Meet the Trainer

Libby Stevenson

Get to know our OYM Yoga Teacher, Libby

What do you do for OYM?
I teach yoga every Thursday night at 7:30pm for 45 minutes. My yoga sessions incorporate breathing techniques, meditation, poses known as asanas, gentle movement and balancing.  Many sessions focus on a menopause symptom: we explore the symptom and why it happens followed by an explanation of how the yoga in the session can help. Other sessions focus on uncurling the body from sitting or releasing tension from the body and mind.
 
How did you get into your specialist area?

It was teaching pregnancy and post natal yoga in yoga studios in London. When lock down happened, I decided to take the time off thinking we would be back to normal in 3 months. When that didn’t happen, I found myself looking for a way to differentiate myself from other yoga teachers on social media and to build a following. I embarked on  the menopause yoga teacher training with those aims. However,  I found that the benefit of teaching yoga for menopause has expanded my knowledge of women’s health and it has given me the opportunity to help other women have a more positive and healthier journey through their menopause.

What did you do before you became involved in the wellness industry?

I had a career in banking but I took time off to start a family with the intention of returning to my career at a later date. I enjoyed being a stay at home mother so much  that I chose not to return to banking. It was the best decision I ever made!

My experience of perimenopause/menopause to date:
I had no knowledge of menopause other than periods stop. I had never heard the words perimenopause or post menopause. I was not aware that there were symptoms leading up to the menopause. Having said all that, I was lucky that my symptoms were mild and not significant enough to seek medical relief. To date, my menopause journey has been a positive one: very few and manageable symptoms without HRT and I am able to help other women on their journey through yoga.
 
What has been my most significant discovery/positive experience while navigating this time:
I discovered that I can adapt, step out of my comfort zone and do it well.

Libby teaches Yoga Flow in the OYM app every Thursday at 7:30pm. To access Live classes, choose the ‘Classes’ tab at the bottom of the app and choose the Weekly Live Schedule.