Meet The Team
CLAIRE WHALLEY
Founder and Director
It was as a mother of young children with a full-time, job in television that I started to realize the extraordinary health benefits of yoga. In yoga I found a tool which was always available to me — whether in the yoga class or outside — to energize, bring positivity where there was negativity, to calm anxiety and stress and to help with insomnia. I have found that it has also been an invaluable help while transitioning through the menopause. Through different yoga postures, breath work, meditation and mindfulness, yoga helped me re-evaluate my life and realize how important the relationship between body and mind is, and to focus on the things that matter most.
Having practiced yoga for 30 years, I decided to train as a teacher so that I could share the life-enhancing benefits of yoga. Since qualifying with The Yoga Campus, London, I have taken many specialist therapeutic yoga trainings and have completed over 500 hours of training. I have taken yoga into cancer recovery, palliative care, mental health, back pain and many other conditions including Long Covid and teach yoga to the local communities of Bethnal Green and Finsbury Park as well as working one-to-one, and run therapeutic yoga retreats in the UK and overseas. The Yoga for Life Project is the culmination of this - my yoga journey thus far.
PUCK OLIEMANS
Outreach Coordinator & Content Creator
When I was 14, I started doing yoga and fell in love with it. I experienced how beneficial yoga could be for my physical and mental health while growing up. During my Psychology degree, I developed an interest in Health Psychology and holistic approaches to health. Moreover, I have experience in working in fashion, social media and PR. After moving to London, I became one of Claire’s students and heard about TYFLP. I decided to join the project as I strongly believe in the cause and want to share the benefits of yoga with as many people as possible.
TRUDI OLIVEIRO
Teacher Training Director
I've had an extensive career working in campaigns, marketing and operations for organisations such as the Commission for Racial Equality, Walt Disney Theatrical and Alan Yau restaurant group. Threaded throughout has been a simple love of yoga which I feel has not only steered but kept me steady for over 25 years. Initially, yoga was just a way to unwind from a day at work but later it developed into something I really wanted to share so I decided to become a yoga teacher.
I've been teaching now for over 16 years and a teacher and studio manager at Yoga Place E2 in Bethnal Green (East London's oldest yoga studio) until it sadly closed its doors after 18 years in 2020.
I believe it is more important than ever for yoga to be a welcoming, inclusive and accessible environment for everyone - which is why the work and initiatives being led by The Yoga For Life Project feels so crucial to me. My current role is co-ordinating their Revival Yoga Teacher Training Course. It's the first fully funded UK initiative to train and qualify young ethnic minority people (18-30yrs) to teach yoga and mindfulness in schools and BME community hubs across London and it's been such a privilege to be part of something so special.
Trudi trained with The Life Centre (Yoga Campus) and also Barbara Gordon and Nora Belton. She is British Wheel of Yoga accredited and a registered Senior Yoga Teacher with the Yoga Alliance Professionals.