Gingi Lee

Senior Yoga Alliance Registered teacher Gingi Lee, co-director of the Shala, founded the studio in 1997 and founded the Shala School of Yoga teacher training programme in 2016. He has been teaching yoga full time for over 25 years and is one of the country’s most experienced ashtanga vinyasa yoga teachers. 

Gingi began studying and teaching martial arts in the 1980s with his father, Sensei Richard Taibong Lee. During an early trip to India, Gingi came into contact with yoga and spent many years returning to India to study and devote himself to the discipline. For two years in the mid 90s, he apprenticed with the late Derek Ireland after completing a teacher training course in Goa. He subsequently went to Mysore to continue his studies with Sri K Pattabhi Jois and then attended a two-year teacher training course with Graeme Northfield of Australia around 2001. Additionally, Gingi has trained more recently with Yamuna Zake and become certified in Yamuna Bodyrolling, a form of remedial bodywork which has interested him for many years and which he now incorporates into some of his teachings.

For 25 years, Gingi has focused his energy on teaching at his centre in South London, alongside hosting yoga holidays and workshops internationally. In 2016 he established the Shala School of Yoga teacher training programme and he is now hugely passionate about passing on his knowledge to the next generation of teachers.

Gingi has played a key role in popularising ashtanga yoga in the UK and has taught, trained and inspired many British yoga teachers. He is a well-respected teacher who has remained at the forefront of the yoga community. His teaching is characterised by sensitivity, warmth and a deep commitment to the practice.

Melanie Cooper 

Melanie has been teaching yoga since 1997 and teaching on teacher trainings since 2010. She is passionate about the ability of yoga to heal and transform peoples’ lives and her deep connection to and love of yoga is evident in her teachings.

On a personal level yoga helped Melanie heal from Chronic Fatigue. As she got stronger, her practice evolved and she became a daily Ashtanga practitioner for many years – making her way through the primary and second series and starting third. Her practice was very “strictly Mysore” at that time. More recently with changes in her own personal practice brought on by the menopause, she started to broaden her practice including yin, yoga nidra and slow flow. Her practice has evolved and grown into something new and beautiful – nurturing and soft but still strong and intense.

Melanie is a genuine and down to earth teacher who brings a vast breadth of knowledge to her trainings. She offers a place where you can find what works for you, a place where you will be welcomed as you are with no judgement or expectations – where you can find the practice and way of teaching that is truly right for you.

Melanie divides her time between the UK and Goa running teacher trainings and retreats in UK, Sweden, Crete and India. Sometimes she can be spotted dancing on the beach. She is the author of ‘Teaching Yoga Adjusting Asana’.

View Melanie’s website

Jennie Wadsten

Jennie fell in love with yoga in 1997 and has been teaching full time since 2005. She has hosted a variety of trainings and workshops worldwide including Nidra, Ashtanga, Vinyasa Flow, Yin, Meditation, Pranayama and Anatomy. She has completed a plethora of teacher trainings and continues in-depth studies with Josefin Wikström, Julie Martin, Josephine Selander, Heather Mason, John Friend, Paul Grilley, Melanie Cooper and more.

Jennie has specialist knowledge through studying psychology, psychiatry and social psychology on how yoga effects mental health and is a member of IAYT (International Association of Yoga Therapists).

For Jennie teaching is about helping others to cultivate breath, awareness, strength and joy and taking these teachings into everyday life and “off the yoga mat”. Her teaching style is warm, enthusiastic and encouraging, and contains an extensive knowledge of both biomechanics and fascia. She is passionate about how to make yoga safe, enjoyable, balancing for the nervous system and energising. Read Jennie’s full biography here