Find out how it all began, meet the team & see where all the magic happens.
Welcome to LANO Yoga
OUR STORY
We met seven years ago when we both ended up in the same Bikram class in Brighton. Like most, hectic lives and frustrating injuries led us through the studio doors in search of ways to heal our bodies and give our minds some TLC too. It didn’t take long before Karl went off to certify as a Bikram teacher, and only six months later Neil decided to follow suit!
For a few years we jet-set around, teaching in different studios, countries and climates. But soon we started to build ideas about a space of our own- a community space, with multiple styles of yoga, from the physically challenging to the fully restorative, that could be a safe, accessible environment for everyone and anyone. And so LANO Yoga was born! In February 2015 we moved into LANO Chichester, and only three years later LANO Southsea arrived.
We are so grateful to all the students and teachers who have helped us build the thriving community that LANO has become, and are incredibly excited to be all evolving together!
Our Studio in
Chichester
Go through the glass door to the second floor to discover LANO Chichester, a dedicated yoga space with a light and bright studio with capacity for 30 + students. The studio can be heated for the hot classes or not for the unheated ones. There is a community space within the reception and full changing facilities with showers for Ladies and Gents. A perfect city centre space to Look After Number One.
Our Studio in
Southsea
This prominent space on Elm Grove is like the Tardis! LANO Southsea has two studios; one hot and one not. It has treatment rooms, an outside courtyard, changing facilities for all, a reception area and a community space that we can all be proud of. LANO Southsea really does have an incredible space for all your yoga needs.
Meet the Team
Bad knees, bad back and a busy mind led me into my first Bikram yoga class. I was scared and totally unaware about what I was about to do. It was not easy, but definitely a unique experience and I wanted to go back. I noticed the benefits and change in my attitude after only a few classes and I couldn’t stop. Just one year later I qualified as a Bikram Teacher and was soon to be teaching in Brighton, Edinburgh and San Francisco. Yoga changed everything for me. Without realising it, I was Looking After Number One.
I first came to yoga about 18 years ago, and back then it was a purely physical thing. However, after a series of different traumas I started to fall into the hold of depression was at a very dark place in my life. It was through the combination of yoga, therapy and medication that I began to see the light at the end of the tunnel. I slowly started to build up strength and retrained in the holistic world of therapies and embraced yoga with a whole new outlook. Through focussing on breathing and calming my mind, I found that my practise was taken to a new level and yoga started to become a lifestyle. I then travelled around South East Asia for five months and trained with some of the most experienced teachers from around the globe. My teaching style works with connecting the breathe with movement, creating stillness through mediation and retraining the diaphragm to breathe more effectively and create space in the body. I like to incorporate positives affirmations into my classes and if your lucky your get a cheeky little head massage at the end of the class!
I initially decided to try yoga as a way to manage stress and anxiety. My first class was pretty different from what I had anticipated, but above all else I was left intrigued, so I kept going back. Consistently practicing led me to feel stronger in my body and more secure within myself, and though it wasn’t a cure-all for stress and anxiety, it helped me learn how to navigate them in a more manageable way. I am trained in Forrest Yoga, which drew me in as a challenging, therapeutic and ever-evolving practice. It is through this that I hope and aim to create a space in which people can be curious and explore what it means to live in their mind and body.
Kat has been involved in dance and sport from an early age, completing her BA (Hons) in Dance Theatre at the Laban Centre, London in 2000. Introduced to yoga in a gym to supplement her dance training, her formal study began much later with Jana Appleyard in London in 2006. Kat was fortunate to be an apprentice of Jana’s, studying and practicing the Shadow Yoga method for five years.
Kat completed her Yoga Teacher Training in Bali in 2015 with Zuna Yoga which has its roots in Tantra. Her classes follow this system with an emphasis on the breath work, asana, bandha, pranayama and meditation. Carefully and specifically crafting each sequence for a meaningful journey and outcome.
Kat strives to give people the yogic tools to live a happy, healthy, joyful life, to thrive and be a more powerful individual in the world.
Kat completed her Yoga Teacher Training in Bali in 2015 with Zuna Yoga which has its roots in Tantra. Her classes follow this system with an emphasis on the breath work, asana, bandha, pranayama and meditation. Carefully and specifically crafting each sequence for a meaningful journey and outcome.
Kat strives to give people the yogic tools to live a happy, healthy, joyful life, to thrive and be a more powerful individual in the world.
My love for yoga began in 2002 whilst on a backpacking trip in Thailand. I found myself in a yoga retreat on a beautiful beach and never looked back. Beach and yoga resonate in my soul, we were meant to be together. Ever since, I have travelled the world exploring and deepening my practice. I spent a year in India, staying in a number of Ashrams and have also practiced in Hawaii, Costa Rica and various other far flung places. In 2006 I handed in my notice as a psychology lecturer to run a windsurf yoga centre in Cabo Verde. Since having children I am now settled here on the South Coast and thoroughly enjoy teaching yoga including ante/postnatal as well as running a yoga teacher training course.
I have practiced yoga in various forms since 2014. I was training in professional dance performance, and after numerous injuries decided to take some time away. Yoga provided a platform to aid my recovery, both physically and mentally.
I believe that yoga can bring so much valuable self awareness that I felt compelled to share. So, In December 2017 I travelled to Bali, Indonesia, and trained in Tantric Hatha with Zuna Yoga. I gained a deep understanding of the internal energetics of the body (prana), a full yogic breath (agni raj) and whole body coordination (vyon) and how to blossom into your fullest potential on and off the mat.
Yoga is part of my daily life. I’ve been practising yoga since 1996 and teaching since 2006. It took a while to make sense, repetition over time, but slowly and surely its changed my life. Like so many other people, its helped heal my spine, changed my body, improved my focus, cleared my mind, and opened my heart.
Teaching is a pleasure, I learn something every time and I am constantly inspired by the changes I see in people, the injuries that improve and the incredible focus that develops. All you have to do is turn up.
Teaching is a pleasure, I learn something every time and I am constantly inspired by the changes I see in people, the injuries that improve and the incredible focus that develops. All you have to do is turn up.
I have been practicing yoga for nearly 30 years and was trained by the British Wheel of Yoga. I have had many teachers over the years and have been influenced by many styles.
My classes are structured to always include breathing practices, relaxation as well as a well thought out, mix of posture work (flow and static), some for developing strength, some for flexibility, some for balance and some for relaxation. I believe in the saying ‘flexible spine flexible mind’ and aim to take the spine through its full range of movement keeping it healthy and supple. I also like to encourage a sense of fluidity through the whole body, freeing it up so that energy can flow keeping us free from stresses, blockages and restrictions.
My aim is to create a safe relaxing, environment in which people can come to explore their bodies, be with themselves, getting to know their self, have a good move about, stretch and relax.
My classes are structured to always include breathing practices, relaxation as well as a well thought out, mix of posture work (flow and static), some for developing strength, some for flexibility, some for balance and some for relaxation. I believe in the saying ‘flexible spine flexible mind’ and aim to take the spine through its full range of movement keeping it healthy and supple. I also like to encourage a sense of fluidity through the whole body, freeing it up so that energy can flow keeping us free from stresses, blockages and restrictions.
My aim is to create a safe relaxing, environment in which people can come to explore their bodies, be with themselves, getting to know their self, have a good move about, stretch and relax.
I came to yoga in 2012 when I was finding work too stressful and I needed a release. Work was all consuming yet unfulfilling. It made me anxious and I needed a way to reconnect to my body. Yoga gave me a sense of empowerment. I felt like I was finally in control of something - my physical being and my mental wellbeing. It restored my confidence and made me feel great. Once I found yoga restored me physically and mentally, I decided to become a teacher to show others they too could find tranquility through yoga. I trained with Triyoga, London and I’m an Anusara inspired yoga teacher. Anusara focuses on the alignment of the body, flowing through sequences and reconnecting you to your breath.
I love squash, tennis, swimming and walking but when I started to practice the Bikram sequence it proved completely addictive for me, both physically and mentally. Neil and Karl supported me to go to training and I became certified to teach in May 2018. Not only is yoga a great complement to any athletic discipline, it is energising, empowering and quiets the mind. For me, it is a moving meditation that gives me a calm oasis in the midst of life’s challenges. My lovely mum has practised yoga all her life and still goes to class at 82 years old! She is my inspiration! I’m never going to be on the cover of a yoga magazine holding the perfect pose, but when I’m practicing regularly I feel better. I know I’m a better wife, mother, teacher - a better me! It’s not about being perfect, it’s about being the best we can be.
I am a mover, shaker and thinker, and yoga provides a platform for all three. My yoga journey began during my first class at Lano and since then I have been completely immersed. Yoga has become pivotal to my sense of self, and my own evolving practice underpins both my teaching and the wider context of my life. My disciplined and expressive approach to teaching yoga stems from my background in contemporary dance. Finding creative means of incorporating traditional yogic poses and concepts into new ways of exploring movement is what forms the foundation of my vinyasa based classes. I am passionate about movement, and the way it can connect us to our physical bodies and encourages us to live as our fullest selves.
My first experience of yoga was in my living room with a humble DVD (before the greatness of YouTube classes) when I was 18. But it wasn’t until 2009 when I was I was 20 that I attended a real-life class. I was being treated for anorexia in a specialist inpatient unit and the only form of exercise I was allowed to do was yoga. Having been an over-exerciser for months, I was fairly resistant at first as it forced me to slow down, go inwards and really connect to my body. It bought up feelings of vulnerability and pain, however, through a consistent practise, yoga has allowed me to gain an appreciation for my body and recognise how truly phenomenal the human body’s resilience is. Yoga has helped to improve the severity of my osteoporosis and has pulled me through so much, including body dysmorphia, depression and grief. Yoga is my safe place to be authentically me. I am so happy to be part of the management team and ridiculously excited to start Forrest YTT in March 2019.
The story goes: a high pressure job and realising spin classes and high intensity training was just not doing it for me anymore. I discovered yoga- allowing myself to just be on the mat for whatever little time I thought I had in my busy schedule. And so the seed for transformation was planted. Yoga gradually healed my old wrist, knee and back injuries, and helped me deal with my head so often working on overdrive. Becoming a yoga teacher was soon the only path forward to share my story and help other stress addicts. I trained in Baptiste inspired hot power vinyasa- an all accessible practice keeping body fit and bringing focus back to being the best versions of ourselves on and off the mat.