Sue Cheung is a yoga and mindfulness meditation instructor with over a decade of expertise instructing at a few of London’s hottest studios. In 2023 Sue certified as an Integrative Change Worker with the Ethical Coaching Collective and as a licensed Life Coach with the Life Coach School.
Tell us a bit about your self…
I used to be born and raised in Toronto, Canada and moved to London in 2005. I’m a yoga & meditation instructor with over 13 years instructing expertise. I just lately skilled as an integrative life coach, which has been a variety of enjoyable. I’m a eager pupil and at all times seeking to be taught extra. For me yoga, meditation and training are all types of change and liberation work.
What does a typical day appear to be for you?
First factor is hitting the bottom working by getting the youngsters prepared for college!
Then relying on the day, I’ll begin with a little bit of qigong and meditation, earlier than transferring on to admin/content material creation, then I’ll head off to show and accumulate the youngsters from faculty. Other days it’s straight to instructing with all the above within the night.
Meditation and motion are non-negotiable. Sometimes it’s a forty five-minute barre/energy class, others it’s 10 minutes mendacity on my mat!
How did your yoga journey start and what impressed you to develop into a yoga instructor and life coach?
I began working towards within the early 2000s. I used to be volunteering at a neighborhood TV station and Rodney Yee was one of many friends. He was selling his e book, Yoga: The Poetry of the Body, which I purchased and swiftly devoured. I canine-eared the sequences, and mirrored the images whereas barely wanting on the directions. I keep in mind downdog feeling excruciating! Then I went to my top notch at a neighborhood gymnasium in Greenwich in 2005 and I by no means appeared again.
A significant turning level was in 2011, after I was on a retreat with Jean Hall, and she or he requested me if I’d be eager about instructor coaching. It felt just like the sky had opened up and there have been angels singing!
I took the plunge and did my first 200-hours with Jean Hall and Mimi Kuo-Deemer. Since then, I’ve accomplished my pre & postnatal coaching with Nadia Narain, 300-hours with Jason Crandell, Mindfulness Meditation with Cyndi Lee and Intermediate Trauma-Informed Yoga & Somatics with Collective Resilience.
I had my first teaching expertise in 2022 with the good Maisie Hill. I used to be so remodeled by the method that in 2023 I certified as an Integrative Change Worker by the Ethical Coaching Collective and as a licensed Life Coach with the Life Coach School.
During my teaching periods I work with the unconscious thoughts, use somatics, mild hypnosis, and thought work. It actually is dependent upon what arises within the second, however there’s at all times a change.
Whether I’m instructing a yoga & meditation class or teaching a shopper, I view it as an actual privilege to have the ability to share these practices and instruments for consciousness and transformation.
What impressed you to concentrate on your observe?
Lockdown.
On a person, micro-stage, early within the pandemic I used to be made redundant from my company job. There was nowhere to go, so I sat and meditated. I might additionally usually sit and cry, however the steadiness of the observe helped me to beat the ache. And in hindsight, I believe it was the universe’s approach of telling me it was time to maneuver on and make change elsewhere.
On a collective, macro-stage, the demise of George Floyd, the BLM motion and the anti-Asian racism within the US had been pivotal moments. It sounds ridiculous, however it was the primary time I totally realised I used to be Chinese! In response to those occasions, I started my anti-racism research with the non-revenue organisation Off the Mat into the World and just lately was a part of a 9-month communal consultations program hosted by the Education of Racial Equity facilitated by Resmaa Menakem, Ja Young Ahn-Williams, Jennifer Lee Koble.
My instructing model has advanced and I now train by a trauma-knowledgeable lens, which is admittedly folks-knowledgeable. It recognises our humanity and invitations us to think about all that has formed us. It has made me a way more compassionate instructor and coach.
How have you ever seen your observe profit your college students?
I’d say turning into extra conversant in their breath. Remembering it as a useful resource that’s already inside and not one thing they should “exit and get”. That our breath may be like our homebase, bringing us again to the current second.
Also they’re extra embodied. Even if it’s simply during class. That they’ve introduced their minds again into their our bodies. Building on the reminiscence or imprint to allow them to maintain coming again. Which may be fairly highly effective as we spend a lot time in our heads or on our telephones, being “disembodied”.
What is your favourite quote or life motto?
“Slowing it down is a revolutionary act” by Resmaa Menakem. It was mentioned within the context of Somatic Abolitionism and therapeutic racialised trauma, which I really feel is essential to acknowledge. I remind myself of it each time I really feel the urgency and stress of life.
Oh and might I share yet another please?
“Each of you is ideal the best way you might be … and you need to use slightly enchancment.” by Suzuki Roshi.
What’s developing for you in 2024?
There’ll be extra yoga & meditation workshops and retreats within the second half of 2024, however in the intervening time I’m focussing on my teaching enterprise. Specifically, as a Marketing Coach for BIPOC Wellness Practitioners.
I studied Marketing and International Business in University and I’m lastly getting to make use of what I realized to create one thing that feels aligned to my values. The likelihood to mix this data with teaching to uplift and assist a gaggle of individuals, whose work impacts their college students’ and shoppers’ lives, is tremendous thrilling! My hope is to assist them create a ripple impact of their communities and past.
To spend a bit extra time with me as a meditation instructor, you may obtain my meditation HERE.
Or if you wish to expertise a few calming methods I take advantage of with my teaching shoppers, you may strive them out HERE.
My web site is: https://www.suecheungyoga.com/
Instagram: @suecheungyoga