Meet Dr Rebekah Jade – Weblog

Rebekah is a medical physician, Nike yoga instructor, wellness entrepreneur and a board member of the Yoga for Healthcare Alliance. She is the founding father of Pana, a platform and neighborhood that intersects wellbeing and tradition centring the African diaspora. After dealing with her personal challenges with psychological well being, she realized the worth of slowing down and fascinating with mind-body practices. By means of yoga lessons, retreats and occasions, she creates inclusive areas for folks to nourish their wellbeing and reconnect with themselves and people round them.   

Inform us about your yoga journey

By means of my teenagers and early twenties, I went by many cycles of burnout and poor psychological well being. I’ve all the time labored laborious, and I received to some extent after 4 years of medical college the place I wanted a break. 

I ended up on an island off the coast of Panama volunteering in a seashore hostel and dwelling with yoga lecturers for 2 months. I began practising yoga day-after-day and diving deeper into features corresponding to chakras and the eight limbs. Slowly however certainly, yoga turned an integral a part of my routine and wellbeing, and I made a decision to take the leap to do my instructor coaching. I’ve been educating for about 5 years now and have all the time cherished it.

What sort of yoga instructor would you say you might be?

I like to know and study the standard features of yoga whereas bringing in a inventive factor to current them in my very own approach. I really like welcoming new folks into yoga and creating an area the place they will really feel calm. That doesn’t all the time imply being nonetheless and quiet, however figuring out that you may simply breathe and be your self, snicker, and take a look at new issues.

Has your personal follow modified on account of your instructor coaching?

Once I began practising yoga, it was very vinyasa-focused. I believe that’s much like many individuals in London as there’s a sense of all the time being wanting time and needing to slot in train the place you possibly can. The instructor coaching was the place I found a love for slower kinds of yoga corresponding to yin and restorative. After a few weeks of normal yin follow, I found a brand new set level of calm in my physique and thoughts which I forgot existed. It confirmed me the transformational energy of incorporating these slower kinds into my follow.   

Have you ever enhanced your educating with any particular coaching or programs?

After contemplating doing a 300-hour coaching for a very long time, I made a decision to go within the course of doing shorter trainings and workshops which are targeted on my explicit areas of curiosity. This has included a course with The Good Life Yoga College exploring the facility of music in yoga, methods to finest utilise it to boost a yoga follow and produce a mixture for optimum breath management. I’ve additionally enhanced ability units corresponding to bodily changes with quick coaching periods at Mission E1. Throughout the yr, I’ve been to workshops that dive deeper into pranayama and yin yoga to deepen my understanding of those areas. 

Additional coaching is vital to proceed to develop as a instructor, nonetheless, it will possibly usually be costly. One of many key methods to develop your studying as a instructor is to repeatedly attend yoga lessons as a pupil. There’s a lot you possibly can study from different lecturers throughout a category, and having sturdy common follow as a instructor is one thing I all the time suggest. 

What has been your greatest problem as a yoga instructor?

I certified as a instructor shortly earlier than the pandemic began. This meant over the previous 4 years, an enormous portion of that was throughout COVID the place we weren’t capable of be bodily near folks or usually depart the home in any respect. One in every of my greatest challenges was re-adjusting to educating in studios and holding an area in individual, after being conditioned to educating on-line for therefore lengthy. 

It’s fantastic to be that one that will get to introduce yoga to somebody. How do you go about getting new folks to attempt it?

By means of my very own educating and platform, I believed, ‘How can I attain communities who could really feel yoga isn’t for them?’. I grew up listening to reggae so it felt very pure to include this in my follow – it’s one thing that helps me really feel calm. I created an occasion known as Dub Backyard Yoga & Picnic the place we do yoga to reggae and have wholesome Caribbean meals after class. I educate it within the park which makes it extra accessible and inexpensive, in addition to permitting us to get pleasure from nature. We’ve attendees of all ages, backgrounds, ethnicities and talents – for many individuals it’s their first-ever yoga class. Many really feel snug coming as they resonate with the meals and music, and yoga is an extra side they will attempt. It’s relaxed and enjoyable, which I believe is so vital for serving to folks come again once more.

What does a day within the lifetime of Rebekah appear to be?

I get pleasure from having range throughout my week so lots of my days look fairly completely different. On a hospital day, I’m at work for an 8 am handover from the night time crew, then see quite a few sufferers throughout the day presenting with completely different situations. On different days I may be doing a shoot or having conferences. A few of my favorite days are spent doing laptop computer work in a restaurant, ingesting tea and having fun with a lunchtime yoga class.

What’s developing for you and Pana?

I’m actually enthusiastic about just a few issues on the horizon. We’re heading to The Gambia in April 2024 for a retreat – exploring Africa and the Caribbean by retreats has turn out to be a beautiful providing for the neighborhood. We even have an internet studio opening in Autumn 2023 so you possibly can follow from residence.

Discover Dr Rebekah  

Private – @rebekahzeenajade

Web site – https://wearepana.com/ 

Instagram – @weare.pana