Karen Neate

Biography

Karen’s holistic journey started at 16 when she became a vegetarian with a keen interest in healthy nutritional food, leading to a lifelong interest in diet and lifestyle, and she still leads workshops on Superfoods. She then went on to become a Reiki Master, Holistic Massage and Indian Head Massage practitioner, before deciding to train as a Yoga Instructor. Accumulating more than 25 years’ experience of dipping in and out of a wide range of yoga styles, Karen enrolled firstly in a Level 1 Kundalini Yoga course, followed by a 220 hour Mindful Yoga Course accredited by Yoga Alliance and The Minded Institute.

Conscious that Yoga is a continuous journey of self-awareness and healing, Karen’s teaching is a subtle blend of Hatha, Kundalini Yoga & Meditation and Yin Yoga, working at a cellular level to replenish and maintain our physical and emotional balance and restore equilibrium to the body. Through a fusion of postures and breath work she helps her students achieve optimum health and vitality, improved confidence and empowerment, enabling ease of transition through life's challenges, a strong body, reduced stress levels and a calmer mind resulting in deep relaxation.

What do you do when you’re not teaching or practising yoga?

I walk an awful lot. I do meditative walking, training in how to lead Breath Walks. Alongside teaching yoga classes, I see that taking me into my old age, because every walks – and it’s a benefit to people who can’t sit and meditate, it aligns you, your posture changes and you’re immersed in nature, which is so healing.

Those working in offices/concrete blocks need to connect more and our environment and pace is so fast nowadays that people just don’t make time to do that. So I want to align my indoor teaching with my outdoor work as well. Breath Walks are very like walking yoga: you do a warm-up, you connect with the breath, with the body, with the mind and you use mudras before you actually start the Breath Walk series. Then there’s my gong for sound therapy/Gong Baths! It’s one gong: a 32” gong that resonates different sounds depending on how you use it. I’ve done 2 courses on that and plan to do a sound therapy healing course. I also have a smaller gong that I’m going to take on the Breath Walks.

Favourite posture?

I’ve got lots - if I’ve been sitting all day, it’s downward-facing dog, partly because there are so many variations.

What’s on your bucket list?

I’m not a nutritionist, but I’ve got a passion for superfoods/healthy vegetarian food. I’ve been a vegetarian/vegan for over 40 years, so I hope to do a recipe book next year.