About The Teacher

Hey, I’m Catherine (or Cat) and I teach yoga here at Meta Mind Muse. That’s me there in the picture. It’s a bit cheesy, I know, but it does what it says on the tin. There’s my yoga studio with my yoga mat in the background, and the trusty go-to book that was given to me on my first yoga teacher training course, back in 2017. It’s worn, it’s well used, and it’s partly torn; but it’s served me well and it’ll continue to do so.

In terms of why I created Meta Mind Muse and what got me into yoga in the first place - the answer is easy, and that is - the mind. Understanding, and in some way, learning to control my own mind, were the main reasons for starting the practice.

Beginning with breathing exercises and meditation circa 2012, I was looking for a way to calm down an overactive and burnt-out brain, while also hoping to balance my emotions. And it was my emotions that proved the most difficult. As someone who had always found a way to shove down my feelings for the sake of putting on a brave face and a people-pleasing attitude - even the mere act of knowing what emotion exactly I was experiencing, proved hard to locate. Emotions all rolled into one. Muddy and indistinguishable. Barely finding the line between pleasure and burden.

Which only brought about more thoughts. Thoughts and feelings. Memories of thoughts and feelings. Feelings about memories of thoughts and feelings. Thoughts about feelings. Feelings about thoughts (and well, you know how it goes). Basically, my brain was filled with lots of ‘stuff’ - leaving very little space to enjoy and experience each moment.

Breathing exercises helped a lot.

I guess breathing exercises were like the gateway to other yogic practices, like physical postures and meditation. And now, after experiencing the benefits of all three for many years, I can’t help but advocate for all three together.

Afterall, they go hand in hand. Stretching the body helps clear the mind of mental debris, Breathwork helps iron out tension and sticking points in the body, and meditation and mindfulness bring awareness of the other two while also helping temper the emotions.

Therefore, I find it difficult to choose just one practice.

On the other hand, if an individual had trouble with the physical side, or if a person were averse to meditation, I would at least encourage the use of breathing exercises to help balance the nervous system, heart, and lungs.

To cut a long story short, I’m here to help teach what great teachers have taught me. I’m here to pay it forward to those who need it, and I’m here to help make yoga more practical, relevant, and accessible for your average human.

After having taught a vast range of bodies and minds, to include those who at first considered themselves ‘unfit’ and ‘inflexible,’ only to then go on and progress exponentially in terms of both physical progress and mental awareness - the ingredients, it appears, are all there. I have information and practices to teach and people who require it, and so it makes logical and emotional sense to teach it (internal justification narration, satisfied. Yeeah, baby)

So, after (finally) taking the decision to free up some time more practice, I’m happy to make these hugely valuable teachings that are yoga, more widely available.

I look forward to collaborating with you soon - whether that be on an individual, group, or organizational level - and I look forward to bringing you feelings of growth and wellbeing that keep I and many others, 'hooked in' for life.

Feel free to get in touch / ask questions / get involved.

Take care and be well,

Catherine

@Meta Mind Muse

Teaching Credentials

• Yoga Alliance RYT 200 - Classical Hatha Yoga

• Yoga Alliance RYT 30 - Yoga Nidra Meditation

• NVQ Level 3 Teaching Yoga As Exercise

• NVQ Levels 2 & 3 - Applied Anatomy & Physiology

• Usui Reiki 1 Inc. Remote Healing