’s Mysore classes in Soho, moving to Bloomsbury, before settling in Euston.

Teaching yoga began to take over from my life as a designer. This inevitably led me in 2006 to Mysore, India, to study with Sri K Pattabhi Jois. 

Returning to London, I was now teaching full-time in Central London, running yoga courses in Bloomsbury. At the time, the idea of yoga courses, rather than single classes, was a new concept. As an aid for the students attending these courses, I developed a manual, alongside an Apple iPhone app — an early version of my online courses.

In parallel to teaching structured yoga courses, I spent more than 10 years at the wonderful TriYoga Soho. Teaching there was a privilege for me, the classes brimming with among the most inspiring and diverse yoga-student culture to be found anywhere.

Relocating to Edinburgh, Scotland, in 2019 — just as the Covid lockdowns were on the horizon — I took my classes online and refined my courses for virtual platforms. I now divide my time between London and Edinburgh, gradually adding more in-person teaching to supplement the online offerings.

My online courses are the result of my studies and personal practice, and developed with over 20 years of teaching. The joy for me is that these courses are now available to people not previously able to access quality yoga teaching, due to location or work-life commitments.

It is my sincere desire to bring you the benefits I received from my life as a student of yoga. Practical knowledge, based on the wisdom I was lucky enough to access, becomes accessible to you no matter where you are in the world, or in life — an opportunity to cultivate mental and physical health, calmness, ease, and wellbeing.

Namaste — Sophie Peach Kokkineli