Aisha Nash left a career as an award-winning pastry chef, working in Michelin starred restaurants after the stress of the job caught up with both her body and mind. After practicing with her mum as a child, she re-discovered yoga as a way to rehabilitate after an injury and she hasn’t looked back since. Aisha wanted to share the practice that helped her be entirely content with exactly the person she is, but found that she didn’t feel like she fit the mould of a yoga teacher that studios were looking for, so she has worked hard to create a safe space for anyone who might have similar experiences walking in to a yoag studio. Aisha now teaches classes that are focused on inclusivity, diversity and self love, with what she calls her Anti-Diet Yoga Approach. We caught up with her to hear about her journey and also what lies ahead.

Can you tell us a little bit more about your journey and what brought you to yoga?

I got off the bus at the wrong stop and found a Yoga studio…

All kidding aside, I had been doing Yoga on and off since I was a kid – thanks to my mum.

When going on sick leave from being a chef, I was in a cast and barely able to walk a few steps unaided. I needed to rehabilitate my body and as I had previously practiced Yoga – I attended the gentlest Yoga classes offered near me.

This led to me feeling better and eventually realising that I did not want to go back to being a chef. It was a joyous experience – however it bored me. Three months of the same dessert menu is mind-numbingly dull.

So I signed up for my first Yoga teacher training – the rest is history.

You left a world with a lot of stress and high-pressure, do you have any advice for anyone who’s in a similar job or situation?

Unfortunately I’m an incredibly practical human being – so unless you have the financial means to do so, maybe don’t just up and quit.

If you are unable to leave the situation, I’d advise you to work on setting boundaries between you and your work, seeking out mental health care, in any way you can afford and prioritise your health in any way you can.

If you can leave the situation, also learn the art of saying no, seek out mental health care in any way you can and take care of your body – it’s been through a lot.

After deciding that you wanted to share and teach yoga, you realised you didn’t fit in at studios, what was that like?

Honestly it was horrid. There were so many times I would doubt myself, and wish I could go back to being a chef.

I thankfully had incredible people supporting me, and resources in the form of The Yoga is Dead podcast – that let me know I was not alone in this.

I truly find it absurd that a South Asian Yoga teacher was made to feel unwelcome and unwanted in an industry that profits from South Asian culture.

I realised later it wasn’t just this South Asian Yoga teacher, it’s all of us.

The industry has taken our heritage, an entire philosophy filled with scripture and ancient beliefs and turned it into a 60 minute workout filled with racist diet culture, Instagram friendly gymnastics and the misappropriation of the word namaste.

If that’s not a slap in the face, I don’t know what is.

This led you to create your Anti Diet Yoga Approach, tell us a little bit more about that?

Anti Diet Yoga is about going back to what it should be – removing the racist diet culture, ableist gymnastics, and conventional “workout” elements, and replacing these with improved awareness of and respect for our own bodies. It’s about teaching body acceptance and learning to listen to how we’re feeling – both physically and mentally.

You’ve created a whole platform where you support others struggling with their body image, how has that journey been?

Long and slow, but so very rewarding! Trying to undo some heavily entrenched views about weight stigma, “clean eating” and Yoga as a fitness class is hard work. People have been fed a steady stream of misinformation from the government down through celebrities, their GPs and fitness professionals, so it takes a lot of research and yelling from the rooftops/Instagram to get my message across. But the payoff comes whenever a person DMs me because a post has caused the penny to drop in their own mind, and they’ve realised that a lot of the pressure they’ve felt to meet certain beauty standards is actually based on pseudoscience that has nothing to do with their health or worth as a human being.

What’s next for you and where can people join your classes and workshops?

Christmas dinner with my mother in law, may God have mercy on my soul…

Currently I’m teaching via Zoom, all the details are on my website – I teach one class most days.

I’m collaborating with Tejal, the creator of ABCDYogi, for my last workshop of the year, it’s on December 11th, however the replay will be available for the next two weeks.

In January I’m planning a few weeks off to work on a Body Acceptance Coaching subscription via Patreon. All information will be shared to those on my mailing list – so if you are interested that’s the best place to be.

To learn more about Aisha and keep up with her class and workshop schedule visit her website here.