When Charlie Speller set off on a retreat in Portugal five years ago, she thought yoga was a waste of time... Now she’s teaching it. MARION SAUVEBOIS reports

YOGA shmoga”- Charlie Speller was not going to be fooled into lolling on a mat teetering on the edge of a deep snooze to ethereal music.

Before she set off on her surf (and yoga) retreat in Southern Portugal five years ago, she stood firm in her decision to give the yoga part of the trip a miss.

But curiosity got the best of her and she could not resist making an appearance at the first class.

Two years later she had resigned from her six figure job as a marketing vice president in London, flown to Texas to train with a woman widely-recognised as the founder of modern yoga, and relocated to Swindon to spread its philosophy.

“I just thought yoga shmoga,” laughs the 36-year-old from South Marston. My husband Dom and I only went for the surf. All the yoga I had tried before was basically lying down on a mat under a blanket.

“But this time, it was very active; we got to do poses and balance on our hands – I couldn’t do any of it, I was rubbish. But it spurred something in me.”

Ever since she could walk, all Charlie had ever dreamed of was becoming an actress.

While in school she starred in adverts, including spots for the Oasis Centre and Sony’s Playstation. She joined Sixth Sense and performed across the region with the troupe.

She went on to study performing arts at what is now Metropolitan University in London before touring the UK for six months with the European Theatre Company.

Putting her itinerant life on hold, she applied for a temporary job to support her through the tough auditioning.

She was hired as office manager for an intellectual property services firm. Soon her life took an unexpected direction and she rose through the ranks, eventually heading the company’s public relations department.

“Living out of a suitcase was difficult. When I came back from the tour in 2002, the plan was to find an office job for three months.

“This was a good way to get a stable salary and pay my rent. But I ended up working there for five and a half years. As an actor you never know when the next job is going to come, so I stayed with the company.”

At the top of her game, she was hosting extravagant events to raise the firm’s profile, including a party on an aircraft carrier in San Diego.

She eventually hopped over to the financial sector in 2008.

To cope with the demands of her high-pressured job, she threw herself into high-impact sports, boxing and running.

Such a tame activity as yoga did not quite fit the bill. Yet, her taste of the ancient exercise form on a Portuguese beach in 2010 changed her outlook for good.

On her return, she enrolled in classes in London. Before long she was practising twice a day.

However, her enthusiasm was clouded by her competitiveness and tendency to excess. She was not approaching her practice in a healthy manner.

By the time she made the decision to train as a teacher her body was at breaking point: she had injured her hamstrings, wrists and back.

“It made me feel really good and I got obsessed with it,” she admits. “I went into yoga in the same way that I went into boxing, running or my work. I was comparing myself to everyone else and wanting to be the best at everything.

“A hectic lifestyle, impact sports and doing yoga badly, took its toll on me. It took me injuring myself — wrecking my hamstrings, bulging discs in my back, sore wrists, burn-out — to discern the real gems of yoga… it was changing my life.

“I was putting less pressure on myself. It was just the seed of it, but it was there. After six months I started thinking, I could teach this.”

Yoga is an ancient form of exercise, believed to have originated in India 5,000 years ago, which focuses on strength, flexibility and breathing to boost physical and mental wellbeing.

When her teacher training course in Singapore was cancelled at the last minute, Charlie was pointed in the direction of another programme in Texas, run by Ana Forrest, the woman who would become her mentor.

In 2011, she flew to Houston where she lived and breathed yoga for a month.

“I firmly believe things happen for a reason. And finding Ana was not a coincidence. For me the training was a revelation. Forrest Yoga equipped me with the tools to design the life I wanted to live. On a practical level, it’s taught me how to prevent and heal my own injuries. No more pain!

“It wasn’t just about achieving a pose. It was about fitness but it was also my spiritual wellbeing. It encourages you to feel something. And it felt real for me. We’re so numbed out by the amount of information we’re bombarded with all day. We’re always being interrupted. In the class you’re given time to feel something. ”

Forrest Yoga is renowned for its focus on fostering a transformative experience off the mat and into daily life.

Touted as the yoga of the 21st century, it incorporates new or modified poses created to address modern ailments (many caused by a sedentary office-bound life), such as lower and upper back pain, neck and shoulder issues, carpal tunnel syndrome and intestinal disorders.

Back in the UK the ‘yoga bubble’ did not burst and Charlie devoted herself to the discipline, assisting with classes and eventually running her own in a Canary Wharf studio.

She quit her role as vice president of marketing in 2012, relocated to Swindon and went freelance.

By 2013, she had become Ana Forrest’s right-hand woman and has since trained teachers around the world, including Australia, South Africa, and Germany. She now acts as Ana’s commercial director as well as running her own classes in and around Swindon.

“If you had told me four years ago what I would be doing now... everything has changed.

“It’s given me self-belief, gets my blood moving.

“Now I want to help other people feel good. It’s not about just making shapes; it’s about using this shape to shift your attitude.

“It’s really empowering. I’m amazed at the human body’s capacity to heal and strengthen. Yoga is my daily medicine.”

Charlie is now based at the new wellbeing centre in Wood Street and has launched her wellness brand, Lumaia. For more details and to join one of her classes go to charliespeller.com or email aho@charlie spelleryoga. com.