Hi, I’m Cheryl, founder of YogaBellies, psychotherapist, author, and yoga teacher. I’d love to tell you a little about the work I do, why YogaBellies exists, and what you can expect from our women’s yoga teacher training and personal empowerment programme: EMPOWER.

YogaBellies has been around for more than 20 years, and during that time we’ve supported over 100,000 women in the UK and trained hundreds of teachers across the world in our specialist approach to women’s yoga.

But YogaBellies didn’t begin as a business idea.

It began as a personal search.

My Journey

In my teens and early twenties, I practised a very demanding, masculine style of yoga. My practice was intense — lots of handstands, arm balances, and long daily sessions. Physically, I was incredibly strong and in amazing shape.

But something wasn’t right.

At around age 21, my menstrual cycle stopped completely. My hormones were completely out of balance, and mentally I felt far from the calm and serenity yoga is supposed to bring.

I was practising yoga six days a week, often for hours at a time, yet I felt exhausted, emotionally unstable, and disconnected from my body.

That experience led me on a long journey to find a more balanced approach to yoga.

And what I discovered along the way changed everything.

Women Are Cyclical

What I realised is that women’s bodies and minds move in cycles.

Our hormones, emotions, energy levels, and even our identities shift throughout life , through menstruation, pregnancy, motherhood, and menopause.

Yet most yoga systems were originally developed by men, for male bodies, with little consideration for these changes.

At different points in our lives, we need very different things from our practice.

What supports us during our menstrual years may not be what we need during pregnancy, early motherhood, or menopause.

YogaBellies was created to honour that reality.

YogaBellies: Yoga Designed for Women

YogaBellies is a yoga methodology created specifically for women.

It respects the natural rhythms of the female body and supports women through the major life transitions that shape our lives:

• the menstrual years
• pregnancy and birth
• postpartum and motherhood
• perimenopause and menopause

Rather than pushing against our bodies or forcing them into rigid practices, YogaBellies encourages women to work with their cycles and transitions.

Yoga becomes something supportive and intelligent, not something that depletes us.

The Yoga Bellies Method

Over the years this work has evolved into what I now call The YogaBellies Method, a women's embodied yoga approach that supports physical, emotional and psychological wellbeing throughout the female life cycle.

Our training programmes teach yoga teachers how to guide women through these life stages safely and compassionately, combining:

• yoga and embodied practice
• awareness of female physiology
• emotional and psychological insight
• trauma-aware teaching approaches

Today the YogaBellies EMPOWER programme offers a 300-hour women's yoga teacher training that qualifies graduates as specialist teachers in yoga for women's life transitions.

Integrating Psychotherapy and Yoga

Alongside my work with YogaBellies, I also practise as a registered psychotherapist working exclusively with women.

In my therapy practice I support women navigating experiences such as relationship trauma, identity shifts, midlife transitions, motherhood, menopause, ADHD and emotional overwhelm.

This work has deepened my understanding of something I have seen throughout my yoga teaching career:

Many of the biggest challenges women face are not just physical — they are emotional and psychological transitions.

Motherhood changes identity.
Midlife raises questions about purpose and direction.
Menopause can bring emotional upheaval alongside physical change.

Through psychotherapy I work with women to understand these experiences more deeply and help them reconnect with themselves, regulate their emotions, and rebuild self-trust.

This perspective has naturally influenced the YogaBellies Method, bringing greater awareness of the relationship between the body, the nervous system, and emotional wellbeing.

Yoga as Embodied Support Through Life Transitions

At its heart, YogaBellies is about supporting women through life’s transitions.

Yoga is not just about shapes on a mat.

It can be a powerful embodied practice that helps women:

• regulate their nervous system
• reconnect with their bodies
• move through emotional change
• maintain a sense of identity and self-trust during major life shifts

This philosophy now forms the foundation of the YogaBellies training programmes.

The EMPOWER Programme

The EMPOWER YogaBellies Teacher Training is designed for women who want to specialise in teaching yoga for female life stages.

The programme includes specialist modules covering:

• Seasons & Cycles — yoga for the menstrual years
• Birthing the Mother — pregnancy yoga
• Mother & Child — postpartum yoga
• Welcoming the Crone — yoga for perimenopause and menopause
• Business Goddess — building a sustainable yoga business
• Inner Foundations — personal development and self-awareness for teachers

Together these form a 300-hour training in the Yoga Bellies Method, preparing teachers to support women through the real changes that shape our lives.

A Global Community of Teachers

Over the past 15 years, more than 200 teachers worldwide have trained in the YogaBellies Method.

Some continue teaching under the YogaBellies name, while others have developed their own unique paths.

But they all share the same foundation: a commitment to supporting women through the physical and emotional transitions of life.

A Personal Note

The work I do today, female-focused through yoga, psychotherapy, and research,  all comes back to the same question:

How can women stay connected to themselves through the many changes life brings?

YogaBellies was created to help answer that question.

And I’m delighted that you’re here exploring this work.