Page 78 - Natural Health (February 2020)

RACHEL BRATHEN

“When I’m VULNERABLE

I give other people

permission to be the same”

Yoga social media star and author Rachel Brathen is well-known for her openness and

authenticity. She tells Stacey Carter why she wanted to write her book and how she
navigates sharing her life with the world

Within a few minutes I wanted to put the story together for a while, something, or an epiphany about a situation, that’s
of talking to Rachel it’s just taken lots of time to do it. I’ve been when I feel inspired enough to write and I think, yep,
Brathen, you can tell writing it (the book) for almost five years. The book worthy of a post.
that she’s not someone is more than just the feeling of grief. It’s for people
who set out with the who have moved through hard, heavy and horrible I think there is such a thing as a vulnerability
intention of having things. I hope that when people read it they’ll feel hangover. I’m a transparent person and I try
less alone. and turn a problem or an issue into learning and then
people being privy to
communicate it in a way that makes people feel like
her life. In fact, she
As well as doing yoga, I run really fast after they can relate. I know that when I’m vulnerable I
tells me, she actually
my toddler everyday, which, as all mums give other people permission to be the same. Having
dislikes the word know, makes for good exercise. We have little the perfect workout, the perfect trip, the perfect kids –
‘inluencer’. She prefers dance parties around the house as well. But I always it’s not a reality that you should aspire to. No one’s life
yoga teacher, a title come back to yoga or meditation. I’m not naturally looks like that.
that’s perhaps a tad a super-calm, zen person, so I don’t sit for hours at
modest, considering her a time meditating. I try and do 20 minutes in the I think an awakening for some people can
two million Instagram morning first thing, or around my yoga practice. I find be a slow process. Having a traumatic childhood
followers, but yoga that if I make an effort to keep a consistent meditation or traumatic things happen is horrible, but for me, I
practice, then that helps my body. can see how everything happened the way it did. Our
is what weaves the
baggage shapes us and we can learn to take the trauma
themes of her new
I recognise the areas of my life where I easily and do something positive with it, rather than letting it
book, To Love And Let
get stressed. If I’m with my daughter and I eat us slowly.
Go, together; a journey have to engage in other things at the same time, that
of self-acceptance, love totally stresses me out because I don’t like to have to My biggest piece of advice to people who want
and grief. And while divide my attention between her and other things. I to start doing yoga is to not use social media
her life may seem schedule my work hours for when she’s at daycare and or the Internet as a way to find your next teacher.
idyllic she’s quick to I try and be super-efficient with my time. I feel like us Don’t be afraid to try different studios and teachers.
say that it’s not all as mums tend to multitask all day long, but actually, I get The best teachers in the world are not on Instagram
it seems. Here, she tells more done when I’m really focussed. and they’re not in their 20s. They’ve got decades of
experience studying the practice and you’ll find them
us how vulnerability
A couple of years ago I used to use social through word of mouth – trust me!
can sometimes feel like
media several times a day, now I’ll share
a hangover and why maybe one thing. I started feeling stressed
you’ll never ind the rather than feeling joyful about the community I Rachel’s book To Love And Let Go A Memoir
best yoga teacher via was building. It was almost as if I had to feed the of Love, Loss, and Gratitude from Yoga Girl
(Octopus Books) £1º1.59, is available from
Google results. beast. Now, it’s when I’ve had a realisation about amazon.co.uk

78 NATURAL HEALTH