About Omkari Yoga
Debbie Thomas RYT 500 IYN
Practising yoga in various traditions for over 20 years, Debbie qualified as a yoga teacher at the International Sivananda Vedanta Yoga Centre in Himalaya, India in 2009. Debbie has taught for Universal Yoga and been a lead teacher with Yogaprema, assisting on their TTC in Goa.
Omkari Yoga was born followng her receipt of her ATTC 500 hours and now delivers authentic yoga classes around Bristol.
Debbie has gone on to further study.
Level 1 & 2 ‘Radiant Child’ teacher training and has led many yoga workshops in schools.
200 hr Soma Yoga ( Soma Yoga Medicine School) with Nicole Aaarons
25 hr Restorative Yoga
50 hr Yin Yoga, TCM module
Her teaching style draws on the core teachings from the various yoga traditions she has studied over the years including Sivananda, Ashtanga Vinyasa, Yin yoga and Restorative.
Omkari Yoga has weekly classes, thematic monthly workshops, beginners courses and corporate classes
Debbie also organises unique Yoga holidays and retreats in the UK and the Gambia and Spain.
She has taught yoga at various festivals including Tribe of Doris, WOMAD and Green Man.
In 2018 Debbie was one of the UK Yoga Ambassadors invited to tour Kerala.
" My aim is to empower participants, challenging them to extend themselves on all levels, allowing a deeper connection to the transformative power of Yoga through pranayama, asana practice and meditation. Through gentle observation and sensitive facilitation, I like to encourage the development of a healthier outlook and peace of mind.
" My previous career as a professional dancer and dance teacher inspired my passion for Yoga from a range of traditions, leading me to develop an interest in the connection between movement, breath and spirituality. I love to i read the body and adapt me sessions for people of varying abilitles."
Debbie has also been leading corporate and 121 private sessions for over 8 years, bringing broad experience and knowledge to any new condition or environment.
Nieves Novella RYT 500
Nieves discovered Yoga in her 20’s, and has been practising ever since. She first trained as a teacher in traditional Hatha Yoga in Australia in the early 1980s, teaching in her local community for a few years.
After a long break from teaching and whilst travelling in Southern India in 2008, Nieves came across an independent teacher who agreed to retrain her as a teacher in the Sivananda tradition, working as his assistant in his daily program of yoga classes for international travellers in Kerala, southern India for two months. The experience was life changing, and it encouraged Nieves to enrol in an Advanced Yoga Teacher Training course at the Sivananda Yoga Vydia Peetham in India the following year, after having met one of its founders in a retreat in the UK. The wonderful guidance of Swami Govindananda Saraswati in the practice of asana, pranayama and meditation, and Swami Tatwarupananda Saraswati’s deep knowledge of the Raja Yoga Sutras and Vedanta philosophy, which he shared with generosity and wonderful storytelling skills, further fed her deep love for the practice, and the realisation of the need to share those gifts, given to her by her teachers, with other people.
Since then, and with further training to work with more specific age groups, like children and teenagers, Nieves has been teaching in the UK and in Spain in a number of settings.
Nieves’ teaching focusses on the use of the breath throughout the practice, fostering mindfulness and focussed self-exploration of body, breath and mind. The slow and mindful way to practice that is encouraged in her classes make them a relaxed and safe experience regardless of the level of ability of each student.
