About AyurvedicYogi
Joanna Webber is an Ayurvedic Practitioner and Yoga teacher who runs clinic in Bath and Somerset. She has been teaching Yoga and practising Ayurveda for over a decade in a range of settings including schools, festivals, drug rehabilitation projects, for companies and gyms. As well as a First Class BSc in Ayurveda she also has a degree in Human Sciences from Oxford University. Food has always been a passion for her, and is the way she discovered Ayurveda, through a cooking workshop. She went on to run busy Ayurvedic cooking workshops across London before completing her Ayurveda degree.
She now lives in Somerset, with her husband, two children, two dogs, two rabbits, chickens and bees. Further to having two children, she has been grateful for Ayurveda and Yoga’s wisdom regarding raising a healthy family. She is passionate about growing, sourcing and cooking local, sustainable food. She is currently writing a childrens Ayurvedic cookbook with fellow practitioner Kate Siraj. Previous to discovering Ayurveda and Yoga, Joanna worked in finance, as an ethical investment analyst.
How I came to be an Ayurvedic pratcitioner and Yoga teacher
My yoga journey began when I was 19 years old. It kept be sane whilst at Oxford University, a very stressful environment! I spent the next 10 years exploring various Schools of Yoga. After 5 years working in finance, as an ethical investment analyst, I was exhausted and quit to explore alternative ways to work. I had set up yoga classes for stressed city workers which I really enjoyed so I trained as a Sivananda Hatha yoga teacher in the Austrian Alps, which have a similar feel to the Himalayas. I’ve never looked back and love teaching in different environments such as drug rehabilitation projects, festivals, companies, health clubs, children’s groups as well as my own home where I often serve up an Ayurvedic thali afterwards for “Yoga Supper Club” or at the very least, a chai and an energy ball.
I have also completed the following yoga training: Sivananda Advanced Teachers Training Course (France); Yoga therapy for Lower Back Pain with Dr Robin Monro, Yoga Biomedical Trust (London); Pregnancy Yoga with Uma Dinsmore Tuley (Bristol).
My interest in Ayurveda was awakened as a tourist in Kerala in 1999, where I visited a very old doctor in a sleepy backstreet. He asked no questions but held my wrist and read my pulse. To say I was amazed by what he could tell from my pulse is an understatement and I made a commitment to study Ayurveda in the future. It was a very moving experience as he also ready my friend’s pulse and correctly said she had cancer, and correctly indicated the area of the body, but that there were no longer any cancer cells in her body. This has turned out to be true as she has been in remission ever since.
It took a few years more but I eventually studied Ayurveda with Manipal University. I have also undertaken further training in clinics in India (Alvas Ayurveda Hospita and Dr Marda in Pune) and the UK (Ayuseva Clinic, Brighton). I am a full member of the UK’s Ayurvedic Practitioner’s Association (APA). I am truly indebted to all my teachers along the way, and indeed future teachers as Ayurveda is a lifelong journey. I have especially enjoyed studying with Dr Vasant Lad (pictured taking my pulse) and Sascha and Rebecca Kriese of Ayuseva, who have been instrumental in me setting up my practice. Though I’m most especially grateful to the old vaidya (doctor) in the Keralan backwater, whose name I do not know.
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