Yahoo News Meet the Teesside teacher who runs alpaca yoga classes on 11-acre Yarm farm
A Teesside woman enjoyed yoga for almost a decade before launching her own Alpaca Yoga classes.
And now, Rebecca Marwood has been named as one of Eventbrite's most innovative yogis on International Yoga Day (June 21). The Eaglescliffe businesswoman qualified to teach the practice in 2020 and she is also a member of the College of Sound Healing.
When she was taking some photography at the Alpaca Alpaca farm in Yarm, the owner Deb Pearl, asked her if she could deliver some alpaca yoga classes. And the rest is history.
"Alpacas are intuitive animals who know where healing and calm is needed and that's why they're invited to hospices," explains Rebecca. "When we're breathing and meditating well, they will come up close to us.
“It's beautiful. They're amazing, spiritual creatures. Our attendees have a lovely connection with them.
"We can't have big classes, as they need to be safe for the yogis and the alpacas, but our alpaca yoga events are really popular throughout the summer with about 15 practicing at each session. We hold the classes in a field with the young male alpacas and then attendees get buckets of carrots to feed the females alpacas afterwards – they love it!"
Prior to teaching yoga, Rebecca was a French language teacher in the area and this slowly morphed into a student mentoring role. Having felt the benefits of yoga herself, Rebecca decided to train to be a yoga teacher and after achieving an HFE Level 3 yoga teacher training qualification, she introduced the practice to children in her school. It was a great success.
"Yoga particularly benefited those children with anxiety and mental health issues," she said.
Eventbrite's Sebastian Boppert said: "Yoga provides many body and mind benefits through poses, breathing techniques and meditation, but there's no rule book to say you can't have a little fun when doing so. Some yogis may prefer to do things the traditional way but doing things a little differently can be equally effective and Rebecca's Alpaca Yoga classes are a great example of this."
Alpaca Alpaca is a small, family-run alpaca farm set in 11 acres situated on the outskirts of Yarm. The website states: "We moved to our little small holding in 2014, where we started with six inherited chickens and no farming background whatsoever. Since then, our family has grown and we now have over 35 alpacas, a couple of llamas, some crazy sheep, and Jerry the ‘High Street Wonderer’ pet pig.
"Like all our animals, the alpacas are very much loved. They all have their own unique characters, and their inquisitive nature and charm makes you feel so relaxed. It’s hard not to fall in love with these enchanting creatures!"
Novel yoga formats on event marketplace Eventbrite - such as SUP, alpaca, laughter, goat and forest yoga - are growing in popularity as they bring the benefits of the ancient practice to whole new audiences. Eventbrite recorded a 55% uptick in people attending yoga events over the last year (2022 to 2023), when almost 200,000 attendees enjoyed more than 12,000 yoga experiences all over the UK.
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