Hello, I'm Pen Turnbull

I believe it’s really important to feel a sense of connection with your yoga teacher, so I thought it might be helpful to share a little bit about me and how yoga and meditation changed my life.  

 

As I headed through my 40s I was a stressed, anxious, exhausted, people-pleasing control freak with few boundaries and little sense of who I was and what I really wanted from my life. I was running myself and my relationships into the ground. I was rarely ever in the present moment, instead I bounced between worrying about past and stressing about the future. The arrival of peri-menopause brought a whole new level of emotion into the mix.  It wasn’t pretty.  I wasn’t happy.

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In early 2019, the year I turned 50, I had my ‘dark night of the soul’ when it looked like everything was finally crumbling down.  It was an incredibly difficult time but it was also the wake up call that I needed to find a different way to live my life. 

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I was so fortunate to have support to take a month off work and have time away from my family responsibilities so I could book myself on a yoga teacher training course in Thailand. This was something I’d felt drawn to but I could never find the time or motivation to make it happen. Despite the nerves and the self-doubt, I’m so glad I took the risk because it changed my life.  Excuse the cliche, but I came back having found myself and my purpose. I started teaching yoga straight away and I haven’t stopped since.

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My yoga and meditation journey has continued and I’ve trained in Menopause Yoga (with Petra Coveney), Yin Yoga (with Bernie Clark), and Yoga Nidra (with Melanie Cooper).   In 2022 I completed a 9 month, 300hr meditation and mindfulness teacher training programme with the amazing Sarah McLean. 

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In the process I have become happier, grounded and content, more loving and compassionate, and I now feel a sense of authenticity that was missing for years. I love my life.  It feels natural and easy and joyful to be myself.  Of course there are still challenging days, sad days, ‘blah’ days, and anxious days, but they no longer overwhelm me.  Just like the weather, I know that my thoughts and feelings and emotions are transitory - they’ll blow over and the blue sky will reappear!

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I would love to share more of my story with you, to show you how simple it can be to make meaningful changes to the way you live, the way you feel, and the way you experience the world.