We caught up with the brilliant and insightful Noemie Fontenelle a few weeks ago and have shared our conversation below.
Noemie, appreciate you joining us today. Let’s start with the story of your mission. What should we know?
I’m a Yoga teacher and Thai massage practitioner offering sessions in Stroud, UK. My mission started through my own journey with Yoga at the tender age of 15. Yoga found me, you see?! Classes were offered as a PE activity at my school and, though, I wasn’t conscious of it at the time, I must have felt it would be a welcomed escape from the more competitive styles of sport. I had suffered with a difficult relationship with my body and Yoga was definitely less intrusive and exposing than other sport. There was something challenging yet also a familiarity to the movement and philosophy. Though, my practice started as a physical one, across the years, it helped me develop a more compassionate relationship with my body and inner world. It’s my personal struggles that have inspired me to step into teaching; I’m passionate about how Yoga brings depth to our everyday experience supporting us to feel more empowered, conscious and intentional.
Noemie, love having you share your insights with us. Before we ask you more questions, maybe you can take a moment to introduce yourself to our readers who might have missed our earlier conversations?
My intention is to provide a space where students are guided into a state of greater presence so as to nurture a meaningful dialogue with their inner world. My classes are a coming together of Yoga philosophy, mindfulness and movement that is deeply inspired by a somatic lens – an approach to movement that puts greater emphasis on feeling over form, allowing students to remain present to their lived experience. For me, movement is a gateway to the inner self and a platform for self-inquiry. In my opinion, the goal of your practice is not to get into “the next best Āsana (posture)” but to allow it to be a pathway where the story of who you are unfolds.
Learning and unlearning are both critical parts of growth – can you share a story of a time when you had to unlearn a lesson?
To please everybody is impossible. It’s a scary lesson to learn in a market that is so saturated. When I first started teaching in 2016, I tried to do just that – to be everything for everyone. I followed the trends teaching dynamic almost fitness-like classes that had nothing to do with the true intention of Yoga. I was tired, stressed and burnt out. Over the years, I fined-tuned my awareness of when my energy felt held and abundant, against when it felt depleted and contracted. It’s true my embodied experience that I started teaching from the inside-out and showing up for students in what feels like a more genuine way.
Let’s talk about resilience next – do you have a story you can share with us?
I would say going full-time as self-employed in a post-pandemic world, during an energy crisis and recession has been challenging, to say the least. I wouldn’t have been able to remain in business if not for the help of family and friends and for having some financial security behind me. The support of family and friends has been fundamental to the growth of my business and, whilst I also believe a certain level of financial stability is necessary in the teething period, being consistent in showing up has also been crucial.
I love what I do and I have been fortunate to build an incredible community of people around my offerings and feel so rewarded showing up for everyone who either attends a class or books a massage.
Contact Info:
- Website: www.noemieyoga.com
- Instagram: noemieyoga
Image Credits
Courtenay Pipkin Sunshine Massage School