To change careers from body builder to yoga teacher may be a giant leap - but it's one Danielle Nicholls has embraced and cherished.
What led you along the yoga path?
Like a lot of people, I came to yoga needing help. In the early nineties, I had 
been a competitive body builder for ten years, the toll it had taken on my body and mind was two-fold.
I had learnt Transcendental Meditation to enable me to cope with a residule depression brought on by continuous dieting and training.
Quite frankly at that point in my life, I was not interested in any new or disciplined body regime! I felt that I had punished mine enough.
Eventually, I was first introduced to Ashtanga yoga through a meditation friend and was initially very attracted, it ticked all the boxes - physical, strong, sweaty (just what I was used to) yet it seemed all too similar to my previous life.
Thankfully, I went on to discover other blends of hatha yoga with wonderful teachers who not only inspired me but helped me in my healing process too.
How long were you practising before you trained as a teacher?
Although it wasn`t always consistent to begin with, I was probably practising over a period of seven years before I began to train as a teacher.
I had initial reservations of losing my love of yoga, once I began to turn it into a job. I had been a Personal Trainer for a long time up and till then and it had destroyed my desire to train in the gym.
I was worried being a yoga teacher would do the same. After all, yoga had been my salvation, I didn`t want to let go of that.
Which training course did you do?
I trained with the British Wheel of Yoga - it took a period of three years to qualify and I appeciated that, as I felt I needed more time to explore and discover.
Even though I had contemplated being an Iyengar teacher, I thought the British Wheel would give me a little more freedom to be creative. It`s a good comprehensive course and covers all the subjects under the umbrella of yoga.
Although at the time I wasn`t grateful for all the academic work that had to be handed in every month, now I see that it was invaluable to our training.
What style of yoga do you teach now?
I usually list myself as a hatha flow teacher to enable me to be as creative as I feel. I am also listed as a yin yoga teacher through study, and various training intensives with Sarah Powers and Paul Grilley (author of the book Yin Yoga).
It gives me a wonderful opportunity to teach a Yin/Yang style on workshops and retreats. Both Sarah and Paul have been such an inspiration to me during the last six years.
I feel privilaged to have studied with some incredible teachers from both the Ashtanga and Iyengar worlds.
However I still feel that my journey has only just begun and that there is so much more out there to discover and explore. I don`t think you ever stop learning as a yoga practitioner - student or teacher.
How do you fit your own practice around teaching?
I am lucky. Being a full time teacher enables me to practice whenever is convenient. Ever since retiring from competitive body building I tend to have an aversion to strict routines!
I now listen and know my body more than ever before, so I am conscious to follow my energy levels and practise when appropriate. It may be in the early evening just before a class, or somtimes I`ll do a session in the morning, as long a my two dogs have been walked - they always come first!
What do you like about teaching?
I love the interaction between student and teacher. I teach a lot of private lessons as well as classes and it is very interesting how the boundaries change.
I also wouldn`t consider this as a job unless I thought I was able to help people in some way. I am only too grateful for the help I have received over the years, and it feels really lovely to be able to do the same for others.
What makes a good teacher?
A patient one! A good teacher will listen, be sensitive, perceptive, intuitive, and compassionate. And not lose their sense of humour!
You need to be compassionate to yourself before you can support anyone else, whether they are a partner or friend, or people who you work with.
If you can learn and achieve these qualities on your yoga mat, then hopefully they will spill out into your personal life. As for challenges, sometimes it`s not so easy to be physical when you are not feeling too well or nursing an injury, and trying to keep a contemplative nature when all seems lost with the world.
Meditation has always been a great challenge, but so worthwhile when you can stick to it!
Do you think we in the 'west' give enough time to meditation?
Absolutely not. In an ideal world, we would all be given an allocated time slot for meditation every day!
I know yoga teachers and various therapists are starting to go into the workplace to try to reduce people`s physical complaints and stress levels so maybe it will follow on that meditation teachers will do the same.
The problem is that it has never been part of our culture, so most people in the West don`t regard it as important. Things are starting to shift a bit, science has proved the benefits of meditation, now we just need to make it more mainstream.
Do you think yoga wil continue to grow in popularity in the west?
I think yoga is experiencing a huge revival in the UK. We know it has been around for a few thousand years, but everything is cyclical and it will be easy for some new therapy or exercise programme to become more popular in general.
But yoga is a lifestyle, not just an exercise programme and as a teacher it is encouraging to see it begin to get under people's skins.
Even if people lose the momentum of attending classes for a while, it still stays in their consciousness and sooner or later I find that they come back!
Most people need release away from it all and yoga can introduce us to `letting go` - not only in the body but in our daily lives. I think yoga will always find a way into our hearts, simply because it is the truth.
Is it feasible to earn a reasonable salary as a yoga teacher in the UK?
I think it depends on where you are in the country and how much yoga is in demand. In the city it is a lot easier to make a living as opposed to smaller towns, but then you have the added challenge of lots more yoga teachers available!
It can be feasible to earn a full time living, but I find that keeping a balance between private sessions and classes helps to keep me buoyant. If you have your own studio, it becomes more expensive due to more overheads and you have to make sure it is paying for itself even before you begin to make a profit.
Travelling around as a freelance instructor is less complicated but the travelling from one place to another can also be hard work sometimes.
My advice to anyone wanting to make a career out of teaching yoga is to start slowly and build up a reputation so you will always have enough students to support you.
What advice do you have for someone considering becoming a teacher?
Take your time, enjoy the learning process because it never stops. Appreciate your own practice and attending other teachers classes while you have the time for it.
When you begin to teach, it can become more dificult to visit other teachers because you are too busy teaching classes yourself! Also don`t take on too much too soon, maybe start with one or two classes a week and only take on more if you have created space for them.
Teaching yoga is a wonderful job and like any job, it can have its pitfalls, but, God willing, I will never do anything else now!
_0.jpg "Dancer Pose: Nataraja")
