Robin Catto understands people. Especially busy people. After all, during the early 1990s, he and his wife Emma both pursued high-powered careers in music and media. They know all about the stresses of work and about never having enough time to really consider and care for your own health and wellbeing. Stress-related illness is after all this country’s most common workplace ailment.
And they know for themselves how Yoga and Pilates target the common areas of tension held in the body by helping release tight shoulders, mobilise stiff lower backs and calm stressed minds. Emma and Robin know first-hand how yoga and Pilates can transform your life, because yoga transformed their lives.
The couple first met in a meditation class at university and began practising Iyengar yoga together at the Brighton Buddhist Centre in 1988. As they gradually became disillusioned with the relentless stress of their work life, they made a positive choice to explore a healthier, more fulfilling lifestyle.
They know what it is to find the right teacher. A teacher who inspires and challenges and helps you grow in your practice and in your life. They’ve discovered for themselves that to really enjoy your practice, it’s important you feel totally comfortable with your teacher. Robin has seen from his own experience how his personal practice has evolved with the changes in his own life and personality and through the influence of particular teachers. In 1991, he and Emma started going to yoga classes at an Indian cultural centre in Baron’s Court called the Bhavan Centre and discovered Narayani and Giris Rabinovitch, the yoga teachers who set up the original Notting Hill Sivananda centre. This took their practice to a new level, and they resolved to buy mats and a book and start practising daily.
Robin knows from his years of yoga experience how vitally important correct alignment is. Iyengar yoga was not a great fit for him as an intense young man of 22 years old. He didn’t have the patience for it and found it dry and boring. However, after spending all of his 30s practising Ashtanga Vinyasa yoga 6 days a week, he rediscovered Iyengar yoga at 40 and has been practising it regularly for the last 10 years. He is passionate about alignment. Not for aesthetic reasons, definitely not. But there is no doubt in his mind that incorrect alignment can lead to injury in the short and long term. You can see and hear this in the way that he teaches. He doesn’t let anything go. He is constantly watching, constantly correcting, constantly adjusting. Because he cares deeply about every individual in the class, he wants every student to get it right. He gives clear, precise instructions. He demonstrates each pose. He explains what it should feel like in every area of the body and why it needs to feel that way. So although it may not feel very relaxing at the time (it’s hard work), all the effort put in is incredibly rewarding. You come away not only with a relaxed glow, but also knowledge in your body and mind that you can put into practice over and over and over again.
After qualifying as yoga teachers in India in 1997, Robin and Emma returned to London in 1999 after three years backpacking around the world, just in time for an explosion of interest in yoga. They joined the team of teachers at the newly opened triyoga centre in Primrose Hill and began to build up quite a following. Very soon they had more requests for teaching than they were able to handle on their own. Having been a music agent in his past life, Robin had experience of managing highly creative, skilled people, so he and Emma formed Breathe Yoga and Pilates in 2000 to offer a bespoke service sending top quality yoga and Pilates teachers to people in their homes and at work.
We’d travelled all over the world and been taught by some amazing teachers. We’d gained experience in a wide range of yoga styles and holistic therapies. We came back to London with our heads full of plans to find a massive yoga explosion in the UK. Everything fell into place. There was a huge demand for private yoga lessons at that time and I knew plenty about marketing. We had more work than we knew what to do with and, reluctant to turn any of it down, by that Christmas, we were so burnt out and ill that we had to spend several weeks in bed. Breathe came about in response to that, really. I could see myself becoming an agent for yoga and Pilates teachers in the same way that I’d been an agent for musicians.
And so, Breathe. What is Breathe exactly and how does it work?
Breathe is based on the foundation that yoga and Pilates are for everyone. Even the super busy ones out there.
If you are too busy to get to class, then Breathe can arrange for a teacher to come to you at your home, office or hotel. If you can’t find a class to suit you, then Breathe can match you with exactly the right yoga or Pilates teacher for you. A teacher with a flexible approach to your ability, schedule and personal needs.
There’s a right level and style of yoga and a right yoga teacher out there for everyone. A style tailor-made especially for you, possibly blending elements of different styles to meet your needs and ensure you get the most from each session. Breathe operates a personalised rather than a computerised approach when it comes to pairing a client with the right teacher from its network of highly qualified, fully insured, handpicked instructors. Every teacher is known to Robin and Emma. Every teacher has to successfully teach and impress Robin or Emma before they can become a Breathe instructor. Robin talks to and listens to every new client personally – there is no automated online booking system – because he believes that is the best way, the only way, to select the perfect teacher to meet the needs of each individual. Time taken paying attention to every detail when assessing the needs of each client is time well spent.
Breathe organises bespoke yoga and Pilates classes and other holistic treatments when and where you want them. Quickly and easily. And there’s one set fee – £70 per hour – whether you want a one-on-one session or know a group of family, friends or colleagues who are keen to join you in a class.
Robin and Emma Catto have built Breathe up based on their own extensive experience. However, there is still learning to be done along the way and Robin is still learning from experience today.
I’ve learnt the hard way that you should never judge a teacher by their practice. You may see someone with the most amazing practice but that doesn’t necessarily mean they’re a great teacher. That’s why I have to see every teacher in action, teaching me, before I will feel confident sending them out to a client.
And then you should never assume that just because someone is great in front of a class that they will be comfortable teaching a one to one session. It’s a very different experience for the teacher as well as the client.
And finally on a personal level, we’re learning from our day to day experience how to manage our lives and our yoga practice and teaching now that we have a young family and all the responsibilities that come with that.
And with that, Robin puts on his helmet and unlocks his bike. He’s off home to see the family before popping out to play football with his mates. He’s working out what works best for him and his family.
Just like each one of us is doing each day.
Each one of us is learning from experience.
For more information visit Robin’s website here.
