There’s a quiet radicalism in the way Lynn Murphy teaches yoga. Not in the aesthetics of the practice, but in what she asks women to do instead: slow down, feel, and turn toward the parts of themselves they’ve been taught to ignore.
At the centre of her work is a simple but confronting idea: reconnecting with the body often requires “delving into the landscape of the body”, and, as she puts it, “the bravery that that may require.”

From Art School to the Pelvis

Lynn’s journey into yoga began alongside her art practice on moving to London post art college the 80’s, where she found herself drawn to classes in community spaces and local halls. But it wasn’t until pregnancy that her practice took on a new urgency.

Turned away from her usual yoga classes while pregnant, she began searching for something that would support her in both body and mind as she prepared for birth. That search led her to find Active Birth, through initially the groundbreaking book that is Active Birth by Janet Balaskas, a text focused on pelvic anatomy and birth, which became a real turning point.

From there, the pelvic bowl became central to everything she now does.

Across her work, she returns to a simple but expansive idea:

“What unites our different life stages as women… is the pelvic space.”

Motherhood, Identity, and Stigma

Motherhood didn’t just reshape Lynn’s life; it reshaped how others saw her.

Continuing as an artist became, in her words, “unsustainable,” as she encountered the persistent assumption that being a mother meant she could no longer be a true ‘artist’.

This reduction, to be seen only as a mother by society at large, helped her recognise that this transitional phase gave her the opportunity to rethink her identity to reinvent herself and claim a new way forward.

Her move into yoga teaching wasn’t just practical; it was a reclamation.

And within that, she began challenging dominant narratives around motherhood, particularly the pressure to return to a pre-pregnancy self within weeks.

Instead of “bouncing back,” her work invites women to be kind to themselves, to lean in and yield during the transformative postpartum years.

To “continue on ones life journey,” and to embrace what that change means “for yourself and for your body.”

Slowness, the Nervous System, and the Work of Feeling

Lynn’s approach centres deeply on the nervous system, on the reality that many women are living in states of chronic overstimulation.

She therefore highlights the importance of making time to slow down.

But as she makes clear, slowness is not always comfortable.

It can be “intense,” even confronting, because it asks us to feel what we might otherwise avoid. It asks for presence, and presence can require courage.

In her classes, the signs of reconnection are both subtle and profound:

• “the softening of the body”
• “the breath slowing down, becoming deeper”
• sometimes “a flush… sometimes tears”

These moments are not interrupted or fixed. They are simply given space so women feel seen and heard.

Lynn describes her role as “the art of facilitating the space”, a practice of being “vulnerable enough that others feel safe to be vulnerable,” whether that vulnerability is spoken or humbly felt.

Even small gestures matter: a hand placed gently, a quiet acknowledgment, an attunement to what’s unfolding without trying to resolve it.

Circles, Not Classes

Lynn is intentional with language. Her sessions are not labelled “classes”, they are circles.

The distinction reflects everything about her approach.

Spaces are arranged so that “people feel equal,” without hierarchy, without the pressure to perform. There is no front of the room, only shared presence.

This structure creates something many women rarely experience: the absence of being watched or feeling perceived.

She describes the power of being “on the mat in solidarity,” where even in a group, there is a sense of inward focus, of connection without performance.

Her circles are also intergenerational, bringing together women across life stages, menstruation, pregnancy, menopause, each carrying different experiences, but connected through a woman’s pelvis.

The Pelvis, Pain, and Politics

For Lynn, the pelvis is more than a physical structure, it is where personal experience meets systemic neglect.

Across conditions such as gynaecological issues, pregnancy, postpartum recovery, she sees a shared thread: a lack of understanding, support, and compassion.

Her work pushes back against this, encouraging women to meet the pelvic space with care rather than control.

This is why she describes her practice as inherently political.

It exists in response to stigma, to misogyny, and often “medical misogyny.”

To reconnect with the body is, in this sense, an act of resistance. An acknowledgment of “the impact of landing on earth in the female form.”

“Gift Yourself These Mini Moments”

Rather than prescribing repetitive routines, Lynn offers something more accessible: what she calls “micro moments” and “pocketfuls of yoga"

Small, intentional pauses whether its “lying on the floor and noticing the breath” or “closing the eyes and placing hands on the body” at home or even on the tube or maybe “dancing in the kitchen”.

The point is not perfection, but presence.

“Gifting yourself these mini moments,” she explains, is a way of beginning again, of gently re-entering the body.

Rethinking Strength

Lynn is also keen to challenge dominant ideas of strength.

What is often perceived as strength, muscle, visible fitness, does not necessarily translate to internal support.

“Strength,” particularly in relation to the pelvic floor, is frequently misunderstood and under-supported.

This gap is not just individual, it’s structural.

From the lack of postpartum care to the stigma surrounding pelvic health, women are often left without the resources they need to understand their own bodies.

Lynn’s work intervenes here, not by imposing solutions, but by creating spaces of awareness, empathy, and education.

“Find an Out-Breath to Refuel the In-Breath”

At the heart of everything Lynn offers is a return: to breath, to body, to self.

When asked what she hopes women leave her space with, her answer is simple but expansive: To feel “more embodied and empowered and more in touch with oneself.”

And perhaps more importantly, to carry that connection beyond the workshop.

“Find an out-breath to refuel the in-breath.”

Holding Space, Differently

Lynn often describes her neurodivergence, what she calls her “weirdness”, as a “superpower.”

It allows her to read people, to adapt, to follow what she calls the “thread of change” within a room.

Her teaching is not fixed; it evolves in response to the bodies within it.

She notices when someone is struggling, when someone disappears inward, and she responds, not by correcting, but by acknowledging.

This attentiveness is what makes her spaces feel safe.

And in a culture that so often demands performance, productivity, and perfection, that safety is quietly transformative.

Overall, Lynn’s work is not about fixing the female body but returning to it.

With care.

With curiosity.

With compassion.

Thank you so much Lynn for sharing your wonderful insight and warmth with us.

Where to find Lynn:

Instagram: @herplacebylynn

Website: https://lynnmurphyyoga.com/ for info on all offerings.

Upcoming workshops and classes:

Women’s Yoga classes online and in the studio: https://lynnmurphyyoga.com/womens-yoga

Pelvic Love Sessions: for women who support women in their work. https://lynnmurphyyoga.com/pelvic-love-sessions-london

Mother Love a Postpartum Training. https://lynnmurphyyoga.com/mother-love-training

Perinatal Trauma Support: https://lynnmurphyyoga.com/perinatal-trauma-recovery-support