Amanda, Yoga and Connecting with Nature
Where is home and what do you get up to every day?
Home is Earlsfield, London. I am a yoga teacher, I teach 9 classes a week, I go out to different venues, teach for an hour and come home!
Do you have a digital presence?
I have a website, and I do a little bit on Instagram @amandagloveryogalondon and a little bit on Facebook. I never really had enough time to focus on it until recently, as I was working in a full time job in an office. So now (that I am a full time yoga teacher), I am starting to tap into social media a little more, and posting more.
What do plants mean to you?
A wonderful way to connect with nature.
Are you growing anything?
I don’t have a garden, but there is a communal garden where I live. I would love a garden and I would grow everything! I would grow all my food in the garden, organically.
Indoors, I often have a mint plant or a basil plant, and they tend to die after about 4 days…!
I love plants, but I do have trouble growing them.
I have two Orchids that seem to do quite well in my flat, and I love those, they make me very happy when they flower, sometimes I get angry with one of them because it never flowers - it only flowered the day I bought it.!!
Really plants don’t play as big a part as they would, if I lived somewhere else, where I would have a lovely garden that I would spend hours in, tending to it myself.
Do you dream of growing anything?
I would have a vegetable garden! I dream of that, and I will do that one day. If I could grow everything I eat, I would do it, I think that’s the way it should be.
I would love my garden to be designed to remind me of Costa Rica. It’s where I started my yoga teacher training in 2011, with an Integrated Hatha Yoga and Ayurveda 200 hour.
Where do you buy plants/get your plants?
If I lived in the country I would go to a Garden Centre. I would also probably go online, as I would want something quite exotic growing in my garden, something different!
Earliest memory of being in a garden?
I grew up in houses with gardens in Surrey - my Dad planted all the food in the garden - we had runner beans, we had tomatoes, potatoes, courgettes, all in the garden, it was fantastic, which I think is why I want to do the same - grow all my food in the garden - it was just so nice.
Pick a plant
I like the rubber plant (Ficus elastica), they remind me of exotic places. I do love Orchids - I don’t know the names of all of them..!
Pick a garden
I love the Surrey Hills and all around there, and Leith Hill, that area is so great for walking, it’s beautiful, absolutely stunning, and that’s close to where I grew up, so we used to go there with my parents when my sister and I were young.
I go there now at the weekend if I want to escape London.
Is there a connection between your life as a yoga teacher and plants/nature?
If I had my own studio, I would fill it will plants, make it look jungley, and be in touch with nature within that space. It’s so important to be in touch with nature.
