ABOUT
I N T I M A T E B E I N G
OLIVIA CROOKS
Embodiment Mentor
''Embodiment is a relearning of how to inhabit your body, awaken intimacy with the subtle, and be guided from within. I teach the practices for this because I’ve seen how meeting oneself from within can open the door to willingness, resilience, and a deeper trust in life itself."
More about Olivia...
Olivia is an embodiment guide and long-time student of yoga, non-duality, and the deep intelligence of the body. Her journey spans over two decades, but the roots reach back further. At 15, she felt it — the quiet certainty that she was here to support others through their bodies, even as her own felt like a challenging place to inhabit. Those early challenges sparked a question — and eventually, a path. She found yoga at 16. Fell in love. At 21, she completed a year-long training in Sydney, diving into anatomy, the yoga sutras, Ayurveda, asana, pranayama, subtle body maps — the whole system. She began teaching soon after, leading her first retreat at 22. But she knew there was more. A deeper current kept pulling her beneath the surface. That current led her to India in 2003, where she encountered the teachings of non-duality, and then to the UK, where one workshop with Godfrey Devereux changed the course of her life. For the first time, she was led into her body in a way that felt real — raw, anchored, transformative. She apprenticed with him for ten years, traveling, assisting, and co-teaching around the world. In parallel, Olivia was moving through her own initiations — a journey of unravelling cultural and personal conditioning around sexuality, altered states, and spiritual expression. A path of reclamation more than rebellion. Through what might be called a tantric lens, she explored the body not just as a tool for practice, but as a gateway to deeper knowing, deeper truth, and deeper intimacy with life itself. For many years, she co-taught summer retreats and solo taught immersions across Europe — guiding students into an intimacy with the body and its inherent intelligence. These days, her work has evolved: women's retreats, resilience trainings, courses, and offerings that honour both the sacred and the everyday. Her teaching isn’t performative. It doesn’t rely on scripts, dogma, or borrowed voices. She speaks from what she’s lived — with clarity, honesty, and invitations that speak directly to the body. What she offers is more than just a method — it’s a remembering. A return to your own rhythm, your own wisdom, and your place in the great, strange beauty of being alive.
Roots
Life in 2025
My approach to posture practice stems from the lineage of Krishnamacharya, often seen as the godfather of modern yoga. His influence spread through key students: his son Desikachar and Mohan (viniyoga), Pattabhi Jois and BNS Iyengar (astanga-vinyasa), and BKS Iyengar (Iyengar yoga). I studied a little with Mohan, and my teacher, Godfrey Devereux, studied a little with both BNS Iyengar and BKS Iyengar. Godfrey began practicing yoga around 1973. You can find more about his journey here, but in short: he was one of the early voices bringing astanga to the UK, teaching at the Life Centre in London. His body was strong and flexible, and his practice was powerful, but he quickly saw that many students in the West didn't have the same capacities as those he had practiced with in India. People were injuring themselves. The deeper promises of yoga, the esoteric truths, weren't being fulfilled. This led him to refine his teaching, looking beyond physical prowess into the deeper philosophy. His path took him into Zen meditation, Advaita, and his continuing with many hours of daily practice. From there, he began to translate the Yoga Sutras for himself. It’s from his translation, especially the heart of the Yamas and Niyamas, that are the roots of where my teaching stem. The Yamas and Niyamas are not given as moral rules to obey. They are lenses, natural unfoldings,  that arise when we become deeply intimate with our own nature: The Yamas (Expressions of our essential nature) Ahimsa - Sensitivity → The spontaneous sensitivity that arises when you are at ease in yourself. Satya - Honesty → The natural honesty that flows when there’s no fear or tension distorting perception or communication. Asteya - Openness → The generosity that emerges when you no longer feel separate or insufficient. Brahmacharya - Intimacy → The effortless conservation of energy that happens when you are not chasing or resisting life. Aparigraha - Generosity → The freedom to let life flow without clinging, when you trust what you are. The Niyamas (The fruits of the Yamas in experience) Shaucha - Integrity → The natural purity of being when nothing interferes with body, breath, or mind. Santosha - Trust → The spontaneous satisfaction that arises when struggle ends and presence deepens. Tapas - Passion → The natural enthusiasm to engage fully with life when fear no longer dominates experience. Svadhyaya - Self-inquiry → The innocent curiosity about who and what you are, arising when you're no longer defended against life. Ishvarapranidhana - Total Immersion → The effortless trust in life's intelligence when the need to control dissolves.
My approach to posture practice stems from the lineage of Krishnamacharya, often seen as the godfather of modern yoga. His influence spread through key students: his son Desikachar and Mohan (viniyoga), Pattabhi Jois and BNS Iyengar (astanga-vinyasa), and BKS Iyengar (Iyengar yoga). I studied a little with Mohan, and my teacher, Godfrey Devereux, studied a little with both BNS Iyengar and BKS Iyengar. Godfrey began practicing yoga around 1973. You can find more about his journey here, but in short: he was one of the early voices bringing astanga to the UK, teaching at the Life Centre in London. His body was strong and flexible, and his practice was powerful, but he quickly saw that many students in the West didn't have the same capacities as those he had practiced with in India. People were injuring themselves. The deeper promises of yoga, the esoteric truths, weren't being fulfilled. This led him to refine his teaching, looking beyond physical prowess into the deeper philosophy. His path took him into Zen meditation, Advaita, and his continuing with many hours of daily practice. From there, he began to translate the Yoga Sutras for himself. It’s from his translation, especially the heart of the Yamas and Niyamas, that are the roots of where my teaching stem. The Yamas and Niyamas are not given as moral rules to obey. They are lenses, natural unfoldings,  that arise when we become deeply intimate with our own nature: The Yamas (Expressions of our essential nature) Ahimsa - Sensitivity → The spontaneous sensitivity that arises when you are at ease in yourself. Satya - Honesty → The natural honesty that flows when there’s no fear or tension distorting perception or communication. Asteya - Openness → The generosity that emerges when you no longer feel separate or insufficient. Brahmacharya - Intimacy → The effortless conservation of energy that happens when you are not chasing or resisting life. Aparigraha - Generosity → The freedom to let life flow without clinging, when you trust what you are. The Niyamas (The fruits of the Yamas in experience) Shaucha - Integrity → The natural purity of being when nothing interferes with body, breath, or mind. Santosha - Trust → The spontaneous satisfaction that arises when struggle ends and presence deepens. Tapas - Passion → The natural enthusiasm to engage fully with life when fear no longer dominates experience. Svadhyaya - Self-inquiry → The innocent curiosity about who and what you are, arising when you're no longer defended against life. Ishvarapranidhana - Total Immersion → The effortless trust in life's intelligence when the need to control dissolves.
