Jackie
stumbled into Yoga in 1971 when she transferred out of the
local Adult Education Judo class because she was fed up
with being thrown around by large perspiring men.
Unsure about what Yoga involved she then became
fascinated and gained her British Wheel of Yoga teaching
diploma in 1987.
Jackie has explored various schools of Yoga. Having a
contrary lumbar spine and temperamental sacroiliac
joint, she was particularly interested in the teachings
of Vanda Scaravelli, an Italian aristocrat, whose
original teacher was B K S Iyengar. Vanda developed a
softer, holistic approach to the Yoga postures, focusing
on the breath and gravity to release the spine. Like
working from the inside out, starting with the structure
(bones) and waking up the deep postural muscles to
release the spine. It's not, however, a soft option,
requires a lot of attention and once the body wakes up,
anything is possible. Jackie believes passionately in
this way of approaching Yoga postures because it worked
for her, but more importantly, she can see her students
benefiting so much from their practice.
Jackie has worked for many years under the tutelage of
John Stirk, who has developed his own unique style and
was a student of Vanda's until she died in 1999 at the
age of 92 years. Jackie's other main influencers are
Gary Carter, Bill Wood, Pete Blackaby and Monica Voss.