Lisa catches up with Edinburgh-based Andrea St Clair, who brings better sleep to people throughout Scotland
Andrea is the first we’ll introduce in our Sleep Recovery Network series: we asked her how Sleep Recovery changed her long-time yoga practice, and she shared how it’s helped her through difficult times, and how she brings what she learnt to her students in Edinburgh and beyond.
______________
Andrea St Clair, Senior Sleep Recovery, yoga + yoga for insomnia teacher in Edinburgh, Scotland
Lisa catches up with Edinburgh-based Andrea St Clair, who brings better sleep to people throughout Scotland
Andrea is the first we’ll introduce in our Sleep Recovery Network series: we asked her how Sleep Recovery changed her long-time yoga practice, and she shared how it’s helped her through difficult times, and how she brings what she learnt to her students in Edinburgh and beyond.
What got you started in yoga – and then in sleep recovery?
‘’I started yoga at university in the late 1970’s, recommended by my aunt to deal with anxiety and sleep issues. There wasn’t a student yoga class, it wasn’t so well known then, but I found a class for staff. Over the years I was able to use different practices to help me sleep such as alternate nostril breathing.
Around 2010 something changed; perhaps it was my life circumstances: turning 50, hormones, and my Dad died. I started to have sleep issues that I wasn’t able to resolve. I had been a yoga teacher since 1997 and yet even with all these yoga tools at my disposal and with all my experience, I still couldn’t sleep well. I went on a teaching Yoga Nidra course in 2010, and this helped hugely in buffering my lack of sleep; however it didn’t solve the sleep issues.
In 2015, I took the Sleep Recovery course to help both myself and my students. The holistic aspect of the Sleep Recovery made a huge difference.’’
What is your top take-away from the Sleep Recovery course?
‘’It’s not a one size fits all. The holistic approach of the course considers all aspects of a person, including physical, mental, energetic and emotional, and in the context of their lifestyle & time of life.’’
How has sleep recovery changed your personal yoga practice?
‘’The sleep issue that I was stuck with was waking up in the night, unable to get back to sleep. I always had a gap in the middle of the night. I now know what to put into my day, including which yoga practices, so that this doesn’t happen; for example, taking enough physical exercise, including appropriate yoga. I factor in meditative, restorative and breathing practices as needed and I do the Simple Sleep Sequence or the Deeper Sleep Sequence every night.’’
What is your favourite pose or tool from Sleep Recovery?
‘’Doing an early afternoon restorative has become a key part of my day, the legs up the wall pose is great.’’
How do you use Sleep Recovery in your teaching?
‘’I run workshops in Edinburgh several times a year since doing the Sleep Recovery training. Many of my existing students came to these and the multi-week courses I have run. Finding studio space was difficult, so I ended up doing the multi week course at 8:30pm at night! And I’ve recently been doing day-long workshops further afield: I did one in Glasgow last year, and this February, just before lockdown, in Crieff near Perth in Scotland. I ran several free 1 hour workshops for World Sleep Day in March 2019. I also teach one to one yoga for sleep recovery, and am very keen to do more of this.’’
