Orange Lotus Yoga | Anna Smithers

"A mother is never defined by the number of children you can see, but by the love she holds in her heart."

Join us as we meet Anna Smithers, the founder of Orange Lotus Yoga, a fully qualified British Wheel of Yoga teacher based in Crewe, and the award-winning author behind the beloved Yogi Superhero children’s book series.

In this heartfelt conversation, Anna reflects on her transformative journey with yoga—from discovering its benefits to building a career that supports others. She opens up about working with children on the autism spectrum and shares deeply personal experiences of navigating IVF and miscarriage, revealing how yoga has been a source of healing and resilience.

TRIGGER WARNING: This episode discusses IVF and miscarriage.

https://orangelotusyoga.co.uk/

www.annasmithers.com

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"This Place, Our Voices" Credits:

Host: Elyssa Germain
Produced By: OneZeroCreative https://www.onezerocreative.co.uk/

Transcript

We're joined by Anna Smithers, award winning author, and owner of Orange Lotus Yoga. Welcome Anna.

Hello Elyssa. Nice to be here today.

So, tell me, what's the story behind Orange Lotus Yoga?

I think the story behind it is that I found yoga first and I started practising it and I fell in love with it, and this is why I wanted to share the magic and beauty of yoga. It all happened, I think when I was around 27, 28. I went through a lot of trauma as a child and obviously I was pushing it away. I suppose my mind was pushing it away, to the time when I could finally cope with it, you know, and started dealing with it when I'm ready. And I think my mind decided that would be around 27, 28 and obviously everything started to come back to me. And the way I was dealing with that, with that trauma unfortunately didn't work very well because that's what we, most of us do is like drinking alcohol and smoking cigarettes and distracting myself in any way I can, obviously not to think about what I went through and that didn't work. So, I started to go to therapy, and I started to go to amazing people. I found a lot of support. And then when I was 32, I found yoga and I really remember my third class, I went there, I didn't want to go. Then my friend dragged me to a yoga class and I'm like, I was like, oh my God, no, I'm not a big fan of moving, you know, I don't want to do it. It's like you don't go, let's, let's do something else, you know. But she actually dragged me down. I'm very grateful to have for that. And my teacher, my first teacher, he was really amazing because he was not only doing the physical yoga, but he was also introducing us the yoga philosophy. And that's how the story really started. And I remember the feeling after my face yoga class when I thought after the relaxation, I was in a completely different space than I usually was. And I thought at that moment, yes, this is what I want to do in my life, you know, and, and you know, it, and every single time I was going there I was always saying to my teacher, you know, let's keep the asana, let's keep the physical posture, let's just go straight to relaxation and meditation. I can deal with that. Everything else is not necessary. Obviously, that's not true. But it also helps to keep the body strong and keep the energy moving and it's very important. But yeah, that was my story about finding yoga. So, then I met my husband in a yoga class as well and he's a yoga teacher and he was like, okay, so if you love yoga so much, why don't you become a yoga teacher? And then I started to do my qualification for a yoga teacher. That took me around three years. And I started to share yoga with others and that's how it continues to this day. And I have to say Yoga has transformed my life completely and, and it saved me in a way. You know, it saved me in a way that nothing else could really help. And obviously, you know, when I talk about it, I talk about my experience because my experience doesn't have to be everyone else's. Yes. So obviously I will talk from my point of view, how I felt and what I went through. But I do appreciate, it's not everyone's cup of tea. So, you know, it doesn't have to be for everyone. But I would, really strongly recommend to try if you can.

Yeah, absolutely. It's always worth trying something, even if it's only once. You never know what you may find. And as you say, you found yourself in a position where yoga changed your life. So, had you not gone that day? You wouldn't be where you are now.

Exactly. You know, the beauty of yoga is that it's for everybody because there's not just one yoga. We, I think in the Western world we see yoga as asana practise, as the physical practise. But the traditional yoga has got so many different roots and it's, got so many different schools that you can find something for everyone. So, it's not only the asana, it's not only the physical posters. You can do the meditation, you can do the karma yoga, which is meditation at work. So, you're doing your meditation while you're working. You can do, n yoga where you're using the sounds, you can do chanting, mindfulness. Obviously to me it's like, a yoga stripped of all the philosophy and then bringing yourself to the present moment. That's basically what yoga is. You know, bringing yourself to a present moment is yoga. But I do love that philosophy behind it because that's how I started really. So, if you think about it like the main yoga book, which I always recommend to people, which is the most accessible one, I would say to everyone, it's called Yogasutras. And that book was written 5,000 years ago.

Oh wow.

So, it was passed verbally from teacher to a student. And that handbook is basically a handbook on our conditioned mind. It actually, it's a modern psychology kind of book from 5000 years ago which it shows us how our mind works and what do we need to do to steal our mind and how do we work with it and what is the conditioning of the mind. It's really, really interesting. You know, everything, what we started discovering now really like we rediscovery already what has been discovered many thousands of years ago, you know, by people who locked themselves in the cave and started to observe their mind and their body and started to search for patterns. So, it's really, really interesting. But I would say, you know, we are in a very lucky position when for example the traditional yoga, obviously you have yoga classes everywhere and you have different yoga classes as well, even the physical postures. You have different kind of yoga classes because you have the Hatha Yoga, which is the gentle yoga. You have the Vinyasa yoga where you're doing different flows. You have Ashtanga yoga which is a very. Actually Ashtanga was made for little boys, monks to keep them fit. So, you know, it's very for building up the body and yeah, it's very, it's really quite good if you want a workout. So Ashtanga is, really amazing for that. And you know, for example, I absolutely fell in love with, and I try to do in some of my classes, there is a relaxation practise called Yoganidra. You do absolutely nothing. You just listen to the teacher walking you through the relaxation practise for half an hour. You know, I think's a, it's a beautiful practise for your mind and your body because you can actually just let go there so many different routes you could go. And we are very lucky because you don't have to go to India nowadays to actually have a taster for all those different things. We have ashram, like a traditional yoga ashram in South Wales, which I go every year, for 10-day retreats or how m. How much time I can actually spend. And it's called Mandalay Yoga Ashram. And it's a beautiful place to actually have a taster of what traditional yoga is and how it works in real life and in the community because obviously there is a small community living there. So, it's a really interesting experience. It's a beautiful place, beautiful energy. It's in the middle of nowhere on the top of the hill in Wales. So, you can imagine the amazing Views. No. Tv? No. Radio. Well, there is actually a network there, so you can get reception for your phone, but you know, you can switch off your phone as well and then you've got on KN space and time for yourself, which is really amazing.

That sounds perfect. I think a lot of people need to go on those sorts of holidays rather than, the ones we do tend to go on. I think a lot of people would come back a lot more refreshed if they did those. There's millions of benefits of yoga, but which ones are your absolute favourites? Which do you champion the most?

I think those are the ones which I. Which benefited me the most. Yeah. So, the one which benefited me the most is to still my mind. My mind is I was I am so a person who feels the words and I have lots of feelings and emotion inside of me and I have millions of thoughts every single second. I mean I'm being bombarded with my thoughts constantly. So, what yoga brought into my life is that stillness, that peacefulness. And that doesn't mean you stop thinking you do that. obviously maybe after, I don't know, 100 years of practicing yoga, you will get to the stage where you don't think, I don't think that's possible because that's how our body works. You need to think to function, but your breaks between your thoughts becoming much bigger. There is a pace, you know, and you're actually becoming aware of your thoughts because very often 80% of our thought we're not even aware of. And you're bringing that awareness into your life and you're bringing that stillness and harmony and balance into your life, and you start prioritising, you start actually noticing what motivates you. Is it actually your unconscious fear which motivates you and all your decisions? Or is it that you're actually aware of that fear and you are able to put it aside and make a decision based on what you want and not what you scared of? You know, I think that's what yoga brought into my life. But I do have to say it didn't happen overnight. It's been 12 years of my daily practise where I really try every day to meditate. because meditation is the biggest one with me, where I train my mind, be where it is without judgement, without expecting anything, just creating space for your mind for what it is, you know, and, and I think that's what meditation is for me. Being with your mind, being truthful, being honest with your mind, without hiding, without Judging, just being there. And I think if you start training your mind, because, you know, initially our mind is like a monkey mind. You know, imagine monkeys. If you think about monkeys, you go to Monkey Forest, for example, you can see them jumping everywhere on the trees. And I think Buddhist actually refer to our mind as monkey mind. Yeah. And if you give a monkey banana, it stays still and it's eating that banana. Yeah. So, this is what, during the mediation, that's what we do to our mind. We give something for the mind to focus on and it doesn't matter what it is. Is it your breath, is it mantra? is it visualisation? It really doesn't matter what it is. But you're bringing your whole attention into this one point and your mind becomes focused and then everything changes around you. You know, it's really amazing. So, I think that's a little bit. I always say it's, like meditation is like a Jedi training. You know, you're connecting with the force and you're starting to realise that you can actually connect with it when you. Only when you still quiet. And that's like half an hour of meditation every day. Gives me that experience, you know, and then even when you're not on the mat anymore, that experience starts to spread throughout the whole of your day and it's becoming amazing, you know, and, and. But as I say, that needs to be a regular practise.

Yeah.

and even if it's not every day, maybe three times a week or twice a week, but having that regular practise in place to actually train your brain to become more still and quiet.

Yeah. So, for those who have maybe tried it before, once, me, it didn't work. And you think, oh, no, this isn't gonna work. It is something that you have to really keep at be committed to.

I've been. So, I started doing my regular practise when I was 32. It's been 12 years now. 12 years. When I'm trying, I'm trying, I'm doing. I'm not trying. The problem with practises, you know, everyone thinks you're going to go into meditation and you're going to experience those amazing states of nirvana or tranquilly or, you know, are you going to be on cloud 29 and you're just like, gonna forget about. This is not how it works. You know, you come to practise without expectations and whatever happens, and you know, one day you might feel rubbish. And that's okay then, just feel rubbish. You know, allow that to happen. Be Acceptant of that. You know, just, just be really mindful of what's coming inside because it doesn't really matter. There is no good or bad emotions. Emotions just are, you know, allowing them to be 'like giving them that space, creating that space. And you're not giving them power or energy to be in your unconscious and be, you know, brushed under the carpet and growing stronger. You're actually releasing them by giving them space to be. And that's what meditation is. So yeah, it's definitely being regular. And I say you don't have to start with half an hour. You can start with five minutes. You know, start with five minutes, extend it to seven minutes, then extend it to after half a year to 10 minutes. You know, just finding. And everyone can. I'm sorry, but everyone can spare five minutes in day life. Even if you have to wake up five minutes earlier. You know, just go for those five minutes and then meditate and then see what actually does in your life. Maybe it's not going to do anything but do it for a year. Do it for a year and see. Okay, it didn't, it absolutely did nothing. After a year I'm giving up. And I'll give you that. Okay, if after a year nothing happened, then obviously yeah, that's fine. That's your experience. You’re maybe you're not ready for it yet. Because I think there is a time and place for everyone. Everyone is unique, you know, sometimes we just need to find that perfect time to do it. Yeah, we need to be ready to open up as well, you know. So, I think start with five minutes and then see how it goes on.

Absolutely. Where did your specialty in dealing with people with autism or those that are neurodiverse come from with yoga.

that's actually a long story. I was, I think I was 19, 19 when I was volunteering in the centre for autistic children.

Okay.

And it was a really special group. They were children from age of 5 to 19. Most of them, it was a day centre for them. So, it was like a school. Obviously, they couldn't attend school. Most of them were non-verbal and they couldn't communicate in the way neurodiverse children would. Yeah. So, it was actually really amazing when I think about it because that was 90s and at that time having that kind of a centre with such an open mind. People who tried absolutely everything including movement, including music. And we had one boy, I still remember that was completely non-verbal. And you think he was completely closed off to the words. And then one day one of the teachers decided to try computer like simple keyboard and computer with the child and the child without being taught how to do it started to write full sentences about how feel and it was such an amazing moment. It was like you have a child who you think doesn't communicate with the words but it's not that, it's just you didn't found a way to communicate with this child.

You know, that's amazing.

And I think that was the moment when I decided like what how can we be invited in today world.

Yeah.

You know it's not about them bringing. It's not about them being brought into our world. It's about us being invited into today words and see the world from their perspective.

Yeah.

Because autism is just. The brain is wired differently. So, the perception of the word is different. If you think about had a lovely training with one of the ladies. I remember when I was at that centre or when we were closed in the box, and we were experiencing sensory overload for children. So, some children don't have a filter they are hypersensitive so they can hear everything. For example, an average person has got filtered for hearing, for touch, you know, all the five senses. We have filters and we're choosing what we want to hear or at least our mind is choosing for us. For some of the children it's like you're running the tap, and you can't close it off. Yeah. So, they can hear the traffic outside. They can hear the water dropping in the tap in the bathroom. They can hear every single sound around them which we're not even aware of. And in the middle of all of that there is a person speaking to them. And how can they recognise so that speaking to them becomes one of the sounds around and how do you recognise which sound is more important than the other? Yeah, you know, and we actually experienced that we were closed in the box, and we were surrounded by different sounds and then someone tried to give us instruction on what to do. And for the love of life, I couldn't do anything because I couldn't hear properly what I supposed to do. And I think the whole approach they had in that senses just showed me that autism is a really magical thing to me, you know, and this is why I felt so close. And I did my autism training for yoga for children and I did my yoga therapy training for children as well. And for years I've had children Coming to me as one to one and they've been amazing. They've been absolutely amazing and I know a couple of them actually benefited a lot from those sessions. But again, the parents were coming every week for like four or five years, you know. And they are an absolutely amazing children. They always we but it's just I think we. They opened up a little bit more nowadays, so it was really, really good. Yeah.

As we introduced you earlier you are also an award-winning author. So please do tell me about Yogi superhero and how that all came about.

So, there is actually there are two stories behind it. So, the first one obviously was Covid. So, the moment I actually went full time teaching yoga was six months before COVID And by then I already have one to one with children which I was having every week. And when the COVID kicked in all my classes stopped obviously. And I think I was. The classes I was missing, I was missing all my classes. But the one which I was miss meeting the most was the classes with my children. So, I decided that one way of continuing those classes would be to publish a book which talks about yoga and about being calm and has got beautiful illustrations with it. And you know, and that was the whole idea behind my book Yogi Superhero and actually came out in 21, no, 2020 I think just when the COVID started to kicked in. And it was a beautiful way of connecting with children as well, you know. And even now I get emails from because the books are being sold not only the UK but also US, Canada, Australia. I get email from all over the world saying how children are getting calmer and more still and how it helps them to go to sleep because they usually do that as s a bedtime story. So, it's really amazing. And, and this is how I've been always really writing all my life. when I was young, I used to publish poems, and I was even published in the newspapers and magazines and stuff like that. So that was kind of my way of expressing myself in a way. So, I just converted that creativity into writing picture books for children. and I think the second story behind it is that me and my husband would been trying for having a baby for the last 10 years and unfortunately, we were unsuccessful. And no matter what we did, we went through IVF and everything what we actually could think of. And after five miscarriages I just, I just can't do it anymore basically mentally and physically I just can't cope with that. And I suppose Every book I wrote, it's almost like I put all my, my maternity instincts into this book before I published it. And it was so funny because they were correlated in a way with every miscarriage, I had a book coming up, they were like my babies almost, which you just releasing into the world. So, all the creativity which goes into having a baby went into having that book. So, I think this is how it was triggered and how it started. But it also was part of my healing process, you know. and I think I always laugh because my books were quite successful. the Tree Full of Wonder, which is about nature and importance of trees has been a bestseller on the Amazon in the UK for the last three years non-stop. Which is kind of ah, amazing itself, you know. Know I mean I'm thinking you know, okay, it's gonna be a bestseller for a month or two something. But it's been non-stop for three years in one of the categories on Amazon. So, it's been really somehow selling well. But also, I get a lot of emails from children about how they started to plant trees and how they hag the trees and how they send me their drawings. So, I always love that, you know, when we are lucky as women, we might have one or two children during our lifetime. I'm doing like a mass production. I've sold so far 35,000 books, papers, hardcover cover. I think there was like 50,000 eBooks downloaded. So, as you can imagine I'm going towards 100,000 number. So, it it's like I'm being mother to all the children who have a little bit of me in their home reading it before bed. So, it's like looking at it. So, this is why I'm always saying, you know, we want life to be the way we want it to be. You know, we have a set perception of how my life will look like. You know, I'm going to have a husband, I'm going to have a family, I'm going to have two children. It's going to be a boy and a girl. And then at some point life just looks at you and says well actually it's not going to be like that. And no matter what you do, it's not going to be like that. So, what you’re going to be, what you're going to do about it. And this is where it's so important in yoga as well. Yoga actually is telling us so that everything in our life is a lesson. So, what is this lesson teaching you? Because obviously you know, I could very easily fall into depression. Actually. There was a period of time which I think I was depressed. I never looked for help for that. But I think there was a time when I didn't want to go outside. I just wanted to spend time in that, and I just didn't want to do anything, you know. And that was a really tough time in my life. And I had the choice to either continue doing that or ask for help and go out into the world again and do something with my life, which I have as it is. When you think about it, I know IVF are successful for other people. It wasn't for us. You know, there is so many success stories with IVF and people think that, oh, they're going to go for IVF and it's going to be amazing. We're going to have a baby. But IVF has got only 30% of success. 30%, 70% of people were not get pregnant. You know, and obviously we hear about the success stories, but what about those people who weren't successful, you know? And you can either lead your life thinking about the things which you are missing, or you can start living the life and search for a new meaning of life. So, if I'm not a mother, who am I then? And I think as women, we are faced with that issue anyway because we have children only for a certain amount of time. Okay, let's say 18, 20 years, 25. And then the children, well, if you are lucky, mother, they will leave the house and they will live their own life. Yeah. Then obviously then you are. And I think this is where we reach our perimenopause and menopause time as well. Everything is basically at the same time. The children are leaving, and we are left with the question, well, who am I then? If I'm not a mother, who am I? You know, do I have that, I can share with the world, what skills do I have? What can I do to help others? You know, what, what can I do to be useful? You know, what can I do to work with others as well? You know, because being a mother is just part of our life, you know, so, so what can I do beyond that? And earlier or later? I think we all facing the same question. I just had the opportunity to do it a little bit earlier than usual. So, this is how the writing came about. And I think why writing for children is so important to me because as a child I went through a lot of trauma and books were my world where everything was better. it was basically disassociation from what was happening in my life creating a new world. But they helped me to survive, you know, and they gave me hope that every single story actually ends with happy ending. So where is my happy ending?

You know, and I think they're really important. We really undermine the importance of stories for children because every single story, even, no matter how difficult it is, it finishes on a good note, you know, and that gives the children the hope. And I think it's really important to keep that going, because I know I experienced that in my life. It gave me a hope when I was a child, and I think I want to give it back in a way the same way how I got it, you know, so writing those stories for children is really important. And so, yeah, so that's the story behind the stories.

That's an amazing backstory as well. You have such an amazing view on what it's brought to you. It's so wholesome, and it's obviously really helped you with your journey as well.

I think everything in your life, no matter what happens, we have labels for good and bad. Good is when everything happens. How you plant. That's good. Yeah, because everything goes according to my plan. But unfortunately, life isn't like that. You know, life has got a plan on its own, and our job is to discover that plan and find out what actually the plan is. You know, or maybe even you don't find the plan, then at least almost like you surrender to life and you, okay, I can't do this. So, what do you want me to do? What do you. Where do you want me to be? What I supposed to be doing then? You know, I like, you know, people are saying that oh You know, miscarriages are, nothing, because obviously, you know, you don't even see the baby and stuff like that. I seriously, with every single positive test results, I already had the next 25 years plans and, you know, and obviously with which time I've learned not to do it. but the first couple of times I was so full of hope and, you know, it's just within seconds, you have the whole plan for the next 25 years. What's going to happen. What's going to happen to your life. How are you going to surrender your life to actually support that baby, support that child. How you're going to work around the child? Because the work almost stops to be the most important thing. It's the child which becomes the priority. And, you know, it's like within a second, you become a mother. Without even going through labour, you're already a mother because you have that kind of. Well, I'm not saying everyone, at least I had it. I can't speak for everyone, but this is what happened to me, and I think it's really important to talk about it because sometimes women and I felt it, I felt like a failure, you know, like I'm failing as a woman, like I'm failing, as a mother. Like I'm failing my mother's plans for having grandchildren or my husband's plans for having children. Like I'm failing my husband. You know, there was a shame and guilt, and all the emotions associated with it. It's not only just one emotion. Life isn't that easy. Life is complex, you know, and we have lots of emotions inside of us and there's never one emotion. There's always thousands of emotion included in one situation. And being able to express it and heal it and deal with it is really, really important. the same, the IVF process, the invitro process was for me and my husband, it was a really difficult time. You know, everyone thinks, oh, It’s just IVs, you know, it isn't. It has impact on you mentally, it has impact on you physically, especially as a woman, but also on the men. We forget about the men. It has huge impact on the men. and we don't talk about it either. You know, the miscarriage isn't yours yet. I know it happens to my body and I'm not taking that away from a woman. But like, my husband went through it as well and it really impacted him, you know. And it was a really, really difficult time for both of us and you really have to take that into consideration, deciding do I want to go for IVF or not? You know, because you really have to be, in my opinion, really have to be mentally strong to go through that process. Ye, it's really. I never realised if I didn't experience it myself, I would never realise about how much, burden it puts on you, you know. So, it's it was really interesting period of time because a lot of things came from up that came up to the surface to my conditioned mind. You know, when obviously with yoga and meditation, you start seeing things in your unconscious mind as well, so they start coming to the top and you start working with those things and you start noticing how your behaviours, your feelings, your actions are impacted by your unconscious mind as well. And it's really, really interesting. So. Yeah. So, I think yoga allowed me to be in the space I am now and dealing with life the way I am dealing now. Because since I can be really honest, although all these things happen to me in the past, I am the happiest I have ever been in my life. And I think everyone can be in that space, you know, and this is the beauty of yoga. Everyone can be in that space. If you're ready if you open, if you want to work with yourself and obviously if you. I went through a lot of therapy like counselling, and you name the therapy, I probably did it. EMDR therapy, you know, talking therapies, any kind of therapy you can think of. Probably I did it because I just wanted to find out why am I not happy, you know, why what is causing my suffering, you know, and, and that's what yoga is about. Yoga is about moving away from suffering and bringing that happiness. But not happiness like we imagine happiness. You know, I always call it like being Santa on Prozac, you know, like this kind of American happiness. You know, we find this is not what it is about happiness. It's about it's more about joy, about, it's more about. What's the word for it, that kind of stillness, that calmness, which you feel in your life, you know that you're not being distracted with feelings, thoughts and emotions. They not take you away from your centre. And yoga brings you back to that. You actually start finding out who you are. You discover the inner you, you know, with the capital Y. And I think that's what yoga gave me and that's what I would wish everyone to have.

Absolutely. And when we're looking at how you can pass on all of your passion and your knowledge to people, how do they do that? Where do you teach?

so, I have classes in Crewe and Nantwich. so, I have some private classes, evening classes. if you look on the website it's Orange Lotus Yoga. There are all the classes which are listed but I'm also working with Brineleas the college. There are evening classes three times a week over there if anyone wants to join. And I really love Brineleas because it's a community-based classes so it's really an amazing idea. There are evening classes as well you can choose from. And it's not only yoga. You can really, if you think about any course like Italian or I know there was sewing workshop or pottery or you can, if you, whatever you think of probably Brian is, has got it in the evening class it and then I also work with female, charities for women. there is an Alpha Omega charity, WPS, which, provides yoga classes for women for free and you can find them on event. Right. So, you can just sign up and come to a class, without anything really. It's a beautiful space as well. And they have different variation of classes. and there is a Vesta organisation I'm working with as well, for women from. For minority women from backgrounds like Polish, Czechs or Bian, Bulgarian. You know, all the minorities in crew you have. So again, there is lots of option to choose from.

Excellent. Thank you so much for your time today, Anna. It's been really interesting. Very, very deep conversation. It definitely went in a direction I wasn't expecting, but sometimes those are the best conversations, those things that people don't generally talk about. Thank you so much for being so open with us.

Oh, not a problem. Thank you, Elyssa. And thank you for your time.