Yoga Teacher, Joy Le Fevre

Joy is founder of, and teacher at, Yogidup. Based in Oxford, UK, her motto is ‘rise above’.  She delivers yoga classes, talks and personal instruction which inspire and lift participants beyond the stresses and challenges of daily life.  She sees yoga not only as a gift for keeping bodies fit and healthy, but as medicine for the heart and mind.

Joy has practised yoga since the 1990s, when Ashtanga (a very strong, athletic style of yoga) was popular in Oxford.  She helped found an African based charity, Afriyoga, which invited leading ashtanga instructors to teach children in township schools around Cape Town.  “I will never forget a local councillor telling me how yoga could help these children deal with difficult home lives; working as a self-help tool to rise above stress and challenge. It was a lesson on the power of yoga to extend beyond the mat and into our everyday lives”.

Going on to train in other styles of yoga, including deeply meditative ‘Yin Yoga’ with Norman Blair and intense and challenging ‘Hot Power Yoga’ with Dylan Ayaloo and Spiralling Crow, she has adapted her practice to make it accessible and available to everyone. “Thousands of years in the making, yoga now has so many forms - there is truly a style for every ‘body’, regardless of age, fitness and experience”.

Joy also has a keen interest in holistic health, combining East and West approaches.  This is fuelled and informed by two first class degrees (one in Zoology from Oxford and the other in Chinese Medicine), some years as a practising acupuncturist and a lifetime of pursuing natural health care for herself and her dog!