Emily Brett

Emily Brett is a yoga teacher and writer.  Her approach is rooted in yoga philosophy and increasing quality of life.

Growing up in the Wiltshire countryside as the daughter of a painter and a wood engraver, Emily got to know the world through nature, art and literature.  She first encountered yoga, including meditation, at primary school and has been devoted to practice since 1999.  

After extended trips to India and Europe, practicing and studying yoga and meditation, she trained as a yoga teacher in London and founded a charitable organisation (OURMALA) to make therapeutic yoga accessible to people forced to become refugees and asylum-seekers across London.

Emily was dedicated to OURMALA from 2009- 2020, most of her work over the years was voluntary, as part of her yoga practice off the mat.

Emily holds a BA in English Language and Literature, an MA in Creative Writing from Sheffield Hallam University, a Diploma in Global Mental Health: Refugee Trauma and Recovery from Harvard Medical School and a 500 Hour Diploma in Yoga Teaching from The British Wheel of Yoga.

Along the way, her jobs included being a Woolworths cashier, waitress, trainee literary agent, and in-house journalist and editor. To earn her living while she built OURMALA, she also worked as a senior communications consultant for Rio Tinto in global security and human rights, climate change and biodiversity.

These days, she lives between London and Wiltshire with her husband and dog.  She loves yoga, meditation, reading, writing, the arts and outdoors, wilderness, horse riding, dancing, singing, studying Cantonese, EastEnders and enjoying spaghetti bolognese with the family on a Saturday night.