PILATES * YOGA * MINDFULNESS * QIGONG * DANCE * STORYTELLING *
​AND MORE

Meet our TEACHERS...

SPOTLIGHT ON
C A R O L I N E  T O S H A C K

Yin Yoga

How I met Caroline...

I'm Caroline Toshack. I'm geeky about movement, what it means to be human and about where these two fascinations of mine intersect. 

I've been helping individuals move more effectively to improve their wellbeing for 20 years. I now primarily help people improve their emotional and mental wellbeing by working with movement and somatic therapies.

I believe that body based practices can help us tap into places that language can't reach and we can open up a dialogue within ourself that tells us exactly what we need to navigate life with more ease.

Yin yoga has been my personal practice of choice to meet myself in stillness, and that's why I enjoy sharing it so much. I'm told that I bring a little bit of fun and lightness into my teaching, which sounds very much like me!

In complete contrast, I also enjoy running and biking up and down big hills when I get the chance!

The yin and yang!

SPOTLIGHT ON
M A G G I E  LEWIS

Qi Gong

How I met Maggie...

Hello!

I’m Maggie and I teach QiGong because I love the way it makes me feel. My background is I’ve taught Yoga for 36 years and I’m trained in Shiatsu Reflexology and Reiki.

I love that we have choices, in what we can do to feel well. Also the different approaches and thought processes, to each individual’s healthy happy place, in mind and body. I’m still learning and discovering new ways forward and how to adapt as we go through the stages and ages of life.

I hope that you all enjoy the qigong. Remember that trying hard causes tension, so we don’t try hard. We just breath and flow 😊

SPOTLIGHT ON THE STORY TELLERS

The Weavers, the Magic Makers, The Historians and the Importance of Stories throughout Time.

Dave Bevan

Bedtime Stories for Grownups

The tale of Paddy Taavi first demanded to be written over three years ago, when five chapters flowed out of my fingertips in a way nothing else ever has. After a long pause, it came knocking at the door again last year. It is a tale of love, longing and adventure, combining an overarching narrative with stand-alone episodes - stories that Paddy Taavi needs to hear at vital moments of his journey. 

The music you can hear at the start and end of each episode is by the amazing composer and harpist Ailie Robertson, and the wonderful cover art is by Phil O’Farrell. You can find out more about me and about my non-story-based work at my website.

How I met Dave...

Alette Willis

Nature Story Teller

I have a passion for stories that matter, a passion that I explore in my research life and share in my life as storyteller, fiction writer and story coach.

I am a lecturer at the University of Edinburgh, with an interest in how people use stories to make everyday ethical decisions. And, currently, I am Storyteller in Residence to the Royal Zoological Society of Scotland, 

I’ve been writing since I was a teenager and my first novel for children: How to Make a Golem (and Terrify People), won the Kelpies Prize and was published by Floris Books in 2011. 

ReStoryLab.com provides resources and support to help you use storycrafting and storytelling techniques in research engagement, knowledge exchange, science communication and education settings.  If you are new to the idea of using stories in  research, engagement or learning contexts, click HERE to find videos and pdfs to get you started. 

How I met Alette...

Tania Dron

Stories with Tania Dron

I'm Tania, a Pagan who lives with a metalworker, a very needy cat and a house full of half started craft projects.  I've been telling stories in some form or another since I was a tot.

Whether writing bizarre short works of fiction as a child, performing as an actor, writing scripts for various visitor attractions or taking people on tours of haunted sites and quiet streets, stories have always been part of my working life- I just didn't realise it until recently.

Now that I have realised this pattern I have started to tell stories for their own sake and I am delighted to share some here with you.

How I met Tania...

SPOTLIGHT ON THE PILATES TEACHERS

M A R I A  H Y B S Z E R

Classical Pilates

Hi,  I’m Maria and I’m very passionate about Classical Pilates.  After taking early retirement from a long teaching career I found Pilates complemented my other passion in life, my hillwalking.  Both keep me sane, healthy and happy. 
 
I loved Pilates so much that I wanted to learn more and more about it and its benefits for my health and well being and ultimately longevity of life. 
 
So I am now a comprehensive classically trained Pilates teacher with my own little studio full of traditional Pilates apparatus.  The studio is for private 1 to 1 or 1 to 2 lessons but I also still love teaching group mat classes in a local hall and on Zoom.

How I met Maria...

S A B R I N A   S I M P S O N

Classical and Contemporary Pilates

Sabrina Simpson is a Second Generation Teacher and Educator trained by Internationally Acclaimed first generation teacher Lolita San Miguel. She has also trained with Body Control Pilates in London. 


Sabrina grew up in Canada, where she was involved in many sports from a very young age. She is an outdoor enthusiast, so if she is not in the Pilates Studio helping clients achieve their goals, you will find her on the hills: walking, running, mountain biking, or skiing. She is in training to row across the Atlantic Ocean. 
Her outlook towards life is always be learning, overcoming fears and look for new challenges. 

How I met Sabrina...

MORAG WYLIE

Sound Healing

Morag Wylie is a sound healing practitioner based in Central Scotland. She offers 1 to 1 sessions in Integral Sound Healing in Falkirk and runs regular sound baths in-person, when possible, and online for the general public and community groups. As an Associate Teacher with the Sound Healing Academy, she also runs training courses in Integral Sound Healing. 

She became interested in complementary therapies nearly 30 years ago after being diagnosed with ME/CFS. Sound healing and Transformational Breath really helped her recover her health through the deep relaxation and extra energy they brought her. She has a deep understanding of what it’s like to live with a long-term chronic health condition and is able to empathise with clients who feel stuck. She has also been a Certified Transformational Breath Facilitator for over 10 years and a Laughter Yoga Teacher. She believes that learning should be fun and loves to empower people to take charge of their own lives.

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How I met Morag...

​R U T H  S I M P S O N

Gentle Movement to Music

How I met Ruth...

 I am a licensed Nia teacher, having achieved, to date, my Blue Belt – Nia is a holistic, barefoot movement practice that blends movements from the dance arts, martial arts and healing arts. I first discovered Nia at a weekend retreat, and really enjoyed taking part in the sessions offered -  something clicked – this felt right, and I knew, without doubt, that this movement practice would be part of my life from that moment on, and that, eventually, I would want to teach it.

I undertook my initial White Belt training in 2017, shortly thereafter beginning teaching. I have since done further, extensive trainings, all of which have given me more tools to expand not only on my teaching but also on my own personal practice. The form of mindful movement I teach is low-impact, non-competitive and non-judgemental, using simple moves, usually barefoot, to music. It addresses all aspects of physical, mental and emotional wellbeing, while allowing participants to express their unique spirit. 

My movement practice is my ‘oasis’: it has been instrumental in facilitating my healing from long-held grief over losing family and friends, and it is still helping to heal my body from old injuries. I am thrilled to be offering my own gentle ‘movement morsels’ via Kirsty’s platform.

​SPOTLIGHT ON THE PILATES TEACHERS

S U S I E  H O O P E R

Mindfulness
Yoga Nidra
​

I discovered mindfulness through my work as a Social Worker – we introduced it to clients, and I realised what a great practice it was. When I first started to practice, I found it so difficult to work out what I was feeling, and I was really cut off from my body – not really picking up on any of the messages my body was giving me about how I was. I had bad IBS, got a lot of colds and generally felt under the weather a lot.

Through practising mindfulness, I gradually started to be able to tune into my body more – to hear what it was telling me about how I was feeling. Doing this encouraged me to make major changes in my life – I left a marriage which had run its course, and focused more on my self-care. My IBS is now under control, I’m generally a lot more physically healthy and I have more understanding of my emotions. I’m less reactive to emotions like anger and anxiety – generally feeling a lot more in balance. And I’m so much nicer to myself! Less of the inner-critic, which had been so pervasive. And I’m now in a relationship which is happier, and in which I feel I can really be me.

Susie Hooper is the co-founder of Pause & Breathe CIC - a social enterprise that believes in making wellbeing accessible to everyone. She worked as a Criminal Justice Social Worker for over 20 years, bringing mindfulness into her work with clients. Susie is trained in Trauma Sensitive Mindfulness, helping to make mindfulness even more accessible to people who may otherwise not be able to benefit from it. She has a thriving online community, and hopes to get back to some face-to-face teaching soon too.

How I met Susie...

LOUISE CULLEN

Mindful Art

​Louise offers us the wonderful combination of Mindfulness and Art. Mindful Art is a beginner’s guided practice spending time with beautiful works of art but incorporating mindfulness meditation practices for relaxation and interest. Looking at art using mindfulness practices can be a great way to lift the spirits and focus the mind.

The sessions include a short guided mindfulness practice to help you find your focus and breath. Then the focus of awareness is brought to a different painting each session.

Louise runs her mindfulness coaching business, Tranceform, from her base in Stirling. A human first and foremost, she wants to connect and share her knowledge and love for mindfulness with others. Louise believes in bringing mindfulness into everyday life in a real, practical way that works with your lifestyle. This means it is accessible to everyone.  

As well as spending time with her mindfulness practice, Louise is also a HR Business Partner, a mother to three children and two doggies and a wife to Andrew. Practical mindfulness is essential to her busy life. 

​How I met Louise...

​C R A I G BUCHANAN


Yoga

How I met Craig...

I've been doing yoga for over 30 years now, 1/2 way through that period, I found approaches to yoga that helped me recover from severe injuries. I've learnt from 2 of the best teachers in the world (both students of Vanda Scaravelli). I'm also a trained somatic movement coach. I've studied physical (hatha) yoga, meditation, energy (kriya) yoga and devotional (bhakti) yoga throughout Europe and across India.

I've now reached a very clear idea of what the yoga experience is and how to practise and share that with others. Clue -  it's not about; exercise, stretching, postures or breath control! Our bodies have tight parts through repetitive use and old injuries,  but also because our minds have constrictions. The value of the original ways of yoga lie in the fact that they use subtleties of the body to open and free the mind. Yoga gives us ways of dissolving our everyday selves into deeper layers of experience - freeing us from; anxieties, incessant thinking, tight muscles and unhelpful emotional patterns.

​What I teach changes in each class, arising spontaneously from my own yoga in the moment. Postures and freeing movements are used, but the 'work' in each class is with sensation, consciousness and ways of sustaining presence.

Choosing to slow down with me you can explore a quieter awareness and a total ease of body and mind - leading to the yoga state. It will not be like any classes you've done before. This state is radical, it's cleansing, it's full of tenderness, it brings insights and ideas, and it replenishes us.  Want to explore that? , try out a class...!