Welcome. I’m Teresa. I have created this blog to publish my stories. I hope you enjoy reading them. If you do, you might like to go to my website yogastories.co.uk to find a complete book of stories on many of the most important subjects taught in Yoga Philosophy. I write about other subjects too and you will find different stories under the different categories in my blog. I’d love to hear any thoughts you may have. Click on the word ‘comment’ below each post to get in touch or share your thoughts. For the time being here is a short introduction to my background.

My General Background
I live in the UK with my husband, where I work teaching horticulture and other subjects to special needs students in a College of Further Education. I’m the mother of two grown sons, and grandmother to two little girls.

My degree in Botany lead me to become a biology teacher. After my children arrived I became a qualified yoga teacher, and later a psychotherapist and counsellor. I also embrace other forms of healing including Bach Remedies and essential oils. In my spare time I tend our allotment.

The Stories
In 1995 an amazing thing happened. A spirit guide, Guptananda, came to me during a meditation when I was asking for help to teach my yoga classes. Although I hadn’t realised it, I had met him once before in a meditation circle, when I asked for help in understanding New Age material. I was taken up into a starry sky and across to the continent of India. I travelled across the snowcapped Himalayan Mountains, to a cave, inside was a guru. He told me that I didn’t need to read that material, but told me instead to read the Vedas, Upanishads and the Bhagvad Gita, and that I would find all the answers I needed there. I had read some of them once before as part of my training to become a yoga teacher. He appeared again while I was meditating, in response to my request for help with teaching my yoga classes. Answers came in the form of two stories which I wrote down immediately. I was completely amazed . I wondered if he’d give me more stories. He said “There’s no point in teaching people spiritual practices unless they are obeying the ‘Laws of Life’.” I couldn’t remember what they were myself and he sternly told me off! Then he told me not to worry and that he would help me. He gave me a funny little story on greed, then another short piece, more sensitive and serious, on chastity. All his stories were about his own life. He told me he lived 400 years ago. The first yoga principles are the yamas and niyamas, the Laws of Life, similar to the 10 commandments. I’ve used these stories to help me to teach my students. The stories given via Guptananda offer the teachings of these principles in a very readable and acceptable format, suitable for both adults and children.

As time went on people began asking me to write stories. I discovered that other guides would also visit me to offer stories on other themes, for example therapeutic stories for my counselling clients and stories for Education in Human Values or for Personal, Health, and Social Education (PHSE) in schools and colleges. I believe that these stories are wonderfully touching and totally relevant to today’s life. They have been a gift to me and I want to share them with other people. They are of particular relevance to those on the path of studying or teaching yoga, but are useful to people in all walks of life. Many of my stories are used by SSEHV, a non denominational scheme of work for both primary and secondary schools. Check it out on the internet. bisse.org.uk

My website yogastories.co.uk came online in April 2008. On it the whole current collection of Guptananda’s stories are available. There is also a painting of Guptananda, made by a psychic artist, Patrick Gamble, http://www.patrickgamble.com who saw Guptananda with me when I went for a sitting, much to my amazement and delight. Patrick knew nothing at all about me and was nearly as thrilled as I was when I explained to Patrick who Guptananda was!