What's the WAY?
We Are Yogaful = WAY
WAY yoga is about far more than how low we can bend or how high we can kick – it’s an exploration of body, mind & breath; about what we learn about ourselves and our relationship to others while we undertake that journey.
The yoga starts when we're on the mat, but the high persists once we're off it.
The WAY Crew
Cheesy as it sounds, we really ARE about doing what we do to the highest standard we know how. We're super-committed to ensuring what we teach is not only fun and effective, but is also safe and has a firm evidence base in modern science.
Erika Lawal
Erika’s first foray into yoga was via a supply teacher at primary school, when aged 11, she discovered the intense focus required to become a tree, a pose later recognised as vrkasana. Fast forward to adulthood and seduced by supposedly more hardcore sporting activities such as rowing, running & bodybuilding, she didn’t begin to take yoga seriously until she suffered a slipped disc in her fifties.
Far from being a soft option, Erika discovered that yoga could be every bit as challenging as anything else she’d ever done. As a practising psychotherapist, she also saw yoga’s potential for helping manage a range of stress, mood and mental health symptoms. She’s fascinated by the endless possibilities open to us all as students of yoga and is keen to find ways to communicate its vibrancy and relevance in ways that make sense in our modern, Western world.
Erika’s path of learning as a yoga student and teacher has taken her on a circuitous route which includes:
- Foundation training in Scaravelli-inspired yoga
- 200hr Yoga Alliance Professionals accredited training with Yogahaven
- Combined Yoga Alliance/British Wheel of Yoga/ Ofqual L4 accredited 500hr training with CamYoga
- Unity Partner Yoga with Sevanti Jo Atwood
- Rocket Yoga with Amber Gean
- Yoga for Anxiety with Heather Mason
- TRE (Trauma Release Exercise)
- 200hr Yoga Alliance accreditied Ashtanga Yoga training with Ashtanga Yoga Nicaragua
- 75hr Yin &Yoga Nidra training with Melanie Cooper & Jennie Wadsten
- 40 hour training with Poppy Perinatal Yoga
Erika also has several Hoop Dance teacher training qualifications and a range of Skills Active REPs fitness qualifications, including Nordic Walking and Exercise Referral for Specific Medical Conditions. She is a teacher-trainer on several yoga teacher training programmes and brings her experience as a psychotherapist/supervisor to mental health based CPD programmes tailored for yoga teachers.
Kay Wong
I first encountered yoga on holiday in Borneo 8 years ago. I always thought it was a quiet and serious affair, until I got myself tangled up and couldn’t stop laughing.
After sweating it through years of cardio workouts in the gym to help with stress, I found yoga was the thing that kept everything together. The effects were much longer lasting than a spin class- it provided with me not just with the physical but with the mental balance that I needed. It was a lightbulb moment.
When I first experienced a class with Erika, I just wanted more. For me, practicing with WAY was like putting rocket fuel in my body- I simply loved it.
With my girls growing up fast, I wanted to do something for myself that I really loved and was lucky enough to find yoga that has made me stronger and more resilient in life. Having worked in science and as an auditor, I knew I had to find something that would make me smile every day. This spurred me into training as a yoga teacher. I am so grateful for the people that I’ve encountered so far and am going to continue gathering my yoga knowledge. Learning each day keeps me grounded, focussed and wanting more. After all, the world never stays still, so why should we?
My yoga training includes:
- 200hr RYT with Sally Parkes in London and Spain
- Yoga as Therapy for Back Problems with Anna Blackmore with Yogacampus
- Yoga as a Somatic Practice with Suzanne Lahusen with Yogacampus
- Teaching Yoga to Teenagers with Christiane Kerr
- Yoga Reloaded with Hannah Stewart and Emma Epton
I personally love the more dynamic types of yoga, but also acknowledge the need for restorative yoga in our crazy demanding world. Hence, I am looking forward to my course in Restorative Yoga with Judith Lasater in March 2020.
The WAY Promise:
- To provide high quality classes, courses and workshops, led by suitably qualified teachers.
- To stay abreast of relevant research and development, enabling us to provide evidence-based programmes.
- To be as inclusive as possible, by providing content and classes for a variety of communities and by operating in a manner in which our users feel supported in their yoga journey.
- To provide a transparent pricing policy which the needs of our users and our staff.
- To adopt fair and inclusive employment practices in relation to our staff, agents and affiliates.
- To have zero tolerance for discriminatory practices (whether direct or indirect), bullying or harassment of any user, employee, agent or affiliate of WAY.
- To be responsive and accountable to our users when we fail to get things right.
