Health hero

ANN MARIE JOHNSTON, 41

There’s a common misconception that yoga is just about exercise, but it is very much a preventative health discipline.

A simple yogic breathing exercise gave Ann Marie the first moments of calm her busy brain had ever felt. She had no idea where that “aha!” moment would lead...

Back in 2008, mindfulness didn’t have the traction it does these days.

If someone said anything like, “Go and still your mind,” it sounded crazy. But I took a seven-day yogic breathing course, and I remember thinking, “Oh gosh, I can stop the chatter in my head!”

It was like a lightbulb moment of discovery.

The more I practised yogic breathing, the more I noticed this profound shift in me. The depression I’d battled for so long was lifting, and other things started changing as well. After a lifetime of headaches and irritable bowel syndrome, these things too started to ease.

So my introduction to yoga was quite different to most people’s. I didn’t go into a gym or studio; I saw yoga through a very different lens.

It started this huge journey for me. I was working in the wine industry and I was so passionate about my job, but I ended up making this huge shift over into the yogic space. I took yoga teacher training as I just wanted to understand why it had such physiological and mental benefits.

I got halfway through my training and then I realised, this is too powerful for me not to share.

There is this common misconception that yoga is just about exercise. But I want to educate people that yoga encompasses so much more. It is very much a preventative health discipline. Yoga therapy is now my passion.

The free app Yoga for Better Health, which Ann Marie has just launched, provides gentle and therapeutically beneficial yoga practices, as well as a directory of credentialled yoga therapists. Available for Apple and Android.