Raquel Alves

Raquel’s retreat teaching style – Tantra & Hatha Yoga, Yoga Nidra, Breath Coach

Raquel Alves began teaching in 1992 and holds qualifications in Para Yoga (Rod Stryker), BWY and Sivananda. She’s also a CCB-Breath Coach.

Originally from Africa, she now resides in the UK. Her teaching style blends various styles with a strong focus on Tantra, incorporating her years of Ashtanga practice and Iyengar yoga. Restorative relaxation techniques, meditation, Kriyas, Mudras, breathing techniques and occasionally chanting are also used. Classes explore themes related to daily life or yoga philosophy.

Her practice is influenced by her current teacher’s teachings and she assists him when he teaches in Europe. As a 500 hour Yoga Alliance E-RYT (senior teacher), she also tutors and mentors on the Yoga Campus Teacher Training Programme.

Raquel brings a wealth of knowledge to her teaching, paying close attention to alignment and empowering her students to have fun and explore their inner selves.

Find out more about Raquel here.

Catherine Annis

Catherine’s retreat teaching style – Somatic, Scaravelli inspired Hatha

Catherine Annis is known for her exploratory, imaginative and down-to-earth approach to yoga. Rooted in somatic movement and the teachings of Vanda Scaravelli, her teaching encourages greater ease, sensitivity and intelligence in the body, inviting freedom in the spine, regulation of the nervous system and a deeper sense of trust in oneself. Informed by anatomy, contemporary movement science and her background in dance and strength training, her classes combine sensitivity with an underlying physical rigour, offering a practice that is both grounding and quietly demanding.

Her teaching is often described as warm, spacious and quietly playful, creating an atmosphere in which participants can explore with curiosity and without pressure. Alongside subtle breath work, intelligent movement and thoughtful adaptation, there is often an element of unexpected challenge – arising not from force or striving, but from attention, coordination and depth of awareness. Participants frequently discover new possibilities in familiar movements and postures.

Originally a professional dancer, Catherine has been practising yoga since her teens in the 1970s. Her path has included Sivananda, Iyengar, Ashtanga and a range of Hatha traditions, though her teaching today is most deeply shaped by somatic and Scaravelli-inspired approaches.
After many years teaching on the Triyoga Teacher Training, Catherine founded Intelligent Yoga Teacher Training in 2017, a training rooted in functional movement, anatomy and trauma-sensitive practice, featuring guest teachers including Gary Carter.

Now based in the wild landscape of Exmoor, Catherine teaches regular classes online and in person, and leads retreats and workshops throughout the UK and Europe. Find out more about Catherine from her website here.

Emma Arscott

Emma’s retreat teaching style – Slow, strong, alignment based flow, Restorative

Emma’s intention is to create an inspiring space for joy and transformation through yoga, meditation and breathwork. She truly believes that there is so much wisdom within the yoga practice that can reconnect our mind, body and soul and is passionate about making yoga available to as many people as possible.

She trained to teach yoga in Rishikesh, India, the home and heart of yoga and is extremely grateful to all of her amazing teachers she has worked with and learned from. Like a lot of people, she first came to the practice for the physical aspect and very quickly realised that there was a certain magic beyond the poses. The positive effects that the practice generated started to trickle into all aspects of her life and were so profound she felt called to share it with others.

Emma loves to blend modern anatomy teachings with traditional yogic philosophy to create well rounded sessions where you can learn about the fascinating biomechanics of your body, while giving your mind some well needed time and space away from the pressures of daily life. You can expect to be challenged in a slow, yet strong alignment-based flow to strengthen, tone and soothe your body. You will explore and connect through movement and breathwork keeping mindfulness at the heart of the practice. Each class will have a different focus, and there will always be options to make sure you’re practicing the right way for your body. You will finish the sessions feeling uplifted, nourished and refreshed ready to take on the world!

Find out more about Emma from her website here.

Clem Balfour

Clem’s retreat teaching style – Vinyasa flow, Restorative, Yin

Clem found yoga in her early twenties, and she’s been sharing that passion ever since.

Her classes are a heartfelt exploration of balance, guiding you from the deep, quiet release of Yin into the vibrant, breath-fuelled energy of a Vinyasa class, always beautifully sequenced to a great playlist.

Clem teaches intuitively, reading the room to ensure you leave feeling both grounded and energised. Having studied under world-renowned teachers like Bernie Clark and Norman Blair, Clem brings a wealth of wisdom to her mat, while her love for community inspired her to launch the Yoga Brunch Club, blending soul-nourishing yoga with beautiful, chef-led feasts all over the UK.

Jodi Boone

Jodi’s retreat teaching style – Hatha flow, Restorative/Yin Yoga

Jodi began teaching yoga in 2001 as a way to share the profound practice that she feels has brought so much healing and peace into her own life. She believes yoga can be a moving meditation, and for this reason, within a hatha flow practice, likes to integrate gems of philosophy from many traditions for inspiration, as well as emphasize the breath and moments of stillness.

Before she started teaching for YOAS in 2008, she went on retreat with the company as a student in 2006 and 2007. Jodi fell in love with the nourishing aspects of retreat life, including immersing yourself in the practices of yoga, being in community with others who are drawn to the path of yoga, and traveling to beautiful locations and settings. In addition to teaching yoga, Jodi is a psychotherapist, massage therapist, and Ayurvedic practitioner.

Tania Brown

Tania’s retreat teaching style – Vinyasa flow, Restorative

Tania has been leading inspirational classes locally and internationally for 21 years. She has a unique ability to naturally inspire a deeper understanding of the flow of breath, movement and the mindful connections of yoga. Her teaching emphasis is on the power of the breath to manage and open the body, postural alignment, yogic philosophy and the integration of yoga principles into daily life.

She is passionate about promoting health, vitality and well-being through yoga in a light-hearted and accessible way. Tania’s practice began with her dad as a teenager. After years of regular yoga practice she studied with the Amrita School of Yoga to qualify as a Traditional Hatha Yoga teacher. She has also studied with Uma Dinsmore-Tuli (Yoga Nidra). Claire Missingham (Vinyasa Flow), Sarah Powers (Yin yoga) and Nigel Gilderson (Hatha yoga) amongst others. Most recently Tania is proud to be a student of Judith Hanson Lasater and Gabor Maté.

Tania has had the privilege to teach many people in different settings, including in schools, hospitals and teaching males on remand in Brixton prison. She builds a community where all bodies are welcome, offering free yoga if needed. She continues to develop infusing the different schools of yoga to give a rounded class reflecting the best of all the schools of yoga she continues to study.

“Tania teaches with warmth, energy, compassion and love. Her classes are a dynamic flowing style of yoga harmonising breath and movement to give strength and grace. They are accessible to all, whether or not you can touch your toes! just as long as you can breathe…”

Elena Byers

Elena’s retreat teaching style – Creative Vinyasa flow, Restorative

Elena teaches flowing somatic yoga and sacred song, rooted in philosophy, community + playfulness.

Having spent much of her life training in the creative body, with diverse years studying movement, performance, opera and visual arts, Elena is forever fascinated by the body’s ability to creatively express. And yoga being elemental in that journey since she emerged jelly-kneed from an Iyengar class in her teens.

Her classes are nurturing and powerful; guided from a place of genuine belief in the value of community and individual creative potential, wth lots of options to welcome all bodies in varying degrees of challenge and plenty of nourishing space in between.

A lover of sound, Elena’s teaching is often coloured with chanting and music, alongside the trusty accompaniment of her beloved harmonium Bina. Her practice and teaching incorporate flowing movement, Non-Dual philosophical teachings and playful proprioception work – combining her studies in anatomy and dance.

A long time devotee of TKV Desikachar’s teachings, she’s been guided over the last decade by studies in Yoga Philosophy with Oxford Centre for Hindu Studies, Somatics with Tias Little and Satu Tuomela and anatomy with Leslie Kaminoff. Presently she counts the inspiring Paula Andreewitch as her main teacher.

Nancy Campbell

Nancy’s retreat teaching style – Vinyasa flow, Yin, elements of Kundalini

Nancy has been practising yoga for over 30 years and teaching since 2011, offering a practice that is both supportive and grounding. She has a natural ability to guide students into a deeper connection with breath, movement and the more subtle, philosophical layers of the practice.

Her teaching is rooted in the belief that yoga is so much more than movement: it is a pathway to greater awareness, resilience and self-discovery, while also being a powerful way to support physical health and wellbeing. Nancy encourages her students to explore what feels possible for them, meeting themselves with curiosity rather than judgement. Her classes offer a sense of challenge, always adapted to the individual, creating space for both growth and self-trust.

With a warm, inclusive and light-hearted approach, she creates an environment where everyone feels at ease and able to be themselves. Her classes are creative and nurturing, blending vinyasa flow, yin and yang practices, breathwork and often elements of her kundalini training –  whilst weaving  yogic philosophy through each practise. She loves music and has creative playlists but when outside she also loves to embrace the sounds of nature.

Nancy enjoys bringing a sense of playfulness into her teaching  sometimes inviting students to explore poses they may not have thought possible, lesser known wellness tools such as shaking, dynamic breath, tapping and self massage. Many experience their first baby headstand on retreat. Equally, she is clear that no posture defines the practice, and no one should ever feel they are missing out if something isn’t right for their body.

She has studied with Claire Missingham, Jason Crandell, Norman Blair and Uma Dinsmore Tuli, and has also trained in Breathwork, Reiki, Sound healing and Life coaching.

She has taught in a variety of settings from enormous groups to small intimate numbers and is passionate about making yoga accessible to all. Nancy’s retreats offer a space to move, breathe, reset and reconnect leaving you restored, inspired, and with tools to take into everyday life.

You can find out more about Nancy from her website here.

Lila Conway

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Sunita Devi

Roanna Doleman

Lisa Dunn

Rebecca Enderby

James Eppy

James’s retreat teaching style – Vinyasa Flow & Restorative

James has been working in the field of health and wellness in London for the past 16 years.

He enjoys teaching his own flavour of vinyasa yoga in SE London from his small studio nestled in the heart of East Dulwich.

James is passionate about sharing the experience and the tangible benefits that regular yoga practice brings, to all who find a modality that works for them. As a relative latecomer to yoga, he spent his youthful years competing in Winter Biathlon and accumulating the inevitable burden of injuries as a byproduct of a rigorously repetitive training regime. It was trying out yoga for the first time that opened the door to, not only recovery, but a deeper understanding of strength-connection to avert injury.

Once the more esoteric “gems” of yoga came to light after a number of years of practicing Ashtanga, the next part of James’s journey was to pass on the teachings. He found a wonderfully aligned teacher in Gingi Lee and together with Charli Van Ness, completed foundational YTT at The Shala London.

From seasonal practitioners to relative newcomers to yoga, James’s method of leading class balances the importance of both effort and enjoyment. In an intuitive way, he chooses sequences and options to dial down/up according to the class energy in the moment rather than pre -set rigid sequencing. No one class is ever the same!

James’s style of teaching on retreat is loosely-lead by the circadian rhythm. The morning energy cycle unfurling after sleep, leads the way for gradual energetic vinyasa-themed flow before breaking fast. The evening cycle naturally leads the way for restorative/ yin methods.

Whilst on retreat and away from yoga, James defies his Taurean Earth sign by leaning heavily towards the sea/water-based activities. Expect an invitation to join for a group sunrise dip!

Belle Greenwood

Shilpi Gupta

Shilpi’s retreat teaching style – Soulful Vinyasa flow, Yin, Pranayama, Yoga Nidra

Shilpi grew up in a yoga-infused environment and culture, learning various aspects through osmosis and joyful yoga activities and has been practising for over a decade.

Shilpi trained and qualified as a teacher with Sampoorna Yoga. She has also completed further training in Yoga Nidra at Satyananda Yoga Centre and a hands-on assist training for yoga teachers. She teaches and leads workshops at various studios in London, including her own.

In a warm, welcoming and inclusive environment, Shilpi’s sessions are composed of Vinyasa flow, Hatha, Yin, Yoga Nidra, pranayama and guided meditations. Her vinyasa flows are energetic and uplifting; and the wholesome sessions energise the body and de-stress the mind through a traditional, structured process.

Her intention is that participants leave each class feeling refreshed and reunited in mind, body and spirit.

Tami Hafzalla

Molly Harragin

Molly’s retreat teaching style – Chakra healing yoga flow

Amelia Hodge

Amelia’s retreat teaching style – Hatha flow, Restorative, Yin Yoga

Amelia has been on her yoga journey since 2012. Her love of yoga led her to travel to Southern India to gain her Yoga Alliance 200hr Teacher Training Certification at the Sivananda ashram in Kerala, under the guidance of Swami Govindananda, Swami Tatwarupananda and Swami Nivedanananda.

Her Hatha Flow yoga will gently encourage you to explore your physical and mental capabilities, guiding you towards a deeper understanding of yoga and its philosophy. The atmosphere is authentic, relaxed, friendly and open for EVERY body to experience the incredible benefits of yoga.

She views the discipline of yoga as a vital element to learn more about our nature as human beings. Her teachings are infused with a meditative practice to transcend the mind. They deal mostly with body and breathing practices – guiding awareness to internal states and senses, incorporating meditative postures to encourage full observation, calmness and peace throughout – bringing attention to the more subtle and positive powers within to encourage creativity, intuition and contentment.

Jess Horn

Jaya Jaks

Jaya’s retreat teaching style – Flow Yoga, Restorative

Jaya started practicing yoga in 1995 and has explored many styles since. She completed an intensive 9-month teacher training in Byron Bay in 2003 and taught at Brahmani Yoga (former Purple Valley) in India until 2008. Jaya now lives and works in London and Somerset and periodically leads retreats within the UK and abroad.

Jaya teaches a dynamic flow style that combines the integrity, precision and alignment of Iyengar with the movement and breath awareness of Vinyasa. Her most influential teachers include Glenn Ceresoli, Louisa Sear, Clive Sheridan and Martin Alyward.

Jaya’s technique tends to suit students of varying abilities, as they can be both calming and challenging. Most important, Jaya creates a safe and nurturing environment that encourages self-discovery and non-competitiveness. She is particularly skilled at one-on-one adjustments. As well as strengthening the body and increasing stamina and flexibility, Jaya’s teachings help create a more peaceful mind, a more open heart and a more grounded attitude, all of which can help no end in today’s hectic world.

Jaya is also a Yoga Therapist, certified to teach Hormone Yoga Therapy, Pregnancy Yoga, Yoga Nidra and Chakra Dance and is currently studying for a diploma in Transpersonal Integrative Psychotherapy. Find out more about Jaya here.

Pippa Johnson

Pippa’s retreat teaching style – Forrest-Inspired Vinyasa, Pranayama, Restorative

Pippa was properly introduced to yoga during Theatre School in 2008 to support her dance training and found instant support from the physical and emotional benefits it provided. Having always had a passion for health, fitness and nutrition, she qualified as a fitness instructor which gave her greater understanding of anatomy and biomechanics of the body, subjects that continue to be of deep interest to her.

After several years developing a regular yoga practice, she graduated as a Yoga Teacher in 2014 and quickly became in demand for teaching work around her theatre performing career. Now with far over 12,000 hours of teaching experience between classes, private tuition, workshops, and retreats, Pippa is acknowledged as a Senior Yoga Teacher due to her extensive level of teaching experience and advanced training development. She passionately shares teaching styles from Hatha-Raja Vinyasa, Yin, and Rocket, but most predominantly and passionately she is recognised as a Forrest Yoga teacher which offers a therapeutic approach to yoga with strength, integrity and spirit.

Pippa is also a Myofascia Therapist, Reformer Pilates instructor, Oxygen Advantage Coach, Reiki practitioner and Life Coach; renowned for her intuitive ability to help students through breath, movement, bodywork or energetic engagement, she continues to support students in the greatest holistic capacity she can. Since 2020, Pippa has been a proud co-founder of an award winning wellness sanctuary in Hertfordshire, Cucumber Fields, where she hopes to share the varying, life-changing practices of Yoga with all students she comes to guide, whether at her studio or during a blissful YOAS retreat with you… Aho!

Rhi Kicks

Rhi’s retreat teaching style – Vinyasa Flow & Restorative

Rhi believes deeply in the body’s innate wisdom to heal and the transformative power of slowing down, softening and reconnecting within. Through yoga, pranayama and nervous system-focused practices, she creates grounding spaces where students can release stress, restore balance and return home to themselves.

Drawn first to dynamic Vinyasa Flow, Rhi has been teaching since 2018 after training in Power Yoga, devised by Baron Baptiste. Over the years, her approach to movement has evolved into a more intuitive, non-performative practice — one that encourages presence, self-awareness and connection, and is accessible for everybody, just as they are. Her classes invite students to move in a way that feels supportive, empowering and authentic to their own body.

Alongside teaching yoga and leading retreats, Rhi is a Spinal Flow® Practitioner, bodyworker and energy worker, and her understanding of the nervous system, spinal health and somatic release deeply informs her teaching. Her classes are guided by an awareness of how stress is held and released in the body, weaving in practices that support regulation, ease and embodied awareness. She has also had the privilege of working on retreats alongside Nancy Lea and Tania Brown, and feels deeply inspired by the wisdom and depth of their teaching.

Expect grounding flows, mindful sequencing and moments of stillness woven throughout, leaving you feeling lighter, calmer and deeply nourished. Rhi’s retreats offer more than just time away — they are an invitation to pause, reconnect and remember the wisdom already within you

Nancy Lea

Nancy’s retreat teaching style – Vinyasa Flow, Hatha, Restorative & Yin

Nancy is a 500-hour E-RYT yoga teacher with more than 25 years of practice and 15 years of teaching experience.

Based in Seattle, WA, Nancy teaches with intention, a sense of humor, and an open heart. Her classes offer students a balance of stability with fluidity, and alignment with ease. She teaches all the eight limbs of yoga, and each class is anchored to breath.

For Nancy, yoga infuses daily living with a sense of joy, wonderment, and peace. She encourages her students to move beyond their physical practice and to experience off the mat the self-love and awareness they have cultivated in their practice. Her teaching has been described as nourishing, clear, insightful and “a beautiful, peaceful practice that strengthens the body and calms the mind.”

In 2021, Nancy completed her 300-hour training with ISHTA Yoga (Integrated Science of Hatha, Tantra, and Ayurveda), and she continues to practice and study with her teachers Yogiraj Alan Finger, Sarah Platt-Finger, Mona Anand, and Peter Ferko.

Nancy believes that our wisest teacher lies within our own hearts and guides us through the world with grace, compassion, kindness, and love. She humbly shares this sacred practice of yoga from a place of deep respect for and knowledge of the ancient teachings, her own teachers, and all the teachers that came before them.

Find out more about Nancy from her website here.

Ceri Lee

Ceri’s retreat teaching style – Hatha flow, Restorative

With over thirty years of personal practice and teaching since 2001, Ceri Lee is an experienced yoga teacher and yoga teacher trainer, offering yoga as a sacred path of balance, healing, and self-discovery. Rooted in traditional Hatha yoga and informed by training in Sivananda, Remedial Yoga, and Menopause Yoga, her teaching supports practitioners and aspiring teachers through all stages of life with depth and care.

Ceri’s slow Hatha flow is guided as a meditative journey, weaving conscious breath, mindful movement, and deep relaxation to cultivate harmony between body, mind, and spirit. Students are invited to move with presence, refine the foundations of practice, and reconnect with inner stillness.

As an attuned Reiki practitioner, Ceri also works with the subtle energy body, supporting balance, vitality, and natural harmony. On retreat, these teachings are fully explored through daily yoga, meditation, relaxation, and time to slow down, offering a nourishing space to reconnect, restore, and embody yoga as a way of life. You can find out more about Ceri from her website here.

Amy McDonald

Amy’s retreat teaching style – Jivamukti, Vinyasa flow, Yin

Originally from New Zealand and now based in Galway, Ireland, Amy first discovered yoga in 2005 while seeking more fulfilment beyond her background in physical fitness and the design industry. What began as a personal practice quickly became a calling, and she has been teaching since 2013. Amy is a yoga teacher, yoga teacher trainer and yoga teacher mentor.

Amy’s teaching style is compassionate, hands-on, and deeply intentional. She weaves music, spoken word, yogic philosophy, pranayama, and meditation into her classes to create a space where students can genuinely grow, connect, and come home to themselves. Her focus on alignment, breath, and presence invites students into a practice that balances body, mind, and soul, while building strength and flexibility from the inside out.

A hallmark of Amy’s retreats is the multi-layered experience she creates for her students. Drawing on philosophy, meditation, pranayama, and the therapeutic use of essential oils, she crafts each retreat to nourish every dimension of the self, weaving together the physical, energetic, and spiritual aspects of yoga into something truly immersive.

Amy trained extensively in the Jivamukti Yoga method, completing 300 hours with Jivamukti New York and an 800-hour apprenticeship in London. She has also trained with Sampoorna Yoga India (yin), Norman Blair (yin), Shiva Rea (vinyasa), and Uma Dinsmore Tuli (pregnancy yoga) and has been leading international retreats for over a decade.

Kate McKenzie

Kate’s retreat teaching style – Creative flow, Restorative

Kate McKenzie has been practicing various forms of yoga all her adult life. She trained in Sivananda and Kundalini yoga and has continued to study flowing forms, Iyengar and Yin and Restorative Yoga.

She is passionate about creativity and well-being and her experience as a performer informs her approach. Her workshops aim to be both fun-filled and sacred, exploring the connection between breath, free movement, the poses, mantra, healing sound and the chakras to live with more inspiration, balance and self-awareness.

Kate has lead “Mantra Choirs” for fun singing. Other training includes massage, Reiki, First Nature voice, Indian Rag and Life Coaching.

Kate offers regular sound healing workshops. You can find out more about Kate from her website here.

Charlie Morgan

Charlie’s retreat teaching style – Creative, dynamic Vinyasa flow, Restorative

In 2011 Charlie decided to quit her job as a fashion buyer and embarked on a 7 month adventure around India to take some time out to source fabrics and trimmings with the view to starting her own textile business. Following a life-changing retreat to The Himalayan Yoga Institute, Charlie’s trip to an unplanned turn and she returned to the UK, via Bali, as a qualified yoga instructor. Since then, she has taught group classes at various top yoga centres and corporations in and around London, private one-to-ones and to professional athletes, including the Harlequins and England rugby teams and led multiple 200 hour teacher trainings.

Charlie has also travelled around the world sharing her love for yoga; at resorts, on yachts and at private villas and retreat centres. Charlie is also a life coach, and this is something that she integrates into all her classes and is incredibly passionate about.

Charlie’s classes are light hearted and fun – a playful, creative and forever changing style of dynamic Vinyasa Flow accompanied by uplifting tunes. Although Charlie’s flow classes can be challenging , she is a perfectionist when it comes to correct body alignment, the synchronisation of movement and breath, and the importance of a sumptuous, meditative relaxation to close.

The most important thing for Charlie is that all her classes are inclusive and accessible, maintaining the philosophy that ‘yoga is for all’. Charlie also teaches yin, pregnancy and yoga nidra.

Lisa Powell

Lisa’s retreat teaching style – Hatha Yoga, Slow flow, Restorative, Yoga Nidra, Self Enquiry

Lisa Powell has been sharing the transformative practice of yoga since 2001. Over the years she has trained in a variety of styles including vinyasa flow, restorative yoga, yoga nidra, yoga therapy and tantra. Lisa creates a teaching approach that blends ancient yogic wisdom with a modern, accessible perspective.

Her retreats are thoughtfully designed around a meaningful theme, weaving together intention setting, mantra, mudra, visualisation, asana, pranayama, meditation, relaxation and journalling to help students reconnect with themselves on a deeper level.

Morning practices are designed to energise and awaken, often including self-enquiry, kriyas, breathwork, mindful movement, slow flow yoga and strength-building postures. Evening sessions focus on deep rest and release through pranayama, restorative or yin yoga, yoga nidra and meditation.

Lisa creates welcoming and inclusive spaces where everyone feels supported – whether you’re completely new to yoga or have been practising for years. Her teaching is rooted in kindness, non-judgement and acceptance, with the intention of helping each student develop a deeper understanding of themselves and their place in the world. If you’re craving time for yourself, space to breathe and an opportunity to reset, Lisa’s retreats offer exactly that.

Erin Prichard

Erin’s retreat teaching style – Vinyasa, Somatic movement, Therapeutic yoga, Hatha, Restorative, Breath

Erin Prichard has been teaching yoga since 2004 and has trained hundreds of teachers. Originally from the USA, she has been the lead teacher trainer at Yogarise for more than 11 years, and has had the privilege to teach yoga both in the UK and globally in a wide range of settings, including studios, schools, refugee centres, prisons, charities, businesses, and retreats.

As a TCTSY-F (trauma centre trauma sensitive yoga facilitator) she aims to create safe and supportive spaces that invite healing and embodiment. Her approach is accessible, explorative, inclusive and fun and blends yoga tradition with neuroscience. She always has had an appetite for Eastern thought, human relationships, and a deep love of nature which can all be reflected in her teachings.

When not on the mat, she can be found surfing, exploring nature or lying in a hammock.

Ayesha Sowani

Ayesha’s retreat teaching style – Vinyasa flow, Restorative, Yin, Pranayama

Ayesha Sowani is Indian and grew up in various countries across Asia. She first encountered yoga at a young age through her family and has been practicing ever since.

She trained as an upholsterer and found that yoga was a fantastic way to balance her mind and body for a physical job.

Her interests and belief in yoga as healing and grounding for both body and mind led her to want to further her understanding and knowledge of the subject in both theory and practice, leading her to her current training as a Integrative Yoga Therapist.

She is trained in many facets of yoga, from Yin and pranayama to pregnancy and postnatal expertise.

Expect a dynamic, grounded and energetic vinyasa practice underpinned with philosophy with modifications accessible to all levels, incorporating philosophy, asana and pranayama.

Lara Stapleton

Lara’s retreat teaching style – Scaravelli inspired Hatha Yoga

“By the practice of meditation” the master said “you will find that you are carrying within your heart a portable paradise” Paramahansa Yogananda.

Lara Stapleton is a truly nurturing and attentive Scaravelli inspired and Hatha Yoga teacher with extensive training and a deep self-practice for over 20 years. This shines through in her teaching as she has a strong intuition of what is going on for each individual in a class. She cares deeply about her students, inspiring and supporting them to develop both on and off the mat.

Her style is gently powerful with special attention on the breath, allowing for growth in ones own internal awareness and awakening the spine, creating flowing wave-like movements and natural rhythms as well as working deeply from the ground up.

Her classes allow you to work profoundly from the inside out on individual areas of resistance, injury, deep emotional blockages and alignment with grace and softness. Lara puts her sensitivity as a teacher down to a strong one-on-one approach: “I’m able to adapt yoga to the individual rather than the individual to yoga”.

Lara’s philosophy and teachings are inspired by the spirit and practice of moving into stillness, to experience your true being. Her work and practice have been greatly enthused by her teacher John Stirk. Lara’s areas of speciality are spinal rehabilitation as well as being a trained Aromatherapist.

Rory Viggers

Rory’s retreat teaching style – Full spectrum centred Hatha Yoga

‘The breath is at the heart of practice. A good posture is when we can breathe well.’

Rory has a breadth and wealth of experience, inspired by many systems of hatha yoga, martial arts and radical minds. His extensive and ongoing study with one of the world’s leading and much revered asana teachers, Dona Holleman, continues to elevate and deeply enrich his practice, knowledge and teaching.

His in-depth classes seek to reconnect and harmonise body, mind and spirit. The foundation of his philosophy and teaching is rooted in awareness, breath, and an understanding of the physical and subtle bodies. He is passionate about yoga asana in terms of approach, application, technique, form and essence.

His classes deliver a deep and strong practice, and can seamlessly accommodate both those newer to yoga through to more long term practitioners and teachers. Rory believes we all have the capacity to find our still point, calm zone and true centre, whenever we desire. The aim of his classes is to navigate you there.

Nikki Wilkins

Nikki’s retreat teaching style – Dynamic breath led vinyasa flow, Pranayama, Yin, Yoga Nidra

Nikki’s yoga journey began in 2011 simply trying to fix her knee after a visit to a physio revealed physical imbalances causing chronic pain. Many years of practice and teaching yoga has not only helped to heal her knee but Nikki saw this as a path to discovering who we really are. Every aspect of her life was altered.

The body gets stronger, but there is a peeling of layers, a self study, a route to the core of who we are. Yoga is infinite self enquiry. The work on the mat reflects everything we do off the mat, everything in flux, impermanent, it’s a journey rooted in our connection to everything around us.

Nikki’s classes are personable, dynamic and fun. She loves to break things down, find ways that work, help people to find their strength from within. It’s an exchange of information. Classes are seasoned with a sprinkle of yogic philosophy, poetry and beautiful readings from the hours she spends exploring books, podcasts and documentaries. One of the greatest joys of teaching on retreats has been the stories, deep connections and often life time friendships which develop between the group. It’s been life changing for all of us.

Nikki took her first teacher training in 2015 with Stewart Gilchrist. Since then, she has studied with Leslie Kaminoff, Richard Rosen, RocketBeats and most influential is her main teacher Marcus Veda, creator of 4 Beat yoga, a Rocket inspired practice where the breath is synchronised with music designed especially for the flow of the practice.

Nikki loves to make her retreat classes accessible to all. Essential to Nikki’s retreats are pranayama and grounding evening yin followed by yoga nidra – a deep relaxation and journey through the body for the mind.

Nikki Lives in East London.