Danny and his team joined me for a yoga session as part of ‘Keeping it Real’ – a campaign to show that yoga really is for everybody and every type of body. In this blog post, I share more about Danny’s story.
Who is Danny?
Danny is the CEO of Invictus Wellbeing – an incredible charity in West Yorkshire puts the wellbeing and mental health of young people and children at the heart of everything they do.
Children’s Mental Health has become a huge concern over the last few years. 1 in 6 children in every classroom suffering from a diagnosable mental health condition. The work of Invictus Wellbeing has never been needed more. To support their work, the charity launched their #BlueSomeGood campaign in February to tie in with Children’s Mental Health Week. Please do take a few minutes to check out the campaign and all the work that Invictus do. They are having such a big impact in our community.
How did yoga help Danny?
If you are familiar with the work of Invictus, you might not be surprised to hear that one thing that struck me about Danny is that he’s always on the go. He’s got such a big and key role in our community. And not only does he do such a lot within his role at Invictus, he’s also motivating his team to get the very best for the children and young people in West Yorkshire.
I am in complete awe of Danny and all that he and the team at Invictus do. It was great to have a group of their team members attend a session with me. They were really open and vulnerable – both by putting themselves in front of the camera and by stepping outside their comfort zone and giving yoga a go.
About his session, Danny said: “My head is quite overactive. What I particularly liked about the class was the chance for me to concentrate on my breathing and empty my head a little bit.” Danny also opened up about his previous experience of attending a yoga session. Sadly, he’d felt judged and out of place. I was pleased to hear that Danny felt really welcomed into the session with me. I feel really passionately that yoga is for everybody – no matter what their age, gender, body type or ability. Anyone and everyone is welcome to practice with me and sessions can be adapted to meet individual needs.
One word that Danny uses in his video is ‘life-changing’ and I think this is key. Yoga is unlike any other sport, activity or exercise. It really does stand on its own in its holistic ability to help real people, just like you, me and Danny.
What’s next for Danny?
One thing I really hope that will come from my partnership with Invictus Wellbeing is that Danny and the team will be able to share some of the things they learnt with the young people they work with. Yoga really is for everybody and has the power to support wellbeing in a such a meaningful way.
I’m really excited for you to be able to hear directly from Danny how he found the yoga experience. His video is below. If you’re interested in trying a yoga session with me, you can find out more about my yoga classes here.