Teachers at Yoga Junction

Yoga has been with me since childhood. I trained professionally as a dancer and took a degree in performing arts. More fascinated by the 'felt sense' of the body than the look of it, I soon discovered that, for me, rehearsals were more interesting than performance. I returned to yoga with considerable dedication and studied in several different traditions, especially the therapeutic approach of TKV Desikachar.

In 1999 I opened Yoga Junction studio in London, one of the few dedicated yoga spaces in the capital at the time. I have been teaching yoga for over 27 years now and am the author several books that encourage self-practice, including 'Yoga for You' and 'The Easy Yoga Workbook'.

Nigel Jones

Nigel has been practicing Astanga Yoga since 1992. He lived and worked at The Practice Place in Crete (now Yoga Plus) and studied with Derek Ireland for 2 years. He returned to London in 1996, where he continued to practice with John Scott. Subsequently Nigel took the British Wheel of Yoga Teacher's Diploma.

Julie de Senneville

Julie is passionate about yoga and has taught and practiced for over 20 years. After working with many different styles of Yoga, Julie retrained in the Iyengar Yoga system and qualified as an Iyengar Yoga Teacher in 2016. Julie is currently training
Julie’s classes are friendly and informative. Julie approaches each posture with clear teaching techniques to assist students to understand and explore their own range of movement. With practice students start to regain space and flexibility to areas that have been historically stiff and tight, while building up strength in areas that have been weak.
As the physical body transforms the inner journey begins with a corresponding agility and clarity of the mind-body connection.
Julie works with props to adapt the postures to suit students of varying abilities so that each student can work to their maximum potential.

Freddie Panichi

Freddie is an experienced yoga teacher, regularly teaching classes in London since 2007. She is a passionately curious individual, influenced and inspired by diverse styles of yoga, philosophies and movement modalities.
Freddie's teaching style integrates elements of applied anatomy and movement science into a steady yet unrushed flow of breath-initiated poses, which help developing mobility and, in time, can make the body flexible and strong. In particular, Freddie encourages her students to be mindful through quality of movement and attention to the breath, guiding them towards an enhanced feeling of wellbeing and a clearer sense of self.
Freddie holds a 500+hr diploma with the British Wheel of Yoga, is a qualified assessor of trainee teachers and a 60h Foundation Course tutor. She is also a Yoga Alliance Professionals accredited Senior Yoga Teacher.


  www.urbanyogini.com

As a teacher, it is her aim to help everyone to improve their yoga progressively in a safe and supportive environment.

She has been to Pune, India to study with the Iyengar family and regularly attends yoga classes and workshops herself to continually improve her practice and teaching. She is junior intermediate level 3 so has undertaken many hours of training and study.

Her classes are popular with all, and she teaches with great enthusiasm and expertise.

Meg has been practicing Astanga yoga for 15 years, starting with Nigel at Yoga Junction, then with Hamish Hendry at Astanga Yoga London, where she has been practicing daily for over 10 years. She learned to teach by apprenticing at AYL and currently teaches a full-time morning Mysore programme in London. She has travelled twice to Mysore in India – the source of Astanga yoga - to study with Sharath Jois.
Meg loves to share what she has learned from her own practice and experience, whilst following the traditional sequence. Her approach is kind, supportive and inclusive

For as long as she can remember movement - running, dancing, boxing, jumping, and eventually - yoga was when Jeni felt most alive, connected, and happy.  The birth of her daughter, Deva - a celtic name meaning divine one - spurred her on to make movement the centre of her work. After ten years working in the UK charity and public sectors - it was a breath of fresh air.
​ Knowing too well the aches and pains of corporate life - on body and mind - and the changes to your body post natally - Jeni has a passion for helping clients fulfill their longing for movement, whilst also making sure she equips them with the strength and balance needed to live their lives well off the mat.​
Her classes are a blend of movement and stillness - knowing that without moments of pause the delights of practice pass us by.

Michelle offers an open approach when teaching a Hatha style yoga class, which emphasises alignment, in order to deepen the practise. Michelle teaches tools such as grounding & yielding to enhance energy within poses. Working deeply within poses, learn to let go & create space both physically & mentally. Michelle will also teach breath work as means of anchoring in her classes & to be practised in everyday life. As a trained dancer Michelle has always enjoyed movement & even through dance recognised the therapy that movement gives. To leave the class with a sense of enhanced wellbeing is Michelle’s aim.

Michelle has practised yoga for over 20 years & took her diploma in teacher training with Triyoga. She is a British Wheel of Yoga qualified teacher. Michelle has been teaching on a 1 to 1 basis & was teaching at Yoga Junction in 2019/20.

She holds a Master's degree in ‘Yoga Traditions and Meditation’ and is UK registered MBSR ( Mindfulness Based Stress Reduction) facilitator.
Her classes are varied with simple and effective techniques to instil a sense of curiosity and awareness enabling you to take your Yoga practice outside the studio into daily life.
All sessions end with a ten minute Mindfulness practice. 

After practising various forms of yoga over 26 years I started teaching Hatha Yoga, in the Kashmir style, 9 years ago.
Hatha is true to the original intentions of yoga, connecting body and mind to help create a centred state of lightness, spaciousness, fearlessness. Offering an antidote to everyday physical and psychological pressures, it nourishes and nurtures the whole self, bringing about transformation through building core strength of emotional resilience and freedom of movement.
My classes are suitable for all body types and all ability levels. The emphasis is on tapping into potential, exploring possibilities through slow, strong movements guided by breath – and a light-hearted approach. Through creating space in the body we open up our feelings and our mind to the resonant freedoms of childhood, and connect with our inner power to build a lighter, stronger, Self.

Karen has been teaching yoga for over 10 years. She teaches a slow flowing class where people are encouraged to move and breathe with awareness, and uses themes to give a focus for each class. Karen is also a Yoga Therapist and enjoys offering variations which allow people to find greater ease in their own bodies.

Karen believes that yoga is for everyone, irrespective of age or physical ability. She also teaches a gentle & chair-based yoga class at Yoga Junction, and enjoys bringing all aspects of yoga – including movement, breathwork, meditation and mudra – into this class.

Karen started practicing yoga over 20 years ago as a way of coping with stress. She fell in love with the grace of the practice and the way it made her feel grounded, resilient and awake.

Alisa has been practicing yoga since visiting India in her early twenties where she first began to understand how beneficial stretching, meditating and listening to one’s body can be.
She attended Yogabirth classes during her three pregnancies and felt inspired to complete the training in 2017 to enable her to help support other women experience the calm and informed births, she feels blessed to have had. Alisa is passionate about empowering women to have the best birth they can. Having worked with pregnant and post-natal women and through the births of her own three children, she has learnt that the antidote to fear is knowledge.