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About Donna

I have a lifetime of yoga practice, have been teaching yoga for over 15 years, and am a yoga therapist, trained in both Iyengar-inspired Yoga and with Shiva Rea's Samudra yoga school. With some 4000+ hours of yoga teaching experience, I’m a Yoga Alliance Professionals accredited SYT (Senior Yoga Teacher), with a Master’s degree in Traditions of Yoga and Meditation from SOAS (School of Oriental and African Studies, University of London). More recently I have been uniting my yoga and priestess paths into a temple of feminine therapeutic arts.

 
 

So how did I get here? My mother said I could dance before I could walk... So goes the song and it's definitely my song. I was a crazy keen dancer as a kid. I've studied many many dance styles, and yoga has always been in my life too. I used to do yoga with my mum to TV programs with a lady called Lynn Marshall. When I went to uni I used to use her books to do yoga in my room. I've always loved it.

I spent my 20s trying different styles and teachers, but it was after I had my first baby that I found a teacher that I really loved, and he helped me start on the teaching path. The teacher I first trained with, Ruth White, was a student of Iyengar when he first came to London with Lynn Marshall, the lady who I practiced with all those years ago with my mum... All is connected! 

Then in 2015 I smashed my back up in a ski chair lift accident and thought my physical yoga was at an end. I have a ruptured disk and a whole bunch of metalwork in my back, but my yoga practice helped me rehabilitate really quickly. This inspired me to work with others in therapeutic and physical rehabilitation yoga.

I graduated in 2018 from the prestigious YogaCampus Yoga Therapy diploma and love to work 1:1 with anyone who is suffering from pain or stress, or conditions that can be exacerbated by stress – respiratory, autoimmune conditions… I have had some great results with asthma and Crohn’s disease sufferers. I’m also a little hypermobile, and have had great results working with others who suffer from the many symptoms of this condition.

I am a very proud mother of two young men, and my own birthing experiences (one particularly which was an unpleasant and disempowering experience) mean I am also committed to transforming and empowering women's birthing experiences. I am a trained doula (birthing assistant) which informs my 'Radiant Goddess' Prenatal Yoga classes, and now also ‘Radiant Wisdom Goddess’ for women transitioning through and beyond menopause. 

In 2021 I also completed my MA in Traditions of Yoga and Meditation from SOAS (School of Oriental and African Studies), University of London. I’m so passionate about expanding the accessibility of yoga beyond what a patriarchal view of bodies ‘should’ look like, that it became the subject of my master’s research and dissertation. You can read the output here!

From 2016 onwards, I have been diving more and more deeply into the divine feminine traditions of the lands where I live, seeking to restore that which we have lost in a way which has potential to both enrich our spiritual lives, but also, in deepening our honouring of the feminine, also deepens our honouring of and activism for the earth herself.

I am a spiritual seeker, a ferocious reader, a poet, a writer, an embracer of all spiritual traditions and initiated pagan priestess…. and most importantly I am passionately driven to transform and empower all to bring more joy into their lives!

 
When I watch you teach Donna, I see how happy you are in doing what you love and truly believe in. But I see you’re most energised when you’re helping someone overcome something that they struggle with. You make such a great connection with your students in a very calm and supporting way. When I experience you at your best, the exact thing you are doing is bringing people together and sharing your knowledge with them. You are gifted with a special skill of strength and kindness.
— CG
 
 
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Nartana Yoga School

In 2016 I launched my own 200 hour Yoga Teacher Training Course, so if you feel inspired to take your yoga practice deeper, I'd love to guide you in your journey. The course is evolving this year, to be even more divinely feminine, so please check it out!