Helpful hints for a healthier lifestyle: What it's like to be a yoga instructor

She loved her glamorous job but the fast-living lifestyle that came with it soon began to take its toll.

Her work life balance was suffering, her diet was poor and she was finding herself becoming more dependent on caffeine and alcohol to keep going.

Realising that something needed to change, she left her corporate career and turned to yoga to relieve her stress and anxiety.

The mother of three returned to her home town of Stafford where she set up the successful Blue Sky Yoga Studio and recently published her first book aimed at helping others to become more contented.

Claire, who also teaches yoga in schools, is keen to dispel the myths surrounding this ancient form of exercise and show it’s open to anyone who wants to give it a go.

“More people are aware of the benefits of yoga these days but they are still hesitant or unsure about whether it’s for them.

“I want to kill this myth that yoga is just for people that are super-bendy, flexible, thin and fit. It’s something that for anybody and everybody. It’s for any body type, any age, any level of enthusiasm.

“Even people with a background of mental or physical difficulties can do some sort of yoga and see the positive changes,”explains the 40-year-old who lives in Church Eaton.

Claire’s career started as a trained dancer where she travelled the world preforming on luxury cruise ships.

Deciding that she needed a change of direction she embarked on a course at London Metropolitan University where she trained as an interior designer.

After graduating with a first, she got a job with luxury property and interior company Candy and Candy Ltd and was soon promoted to the role of senior designer.

“My job involved working with billionaires in everything from penthouse apartments to yachts.

“From a creative point of view, it was great fun but from a health point of view, it was super-stressful and I was working long hours. I was also living in celebrity world and not in the real world,” Claire explains.

She had practised yoga as a form of fitness after giving up dance but it was a trip Down Under than really ignited her passion

“While I was on holiday in Australia, I took power yoga class in a heated room and I thought it was the most amazing thing ever.

“I found a studio in Clapham and it turned out to be run by the same teacher Dylan Ayaloo,” says Claire.

Her physical and emotional health improved as soon as she began practising yoga regularly, she tells us.

“Doing daily yoga really helped me to feel like me again and I was keen to explore these healthier lifestyle habits further,” explains Claire.

In 2013, she took a yoga teacher training programme with the Dylan Ayaloo Yoga Academy, now called Hot Power Yoga London, and has since taken advanced courses in forrest yoga, functional anatomy, pregnancy yoga and yoga for children.

Two years later, Claire and her husband David decided to leave London and move to Staffordshire and before she knew it she had her own yoga studio based at Stafford’s Northfield Centre.

“Sky Blue Yoga Studio grew organically from nothing. I started with two classes but they got so popular there was a big waiting list and we got too big for our room - I had people asking if they could practice yoga on the landing.

“We moved to bigger premises and we were running five classes a day within a year,” says Claire.

In December, she published her book ‘Happier, Healthier’ sharing guidance and tips ranging from nutritional advice and recipes to yoga poses, mindfulness, breathing and relaxation.

“A lot of beginners will come to classes and realise there is more to yoga and mindfullness than they poses they are doing in class, they might hear people talking about recipes or essential oils.

“So this is a practical guide that brings everything together based on what I have learned during my yoga journey,” explains Claire.

She sold the studio in January this year to enable her to spend more time with her young family and to focus on teaching yoga in schools and in the community through her business Calm Space.

Yoga has long been championed for boosting physical and mental wellbeing as well as improving strength, flexibility and balance and Claire says she has seen this in action, not just with herself, but with others too.

“I would have yoga available in every workplace and school if I could. You get the strength and flexibility that yoga touts but you also get an insight into how your mind and body works as well as the tools to cope with pressured situations.

“I’ve seen people start classes feeling stressed, despondent, fed up with their jobs and after six months that has all changed.

“I’ve seen people come in with sky-high blood pressure and after they’ve been able to come of their blood pressure tablets after practising yoga regularly.

“People with back pain who thought they would have never be able to exercise properly again have got to the point where the pain doesn’t bother them,” says Claire, who runs classes at Church Eaton Village Institute.

She has been running workshops for pupils for schools in Staffordshire and says there are lots of benefits for youngsters.

“I do yoga with my own children. It teaches self-awareness and self-expression. We give younger children techniques to manage their energy as well as teaching them breathing techniques and helping them to understand about how their body works.

“Teens develop skills which give them more confidence and how to express how they are feeling emotionally,” explains Claire whose clients have included Staffordshire Fire Service and the Princes Trust.

If you’ve ever fancied learning how to do a downward facing dog, plank or tree pose, Claire’s advice is to ‘go for it’.

“Find a beginners class and give it a try. Teachers and teaching styles are different so if you’re not sure after trying one class, it might be worth going somewhere else and finding a teacher you like.

“The most important thing to do is to stick with it and not to give up after a couple of classes.

“I’ve seen a lot of people benefit from doing one class a week - the key is to practice regularly and consistently and you will soon see what yoga can offer,” she says.

See calmspaceyoga.com