Yoga teacher, author & healthy ageing specialist
A journey that began with a diagnosis, led through yoga, breathwork and science, and arrived at a book, a practice, and a deeper way of living.
Photo @Yogamatters2024
E-RYT 500 – Yoga Alliance Provider – Certified Breathwork Practitioner – Transformation Life Coach – Fitness Trainer – MS Specialist – Member of the International Breathwork Foundation
The beginning: The foot that stopped obeying me
In 1999, during a step class in Dublin, my right foot suddenly stopped obeying me. No pain, no warning, just numbness. That was the beginning of my journey with multiple sclerosis.
At first, MS brought a lot of fear and uncertainties. But over time, I began to see it as a messenger asking me to listen, and live differently.
Healing doesn’t mean curing or recovering. It’s a return to wholeness: a feeling of being deeply aligned with our true essence and life’s purpose.
I first came to yoga as an alternative to the gym. I loved the physical challenge, and the way my body felt afterwards. But gradually, I started noticing how it changed the way I felt emotionally.
Over the years, little by little, yoga taught me self-compassion, acceptance, and how to let go. I’ve learned to trust life, my body, and the intelligence that connects us all.
MS has been a constant reminder that ageing with vitality isn’t about holding on to what was, or trying to go ‘back’ to the way things were. It’s about truly and profoundly awakening what still is, and to allow healing.
When we live from that place, energy flows more freely, and we begin to age with joy and vitality.
Today, I want to live and teach from that place. I want to share yoga, Breathwork, and stillness as pathways back to vitality, peace, and the joy of being fully yourself.
The name: Why the Walrus?
The name “Taming the Walrus” comes from a dream I had three months before being diagnosed with MS.
In the dream, I was walking through a quiet neighbourhood when I found myself drawn to a house with steps leading down to a small, barren garden, and a garage. I stepped inside, and an enormous female walrus came to me.
She was majestic. Her head nearly touched the ceiling, her whole body rippling like a slow-moving wave. I couldn’t move or speak, only watch. She looked at me kindly through long lashes, as if she meant no harm. Then she spoke. She gave me a riddle. I knew that solving it would allow me to move on…
I’ve always believed in that dream.
If MS were an animal, it would be my walrus: vast, powerful, a little frightening, yet ultimately friendly.
And I know that I need to keep learning from ‘my Walrus’ one breath at a time.
And I believe we all have our own walrus…
“One only understands the things that one tames.” — Antoine de Saint-Exupéry, The Little Prince
In The Little Prince, the fox teaches that taming is not about control. It is about creating a bond. To tame something is to make it yours, and to become its. Not to conquer it, but to enter into relationship with it. That is what this work is. Not a battle with the body. Not a fight against age or illness. A relationship – patient, curious, and built one breath at a time.
Training & qualifications: Learning never stops
My passion for lifelong learning spans both ancient wisdom and modern science – from breath and the nervous system to mitochondria, the gut microbiome and lifestyle medicine. I am always exploring one question: how can we live more fully and age more vibrantly?
2009 Hatha Yoga Teacher Training (200hr) with Frog Lotus International ·
E-RYT 500 certified, Yoga Alliance Continuing Education Provider (YACEP)
2013 Yoga Therapy Certification – Paramanand Institute · Adaptive Yoga with Dr. Omanand
2012 & 2015 Yoga as Therapy with Doug Keller, Senior Yoga Teacher
2015 Restorative Yoga with Roger Cole
2019 MS Get a Head Start: MS Specialist Training with Gilly Davy · Deepening the specialised knowledge that informs all MS teaching
2020–2021 Polyvagal Theory in Therapeutic Yoga with Dr. Arielle Schwartz · Understanding the nervous system’s role in healing and resilience
2023 Advanced Breathwork with Dr. Ela Manga · Certified Breathwork Practitioner & member, International Breathwork Foundation
2024 Transformation Life Coach – Certified coaching for lasting behavioural and mindset change
2026 Taming the Walrus book published – First book: Taming the Walrus: Inner Intelligence, Yoga, and the Science of Healthy Ageing · Available now in paperback and Kindle
What’s next: This is the story behind the work.
Whether you are drawn to the book, a class, a retreat, or working together one-to-one, everything Véronique offers grows from this journey. An invitation to trust your own body’s intelligence.