Our Background
Husband and wife team, Chris and Kate, dreamt of starting something completely new, leaving their previous careers in business and law and following their hearts to achieve balance in their own lives doing what they love. They had a great vision, a passion for change and all the right skills and training. Together, they established Millport Yoga and Paddle, based on a small island in the West of Scotland, where they share their love of yoga, the sea and providing the head space for our clients to find balance in their own lives.
We are a company dedicated to providing great services. To learn more, browse through our site or contact us directly. We offer walking, paddleboarding and cycling tours, plus classes in Yoga and Stand Up Paddleboarding (SUP) both in groups and one to one. We also offer coaching for individuals and groups, either in person on online.
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Kate has been teaching Yoga and Meditation on and off since 2008. With a degree in Human Biology, she is also a qualified Bowen Therapist (NST) and sports massage therapist. She has an interest in Celtic "magic" practices and can sometimes be found near the island's standing stones or just walking along the shore. Kate is a retired 'techie' and project manager, having worked for years in IT and Telecoms both as an employee and from 2007 running her own consultancy business.
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Chris was an elite rower, having won many cups in his career, including at Henley Royal Regatta. He also rowed across the Atlantic Ocean with one other rower in 2003. He is a retired solicitor who specialised in powers of attorney, wills, probate and succession.
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Both Chris and Kate are qualified Paddleboard Instructors too and Chris is a qualified rowing coach. They both love the water and island life.
A bit more from Kate from her Facebook Yoga page:
I have been doing yoga since 1996 and I qualified as a yoga teacher in 2008, 35 weeks pregnant. I taught classes in yoga and meditation when my son was little, before returning to corporate work. I am also a trained sports therapist, Bowen practitioner as well as an NLP Master Practitioner and I am an executive life coach. My husband and I have mostly retired from our business now and with our teenage son and labradoodle, have settled on the island with a wee smallholding where we have 8 hens and are a family of goats.
For me there is no competition in Yoga. We do yoga, listen and learn from our bodies. Everyone is different. Every body is different. It doesn't matter what you can do and what you can't do. You are your own best teacher and my classes give you the time and space to breathe and learn. You will become stronger and more flexible but that is a by-product.
Why Millport? Millport is my home. My family are from Millport. My great grandparents and grandparents lived in Marine Parade from the end of the 1st World War - first a holiday home and then retirement. Both my grandfather and great grandfather were Millport Town Councillors. Great Grandpa Thomas Black saw the horrors of the first world war through the army medical corps at the Battle of the Somme for its whole duration. I understand the island gave him some peace. He and my great Grannie died and are buried here, as is his daughter and son in law (my grandparents). My grandparents met in Glasgow during the blitz where they were both air raid wardens. My father is a pilot. He was in the RAF until retirement and so we lived all over the place and I have an English accent. My mother's family are from Falkirk, although born in Glasgow, she grew up in India and Scottish boarding schools and met my father in Singapore. I have come home at last...