About
Karen Russell
Teaching various physical disciplines and helping people to a fitter healthier lifestyle has been my passion for more than 30 years. After a long career as a professional dancer, teacher and choreographer, working in some of London’s leading training establishments, I qualified as a Fitness Instructor, and worked as a Personal Trainer, specialising in weight management, pre and post natal exercise and rehabilitation from injury.
A chance meeting with a yoga teacher on an aeroplane in the mid 1990’s led me into my first yoga class, and I began to discover the joy and countless benefits of regular yoga practice. In May 2005 I completed The Life Centre Teacher Training Course (now Yogacampus) and since then, have been teaching yoga from West and Central London, through to the City, whilst continuing to study and develop my own practice. As a Senior Yoga Teacher with over 12,000 contact teaching hours, I have taught in gyms, yoga studios, homes, offices, gardens and even on construction sites, which was huge fun! I qualified as a Sports Yoga coach in 2016, and as a teacher of Adaptive Yoga for Disability in 2019. In the same year, I also completed a Meditation Teacher Training. I am a faculty member for Yogacampus Teacher Training and also a Contact teacher for the course, acting as a mentor to groups of trainee teachers.
Yoga is a huge influence in my life, however I do believe in a blended approach to fitness and also do weights, HIIT and even a bit of boxing, and now and then, a dance class. My greatest love and inspiration is my wonderful daughter, Emily, a toddler when I became a yoga teacher and now just starting university! I am passionate about, and devoted to, my friends, family, dance, Greece, and Liverpool Football Club.
I always aim to teach with compassion, physical empathy, humour and the absolute belief that I can help each individual in my class to a greater understanding of their own physique and its’ potential.
Find out about the services I offer and my in-person and online classes.
“Karen is a yoga teacher whom I go to with all my questions about yoga, injuries, random ideas and general advice. I trust her implicitly and she is just amazing.
A former ballet dancer and over 16 years qualified as a yoga instructor in various different practices, her understanding of the physical body is astonishing. She could do all the Instagrammable poses, but doesn’t and I’ve often left her classes wondering how she ‘fixed’ an injury or worry without seeming to do anything at all. ”
— Yasmin Dick – Generation Avocado