' changed my day and my whole life'.

I COME from the business world and I know why it is important to have proper relaxation in your day.

"People working through their lunch breaks are doing more harm than good and bosses should be made aware of that.

"I want to bring a bit of peace and tranquillity to people and this is a perfect way to do that." John, known as Mac, is no spaced-out new-ager.

He is a respected businessman who until 11 years ago was far more likely to be in a suit and tie hemmed in at his desk than on a yoga mat.

He knows all about being a stressed-out business executive, having set up Gateshead's Cintra Payroll services in 1981, along with his partner, and spent years building up the company.

"Running any business is stressful," Mac says, "and certainly running Cintra was no exception to that rule."

He is now offering free lunchtime yoga taster sessions in the hope it will entice people to sign up to his 12-week courses and get the kind of stress-relief yoga has given him.

It was almost by accident he first got involved in the practice. In 1995, a much more unfit Mac decided to take a well-earned holiday. It was a choice between cooking in Tuscany and yoga in Crete.

"I decided to go for the yoga and it was there I met the late Derek Ireland, the man who really got me into yoga," he says.

"I was nearly 50, really stressed out and in bad shape, so doing the yoga was quite extreme. But it really, really helped me."

Despite coming to yoga at a later age, Mac soon threw himself into it whole-heartedly.

He says: "It was always something which had interested me, but I'd never got a round to really pursuing it until then.

"But after those first few lessons I felt so much better that when I got back to Newcastle I knew I needed to keep it up and I started going to the Newcastle Buddhist Centre for lessons."

Keen to take his yoga on to the next step, Mac began to look around the country for yoga teachers.

"I met a number of really good teachers," he says. He began to practise intensively and regularly and the effect on him was transforming. It made me feel so much better, healthier, fitter and far, far less stressed.

"It is not too much to say it really gave me a new lease of life and I believe it has put years onto my life."

After about five or six years, Mac hit a plateau in his development, which led him to a meeting with renowned Morpeth-born yoga teacher Godfrey Devereux.

"He is my current teacher," he explains, "and he made it clear what I had to do to progress.

"Really he transformed the way I thought about yoga and allowed me to really develop further."

Godfrey teaches a dynamic form of yoga which is an intensive type based on a clarity of body, mind and spirit.

He runs a yoga retreat in Tuscany, Italy, and it was here Mac learned the new form of yoga.

It was with Godfrey's guidance Mac took over teaching duties at the Newcastle Buddhist centre after a previous yoga teacher had left.

Mac says: "I spoke to him about whether I should do it or not as it is a big responsibility.

"It didn't take me long to decide it was something I wanted to do, so Godfrey put me through an intensive training programme."

After 28 days, Mac's training was complete and in 2003 he was ready to become a teacher imself.

"And I discovered that I absolutely love teaching," he says. "To work with someone and see them get better is wonderful, so I just wanted more and wanted to just connect with more people.

"I teach people of all different ages and types and everyone can progress with yoga, which is what makes it such a satisfying thing to do."

Mac teaches under the banner of Elemental Yoga and ploughs all of the money he gets from the classes right back into teaching.

"The yoga has obviously taken over more and more as my day job," he explains.

"I have found my passion with teaching it and devote more time to it.

"Ideally I would like to train teachers as well as taking classes. There is room for a lot more people to get into yoga teaching in the region."

But right now he is working on a new project, 30-minute lunchtime yoga sessions three times a week which he believes will appeal to office workers.

"As far as I know, nobody else in the North-East is doing these lunchtime sessions," Mac says. "There are lunchtime yoga sessions, but they are all an hour, so we use different teaching methods which mean we can get something across in half an hour which normally takes a lot longer.

"I have always wanted to work in the middle of town and to get people out of the office and to de-stress.

"I thought if we can design something at lunchtime which works and gives people the relaxation and they still have time for a sandwich and a coffee, then we are on to a winner.

"There are just so many hours in the day and practising after work can be difficult for some people. But if you spend a short time relaxing, it can make you so much more productive.

"Speaking as a manager, if people can take proper breaks, you get a more relaxed and happier workforce. Taking a bit of time out can transform your day."

For more information visit www.elementalyoga.co.uk or www.new castlebuddhistcentre.org/yoga

Dynamic Yoga Method

BASED on the teachings of Patanjali, the author of the original and defining text on yoga, the Dynamic Method uses classical Hatha Yoga techniques.

These methods are re-interpreted for the modem world, to relax minds and bodies and invite a deep investigation of their true nature.

Far from being yet another style of yoga, its techniques underlie all styles of Hatha Yoga and provide a clear and comprehensible approach to the eight limbs, asta-anga, of

The Dynamic Yoga Method is a set of simple, but highly effective, techniques to release us rapidly and safely back into the heart of our elemental nature.

These are not wishy-washy new age ideas but proven techniques to improve bodily awareness and relax both body and mind.

Yoga taster sessions

THIS month Mac is providing people with the chance to try out Yoga in free taster sessions on Monday January 8, Wednesday 10 and Thursday 11 All the sessions take place from noon to 12.30pm and lpm to 1.30p at the Newcastle Buddhist Centre, 9 Carliol Square (above Body Zone Gym), Newcastle.

The main Yoga sessions begin on Monday, January 15, and will run through until Easter. The sessions on Monday, Wednesday and Thursday all begin at noon and lpm (both of which last for 30 minutes, mats are provided and it's advised for people to bring or wear loose, stretchy clothes).

The normal prices for the sessions are 12 sessions (one per week) pounds 60, 24 sessions (two per week) pounds 108 and 36 sessions (three per week) pounds 144

The sessions are short, convenient and highly focussed, including rhythmic movement, intensive stretching and deep relaxation mac's profile

Name: John 'Mac' McEvoy.

Age: 60.

Lives: Heaton, Newcastle.

Family: Mac has two daughters.

Katrina, 27, works for educational film company Siren Films - she has two children: Orson, six months and Seb, six and is married to James, a cameraman. Jess, 31, is a senior manager at Cintra, who is married to programmer Paul, who also works for the company.

They have two children - Jamie, seven and Lila, five.

Profession: Yoga Instructor and partner in Cintra Payroll Services.

Profile: Mac was born in London and moved to the North-East over 30-years ago. He was a founding partner of Cintra Payroll Services. Mac has been learning and studying Yoga for 11 years and has been a Yoga teacher for three of those year s.

He has worked with many teachers, including Derek Ireland, John Scott (Madonna's yoga teacher), Shandor Remete and (since 2000) Godfrey Devereux.

In November 2003 he attended a seminar in Kerala, India, with the renowned Advaita teacher, Ramesh Balsekar.

Businessman and yoga teacher John McEvoy speaks to Hannah Davies on why he is bringing yoga to stressed-out city workers.

CAPTION(S):

FRESH DIMENSION: Students learn lessons which can change their lives, at a class led by John McEvoy, who has made such a change himself.' RELAXED: John McEvoy has learned from the world's best yoga teachers.' GROUNDED: Mac finds an opportunities to take time out with grandson Orson - a whole new learning curve.