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SYA Committee

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Treasurer

Jo Welch

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Secretary

Melissa Murtagh

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On The Day Event Coordinator

Lorna Chapman

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Social Media

Sarah Stacey

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 Marketing

Natalie Lyndon

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On The Day Event Coordinator

Émilie Néel

Volunteers are always welcome!

Meet the Committee

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Chair

Julia is a fully qualified and experienced Ayurveda Practitioner, Yoga Consultant, and Registered Therapist. Combined with her background as a secondary school teacher, Julia is perfectly placed to share her passion and enthusiasm for improving well-being, through clear and informative practices.

 

Julia combines her traditional Indian yoga training with a fusion of western yoga teacher training to include aspects of Ashtanga, Sivananda, Hatha, Yin and Restorative yoga to meet the needs of her clients. Julia is the founder and director of Yoga Veda UK based in Southampton (UK).

https://yogavedaukhub.com/

 

As well as gaining an enormous amount of experience Teaching exercise, Health & Well-being since the 1980’s Julia holds YMCA Level 3 Diploma in Yoga Teaching (360 hours) & Yoga Alliance 200 hrs Ashtanga, Mysore, India. Julia also holds full Training School Accreditation from the Complementary Medical Association. (CMA) of which Julia is a Fellow. Further to this being qualified as an Assessor, Internal and External Quality Assurance Auditor & Examiner, Julia is kept busy in the field of Education.

 

Building on her passion for teaching and improving well-being, Julia is involved in developing ‘Healthy Educational Curriculums’. As a Schools Lead in Mindfulness (MiSP) and a developer of programmes of Yoga on the curriculum Julia is a leading force in developing wellness programmes particularly ‘Teacher Wellbeing ‘which is the main aim of her current role as Educational Staff Health & Wellbeing Lead.

 

Off the mat Julia ensures she has lots of time spent sharing the joy of being a grandmother to five lovely grandchildren, who also all enjoy yoga!

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Treasurer

Jo attended her first yoga class in 1999 and was instantly hooked, practicing yoga ever since and exploring several different approaches along the way. She qualified as a yoga teacher under Yoga Master Premananda (Steve Harrison) in “The Living Yoga Method™” which weaves the classical teachings of Hatha Yoga into flowing sequences. Her teaching has evolved and she now teaches gentle yoga classes in Fair Oak, Horton Heath and Eastleigh.

 

Also working for the BBC on live news programmes, Jo loves the calm and balance that yoga brings to her life and aims to spread that feeling to others. Jo enjoys taking the teachings of Yoga into everyday life, both on and off the yoga mat, in order to make a deeper connection with body and mind. Having enjoyed the variety of classes and teachings offered by the SYA for many years she is now pleased to be able to give something back by looking after their accounts.

 

Jo’s website... Ananda Yoga

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Secretary

 

Melissa from a very young age was drawn to music and rhythm; through this passion she became a professional dancer for many years. This experience has not only taught Melissa discipline and dedication but has also instilled a love for movement and expression. Throughout Melissa’s varied career Melissa has taken on various roles, including secretarial and personal assistant, both of which have honed her organisational and administrative skills, Melissa is pleased to be able to share these skills with the SYA.

In addition to Melissa’s business acumen, Melissa has been practicing yoga for many years, it allowed Melissa to delve deeper into her physical and spiritual self, finding, balance, peace and a sense of purpose.  It wasn’t long before Melissa took herself off to Rishikesh, India for 2 months to complete her 500-hour yoga teacher training in meditation, pranayama, Hatha and Ashtanga. Currently, she is teaching heated vinyasa flow in Southampton. Melissa is dedicated to sharing the transformative power of yoga with others and helping them discover their inner strength and peace.

 

Beyond her yoga practice, you are likely to find Melissa spending time with family, cooking up a storm, dancing in the kitchen or out and about in Nature. 


Melissa is truly grateful for the opportunity to be a part of the Southampton Yoga Association and contribute to the growth and well-being of this community. Melissa is looking forward to connecting with fellow yogis, sharing her passion for yoga, and creating meaningful connections within the SYA community.
 

Where you can find Melissa  www.hotpodyoga.com

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Social Media

Sarah is passionate about yoga and the benefits it can bring to absolutely everyone that ventures onto the mat. She has been practising Yoga for over twenty years. Her love for yoga led her to qualify as a Yoga Teacher with Yoga Alliance Professionals in 2019. Adding a Pregnancy and Post-Natal teaching qualification in 2022.

If Sarah’s not practising yoga you can most likely find her in her garden, having outdoor adventures or listening to music and podcasts. She is committed to environmental issues and fascinated by how we can improve our health and wellbeing through Yoga and other related modalities.

Sarah is looking forward to connecting with other Yoga teachers and being part of the SYA community.

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Marketing

Natalie has been practising yoga since her teenage years when she was a competitive gymnast and skier and found asana and breathing to be particularly useful for injury prevention.

 

As a journalist and copywriter in the health sector, Natalie saw first-hand the benefits of yoga to help with surgery and delved deeper into practice, qualifying with a 500hr diploma with the British Wheel of Yoga (BWY) in 2013. She went on to achieve further qualifications in pregnancy yoga, postnatal yoga, children's yoga and Well Woman Yoga Therapy with the BWY and Birthlight and is now training to become a yoga therapist.

 

She loves kitchen discos with her children, cooking and writing children's books. Having been a member of the SYA for many years, Natalie really loves the community spirit and diversity of teaching that it brings and is looking forward to meeting more people.

 

Natalie's’s website www.yogarise.co.uk

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On The Day Event Coordinator

Lorna is a British Wheel of Yoga Teacher and Foundation Course Tutor. She has been teaching yoga in and around Winchester since 2003. She has worked with inspirational teachers such as Aadil Palkivala, Gary Carter, John Scott, Zoe Knott, Liz Lark and Jean Hall.

 

Practicing a variety of types of yoga over the years has led her to develop her own style of Hatha Yoga Flow. She also became a SUP Yoga Teacher in 2016 and teaches stand up paddle board yoga, as well as paddle-board basics, in the summer. Lorna also loves to swim, sail and cycle.

 

Lorna's’s website www.lunayogawinchester.co.uk

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On The Day Event Coordinator

Émilie, is the Services Manager at You Massage & Therapy Centre, a Health coach, Gym instructor, and passionate Yoga teacher at Younity yoga studio (link https://www.massage-southampton.co.uk/Yoga-Classes-Southampton.html). She is an enthusiastic languages speaker, nature explorer, and shares a big love for animals of all sorts. She loves running in the countryside, exploring, foraging and long walks. 

 

 

Émilie started to develop a strong daily yoga practise when she moved to England and noticed how much the weekly class she was attending worked miracles on her tights legs and back pain, and how healthy the older students were that had been practising for many years. She has always loved all types of exercise, and been interested in keeping the body and mind healthy through a regular practise and a balanced lifestyle. The benefits she felt from meditation and breathwork from the yoga practice convinced her that Yoga is a perfect combination for a healthier body and mind.

 

Émilie is a Yoga teacher certified by Yoga Alliance. She is curious about developing her teaching with more and more styles of yoga as well as mind and body practises which can help herself and others feeling more balanced in their life, combined together to deliver the most beneficial classes for your wellbeing. She joined the Southampton Yoga Association since 2022.

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