I began a personal Yoga practice back in 1995 while studying philosophy; after graduation, I spent a few years living & working around the world: including Vancouver, New Mexico, Taiwan, Thailand and Spain amongst other places. In the course of my travels, I was introduced to Taoism, Zen and other forms of Buddhism. My interest in eastern philosophies began here - and finding that I was already living in accordance with eg precepts about being vegetarian (I stopped eating animals when I was 12), I felt perhaps I'd already started walking these spiritual paths without knowing it. I wasn't seeking a "religion" and had always considered myself an atheist, so these particular paths appealed also because they were very practical and not rooted in any kind of deity or guru worship. Nature, the universe, these were the only forms of "higher power" I could feel any sense of belief in. 

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My Yoga practice was a purely self-taught form of traditional Hatha Yoga for the first ten years; but in 2005 I began studying with Duncan Hulin (founder of the Devon School of Yoga) and he became my most important teacher for the next decade. I attended his weekly Holistic Yoga classes for ten years and trained as a Yoga teacher with him, through the DSY, from 2011-13. I began teaching classes myself in 2012 and for the next decade I taught regular weekly classes, workshops, courses, and taught at the Devon Yoga Festival a few times, as well as one winter at a Yoga retreat centre on a little island in southwest Thailand. 

My passion for sharing Yoga's healing gifts and holistic embodiment also inspired me to train as a Thai Yoga massage practitioner in 2014, at a hill tribe village in the far north of Thailand - and to share this form of bodywork with my Yoga students upon my return. 

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Besides Duncan's Holistic Yoga, I was also a committed student/practitioner of Ashtanga Vinyasa Yoga for several years, and my own softened, feminine version this style continues to be the foundation of my personal daily practice. From c.2009- 2016 the Ashtanga Primary Series and later also the Second Series formed my personal Yoga practice, and I sought out the American pioneers of Ashtanga, Nancy Gilgoff and David Williams. also Doug Swenson - and Andrea Durant, who brought Ashtanga to Devon.

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In 2015 I travelled to Maui, Hawaii; I'd gone intending to immerse myself more fully in the island's Ashtanga culture, but I became quickly, unexpectedly, yet profoundly disenchanted - I'd gone as far as I wanted to with this system, and that I could no longer give away my power to external systems or teachers. I was fortunate to discover Jennifer Lynn's Wisdom Flow Yoga classes during my time on Maui; the classes offered a nourishing, nurturing, inspiring and playful feminine warmth and energy I realised had been missing from so much of my Yoga experience until then.

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Cacao ceremonies are something I first heard about in 2014 (during my Thai massage training in the hill tribe village - a good place to meet others interested in indigenous spiritual and healing practices!). After my time on Maui, nature-based heart-opening spiritual paths were really what called me. In 2017, I sat in ceremony with cacao for the first time, in London, with Rebekah, a plant medicine practitioner who had been recommended to me back in 2014; and in early 2018 I travelled to the quiet north coast of Ibiza for an immersive and intense cacaoista apprenticeship training with her. Upon my return, I began sharing the medicine with other women.

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My personal cacao studies and daily practices continued to evolve; I wanted to learn directly from indigenous teachers, so I sought out Mayan sources (since cacao's sacred and ritual connections are with the peoples of Mesoamerica.) Eventually, I found the Mayan Wisdom Project - besides working through their original Mayan Wisdom Academy 12 month programme from 2021 - 2022, in 2022 I also took their 10 week specialist Mayan Cacao Training, taught entirely by Mayan teachers - including two, K'at and Tz'ikin, who I was especially drawn to and learned so much from. In 2023 I made a personal cacao pilgrimage to Guatemala, travelling independently and arranging to meet up with K'at and Tz'ikin in person at last, also, to visit a cacao farm in the south of the country - paying homage not only to the trees but to the farmers who, like my teachers, worked so hard to keep their traditional way of life alive. This trip felt like a powerful completion of an important part of my cacao journey.

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I continue to sit with cacao each morning; to sit zazen; to practice Yoga. I have no religion, no single clear heritage or lineage; but there is consistency to be found: I've always felt the beauty of nature, the poetry of the night sky, the sublime peace of the woods to be sacred things.

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TRAININGS & QUALIFICATIONS FOR MY HOLISTIC OFFERINGS:

Yoga Teacher Training Diploma (500hr) - Devon School of Yoga 2011-13

I have also been a Yoga practitioner since 1995 - meaning I have almost 30 years' personal experience of hatha yoga practice; I've also had a daily meditation practice since 2015. I consider my personal practice to be a crucial foundation for all I share.
Traditional Thai Yoga Massage certificate (90hr) - Sunshine Network Thailand in association with International Association of Thai Yoga Massage, 2014
My main teacher was Chatchoi Jamu, son of Ashokananda - my training was very much therefore in the lineage of Ashokananda's northern-style Thai Yoga Massage.
Thai Yoga Massage Advanced Intensive Training - Hadadi School of Thai Yoga Massage, Portugal 2017 

Sacred Cacaoista Apprenticeship training course with Ritual Cacao - Ibiza 2018 (this was a specialist intensive training in both working with cacao as a plant spirit medicine and also in holding cacao ceremonies)

Mayan Cacao Training Program certificate - Mayan Wisdom Project 2022 (this was a 10 week online course with indigenous Mayan cacao teachers: spiritual guides, farmers, producers, and historians of cacao. The MWP is based in Guatemala)

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