Yoga Photography for Keah Lan, owner of SENSES.
I wouldn’t call Yoga Photography “my speciality”. However, having practised yoga regularly now for the past 4 years has made me understand better the poses or moves or rather how you move to get the poses. As I continue my practice, I constantly find this parallel between yoga and life and my creative process in photography. The connexions here are between Keah and the beautiful nature that surrounds her, a source where she finds balance and nurture. Keep on reading to discover her candid thoughts to the questions she has gracefully and kindly accepted to answer for me.
I am starting a series of articles devoted to women entrepreneurs on the French Riviera. I am interested in chatting about womanhood, being an entrepreneur, the creative process, keeping going, being a mother for some and balancing it all. If you’d like to be interviewed and photographed by me, doing what you love, or if you know of someone, please do get in touch hello@carocuinetwellings.com
You can find Keah, her thoughts, her words of wisdom and advice on Instagram.
From the city to nature, entrepreneur & mother.
I met Keah on a hot and sunny day in the summer 2020, in between 2 lockdowns. I picked her up from the station and brought her back to my house. We enjoyed conversation, coffee and a couple of slices of a carrot cake my little girl and her friends had made the day before.
In 2000 in London, Keah had set up “Keah Lan Mobile Healing”, a platform to bring health and wellness to busy, stressed and time constrained city folk. 19 years later she rebranded as SENSES on the French Riviera, which she is currently relaunching. It is when their son Matisse was born that Keah and her husband chose a quieter and more simple life in the South of France.
CCW: Tell me about being a woman / mother and an entrepreneur?
“Being a mom has definitely made me a better entrepreneur. The most important thing I have learnt from being a mom, is that time is too precious to waste. In 2018, we learned that our son had some sensory difficulties. This meant that we had to relearn everything we knew from scratch to support him. But I also learnt that I had to prioritise my own well being. Isn’t it common that we put the needs of our family before our own and become absorbed by the responsibilities of being a joyful wife, mother, and homemaker that we neglect to adequately tend to our own personal health and well-being ? “
Keah bravely admits that she nearly had a mental breakdown this year. Even more bravely, she took a step back, reframed everything and reset her mind and body. There was a need to get back to learning basic skills. She ended up getting these from watching her son navigate his surroundings. He has reminded her to focus on one task at a time and prioritise them.
Pivoting to keep going.
The global pandemic and its consequences have not been kind to a lot of businesses. SENSES has had to move from providing at home and outdoor wellbeing to live Zoom classes online. That meant a complete restructuring of the business and new skills for Keah to learn quickly. She has now created a library of classes online, where Workouts and Wellbeing help to bring the 5 Senses into harmony to heal mind, body, and spirit. The classes provide a transformative and sustainable approach that nurtures us and most importantly, leads to lasting change.
CCW : Have you experienced “failures” or taken the “wrong” route that eventually led you to a better life balance or made better business decisions?
” I tried to do too many things at once or putting too much on my plate. I poured from an empty cup as well as always saying YES. Today, I’ve truly started to identify the things in my life that I value most. When an opportunity comes along, I am more likely to honour the most important things in my life and say no to everything else.”
Any of this rings a bell ? A big lesson she learned and that she is still learning, is to ask for help and reach out to a community. Keah’s nugget to take away is to remember that it’s about progress, not perfection. We can be courageous through discomfort as Brene Brown says.
Women supporting women.
Keah shares with us 3 people who have helped her this year:
- I recently joined a workshop by https://www.instagram.com/solar_sacred_journey/ she does healing through cacao ceremony , sing and dance. I found it wonderful to release years of stress in only 2 hours. We should definitely all sing and dance more.
- I love https://www.instagram.com/bodistudios/, run by two cool badass woman entrepreneurs Suzanne and Teresa as they make movement through pilates and yoga accessible to all shapes and sizes and provide classes in a fun, relaxed and non intimidating atmosphere.
- Before launching my website I was struggling with my business plans, and a friend of mine told me I had to meet https://www.carocuinetwellings.com, I am glad I did as she has become a business mentor to me and through her photography provides a sweet glimpse into the warmth of families homes, away from Covid madness.
Share this story
