Kerri Howland’s earliest memories of yoga are of watching her mother sitting in the lotus position on a white shag carpet on her bedroom floor chanting ‘om’. It was the 1970s.“I thought it was hilarious,” said Mrs Howland.It wasn’t until she was 18 years old and working at a summer job, that she finally understood why her mother had enjoyed yoga so much.“A girl I was working with showed me some yoga routines she had learned while in London,” said Mrs Howland. “So I got a taste of it, and I loved it.”They practised on Southlands Beach in Warwick.“We sank our toes into the warm pink sand and breathed the salty air deep into our lungs,” she said. “I fell in love with the poses and the peace I felt after practice.”When she was 30 she moved to England, had children and was living in the country when she decided she wanted to study yoga more formally. Unfortunately, there were no trendy yoga studios proliferating the landscape as there are now. She taught herself using books.“I think I was a good student because I was really paying attention to the alignment of my body,” she said. “The first book I ever read was ‘Power Yoga’ by Beryl Bender Birch. She is very explicit about getting into poses. I wouldn’t recommend that for the general public because it is tough to know how you are aligning your body in space.”She later trained with Ms Birch and others, including noted instructors David Swenson, Pattabhi Jois and Todd Norian. She accrued over 500 teacher training hours and has now been a yoga teacher and personal trainer for over 20 years. She teaches a daily community yoga class, and also teaches yoga and fitness at RenaissanceRe.“I started in the astanga style of yoga which is very athletic, then more into vinyasha which is more flowing, and then I went into anusara yoga, which sprang from iyengar which is very alignment based. Todd Norian started with anusara, but has recently created his own style called ashaya.”She will bring Mr Norian to Bermuda in March to teach yoga workshops.“He uses a lot of metaphor and it brings you into your body and heart and out of your head,” she said. “Most of us spend way too much time in our heads. Our heads are constantly in the background chattering. It is like CNN in there. Because you are breathing deeply, and moving yourself into these shapes you take a break from the head and come right into the centre of yourself. In the eye of the hurricane there is stillness. We can all find that stillness inside of us.”To illustrate this concept she often brings a glass of murky water to beginners’ fitness classes. She shows students the glass which has sand swirling around in the water.“I say: ‘normally, when we come to class we are all shaken up like the water in this glass’,” she said. “After class, the muck has settled and there is stillness at the top. That is the benefit, mentally, for this class. On a spiritual connection, yoga is really about coming back to wholeness and connecting with your deepest wisdom.”Mrs Howland said her classes are accessible to everyone, because she teaches at different levels. There is a six-week yoga 101 for beginners, an intermediate and advanced class.“My classes are really a tapestry of everything I have learned in all the disciplines,” she said. “I am learning all the time and I will keep learning until the day I die. I will keep weaving that into this tapestry that I teach.”She said the world is speeding up all the time. With more asked of us, many people are looking for ways to relax and de-stress.“I want to share the tools that yoga provides,” she said. “These are just tools of knowledge.”Mr Norian will give a workshop in Bermuda from March 1 to 3. Admission is $280 or $240, if registration is before February 8. For registration or information see www.kerrihowland@gmail.com or e-mail kerriahowland@gmail.com . For information about Mr Norian see www.ashayayoga.com.