Caro Feely's Yoga Journey to RYT500 Yoga Teacher

In this article, I outline how I discovered yoga, how my practice developed over time, and how I became a yoga teacher, specifically, a  RYT500 Yoga Teacher, specialised in Yoga in Nature, and combining slow flow yoga and restorative yoga. It was winding road, not a straight line, a journey to be enjoyed and that I continue to enjoy. Yoga is a friend to me, a help through stressful times. My life wouldn't be the same without it.

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I discovered Yoga in my first Pregnancy in Dublin in 2003

(this section includes an excerpt from Caro’s book Saving Sophia)

In my first pregnancy I followed the doctor’s advice and signed up to a yoga class. I was sceptical, more into running than yoga.

The teacher went down into table-top pose.

‘We breathe in as we lift our heads up and curve our bellybutton towards the floor, like a cow. And we breathe out and arch the spine towards the sky, dropping our heads down, like a cat. And in, and out. And in, and out. Keep that rhythm for another set of eight. Caro, the space between your hands should be about the width of your shoulders. And in and out.’

How could she see my hands? Did she have eyes in the sides of her chest? Whatever about her eyes, she had an incredible body, lithe and muscular, the essence of supple. Her movements and voice were calm and peaceful.

‘Before continuing our movement, I’m going to lead you in a short loving kindness meditation. This is a simple, powerful way to cultivate positive thoughts for you, your baby, those around you, and the wider world. It’s unconditional well-wishing, open-hearted kindness, to ourselves, and others. It helps to ground, and reconnect us, in difficult times. We tend to be hard on ourselves, to judge ourselves harshly. To be kind to your baby, you need to start by being kind to yourself.’

I felt like she was talking directly to me. I was pushing myself to keep up the same cadence of work and exercise as I had before. I needed to chill.

‘Find your way into a comfortable seat that works best for you. Developing a practice of loving kindness, and compassionate self-acceptance, will help you meet the challenges of pregnancy and birth. We’ll start with blessing ourselves, then our baby, then the wider world. Repeat after me. ‘May I be filled with loving kindness.’’

‘May I be healthy.’

‘May I be happy.’

We repeated each of her mantras. From there we repeated them for our babies.

‘May you be filled with loving kindness.’

Then we passed the same messages onto the wider world. There was a sense of wellness in the process of following her chant. Part of me rejected it, found it too new age, but I was surprised by the feeling of peace it provided. She smoothly transitioned from the meditation into active yoga poses.

As she moved, she explained how yoga had helped her birth four children at home with no anaesthetic. The idea of achieving this mammoth feat with no pain relief made me feel dizzy, but her brief description also perversely made me want it. I liked the sound of walking around and continuing life as normal, minutes after giving birth. Natural birth became my mantra.

Aideen’s books recommended squatting, squatting, and more squatting, as preparation for a natural birth. I read books while squatting, my feet parked out like a duck, toes just visible over my belly. I practised the poses recommended by my Wonder Woman yoga teacher. I put almond oil around the all-important exit and gently stretched it with my fingers as instructed. My body was on fire, hormones raging. They made me extremely amorous. I stocked up on the natural birth aids recommended by the midwives, relaxing oils, TENS machine and a yoga ball. I practised my breathing exercises.

Yoga was a vital skill for coping with the stress of an ICU baby after Sophia was born, the story told in my book Saving Sophia. I kept up a yoga practice for the next couple of years. But after the birth of second daughter and our move to France to create Chateau Feely, I let yoga slide and returned to running as my preferred exercise.

Then in 2015 I discovered an Excellent Yoga teacher in France

(this section includes an excerpt from Caro Feely’s book Vineyard Confessions the third book in the Vineyard Series)

On the chance invitation of my friend Isabelle, I discovered Michele of Eveil du Souffle Yoga in Sigoules. Michele is also an organic farmer, and her classes were gold dust. Yoga sessions with her became a sacred part of my week. One day she proposed a full Sunday of yoga with a visiting teacher and I signed up. I wondered if my mind and body would be able to handle it but went ahead anyway.

‘In this silent moment of “now”, of being fully present, we feel a great sense of peace,’ said Xu Yen.

His round face radiated happiness and belied his age. Yoga was clearly doing something for his longevity, health and state of mind. He chatted warmly, initiating the session with words of wisdom.

‘Enjoy every moment of life. In the depths of the ordinary moments, we find the extraordinary.’

Every few minutes his discourse lightened up and he exploded with mirth. It was so infectious I laughed, even without understanding all of what he was saying in his heavily accented French. Then, almost without us noticing, he started a sequence of yoga moves and we followed.

‘You see, we are doing nothing here. Nothing,’ he said.

It felt like nothing the way he presented it, but I knew it was something. He was a master yogi. As the day progressed, I realised my concerns had been misplaced; instead of not coping physically or mentally, I felt energy building within me. Even after a luxurious lunch in the tradition of auberge espagnole, the French saying for ‘bring and share’, I was energised. We feasted on a large vegetable soup made by Michèle, the founder of the Eveil du Souffle Yoga Association; quiches, breads, cheeses, and salads; then fruit and sweet tarts to finish. A walk around the farm lake, looking in on the dairy cows and vines of Michèle’s organic farm, eased our digestion.

As the sun set, there was joy in my core, a lightness of being. We had done yoga all day, but my body had no pain and no stiffness. I was a yoga convert. I made it my mission to do a couple of yoga moves at home a few times a week in addition to my weekly session at Eveil du Souffle. Xu Yen’s state of health and happiness was proof of what yoga could do, but it was more than that. I had less backache; I was more supple. I felt better than I had in a long time, and I was sleeping better. Yoga felt right. It felt like part of what we were about.

Then in 2019 my husband Sean said I needed a break – that I should book myself on a writer’s retreat or a yoga retreat for a few weeks. I found a four-week yoga teacher training in Biarritz and signed up.

Becoming a Yoga Teacher in Biarritz

(this section includes an excerpt from Caro Feely’s book Cultivating Change the fourth book in the Vineyard Series)

I took off on my month-long yoga adventure filled with joyful anticipation, but also a little nervous. I hadn’t been away from my family or our business for this long before. I was an intermittent yoga practitioner. Who was I to think I could become a yoga teacher? I pushed aside my negative thoughts and turned up the music to enjoy the drive.

Biarritz is a jewel on France’s Basque coast, a natural bay with three stunning beaches and a vibrant town centre, an upmarket surfer’s paradise with an ecological twist. My studio apartment in Biarritz’s St Charles quarter had wood floors and high ceilings. I felt instantly settled as I unpacked my bag and the box of organic food including homegrown vegetables prepared by Sean. It was still light, so I locked the door and skipped down the stairs for an orientation walk. The apartment was perfectly located, five-minutes from the yoga training and ten from the Grande Plage, the main beach.

It felt strange living on my own, no husband or children. I made a pot of lentils and rice, enough to last a couple of days, enjoyed a glass of red wine and read some of the recommended pre-reading. I could hear neighbours above me, walking on their wood floor, playing the clarinet, watching television. They, and the road outside, kept me awake. I was out of practice with city life. I needed earplugs.

The next morning a sign inside the door at La Maison Rouge, the location of the yoga studio, invited me to take a training manual and climb the stairs to the top floor. A small knot of people was gathered in a meeting room, glass wall on one side and large window onto the garden on the other. Our trainer, Sunshine Ross, of Awake Space, welcomed us and set the tone for our training, relaxed but strict. Her slight body and wide smile belied serious strength of muscle and character.

We were a diverse mix of wannabee yoga teachers ranging in age from 23 to me. Freya, the youngest, was already a gifted yoga teacher. She wanted to combine her university studies and yoga. Marco, the only man on the course was a gentle, strong Spaniard who wanted to give up his job as a factory foreman to become a full-time children’s yoga teacher. There was a vet, a chef, an IT professional, and someone who had worked in big pharma. Some had turned to yoga after experiencing burnout, some were already in the business in one way or another, others were there to explore. Over the month I would get to know these people, and yoga, as close friends. The course ran from 7 a.m. to 7 p.m. every day except for two of the weekends where we had some down time.

‘Before we get into the programme, I’d like to ask who is here primarily for the movement part of yoga, who is here primarily for the spiritual part, and who is here for both,’ said Sunshine. ‘First, those who are primarily for movement?’

I put my hand up. The only one.

‘Movement and spiritual?’

Most hands went up.

‘Mostly spiritual?’ One hand went up.

I was not expecting a strong spiritual side to yoga. I had started doing yoga for pregnancy almost twenty years before, then picked it up again in my late forties to improve my flexibility and for gentle exercise. I had been a keen runner and a twinge in my knee encouraged me to change tack.

As we progressed through the first week, I learned that yoga was deeply spiritual. It offered healing to mind and body. It was a practice of union of body and soul, of consciousness and infinite. It was about balance, strength, and movement, but also about meditation and relaxation.

Yoga offered ways to look after ourselves, to be better to ourselves, so we could be better to others, and to our home, planet earth. Using breathing exercises, movement, and care for our spirit or soul, we were better able to care for others. By controlling our breath, we could control our mind and our emotions.

I learnt that breathing, movement, and meditation, represented three of the eight ‘limbs’ of yoga. Yama was external discipline including ‘ahimsa’ not harming, truthfulness, not stealing, impeccable conduct and loyalty, and not being greedy. Niyama was internal discipline including purity, contentment, intensity of discipline, self-study, and mindfulness. Âsana were postures, the movement part of yoga. Prânâyâma was breath regulation. Pratyâhâra was withdrawal of the senses. A simple example was closing our eyes and looking inwards during a posture. Dhâranâ was concentration, an example was concentrating on one spot to keep your balance in a pose. Dhyana was meditation. The destination of all of this was Samâdhaya. It was oneness, integration with the universe. By meditating and following the other seven limbs, anyone could reach this state of ultimate bliss.

Each day we started with a half hour of meditation and breathing practice, then a two-hour yoga class followed by two hours of theory. After lunch, two hours of theory preceded two hours of yoga and practical teaching. Being a yoga teacher was a responsibility, to share the message to love and respect your body, to give it the required rest, care, and movement. Its message was made for me. I hadn’t done that in the previous few years, and I had paid the price. Now I was learning how to do it, and how to help others to do it too.

At that time - Cop25 which I preferred to call Cop-out 25 - and my stack of scary books like ‘Uninhabitable Earth’ were sending me into a TSA – total stress attack – a handy term my daughter Sophia had coined for when her mom freaked out. Yoga provided the stress reliever I needed.

Since then, I have discovered books that offer a gentler and more positive approach to dealing with the climate crisis. ‘Zen and the Art of Saving the Planet’ by Thich Nhat Hanh, he of sage relationship advice, is a must read. His book on Love included a foretaste of this. In it he recommended using the mantra

‘I know you are there, and I am happy about it’

beyond your loved one, for example on the full moon, plum blossoms, or an oak tree. In that moment of recognition, we become aware of the miracle in the everyday around us. He offers far more hard-hitting messages, ‘if we continue the way we are living, the end of our civilisation will be certain’, followed by ‘Only by waking up to this truth… will we have the insight and energy’ necessary to change.

I had grown up with the idea that success was a big house, a big car, a big bank balance and fancy holidays. Social media and advertisements reinforced those ideas incessantly. Now I felt like I had to rewind the tape that had been playing since the beginning of industrialisation, the one that said ‘more, more, more’ and replace it with one that said, ‘less is more.’

William Blake (1757–1827), English poet, thinker, and artist, said, ‘you only know what is enough when you have had too much.’ He also said ‘no bird soars too high if he soars with his own wings’.

There were so many messages for the climate crisis in these two quotes. Had we humans realised we had had too much? Given we had soared on other’s wings, metaphorically, using fossil fuels from another era, had we soared too high to save ourselves?

In a culture of more, it’s difficult to sell the idea of less.

Henry David Thoreau (1817 –1862), an American naturalist, essayist, poet, and philosopher, best known for his book Walden, a reflection on simple living in nature, wrote,

‘A man is rich in proportion to the number of things he can let alone.’

In yoga, this was called ‘vairagya’, let go of the unnecessary. But what we resist persists, so it is not about fighting to say goodbye to something, it is about resting on the positive. Yoga helped me manage the stress of the climate crisis. I knew it could also contribute to creating a society with more spiritual happiness, a deeper happiness than that promised by new shoes, a new phone, or a fancy holiday. I could see so much potential in it for health, joy, and the future of our planetary home.

Halfway between the yoga studio and my apartment was a tiny organic shop with local producers and bulk bins that included favourites like lentils and dried figs. It was my preferred food shop. For lunches out, an organic café ‘Nuts’, was my go-to destination, and became a client for Feely wines. Their fresh juices were like a shot of cosmic energy.

Freya, the young yoga guru, Cora, the vet, and I, grooved a habit of taking a swim at the Plage du Vieux Port every couple of days. It was a small beach, a little larger than ‘our beach’ in Vernazza, but with the same feeling, protected by a head and surrounded by breath-taking views. On Sunday afternoon I headed down to swim. Surrounded by the local ‘polar bears’, members of an association of swimmers, ‘Les Ours Blancs’, that braved the sea all year round, I swam out further than I usually did. From there, I could see up the coast to Spain, hills dropping to sea in lilac layers. I floated on the rollers, barely feeling the cold. A few months later Sean and I would return and swim here together.

The next day we were asked to find a sentence that spoke to us in the Yoga Sutras. My selection was:

‘Contentment brings unsurpassed joy.’

The bliss I felt in meditation was mind-blowing. Yoga was far more than movement. One morning before dawn, our class took a meditation walk from the studio to the Plage de la Côte des Basques. We walked in a long slow line, a few metres apart down Avenue Reine Victoria to the Grand Plage then up the seawall and down to the Porte des Pecheurs passing Chez Albert, where Sean and I would enjoy a romantic dinner like the ones we used to have in Dublin.

Putting one foot slowly in front of the other, the figures around me vague in sea mist and night lights, I entered a deep meditation drifting in semi-conscious bliss. We rounded the sea-cliffs past the walkway to the Virgin’s Rock then circled round our beloved Plage du Vieux Port and down to a concrete area in front of the Plage de la Cote des Basques. I could have kept walking, but Sunshine invited us to do our own private one-hour yoga class while she sat on a mat and looked out to sea.

‘Why did you do this yoga course?’ asked Mum.

‘To teach yoga,’ I replied.

When I arrived, the objective was to teach yoga movement. Over the days and weeks, I realised how important the spiritual side was. The meditation and the invitation to relax, properly relax, were sent to save me from burnout. As we shared our spiritual journeys and some of the other participants described their burnouts, I realised how dangerously close I had come.

Meditating quietly on the mat every morning gave me a stability of spirit, a sense of internal peace, that I hadn’t had. By the end of the course, my body was fitter and stronger, and my mind was relaxed. I felt like the yoga training had given me tools to know how to handle anything that came at me. I had breathing techniques like Samavritti Pranayama, box breathing, to stay calm in a crisis. My soul was nourished with spiritual practice and meditation. I didn’t know how much I would need it. The world as we knew it was about to come to a grinding halt with covid and yoga helped me cope with the stress.

Developing Yoga at Chateau Feely

During COVID, I completed a second teacher training with Yoga Renew to become a 500-hour teacher. Then I completed a Restorative Yoga teacher training to complement my teacher education. In 2022 when we could at last reopen fully I started offering one-hour ‘Yoga in Nature’ classes to guests and visitors at Chateau Feely. Using the knowledge gained from all the trainings I had followed and from the classes I taught, a year later we launched ‘Yoga in the Vines’ and Yoga Retreats including the One Day Yoga Retreat ,  Two Day Yoga Retreat  and the Yoga and Writing Retreat.

In 2026 we launched online classes that run during the low season.

I've been thinking about what makes yoga at Château Feely special — and I think it comes down to this: nature. The setting changes everything. When we practice outdoors on the edge of the vines, the ground beneath us is alive. There's birdsong, the faint smell of the earth, light moving through leaves. The body notices. There's a quality of attention that arrives almost without trying. One of my guests, Phoebe, described yoga with me at Chateau Feely as 'life-enhancing and beautifully powerful — like a spiritual holiday.' I think what she was pointing to is that yoga in this setting allows something to shift — quickly, and gently — in a way that can take much longer in an indoor studio.

Conclusion

Yoga is a journey. One of the things my teacher Sunshine said in Biarritz that has stayed with me:

The practice is about the returning, not the performing.

Every time you come back to the mat, or to the breath, that’s yoga. Always there for you, like a good friend.

If this article has piqued your interest sign up for our yoga mailing list to receive a free beginner guide to yoga - it's easy to read and written for people who are curious about yoga or returning to yoga or not sure where to start. Perhaps it can be a friendly whisper: you can do this.

• Relax and Breathe in Nature when you stay at Chateau Feely
• Book a Vineyard Walking Tour and add morning Yoga to your experience
• Experience a taste of France from home with chateau Feely virtual wine experiences.

Visit www.frenchwineadventures.com for details of the wine school and tours in the wider region. Find us at social media at www.facebook.com/chateaufeely and www.Instagram.com/chateaufeely and find Caro Feely at www.Instagram.com/carofeely .

Read the full story of our vineyard adventures in the book series; 'Grape Expectations', 'Saving our Skins', 'Vineyard Confessions' and 'Cultivating Change'.