We spoke with Lucy Edge, founder of YogaClicks and author Yoga School Dropout. We know Lucy as Silatha is sold in her amazing online store YogaClicks - a shop that only sells ethically produced wellbeing products. We are proud to be in part of her curated selection and to have a chance to share more about its inspirational founder. Lucy has a very bright and positive energy, that's lovely to be around. Learn a bit more about her and why she dropped out of yoga school.
Have you always been into wellbeing?
No. I smoked forty a day in my twenties, and I never did any exercise! I finally gave up smoking in the year I turned thirty and celebrated with a trip to a hammam, in Hackney. I started cycling to work, along the canals of East London, and soon felt the difference. It took me another four years to discover yoga, on a yoga holiday in Turkey, at Huzur Vadisi with Simon Low. I felt so inspired by the practice and by the people around me – they’d been practicing a long time – they all seemed so chilled and some of them had been on amazing adventures to India; I wanted to experience what they had experienced.
What changed for you whilst you were learning yoga in India? Why did you decide yoga school wasn’t for you?
I had gone out there to try lots of different kinds of yoga, to maybe meet a guru, and I had some vague notion of becoming a yoga goddess – which would represent a complete back flip from the burnt out ad girl that got on the plane. I did find my guru – not in the ashrams or the yoga schools, but in the so-called ordinary Indians I met along the way. They had the ability to be content with whatever they had, to be present in the moment, and to have fun – all without having any money.
Tell us about your first book Yoga School Dropout. Why do you think it’s been so successful?
People tell me it’s very relatable – maybe because I was honest about my experience in India – which frankly wasn't very yogic a lot of the time! I think we all struggle. I had all these dreams and ideals of what was going to happen and who I was going to become, and I spent nearly six months in India trying to make them happen. But it was like a shopping list of requirements – which was never going to work. When I gave up on all of it, I created the space for happiness – for living in the moment – just like those “ordinary” Indians.
What inspired you to create your own online yoga store?
Readers of Yoga School Dropout got in touch, telling me that yoga had also helped them transform their own lives and for many of them, that meant rediscovering their creativity – something they hadn’t experienced since they were children. I realised that there were a lot of yogi makers out there, and that they were making yoga pants, yoga mats and beautiful, yoga-inspired jewellery. I wanted to create an online home for these collections – a curated marketplace in which everything was made by yogis.
Why in your opinion is sustainability so important?
As a yogi I feel guided by yoga to transform not just my life but to positively impact other people’s lives, the lives of animals and the wellbeing of the planet. The best thing about these yogi makers is that they share this mission and are creating ethically and sustainably in its pursuit. Their leggings are sustainable, their mats ethical, their workmanship supportive of traditional artisan craftsmanship. I realised that a tribe of yogis, working together, could make a big contribution to sustainability, and lead the way in business as a force for good.
Why was Silatha a good fit with your brand?
We curate our brands, looking for ways to empower ethical shoppers to feel good about what they buy, not just because it looks good and feels good, but because it’s good for the wellbeing of other people, animals and the planet. Silatha fitted in with that mission really well – given that the collection is inspired by Veroniek’s own transformation, and serves to bring in-the-moment calm to all through that powerful combination of meditation and spiritual jewellery.
What’s your favourite Silatha piece?
Now you’re asking! I love every piece, and sometimes feel I need all of it depending on what need state I am in! Today I need to reduce the negative mind chatter and step away from all my inner drama, so today I choose the Will Power and Self Esteem Meditation Set and Necklace, with the beautiful Red Tiger’s Eye gemstone.
What does a day off look like to you?
The day starts with coffee and a walk on the beach with my husband – we are lucky enough to live twenty minutes from the sea. We might have lunch in our favourite Southwold café, then it’s a couple of hours in the kitchen batch cooking for the week ahead, some yoga and meditation, and an evening on the sofa with a great boxed set.
What’s your first novel Down Dog Billionaire about?
It’s a tale of two yoga studios and the choices we make – to follow our head or our heart. One studio is a brand new opening - the last word in super-luxe yoga, complete with cellulite-banishing yoga pants and high-tech yoga mats. The other is a run down but beloved neighbourhood yoga studio, which has occupied the same spot for two decades, and is now threatened with closure by this shiny, new studio.
My heroine – an ambitious young woman who goes to work for the new studio – is forced to make a choice. Is she to be a buff-bodied, fast-track corporate girl, circling the globe, working for the super-luxe studio or does her heart lie closer to home – with the granola guy up the road and her own soul-fired business?
How can people find your shop?
Find us online at YogaClicks.store. The yoga and wellbeing shop for mindful shoppers.
