Teaching yoga: the learning process: With Josie da Bank and

Teaching yoga: the learning process

Josie da Bank and Laura Gate-Eastley’s paths first crossed in the early noughties, when they both attended the same Triyoga classes taught by Laurel Sutherland, in London’s Primrose Hill. However, they didn’t get to know each other until about six years ago, when Laura moved to the Isle of Wight and began teaching Josie and Rob da Bank – first at home, and later for them at Bestival and Camp Bestival

Picture Gary Wallis

Josie began her teacher training with Laura in September 2019 initially to deepen her own practice. 2020 being 2020 – and with no music festivals to run – Josie had plenty of time to dig deep into the ancient scriptures that underpin the philosophy of yoga. “Thanks to my training with Laura – and lockdown – I was able to immerse myself in the classical texts: from the Patanjali Yoga Sutra to the Bhagavad Gita and Hatha Yoga Pradipika – books that I never thought I’d read. I even did a Sanskrit course. Laura’s knowledge and depth of yoga is incredible, and I feel very honoured to have completed my own teacher training with her.” Taking in over 200 hours of Yoga Alliance certified training, Laura and Josie worked together in a very traditional and uncommercial way, with weekly one-to-one sessions enabling a deeper practice of asanas (the poses), pranayama (breath work), and Dhyana (meditation). Laura says: “I’m so excited for Josie’s new journey as a teacher. Apart from having a strong and disciplined yoga practice, she has a huge heart – being a mum of four – as well as patience and compassion. Her home studio reflects her creative décor and is an inviting oasis from the hectic outside world.”

From January, Josie will be teaching one to one and small size dynamic yoga classes set to great music produced by her husband, Rob da Bank. “I want it to feel really special,” she says. “Like you’re having an hour and fifteen minutes of being in a different space that smells different, that sounds different. Yoga is such a lifestyle and game-changer, I love it – and I love teaching it.”