Post-Divorce Wellness: New 6-Week Course for Over-50s Launched by Top Yoga Instructor

Mickey Monroe rebuilt her life after divorce, and now she wants to help others do the same this autumn.

A London yoga instructor who walked away from her marriage and her business in midlife is launching a programme for people over 50 who feel they have reached a turning point.

Mickey Monroe, a founding Storm model and wellness founder, has created Life Re-Imagined, a six-week course aimed at people who, as she puts it, "were never handed a plan for what comes next."

Londoners who practise yoga may already know her. Mickey has taught classes across the capital for many years, and she continues to run regular sessions in the city alongside her retreats elsewhere.

Why autumn?

The launch is timed for the change of season. As the days get shorter and the weather cools, the routines built up over summer tend to slip.

Light and routine are closely linked to mood and energy. Shorter days can affect melatonin and serotonin levels before we notice any change, which can show up as restlessness or low mood even when nothing in particular has happened.

Autumn also brings upheaval for many people. Children go back to school or leave for university, relationships end, and empty-nest feelings can set in. For others it is a season of new jobs, new friendships or dating again.

Mickey argues that this makes it a good moment to reset with some structure and support.

From catwalk to ashram

Mickey was one of the first models signed by Storm in the 1990s. Decades later, she returned to modelling in midlife, and the agency signed her again, which is rare.

In between, she left the industry with her then-husband to travel through Bali, Malaysia and India. The couple came back to the UK and built a business together, working with huge brands like TopShop, Miss Selfridge and ASOS.

The marriage lasted 18 years and they had three children. When it ended, Mickey left the business too.

By her own account, she spent the next five years "sticking it out" before a complete reset through yoga, macrobiotics and an unplanned return to modelling.

Recalling that time, she says: "I promised myself then, I would never pick another man's underwear off the floor again. The shadows is not for me. I'm stepping into my light."

Three decades of practice

Mickey has practised yoga and macrobiotics for more than 30 years and has trained and taught in ashrams in India.

She holds a 650-hour International Yoga Alliance accreditation covering Ashtanga, Vinyasa, Hatha, Yin, Restorative, and pregnancy and birth yoga.

Today, she runs Active Pada, her yoga, breathwork and wellbeing practice. It offers classes, workshops and detox retreats in the UK and Ibiza, as well as corporate wellbeing sessions.

What the programme involves

Life Re-Imagined runs for six weeks and aims to reset habits and patterns physically, emotionally, energetically and spiritually.

Rather than offering a quick fix, the course is designed to help people build a plan for their health and wellbeing that lasts the rest of their lives.

More information about Life Re-Imagined and Mickey's London classes is available at activepada.com.