Maria Dowson
I was very lucky to find yoga just when I needed it most in 2007 in Ibiza. I swapped my killer dancing heels for a yoga mat and have never looked back since. On my return back to Nottingham I had the very good fortune of practicing Ashtanga Yoga with level 2 Authorised teacher Paul Kleesmaa.
​
My yoga practice had me feeling better than ever before, physically mentally and emotionally...yay I'd found my spirit again! By this time I was practicing a couple of times a week with Paul and playing around on my mat at home when the mood took me. I was curious as to how such a pleasurable thing made me feel so happy and balanced, I never once thought I can't be bothered to go to yoga! My curiosity about the transformative effect of yoga led me to pack in my job teaching languages and grab my back pack to go off and learn more.
I stayed in a mini dome in the French mountains for months to practice the Dynamic Yoga Method, tuning into the subtelties of yoga posture practice, breath and meditation.
I traveled to Mysore in Southern India (home of Ashtanga Yoga) to live and breathe the 8 limbs and to the beaches in Goa to prcatise at sunrise and to watch the sunset with the infamous Rolf and Marci.
After much practice and study I had the very good fortune to go on to train in three different styles with three great teachers:
Dynamic Yoga Method with Godfri Devereux
Ashtanga Vinyasa Yoga with Heather Elton
Sun Power Yoga with Anne - Marie Newland
​
​
​
​
I
​
No matter where you are in the world, in the middle of a crazy city or on a desert island, practising yoga helps you enjoy life to the full. My experience that Yoga gets you through the bad times and makes the good times feel even better and brighter motivates me to teach and support yoga practice in Teesside.
​
Yoga is my passion and my way of life. I am forever curious so continue to enquire, explore and play around on my mat (now and again with little poses thrown in from my little girl) I feel blessed to have studied with great teachers.. At present I'm very lucky to be learning so much by regularly studying Ashtanga yoga with Joey Miles (so wise beyond his years!) on intensives and by having assisted in his Mysore classes over the last couple of years.
​
My teaching style is alignment focused, get the basics right for your body and the rest will follow. The emphasis is on encouraging you to listen in, to find a deeper connection with your breath and your true self. I'm big on giving modifications, variations, whatever you might need to get in the zone and leave class with a lighter body, a clearer mind and a warmer heart xxx
​
I’m certified, insured and accredited by:
500+ contact hours in the Dynamic Yoga training method with Godfri Devereux and Olivia Crooks
200+ hours Yoga Alliance Ashtanga yoga Teacher training with Heather Elton, Emil Wendel & Stuart Girling
200+ hours Yoga Alliance Sun Power Yoga Teacher Training with Anne - Marie Newland
​
100+ Hours Immersion hands on assists, alignment & supporting transformational practice with Joey Miles
​​
REP’s Level 3 Register of Exercise Professionals
Senior Yoga teacher Yoga Alliance Professionals
​
​