Stewart Mitchell

I was introduced to Yoga as a boy, and found my teacher in Yoga and Dance master William Mowat-Thomson. His teacher was the esoteric Noel, Countess of Mayo (a contemporary of Swami Sivananda of Risikesh).

Together we established Scotland’s first Yoga Centre in 1970. A Commonwealth scholarship to India, visiting ashrams, schools and hospitals was my ‘finishing school’, and later my apprenticeship with pioneering naturopath Sandy Milne added to Yoga a therapeutic perspective.

Since then I have enjoyed introducing Yoga to others in a variety of settings all around the world. This experience has informed my teaching and distils what I continue to learn.

In formal Yoga Class I promote asana, relaxation and meditation in effectively stretching, squeezing and spiriting away what the sage Patanjali called ‘mind-stuff’ – surely our well developed neurotic tendencies and perverse tensions that produce such discomfort in body and soul!

Moving-Being is a spontaneous contribution to the Class. It is active and informative, where we might take time to explore an aspect of our vital functioning, such as breathing or nutrition. We then practise special movements based on asana to ensure that our muscles and nerves perform their role efficiently, not least in absorbing the impact of our physical and emotional experiences– literally helping us ‘bounce back to life’.