SUDAKAYOGA

I was born in 1970 in the UK. After a short period as an infant in Cambridge, I mostly grew up in Plymouth, in South West England. Plymouth was a good place to grow up in many ways as its a small city situated between the magical Dartmoor and the Sea. My parents were very generous and open-hearted and my memories of my childhood are all quite positive.   

Teenage angst kicked and I remember my teens as a lot of sitting around in a friends flat talking about environmental collapse and the threat of an all destructive nuclear war, it was the mid-80's!. At 18, I was keen to leave home, and I headed back to the land of my fathers in the North of England and studied Chemical Engineering in Leeds and then later Water Engineering in Newcastle Upon Tyne. 

At the end of this period of study it became clear my heart was not set on being an Engineer and I abandoned the prospects of a career in Engineering for my growing passion in meditation, yoga and the Dharma (Teachings of the Buddha). I had first encountered yoga and meditative arts in my youth and was particularly inspired by my father doing Yoga at home.  

Since that time I have trained extensively within the Buddhist and yoga traditions. 

I began my yoga training self-taught like my father following the instructions from the Teach Yourself Books by James Hewitt on Yoga, a delightfully holistic approach covering yoga posture, pranayama, meditation and diet. In 1990, I began doing classes with my first yoga teacher, Narapriya, who also taught me the Buddhist meditation practices of the Mindfulness of Breathing and Metta Bhavana. 

Between universities I made a long tour through Europe and South East Asia culminating in spending a nearly a year with the Burmese Karen on the Thai Burma border in a jungle village called NohBo. This was a very rewarding time and gave me the opportunity, still quite young, to see a completely different world and way of life. During this period, which was characterised by many long candle lit evenings playing back gammon with friends I deepened my personal practice of yoga and meditation. I was teaching Mathematics and English and had time each day after school to follow a sequence from Light on Yoga by B.K.S. Iyengar and I also initiated a daily practice of meditation, which was particularly inspired by a retreat at Wat Suanmok, near Chiaya in southern Thailand and an especially intensive 26 day Vipassana practice at Wat Lampoeng near ChiangMai in the north of Thailand.

In 1995, I went on to train in the Iyengar Yoga method, continuing to work with my yoga teacher Margaret Austin for several years after. At the time I was teaching a little Chemistry in a College and some yoga at the Newcastle Buddhist Centre.

 A few of us associated with the Buddhsit Centre were living together and we set up an Evolution gift shop business to enable us to work together as well. It was a rich and intense period. In 2000, I decided I wanted to teach yoga full time and see if I could live like this. I established 'Toonyoga' in Newcastle upon Tyne. 

A few months later, in 2001, I was Ordained into the Triratna Buddhist Order. (Three Jewels Buddhist Order). I was given the name Sudaka, which translates from the Sanskrit as; Su, happy, beautiful, or blissful and Daka as sky walker, sky dancer or sky-goer. The dakas are more commonly known in their feminine form as Dakinis and are a richly mythical figure, which play an important role in the later, Tantric phase of Buddhism especially as transmitted to Tibet. They are associated with border lands, playfulness and shape-shifting.

 My yoga style has evolved through training with a number of teachers and through the application of their teaching to my own practice. My inspiration comes primarily from my meditation practice and being able to share and enjoy both yoga and meditation with others. I have enjoyed the flow and dynamic of the yoga of Sarah Powers and Godfrey Devereux, as well as the quiet and contemplative practice of Yin Yoga. The Chi Kung of Master Lam, 'Standing Like a Tree', Zhan Zhaung, has been supportive to deepening my practice at times and understanding of body-work on a more energetic, releasing level.  

I now live in Valencia, Spain. I continue to love to travel and offer workshops and retreats outside of my place here. I presently run a number of classes here in Valencia and offer workshops and retreats in various places during the year, notably in Dhanakosa, Scotland where I have been teaching for many years and Newcastle Upon tyne where I used to live.  

Valencia is Spains third largest city. I am still in process of arriving into the city, making connections and discovering its charms. It faces the Mediterranean and is famous for its oranges ofcourse and the wild and frenetic Fallas festival which takes place over the Spring season.

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