Ashtanga Love Notes Series - Rose Ann McKean, 'The Chai Sessions'
This episode is the fifth and last (at least for now!) in my short series, Ashtanga Love Notes, where I talk with friends who like me still practise and teach Ashtanga. And still love it too!
My guest and I spoke for the first time on the Chai Sessions way back in the depths of lock down and I’m really excited to have persuaded her to join me again. She’s been teaching here at MCY since 2015 and she’s the founder and principal teacher at Yoga Rose in Blantyre.
It is of course my good friend and fellow teacher Rose Ann McKean!
Rose Ann’s been practising Ashtanga yoga since 2005. As she talks about here, she first came to yoga through her original passion, teaching exercise to music, and that led her eventually to try yoga classes at the same gym. As her love for Ashtanga yoga grew she started travelling into Glasgow for morning Mysore Style classes with previous Love Note guest Cathy Moran. And that’s where I first met her!
We’ve both come a long way since then and in this conversation we talk about our yoga practice and experience over the years, and the things we’ve learned along the way.
Rose Ann talks about choosing to put her attention, energy and focus into her practice rather than letting it be somewhere else.
We talk about those difficult postures and Rose Ann tells me for her, it’s all about patience - to keep trying and not be put off, not to think too far ahead.
When I ask her about what changes she’s experienced beyond the physical practice she says:
“I’m a more grounded person…it definitely keeps me grounded in a way that I come in, I do my practice and I'm in that moment.”
She tells me she used to think she’s not a yoga person but I can tell you she’s one of the most loved yoga people I know and I couldn't even think about a podcast series called Ashtanga Love Notes without talking to her.
There’s only one Rose Ann and here she is. I hope you enjoy our conversation as much as we did…
Rose Ann is dedicated to teaching Ashtanga yoga and loves sharing her knowledge and experience with anyone who wants to learn. Her classes offer a really approachable and down to earth setting with the emphasis very much on enjoying yoga while never losing the teachings passed down from teacher to student.
You’ll find her here supporting our MCY Ashtanga community every Wednesday morning and two Saturday mornings a month (usually the 1st and 3rd weekends). She also runs regular mysore intensives which offer the opportunity to dive deeper, and the next one runs week beginning 17 March. You’ll find all the dates and details HERE.
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Until next time, thank you so much for listening!
Judi x
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‘The Chai Sessions’
Anyone who has been to Merchant City Yoga on a Sunday knows how much I love catching up with everyone over a cup of my freshly brewed spiced chai. These Sunday chai sessions really bring everyone together, a true celebration of friendship, community and connection.
I want to try and capture some of that magic and share it with you at home. So I've invited some familiar and new faces from our MCY family to chat with me over a cuppa. I'm affectionately calling them 'The Chai Sessions'.