About
Welcome to ginger tonic.
My vision is quite simply to help you live a happy, healthy, fulfilled life. Sounds simple but so many of us put up with a bumpy ride, often not quite valuing or prioritising our own health, happiness and sense of fulfilment. To see how smooth or bumpy your life is, plot your wheel of life using this example – no need for whizzy graphics, just give each aspect a mark out of 10 where 10 is fantastic! and 0 speaks for itself.
Perhaps take a moment to reflect on the reasons why you have given certain aspects of your life a lower score than others? What difference would it make if you were able to give each and every aspect a score of 10, or at least 8 or 9, how would you feel! Do you believe it’s possible?
“Listen when the body whispers, then it doesn’t need to shout”
I do, which is why I do what I do, because you only get one shot at this life and I believe you should never leave the keys to your happiness in someone else’s pocket!
Through coaching and/or yoga I will help you, hopefully faster than you might imagine, establish or re-establish health and happiness in all aspects of your life.
At the core of ginger tonic is me!
My yoga journey started in 2001 after slipping a disc lifting my 6 month old son from the sofa. A visit to the chiropractor resulted in some sobering but life changing advice; “treat your spine like a fragile piece of glass and you’ll be fine, ignore this advice and you’ll have back issues for the rest of your life, resulting in possibly needing an operation to fuse your vertebrae”.
I took this advice very very seriously and attended my first yoga class as soon as I could. Since then yoga has slowly but surely become an incredibly important part of my life and has transformed me, my life, my outlook and my relationships more than I could have ever imagined.
I became a yoga teacher because I felt a deep calling to share what I was learning with others.
In 2014 I undertook my first 200 hour teacher training with Yuko Harmenies and Nick Marshall. Yuko and Nick combine their expertise in Ashtanga and Functional Yoga in a teacher training that is steeped in philosophy and practicality.
In 2016 I started teaching for and being mentored by Senior Yoga Teacher Sarah Vaughan, who runs The Yoga Hutch in Surbiton, Surrey, and is a highly experienced practitioner and teacher of the Ashtanga Primary and Intermediate series. Sarah has trained and practiced with many of the worlds leading yoga teachers, including Richard Freeman, David Swenson and John Scott. I am immensely grateful to her for giving me the opportunity to learn from her and with her. I continue to work with and for Sarah at The Yoga Hutch, whilst also running classes at Ginger Studios (my home studio)
Yoga is a practice of self awareness and self realisation that is developed over years and years. I continue my own journey through my own practice, and via the opportunity to learn from many other inspiring yogis, both face to face and virtually; these include: David Keil, Esther Ekhart, Uma Dinsmore Tully, Gregor Maehle, Richard Freeman, David Swenson & Joey Miles
I am also a qualified coach. and have spent the last 15 years coaching in the corporate world, and for private individuals. I use Insights Discovery, Strength Finder, Clarity 4D, Motivational Maps and many many other tools and exercises to help you deepen your understanding of yourself and others.
Here are some of the testimonials clients and students have been generous enough to share with me.
I have withheld names to respect confidentiality but I promise they are real!
With such a hectic life I decided to do something for myself and signed up to Kate’s yoga for beginners class at the Yoga Hutch. Having never practised yoga before I was apprehensive that I would struggle to keep up but nothing could be further from the truth. With Kate’s encouragement, support and enthusiasm to improve every member of the class I felt supported from the very first lesson. I have been practising for ten months now and couldn’t imagine life without yoga. The physical benefits are clear to see but it is inner calm and contentment that I find most beneficial.
I have been practicing yoga with Kate for around 3 months now. Being a complete beginner I was quite unsure as to what to expect from the classes, but Kate was very warm and welcoming and eased me into the practice. She is a wonderful and understanding teacher and I look forward to each class. Not only is yoga great for my general fitness and flexibility, but has also helped me bring aspects of the practice into my everyday life. This includes dealing with stress and other curveballs thrown at us in our day to day lives! I thoroughly recommend a class with her if you’re interested in becoming a yogi.
Learning about my colours, my motivations and airing my niggles has been so useful. I’ve never had the opportunity to talk about myself like I have over the last couple of months. Partly because I’m not that way inclined and partly because I always thought I was being daft and blocking out the things that niggle me. I’m so happy that I had the opportunity to meet you and explain everything that bothered me in my life. You have a magical way of explaining yourself that really changes the perception of everything. I just wish I had met you much earlier in my life.
Kate Woodward is uniquely gifted, highly evolved and makes the coaching process fun, yet works at a deep and fast level. Her intuitive abilities and her trust and confidence in using them in the sessions adds a dimension that is invaluable. She is open, kind, and warm, and has the ability to get to the core issue quickly helping you move forward towards achieving your goal effectively. My sessions with Kate not only helped me to achieve my goal but to learn more about myself. Now I feel back in control of my life again. Kate is very skilled and really hits the nail on the head. She is a great listener and has helped me to see the best in myself.
I have had the good fortune to receive coaching from Kate Woodward over the past year. Kate has been instrumental in helping navigate my way through a difficult transition. I recommend her services without reservation. She is consistent, reliable, discreet and knowledgable. In addition, she is sensitive and intuitive enough to approach each client in the manner they require to feel most comfortable. This sensitivity and receptivity also allows her to choose the best wisdom and techniques for each client from her extensive knowledge base.
It was so strange Kate, doing what I thought my body wouldn’t enjoy, moving these aching muscles, proved to be just what it did. Astanga is a bit relentless, but at least it has a start and an end. I am fumbling my way towards a sun salutation each day, it makes me grin now when you were teaching this to us beginners, and said this is a warm up, I was shocked. Thank you so very much Kate , I am truly glad to have met you and be learning with you.
