I'm Tanya Love, I have been a teacher of Yoga since 2011 and a practitioner of Hakomi since 2019
I also teach Hakomi workshops and have recently qualified as a trainer -
meaning I can help to train people to become Hakomi practitioners.
I now live and work in Portugal, I'm based in Mourão, Alentejo
I also offer ONLINE Yoga classes, Yoga one-to-ones, Hakomi sessions and Hakomi workshops
do get in touch if you'd like to work with me.
To book into one of my regular online Yoga classes please use the online booking page
To book a Hakomi session or a Yoga one-to-one please email me
Hakomi sessions are £60 per hour and Yoga one-to-ones are £80 per hour
(concessions for both are available upon request)
Yoga is an expansive word that encompasses a multitude of beliefs, philosophies and practices, and it may already have a myriad of meanings for you. To try to be as clear as possible about what I offer I've written something below about what Yoga means to me
I discovered Hakomi in 2014 and it's been an incredibly important part of my life ever since, you can read and watch more about what Hakomi is and the sessions and workshops that I offer on the Hakomi page
I sometimes teach free online Meditation classes
If you'd like to listen to one here are some recordings
Yoga
I fell in love with Yoga in India, I was 23 or 24, captivated by the country, addicted to its intensity, and Yoga was essential to that. I felt I was immersed in something intrinsically spiritual that would help me to make sense of who I was - even if I couldn't explain exactly how. That question has been a constant friend and tormentor throughout my years of practice. What is my relationship to myself, and to the world, and how does yoga help?
Over the years my answer would have varied and it will change as I age and evolve, so what I say here is just today's understanding, but, for now, the first ideas that come to mind are about being a body, and how that springboards into sensing, thinking and being conscious. I am fascinated by how I feel into the experience of being me. How my body senses where I am in space, how I'm moving and breathing, where I'm tense, where I feel free. I marvel at how multitudinous my experience can be, at once focused in on a tiny detail but aware of other textures and qualities, and all the time maintaining some sense of the whole. How all of this informs (and is informed by) what I'm thinking, where my attention is, and what's happening emotionally.
Hakomi is a form of body psychotherapy and has been such a gratifying find for me, fuelling my fascination with how we might become more self aware. It is described as "mindfulness based assisted self discovery" and I think of my yoga practice as mindful, somatic self discovery. I like to hope that the Yoga teaching/facilitating I offer could be described as assisting other people's self discovery.
When I'm facilitating Yoga my approach is to invite an interplay of awareness together with movement or action or stillness. I use poses or breathwork (sometimes challenging and intense, sometimes minutely subtle and quiet) to cultivate deep attention. To notice how we move; how much we can feel; observing our tendencies and habits; tuning in to where is difficult to feel and where's easy; and how what we find might be affecting our whole sense of self.
Several of the classes I teach are described as Scaravelli Inspired Yoga, Vanda Scaravelli championed yoga as self discovery. She worked with Krishnamurti and her approach is infused with his philosophy. He said "There is no guru, there is no follower, there are only human beings, trying to discover a life without conflict, with an abundance of love". His advice was to question everything, to discover our own truth, to be our own teacher. But how do we find this, how can we tune in to ourselves, to listen to the deep biological wisdom within us all, that grew us from tiny embryos to the complex beings we are today. My answer (for today) is Yoga.
I owe love and thanks to my teachers Catherine Annis, Kate Ellis and Jane Kersel (who led the teacher training I undertook at triyoga) Gary Carter, John Stirk, Sarah Litton, Aki Omori, Olof Kujit and BNS Iyengar (Mysore).
