Where is the best country you’ve visited?
Thailand - I’ve been lucky enough to go several times to train Muay Thai and practice yoga there. The weather, human spirit, food and culture is all beautiful.
What does a perfect day look like to you?
Clear skies and sunshine are essential. It involves some adventure and exploration in nature and a night spent dancing to my favourite music.
All time favourite music artist or album?
African Giant by Burna Boy - it’s celebratory, uplifting, groovy, educational and inspiring - I love it!
Rory is not your typical yoga teacher. He doesn’t teach in yoga studios but in men's prisons. For over 4 years, Rory has been taking the practice behind prison walls to help support and enhance the lives of inmates physically, mentally, emotionally and even spiritually. Through weekly in-person classes and video content which is internally broadcast into cells via prison TV, Rory’s work is providing the opportunity for prisoners to improve their wellbeing. With time, he observes his students developing a greater understanding of themselves, breaking free from their harmful habits and cultivating an inner calm.
With community at the heart of his work, Rory is also a qualified youth worker, mentor and coach. He has dedicated the last few years of his career to working within youth centres and contributing to youth culture in London via innovative and powerful projects including the BikeLife movement which featured in GQ. His work has also seen him set up a young men’s discussion group, create a bicycle workshop social enterprise and bring to life various projects involving art and music. Speaking on his community work, Rory says “I wish to bring people together to help uplift and further one another”.
Recently Rory has been sharing his story on his fast-growing TikTok platform. Here he creates educational and inspirational content focused on encouraging people to take care of their physical and mental wellbeing in equal measure. Rory loves to see more men in particular taking up yoga as a result of engaging with his content. On being a man working within the yoga space Rory says “I want to disrupt the traditional and inherited ideas of what yoga is, who it is for and what a man should be doing to look after himself. I want to advocate for a softer side to masculinity that looks strong but has a more vulnerable side to it.”