Introduction
Despina is the founder of Ayurvedic Yoga Massage UK and our main teacher of the AYM technique. This is a little more about her and her journey to starting the school.
Life before Ayurvedic Yoga Massage
Growing up on a Greek island, I learned the value of nature and community early on in life. I had a lot of contact with animals, who taught me compassion, the joy of living in the moment and helped me develop my ability to connect through non-verbal communication. My parents were both keen swimmers, so I also grew up with a lot of movement built into my daily life. Growing up as a teenager in the 1990s I became very concerned about conserving our natural world. I studied ecology and environmental management, and eventually got involved with research and teaching on environmental sustainability at University level.
I was blessed with incredible teachers from kindergarden all the way through to present day, which I think has stoked my love of teaching. In 2006-2008 I attended a two-year part-time training on teaching adults, and I enjoyed teaching at the University of Leeds for 6 years before training in Ayurvedic Yoga Massage.
Yoga and movement
I have always had some movement built into my life, so I was really surprised when I first came across yoga in 2006. Since the first time I practised I felt happier, full of energy, more centred – and more like myself. Needless to say, I went back. Since then I have had a regular yoga practice. I love the peace and tranquility (sometimes), and the centeredness that my practice brings to my life, and I try to share it through my massage sessions and trainings.
Between 2011-2015 I went to Mysore, India for 2-3 months per year to study at the Sri K Pattabhi Jois Ashtanga Yoga Institute with Sharath Jois and Saraswathi Rangaswami. In 2014 I was deeply honoured when Saraswathiji allowed me to assist her in her shala for one month.
I am always practising with yoga and other movement teachers. I love self practice and intuitive movement, and also going to classes, exploring different ways to move and connecting with others through sharing the experience. I am endlessly fascinated by the interconnections between the body and mind; how different movement practices influence our energy, how we feel and think.
I have ADHD, which was undiagnosed until I was 41 years old, so I have had a lot of experience managing anxiety partly through movement; and I have also practised through all sorts of pains and injuries, which also really helps to inform my practice and teaching.
Introduction to Ayurvedic Yoga Massage
I discovered Ayurvedic Yoga Massage (AYM) in early 2011, through a Level 1-2 training taught by James Winstanley, Simon Griggs and Angela Sykes in the UK. I loved it immediately, and quickly realised that everyone else also loves it as soon as they try it.
AYM certainly helps on a physical level, and I have seen it help many people with injuries, long-term pains and stiffness, as well as with stress and mental health conditions; the list goes on as to the amazing results that this method can have. It feels very rewarding to help someone increase their range of movement or feel pain free, or experience reduced pain, or just feel more wonderful than they were feeling before their massage. Since coming across it, I have felt that AYM needs to be much more widely known and available, and that feeling has grown stronger over the years as I see more evidence of the power of the method not only from my clients, but now also from the feedback I get from my students’ clients.
Ultimately, receiving AYM definitely feels like the best style of bodywork for me. It’s extremely effective in relaxing my body and mind, helping me work through injuries, long-term issues with my body, stressful times in life.. Nothing works better for me. So this is what I want to share with the world.
I continued to practise and to try and find as much information and trainings as I could on Ayurvedic Yoga Massage, and found Ananta Girard’s courses in India. I studied with him in 2014 and 2015, and started assisting him with his trainings for 2 months a year over 2 years, in 2015 and 2016.
Developing further as a therapist
Since I started practising, I have tried to keep up with research that is immediately relevant to massage, such as research on pain, on how massage works, how it influences our bodies. How it influences people with different conditions, how it influences our hormonal systems, and through that everything from our mood to our immune systems. I am fascinated by the interactions of the body and mind (if seen as separate), and by the importance of the therapist-client relationship: creating a safe environment, developing honest and truthful relationships, about the weight of our words, the empowerment of clients to feel and understand their bodies better, and to ask for and get what they need from their treatments, the ethics of client-therapist relationships.
Teaching and learning
Since I started practising Ayurvedic Yoga Massage my friends and clients have been asking me to share the method, and in early 2016 my teacher told me that I was ready to start teaching. Since then, I have been really excited to see the wonderful, supportive AYM UK community grow, to see the light in students’ eyes when they fall in love with the method like I did, and to know that so many more people will have the opportunity to experience it as a result.
I love developing the courses, and I started by building on my experience in learning and teaching in higher education (overall 14 years’ learning, 6 years’ teaching at university level), and my training in teaching adult courses. I have been inspired by some amazing teachers in academia and in yoga, and I try to deliver well organised courses, to be a supportive, involved teacher that students will be inspired by, and feel confident to come to with their questions and thoughts, to share their successes and their struggles.
I never teach therapist trainings with more than 6-8 students at a time, so I can fully engage with the students who I am working with, and be personally invested in their success. Feedback is constant throughout the course, and I stay in touch and discuss students’ questions and experiences after the course.
I also try to help students with marketing skills, and by creating resources (such as this website) to help everyone come in contact with the people who are looking for them! Beginner therapists need guidance and support, but they also need people to massage to gain experience, develop a client base, and save some funds to devote to further training in whatever inspires them!
I am committed to keeping a fun, light and respectful learning environment and I try to help students develop their critical thinking skills.
I enjoy developing the training, and the current format of the training has been developed over many years, through a lot of student feedback; and mainly, through staying in touch with dozens of graduates and being involved with their development as therapists over the course of several years. So I have had the opportunity to see first hand which aspects of the training were working well; and what needed to be strengthened or developed further.
Contact
I am always happy to talk to existing and prospective students. Please make sure you have checked the FAQs first to save us both some time. If your question is personal, or is not covered in the FAQs section, please contact me via the contact form.