Meet Veronique Gauthier

Veronique is a yoga teacher specialising in yoga for Multiple Sclerosis, Long Covid and Fatigue.

Join Veronique for a special class on Yoga for Fatigue on Tuesday 17th October, find out more and sign up here: https://www.yogamatters.com/pages/community-yoga-classes-2023

What does a typical day look like for you?

I’m an early riser. Three times a week, I start teaching at 6.30 am. Other days I teach at 7.30 or 8 am. For me, starting the day with yoga is essential. It gives me so much energy. It’s also such a pleasure to connect with my students in the morning. Even though we live far apart, online yoga has made it possible to feel like we have a small community. Connecting with my community first thing in the morning with yoga feels like a blessing.

How did your yoga journey begin and what inspired you to become a yoga teacher?

I started yoga when I was diagnosed with Multiple Sclerosis (MS) in 2000. At the time, I was a big fan of step aerobics, spinning etc but it made my MS symptoms worse so I decided to try yoga as an alternative. I thought I would hate it but I fell in love. I first joined an Ashtanga and an Iyengar class a week but over the years, I’ve tried many other types of yoga.

What inspired you to specialize in your practice?

I first trained in Vinyasa yoga but I was very curious about the therapeutic effects of yoga, especially for chronic degenerative conditions like MS. So I did an advanced training in Yoga Therapy and then specialised in neuro-degenerative and chronic health conditions. 

How have you seen yoga benefit your students?

There are so many benefits of practising yoga and Breathwork, especially if you do it at least three times a week. From a purely physical point of view, yoga helps to strengthen, improve flexibility and balance etc. We now know that when we do physical activity, all systems in the body work better, whether you have MS or not! From an emotional point of view, doing yoga helps to relax. Breathwork is also a tremendous tool to manage emotions. But I think most of my students also benefit from joining a class and feeling part of a community. They get to know each other and it’s wonderful to see these ties getting stronger over time.

What is your favourite quote or life motto?

It used to be ‘Don’t think of what could go wrong. Think of what could go right’. Now I think it is probably more  ‘C’est la vie’ but not in a negative way. More in the sense that life can be the most beautiful thing in the world. Life can also be the saddest. Life just is. Aren’t we lucky to be part of it?

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