Giordan turned to yoga during lockdown. After being isolated in Northern Ireland, she became inspired to teach the meditative activity.
One of her own yoga teachers, who began teaching at the age of 29, provided the impetus to do it herself.
Giordan began running her own yoga sessions as she strove to break out of her comfort zone and to try new things which she never thought she could do.
She said of her sessions: “Yoga is for everybody and every body, so another reason I teach slow practice with a lot of emphasis on how it feels for every individual person is to make it accessible for yogis in every type of body.
“When I do include dynamic and quicker movement, I always use language like ‘Have a play. Be playful with it. Think of this as playtime’, which again disarms the ego and brings us back to a childlike state of mind where we can literally play with how our body moves rather than think about how it looks to others.”
Her yoga classes have brought solitude to many attendees, with people regularly telling her that the class is “just what they need”.
Giordan also likes to read poems at the end of each session, particularly by Rupi Kaur and one time received a message from someone afterwards telling her: “Thank you. I really needed to hear that.”
Since Giordan lost her mum to suicide at age nine, she believes that bringing solitude to those who have experienced loss is important and helps people find their inner peace.
Giordan said: “I know that she had nobody to turn to and no safe space or community feeling when she was unwell. I’ve often wondered how things would be different if she had. So I hope my community classes can offer that to anyone who may need it.
“Even just an hour or connection a week could change or even save a life, and whenever we do good things, are kind to ourselves or are kind others it doesn’t just end there, it has the potential to send endless ripples out into the world.”
She believes that her yoga is for everyone and always encourages men to get involved in the therapeutic activity, which is traditionally targeted at women. However, she acknowledges that men’s mental health is not her work to do.
Lewis Powell, the director of Inner Guru, however, does get involved in men’s mental health and encourages them to speak to each other, using methods like cold water therapy.
Unfortunately, at the moment, the Inner Guru building on Rice Lane is in trouble, as the electricity has been shut off, which disrupts the usual support available there.
Inner Guru is completely self-funded and rely on donations to get the place back up and running. A GoFundMe page has been set up to assist their funding and can be found here.
Inner Guru also works with Everton In The Community, who have given them 25 tickets to sleep over in Goodison Park overnight to raise money.
If you’d like to learn more about Inner Guru, the work they do and the support available to you, visit their website here.
