Yasmin Zaman - The Portable Guru

For 20 years I’ve dedicated my life to inspiring others by teaching the self-awareness and self-care practices of connecting to the body and mind through various styles of yoga, mindfulness meditation, physical activity & trauma sensitive approaches to healing and recovery. My own life, and decades of working with diverse groups of people all over the world, taught me that when we take good care of ourselves, we value and appreciate others, and forge a better connection with the natural world on which we depend. My Bio includes more on my background, training, research papers and publications About four decades ago, yoga originally began as a way to care for my sore bones and tender tissues traumatized by a childhood fall, taught by a specialist teacher, practising what was then known as remedial yoga, today commonly referred to as yoga therapy. I know, without a doubt, that yoga and mindfulness meditation can heal the body, centre and focus the mind and restore sagging spirits. But being human and subject to the pressures of life, I didn’t always listen! Insecurity had me chasing a career: from teaching to working my way to senior roles alongside the great and the good in global Public Relations and communications for various not-for-profits and humanitarian organisations. The stress levels were stratospheric though it provided a dubious kind of glamour! Then one day I was diagnosed with a TIA (a stroke). And I listened. You don’t have to go through the same! Today, my work is varied: working therapeutically with patients referred for psychiatric care in a team of psychiatrists, psychotherapists and others; to teaching mindfulness-based and yoga classes & courses to the public who come in all shapes, colours and sizes. I am also interested in healing traditions from other cultures as a pathway to wholeness, e.g., shamanism. It’s been my privilege to lead programmes in partnership with local government agencies, GPs, academics, schools and corporate organisations to support everyone from children, young adults, working people, stressed, anxious and clinically depressed people, & those suffering with trauma diagnoses to learn ways to restore their wellbeing with skills and knowledge with an evidence base in science, mindfulness and yoga-based traditions. I have enhanced DBS and teach either group or one-to-one sessions online or in person: Weekly group yoga and mindfulness-based meditation classes (online & in person) One-to-one sessions and courses (online & in person) Yoga and mindfulness courses & workshops for all levels (dates to be confirmed) A blog and social media posts to inspire and provide resources to oil the wheels of your week (irregular!) A few retreats a year where you can immerse yourself in learning body wisdom and mind craft among kind, friendly and welcoming groups of like-souled people. In my free time I enjoy travel or watching travel documentaries, learning languages, walks with Mother Nature, the gym (not really but I do resistance exercise), music, art and dancing – Argentine tango and historical dances from the Baroque and Regency periods with the Winchester Baroque Dancers and Duke of Wellington’s Dancers. I am a Jane Austen superfan or Janeite and appear in a BBC documentary commemorating 200 years of her death in 2017! I have twin nephews and a niece, who all started practising yoga while very young. I’m hoping to add a rescue pug to the family very soon.