What prompted you to join yoga with Shanti?
I have epilepsy and I wanted to learn how to calm myself and have more control of my body. Medical wise, I didn’t want to take so many prescription drugs. I wanted to learn techniques that I could use in that precise moment I needed help. I received a pamphlet in my letterbox and I thought if I don’t try, I’ll never know, so I gave it a go and Shanti changed my life, she’s amazing.
What are the benefits you have received from yoga with Shanti?
The breathing techniques that Shanti taught have prevented full blown seizures from occurring and this self control has been fantastic!
When you are with Shanti, she makes you feel calm and makes you feel at home. I like it that she doesn’t make you do crazy postures and she never makes you do things you cant do. No matter what, you know its going to be peaceful and relaxing. If I feel I need to rest, I can just lay there and enjoy a laugh with the other ladies.
What do you like about Shanti’s teaching skills?
Shanti is a wonderful person in my life, if I never came to Awakenings, I would have regretted it. She is like my personal guardian angel and she seems to be around whenever I need her. She’s like that mother you need, or that best friend. Its like she has a calling, she seems to sense when something is not quite right. I don’t know whether its her nursing experience, some people have this gift and Shanti has it and you can feel it by the way she speaks to you. She doesn’t preach to you, yet she gives you all her attention and listens. I feel that’s how every teacher should be. There is no-one like her. What I get from Shanti is something in life, you rarely receive. Especially when you have epilepsy like me, being put on lots of medication, you can get all that, but with doing this type of yoga, I have been able to get my life back and that’s priceless!
Shanti has been able to give me back my life and so as a thankyou present, I gave her a rose quartz, tree of life necklace, to thank her for the five years of teaching me and understanding all the things that have gone on with me and my medical condition. When I haven’t been able to go to go to class, she just understood that things were not going well, but she was still there for me.
Three words to describe Shanti.
Shanti is beautiful, lovely and unconditionally loving. There is no-one like her!
Please describe Awakenings Yoga Studio.
The studio is very welcoming, its like your ideal home. Its not in an isolated place, a hall or in a business park. It just makes you feel like you’re going home. The yoga studio is beautiful, nothing too high tech and its wonderful.