In this episode of The Chai Sessions I'm talking with Osteopath Gareth McGee. Some of you might know Gareth already from his anatomy and physiology sessions on our yoga teacher training programme here at MCY.

Gareth has an honours degree in Biochemistry and an MSc in Anatomy and Physiology. And, as if 8 years at university wasn't enough, he returned to studying and came out with yet another honours degree. This time a BSc (Hons) in Osteopathic Medicine and Osteopathy from the College of Osteopaths.

He's the owner of a busy osteopathic practice, Magee Osteopathy in Perth in Scotland, and I'm delighted he's taking time out of his busy schedule to sit down with me for a chat. I so appreciate Gareth’s generosity. Every time we get together, I learn something new or see things from a different perspective. In this conversation, he talks about the work he does as an osteopath, allowing each individual body to find connection again and create place and space for self-healing.

We discuss how people's view of the body is narrowing despite the volume of information out there and how that might be affecting how they think about their own bodies. We touch on pain and chronic pain cycles, and Gareth talks about the powerful concept of framing pain as protection. He shares what inspired him to work with the body in this field, including his mum's experience with back pain in his own childhood.

And we talk about yoga - his take on yoga and what it's doing for us, how and why yoga is such an inclusive practice and why it's important for yoga teachers to have an understanding of the workings of the body. He says, “It's a moving miracle and we're living and breathing and feeling the anatomy”.

When we finish this conversation, we're definitely just hitting the pause button!

I hope you enjoy listening in.

Listen below or look for 'The Chai Sessions' on Spotify, Apple Podcasts or Amazon Music. You can also watch our chat on Youtube.

Our next 200 hour yoga teacher training programme is live and in person here at Merchant City Yoga. The course starts this September and runs for one weekend a month for 12 months. If you're interested in finding out more, the syllabus and course dates are here on the website and I'm inviting potential applicants to come along to one of our teacher training weekends to meet up for an informal chat.

We also have sister CYS courses running in Perth and Surrey and you'll find all the dates and details for them cysyogateachertraining.com

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Until next time…

Judi x

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