“FOR me, yoga is not just something to be practiced on the mat once a week. It is a way to live, a philosophy to embody, and a friend to return to, over and over again.”
Ennis woman, Karen Brennan reflects on a ‘yoga life’ that started with a class taught in Ennis by her friend, Antoinette Butler 26 years ago.
She says: “I immediately sensed that yoga had something to offer that other forms of movement did not. What began as an interest in the physical practice gradually opened something much deeper – a way of understanding the relationship between body and mind.”
Karen’s passion for yoga deepened during a teacher training course in Thailand in 2004.
She says that “while doing daily meditation, breathwork and postures, I realized I had started on a journey that would last the rest of my life. There was no way I could NOT do yoga ever again”.
The yoga teacher says that she very quickly realised that that short 200 hour teacher training course “was just the tip of a scientific iceberg and I have since completed over 1000 hours of training with nationally and internationally renowned teachers”.
Karen is now the mother of three boys, Oscar, Rian and Reuben who has special needs.
“So, I understand what it’s like to feel pressure. I’m no longer that carefree youngster with a backpack and a shoestring budget travel itinerary.”
She said: “I’m now a menopausal mother raising three kids, in the knowledge that one of those boys will depend on me until I take my last breath. I know what it’s like to feel bone weary.
I know what it’s like to feel anxious. I know, personally, how difficult it can be when life feels heavy and you lose your sense of balance. But no matter what my internal state, yoga has a tool to alleviate it.”
Karen makes a strong case for the healing properties of yoga.
She asks: “Do you ever feel physically exhausted but mentally wired? Yoga has a tool for that. Restless and unsettled?
Yoga has a tool for that. Stressed and overwhelmed? Sluggish and lacking energy? Tense in body and mind? Yoga has a tool for all of that.”
“I employ ALL of the therapeutic elements of yoga that I have learned over the years in my classes now. I teach hatha, yin, yoga nidra, breathwork and meditation.
Some practices are energizing and dynamic, while others are quiet, restorative and nurturing. All are rooted in the same intention – to create space for people to breathe, move and let go of the stresses and strains of modern life.”
“Teaching yoga in Ennis gives me great joy. I love meeting the people who come to class every week, and I hope they all leave a little lighter than they did when they arrived.”
