Meet your Teacher: Interview with Diane Lee
When you take your YTT at Academy of Yoga Training, you’ll spend plenty of time learning from our Course Director, Diane Lee.
Throughout her yoga career, Diane has been on a deep spiritual awakening journey, and now embodies the key elements of yoga - all of which she brings to her teaching.
Get to know Diane in the interview below, and learn more about her background in yoga…
What are three of your favourite things about yoga?
Firstly, accessing an epiphany that is evoked from a certain posture. It is a very personal thing and you don't get it in every class, but sometimes you can understand a blockage, personality trait, or a feeling and this gives an understanding that can help you see through your behaviour and/or see how we hold onto blockages on a cellular level in your tissues.
The second is to slow down and to pause, to open our breathing muscles, to breathe properly and to have a safe space where we are allowed to release. To just be yourself.
The third thing is when you are able to still your mind and coordinate with deep calm breath, you become a blank canvas, and I think you can then get some really good insights into the importance of feeling content.
To realise what is important in your life. As you step back from your perspective, you can see things more clearly, and you have a heightened awareness of changes that need to be implemented.
What is yoga according to you?
Yoga for me, right now, is the realisation that the knowledge I have been taught, read about and the lessons that I have learned, can be used in my purpose to help other people to spiritually move forwards and support them. It is about helping people to feel what is going on inside their bodies and take their minds away from externally focusing all the time.
Why do you teach yoga?
I enjoy seeing progression, and I feel that I probably have some good attributes in order to help and teach. I have come through some really difficult challenges in my life, and want people to take responsibility for their lives and I want to help people. This can be something as simple saying something in class that resonates with people, so they appreciate a new aspect of yoga.
Yoga is not just about the physical, but about thinking about the greater context of why we are here, what our purpose is, and how to become more empowered; we are the only ones who can take that ownership for ourself. Everyone has to deal with something that is perceived as suffering and negative, but we can choose to see these adversities positively as both lessons and opportunities in life. It is kind of playing devil's advocate at the front of the class, engaging people in a way that maybe they haven't thought about before. And yoga feels amazing!
There are so many components that I like about teaching: to help make people sit still, be at ease, and enjoy simple things such as learning how to breathe.
Why do you think people should try yoga?
Statistically, 90% of the UK suffer at one time from a bad back, and we have an increasingly sedentary life - commuting, sitting at computers and using electronic devices, and detaching our head inside mobile phones etc.
Yoga is the total opposite; it helps your posture, corrects bad habits, de-stresses and keeps you well. Also, your immune system is improved. Yoga counteracts tight muscles in the body and you just feel more settled amidst a crazy stressful life.
Have you seen your audience changing over time, and if so, in what way?
Yoga is hugely popular because life now seems to have become too tech-savvy, distraction based and materialistic. It feels like we are becoming more conscious, as we crave something deeper in our lives. Nowadays we have more organic foods, food choices, there are more healing-trained professionals, so people are more health-conscious. When I started 22 years ago nobody would have heard of rolfing (myofascial release) and tapping (Emotional Freedom Techniques). Now, different modalities are becoming more mainstream, sitting alongside the growth in yoga.
I have taught yoga in Bath for 22 years in different spaces, and yoga is no longer confined to leisure centres! There are a lot more options. Celebrity has normalised yoga as well - thirty years ago Madonna and Sting did it, and now everybody does it, and that has got people’s attention. Once people try it, with the right ingredients from a good teacher and the right style, most like it.
Did your teaching method change over time, and if so, in what way?
It was initially drawn to Hatha yoga, and then heavily Ashtanga influenced. I outsourced my perceived lack of confidence to other more experienced Ashtanga practitioners, so I didn't question deviating from their strict teaching methods.
Along the journey, having picked up conflicting information from more medically qualified professionals such as chiropractors, surgeons and authors, I have asset stripped the best aspects of yoga from the various courses that I attended or books I have read.
I now try to intellectualise whether traditional yoga postures like Marichyasana D are safe and functional or attainable to most people. So I went from yanking people’s arms in Marichyasana D and pushing people’s knees so they can slide their arms while in Lotus into Tolasana, to a safer approach.
I am a trained yoga sports coach, and have learned about the safe approach and focus on core exercises, to use yoga as a way to contain the range of movement into a safe range that can hold through strength. It is not about maximal flexibility or going over the safe range of movement.
The asana part is just one of the eight limbs, and postures alone do not sort your head out. There are so many other things that help you change and evolve subconsciously (old patterns, belief systems, habits).
Coming to peace with who you are, through lots of healing and self development, means coming to a kinder practice with much less aggressive poses.
Who are your inspirations in yoga?
My clients inspire me to teach. My purpose is to help encourage other people to enjoy yoga, for them to try to 'get' yoga and to feel the benefits of yoga. It’s hugely satisfying.
What would you say to people wanting to start yoga?
Start at the correct level; don’t go to a class or stick with it when it is way out of your league and way too hard. I think you lose motivation and you might end up comparing yourself.
Try different styles and teachers that you resonate with and trust. And persevere - yoga is a lifelong commitment to your body, your mind and your sense of de-stressing and keeping healthy as it has masses of benefits. Discipline yourself to go at least once a week without fail, and don't make excuses not to go - basically, commit to yourself.
Which precautions do you give when people trying yoga for the first time?
It’s essential to find a teacher who understands bio-mechanics, because you are giving your body to someone who has to be qualified.
When in class, listen to your body, and don't be pushed to do things that you physically can’t do and intuitively do not feel right.
It should not be rationalised by your mind; your mind will tell you to quit, freeze or be fearful, and it does not mean you cannot do this physically. Learn how to discern what you cannot do physically, or think you can't do.
If in doubt, have a conversation with a teacher prior to committing to a class - we do not have to assume they understand. A confident teacher will be confident in their ability and set your fears aside.
What would you say to someone considering embarking on Yoga Teacher Training?
Yoga is really an undulating journey, there is no linear line. Should you wish to take a step into the teaching of yoga, it’s impossible to separate the physical from the emotional and spiritual benefits that gently start to come into fruition.
Trusting your teachers and some great reading material is really important to help you practice off the mat.
Human patterning is to avoid looking at how to improve and change long-standing habitual patterns that are harmful to us, because the journey to change them is far rockier than staying on the same destructive path. A brave person sees it as a slow continuous journey to improvement, and looks into the mirror and take responsibility for continual sadhana (practice).
Try to accomplish this and become more evolved. It is a hugely rewarding and gratifying ride.
If you’re ready to take the first step on your yoga teaching journey, discover our courses here, or get in touch with our team to discuss the right option for you.