My Journey with Yoga and Ayurveda

Thank you for stopping here for a few breaths in your busy day.

Oms & Ojas has been created to share the magical, ancient wisdom of Yoga and Ayurveda with you so that you can start to feel younger, healthier, and more in love with life! I hope to play my part in making these two age old lifestyle sciences accessible to everyone so that we become a generation less reliant on Western pharmaceuticals and more in tune with ourselves and the beautiful Universe that we live in.

Why Oms & Ojas?

Oms are for the chants at the end our yoga class which symbolically and physically acknowledge our connection to each other, and every living being, while bringing calm to our minds.

Ojas is our reserve of golden, life-giving nectar that daily Ayurveda help us to produce. This nourishes all the bodily tissues in turn which keeps our immune systems strong, slows down the ageing process, and brings our mind, body and spirit back into a state of harmonious balance.

A bit about my journey to the here and now.

Having been a gymnast in my childhood, training four days a week, yoga asana seemed a natural progression in adulthood to give my body the stretching and movement that it had been used to. With a Sri Lankan father, I’d always been fascinated in ancient Indian philosophy and during my years living in Japan in my early twenties, I continued researching mind-body practices, including Qi Gong. It was also in Japan where I experienced traditional medicine for the first time and its powerful healing qualities through a Chinese medicine doctor who prescribed herbs which treated my anxiety and related breathing difficulties. The feeling of being cured at the core of the issue reassured me so much more than the puff of an asthma pump ever could.

Back in the UK, I practiced different styles of yoga including Iyengar yoga. With regular asana practice, I was able to heal a painful knee condition, Osgood-Schlatter disease, caused by excess use during gymnastics.

When my youngest son was born, I qualified as a kids’ yoga teacher and started running classes in local nurseries and inclusive primary schools. The effect that yoga, albeit combined with storytelling and games, had on the youngsters was so rewarding. Parents would often tell me how their children were sleeping better, and how their confidence levels had improved.

I qualified as a Yoga & Mindfulness Instructor 15 years ago with a fantastic guru,, and the rest is history! Since then, I’ve been running affordable classes in my local community which draw in diverse people from all walks of life and are open to yogis of all ability levels.

With such a deep interest in Yoga, Ayurveda was just a natural step. In my early 40’s, I sought the help of an Ayurvedic Practitioner when suffering with hot flashes, and menopausal symptoms. I wasn’t sleeping, felt extremely bloated and seemed to feel tired all the time. The experience I had was life changing. The explanation about my own unique constitution and how the use of herbs and a change in diet and lifestyle could help was so encouraging, particularly as I was mortified at the thought of going through such an early menopause. The language of Ayurveda really made sense to me, and I felt completely understood. Around this time, I spent a month in Kerala, India learning more about Ayurveda, visiting clinics and herbal suppliers and coming to the realisation that I wanted to throw myself fully into the subject.

I qualified as an Ayurvedic Diet & Lifestyle Consultant, and Ayurvedic Practitioner in 2021 with Distinction, with Dr Deepika Rodrigo at the prestigious Ayurveda Institute in London! The in-depth study hase not only educated me in the science of Ayurveda, but has been a wondrous journey of self-discovery, with real highs and lows along the way.

Looking at ourselves as a mini universe, with our 7 chakras reflecting the planets in our solar system, and our bodies being formed by the same elements as every other living being gives meaning to our pure existence. Why do we need to send astronauts to the moon, when just spending more time getting to know our inner selves will give us all the answers that space travel can ever provide? Through yoga asana, pranayama, meditation, and Ayurveda, we are taken on a deep exploration of our own internal systems, and once we fully understand these, we can use this knowledge to nurture the world around us. Equally, by spending more time in nature we become more connected with all living beings and closer to Pure Consciousness.

Future hopes

Our planet is clearly telling us that enough is enough. We have been abusing ourselves on a micro level by eating incompatible foods, while drinking, working, consuming and even exercising excessively, causing major problems at a macro level through pollution, and greed. When ailments and diseases present themselves, we have been turning too quickly to vaccinations, and covering up the symptoms with band-aids, rather than really looking at the root of the problem, just as we have been ignoring the underlying issues of society and our world while introducing quick fix measures which only exacerbate the real reasons for the dissatisfaction.

Practicing regular Yoga and adopting an Ayurvedic Lifestyle leads us to pure awareness where we feel completely aligned with the forces of nature. Inner and outer worlds reflect each other without confusion or conflict. Solutions arise from the level of the true self, so they meet no resistance and all desires lead to the result that is best for us and our surroundings. With more of us finding our way to pure awareness there is a chance we can save our Planet and provide a more loving, compassionate future for generations to come. It’s my life purpose to bring people together for a positive change and to inspire everyone with what I have learned so far.

I hope that you’ll join me on this journey.

Jo x

Om Shanti