Our Regular Practitioners
MEET OUR PRACTITIONERS
There’s so much to enjoy here at the studio including massage, reflexology and yoga classes to name a few. Find out about our local practitioners below and what they offer here amongst the trees.
JESS HOPE-JONES
Jess teaches thoughtful, dynamic sequences where the emphasis is on mindful alignment, focusing on each individual and their experience of a pose. Sequences develop strength as well as flexibility, encouraging considered movement and breath.
Having been a practitioner of yoga for nearly two decades, Jess trained with Bridget Woods Kramer, one of the most respected and experienced teachers in the country, Jess continues to seek out opportunities to further develop her teaching skills and her own practice.
Jess teaches regular classes at Larchwood. Book her directly for bespoke classes, 1:1 or private/family group. Contact her directly.
MEGAN SULLIVAN
Megan has a BSc in Sport and Exercise Science and has been teaching yoga for 5 years.
She has an unorthodox approach to the physical practice of yoga.
She teach yoga in a vinyasa style (flows and sequences) but with an emphasis on mobility and strength work so that you can move well on the mat and in everyday life.
You will work through movements that give you the chance to have a sustainable yoga practice with the space to explore movement in a playful way with functional foundations.
Yoga is a movement practice that Megan always come back to, it’s a way for her to increase body awareness and to settle the whirlwind of thoughts in the mind. It’s a magical practice that brings about inner peace.
Meg teaches regular classes at Larchwood. Book her directly for bespoke classes, 1:1 or private/family group. Contact her directly.
Email: m.sullivan0605@gmail.com
SEREN BERRY
Seren gained her 200hr Teacher Training certification in Guatemala in 2017 with Kula Collective, a Yoga Alliance certified school, and has since attended various workshops to build on this knowledge in Bali, Cambodia and UK.
She's spent the last six years teaching yoga in China, Spain and now back in Wales to a range of students and class styles - from classes tailored to professional surfers, to primary school students, to people experiencing the symptoms of arthritis. Her classes are welcoming and accessible to a range of abilities, encouraging everyone to make the practice their own by making themselves at home in their body and really listening to what it needs.
Seren teaches regular classes at Larchwood. Book her directly for bespoke classes, 1:1 or private/family group.
Email: serenberry10@gmail.com WhatsApp or text: 07394934885
HAYLEY HOLDEN - AWAKEN YOUR SOLE
Hayley is a strong advocate for giving yourself permission to have a life full of good health, vitality, happiness and self love. With the mantra - get BACK INTO YOUR BODY and OUT OF YOUR MIND Hayley understands the intricate individual journey we each have to our physical & mental healing and she is passionate in helping you find what works for you so you can look after yourself without the guilt. Making it as easy as possible to reconnect to you, your essence and educating yourself daily about what it really is you need to feel fulfilled in this lifetime.
With her wealth of experience as a Reflexologist for 19 years, working alongside medical professionals and with a range of clients from birth through to death. Hayley provides treatments, wellness consulting and group sessions helping translate ancient, complementary practices into fit the modern world so everyone can access holistic good health and wellbeing.
Always with a smile, a listening ear, a caring heart and gentle approach to make huge transformational changes that work for you as in individual
Also trained in Indian Head Massage, Reiki, Maternity & Fertility Reflexology, Naturopathic Nutrition, Traditional Chinese Medicine 5 elemental theory, Bowen Therapy, Children&Baby Yoga, Baby Massage, Baby Reflexology
Hayley holds regular clinics for 1:1 and group workshops at Larchwood. Book her directly for bespoke workshops, 1:1 or private/family groups.
HOLLY HICKMAN - HOL STUDIO
Holly is a newly qualified Mat Pilates instructor after it became her passion several years ago.
After a couple of years of being unwell with an eating disorder, and suffering from Osteopenia herself (due to a lack of nutrition / bone density), Holly had to change the way in which she trained her body pre and post recovery - which is how she got into pilates!
Her aim is to help everyBODY enjoy moving their bodies in a healthy, low impact manner, whilst improving their muscular strength, mobility, mental-wellbeing and so much more.
Holly holds pilates classes at Larchwood. Book her directly for 1:1, private group sessions.
Email: holsterhick@gmail.com WhatsApp or text: 07817100989
THE SOUL SHACK – HANNAH BEETHAM
Hannah first came to yoga at a time when she felt rudderless and had a pretty negative relationship with her body, a job that undervalued its staff (never again, hospitality!) and all the good stuff just seemed out of her grasp. Her Nana had practiced yoga for her adult life and had sworn it did wonders for her health, so Hannah thought she'd give it a bash. She hated her first class. It was slow and boring and talked about breathing, which everyone does… But because she had paid for a block of classes she went back. And again... and again... This started a pretty epic adventure, in which she had some travels, learned to respect and nourish her body and started to shift her perceptions and mindset, calming her monkey-mind and embarking on a 3 year yoga teacher training program, which in turn led her to study as a complementary therapist to try and give more of that feel-good stuff to the people that needed it.
Trained through the British Wheel of Yoga (500 hrs), Hannah’s yoga teaching gently works to stretch muscles and work on breathing, which in turn brings oxygen to the muscles and calms the nervous system. Hannah has taught yoga at festivals, parks, studios, corporate venues, charities and halls as well as one to one sessions to people with a range of issues, from fibromyalgia and chronic pain to mental health issues. She doesn’t know everything (but loves a bit of research) and believes in an honest approach to teaching, trying to make yoga as accessible as possible with her (sometimes questionable) humour, practical, safe approach and firm belief that both complementary therapies and yoga are for everyone and every body.
Hannah holds yoga classes at Larchwood. Book her directly for 1:1, private group sessions and therapies.
CERI ELMS - SUNFLOWER BIRTH, BABY AND WELLBEING
Ceri is an antenatal, hypnobirthing, pregnancy yoga and postnatal teacher with over 8 years experience supporting and educating mothers and parents in pregnancy, birth and beyond in the Brecon Beacons. She creates mother-centred, baby and child led sessions with holistic support, relaxation, wellbeing, connection and community at the heart. Ceri offers accessible birth preparation with an holistic focus, alongside a continuity of care with nurturing baby classes, ecotherapy and nature sessions and children's yoga.
Ceri's antenatal and postnatal classes are designed to help you to feel relaxed, respected and supported, clued-up, informed about all of your options with realistic expectations about pregnancy, birth and matresence, and connected to your mind, body, nature and the seasons.
Ceri strongly believes in the power of preparing holistically for birth, guiding you to know your options, tune into your ideals and non-negotiables, and practice techniques to help you feel calm, relaxed, confident, able to release and surrender to birth and to trust in your body, your instincts and the process of birth itself. This is where Hypnobirthing comes in, a powerful and very effective antenatal and birth preparation method that prepares your mind and body for birth and is as much about the physiology of labour as it is about breathing, movements, positivity anchors and relaxation.
Ceri believes that Children's Yoga is the perfect activity to nurture curiosity about their own bodies, movement, their minds, feelings, emotions and the world around them, whilst they are immersed in story, play and having fun. Yoga practice helps build stronger, more resilient, compassionate, empathetic, creative and self-aware children, who focus and concentrate better, feel happier, have the skills to regulate their own emotions and calm themselves, and understand the importance of their own health and wellbeing.
Ceri holds yoga classes and workshops at Larchwood. Book her directly for 1:1 and private group sessions also.
https://www.sunflowerbirthbaby.com/ or contact Ceri at sunflowerbirthbabywellbeing@gmail.com
Book classes here: https://bookwhen.com/sunflowerbirthbaby
JESSIE BARTON
Jessie did her teacher training in New Zealand. She completed her 200 hour teacher training with a school called Embodied Flow and Awakening Arts with Terra Soma - Somatic movement. She also did 100 hours of Trauma Informed Yoga with Yoga for Humankind.
Jessie offers classes and workshops in Bulgaria and New Zealand. She has also offered embodied dance workshops.
She travelled the world for 9 years and Ihas recently landed back in the UK and is feeling the call to teach in Wales.She also working as a horse trekking guide here in Hay on Wye.
She likes to guide people through embodied movement, helping them to become more aware of their bodies and also listen to how their body wants to move and use different methods to achieve this. She offers an invitation to freely move your body and listen and feel your movement.
She holds space for people wanting to explore different ways of moving and allowing people to become aware of the body and breath together.
Embodied Movement practice helps her to drop in more and explore different ways of moving and enjoying her practice in a more free way.
Classes are open to all abilities and anyone is welcome.
Jessie holds regular yoga classes at Larchwood. Book her directly for 1:1 or private group sessions.
Drop in £10 or message me on WhatsApp +642040146338 or email jessiebarton.yoga@gmail.com Follow her on Facebook
DAV AND SALMA
Davin Jones
Davin, or Dav, as he usually goes by, has led workshops, retreats and yoga teacher trainings globally. His passion for sharing the teaching of yoga comes from the guidance he received early on in his yoga practice which has given him direction in his life to this day. Dav believes that the art of teaching yoga is a skill, to which through practice you will become more proficient at. Davin wishes to impart his experience of over 9,000 hours of teaching to practitioners that are wanting to take the next step into the commitment of developing their own personal practice.
Dav’s teaching style is lighthearted and joyful. His classes are informed from an anatomical and kinesiology approach with his classes being often challenging yet accessible. Dav’s self-practice includes a lot of his time on his hands, in either an inversion or a hand-balance, to which these postures often find their way into his class sequences.
Salma Othman / OHM
Salma Othman is an interdisciplinary worker of yoga, energetics, bodywork, and integrated somatic trauma therapeutics.
A benevolent investigator with a Jungian curiosity, Salma’s personal journey has and will continue to be a dance within dualities. Based on a culmination of esoteric Taoist and Buddhist practices, Shamanic therapeutics, Bodywork, Reiki, Psychomagick, Tarot, and teachings of the Munay Ki, the PsychoSomatic understanding is a baseline thread throughout her work and practices; allowing an integrated trauma informed approach to healing the mind, body, and Spirit.
Salma regularly runs circles, workshops, trainings, and somatic trauma therapy 1-1’s for her business OHM ILLUMINATED, an online hub for alternative healing modalities.
When teaching Asana, Salma pulls from different schools and lineages with an awareness to allow accessibility and curiosity into every person’s personal practice. Instilling autonomy and establishing higher levels of self awareness, or proprioception, is a key theme in her classes. Penduluming with play and presence.
Salma’s value is in creating a space wherein one can feel at ease with unpacking their tensions, from psycho, to soma.
She co-hosts international yoga retreats with Dav Jones Yoga, and together have co-created The Moksha Method:
An approach to personal practice that’s been weaved into retreats recently held in Sicily, Italy, and Wales, UK.
Find her online here: Instagram: @salma.ohm.illuminated. www.ohmilluminated.com
Together, Dav and Salma host workshops and trainings that allow their combined skills to create a space wherein one can explore their personal practice in an informed, structured, and accessible way.
Dav and Salma host regular retreats at Larchwood. Book them directly for bespoke classes, 1:1 etc.
ROOTED FOREST SCHOOL AND CAMBIUM SUSTAINABLE
Rooted Forest School has been providing the very best in Forest School and Outdoor Education in Herefordshire for over a decade. We offer Forest School and Outdoor Leaning provisions to schools; activities and events for children and families and a wide range of first class training, certified through their sister company Cambium Sustainable.
www.rootedforestschool.co.uk
Cambium Sustainable delivers high-quality Forest School, Curriculum Based Outdoor Learning and Coastal School training; empowering people to enrich their lives through engaging with their local natural environment.
www.cambiumsustainable.co.uk
LUCY TEEAR
Certified Plant Based Nutritionist and Detoxification Health Coach, Advanced IIPA Iridologist and Kundalini Yoga Teacher.
Lucy has first-hand experience of the power for the body to heal, having been diagnosed with aggressive breast cancer in 2010 and again in 2016 which had metastasised, this was the wake up call for radical change!
Today she share her learnings and wisdom of securing longevity and THRIVING following chronic illness, using the power of the "7 Principles of Health
LISA MARIE GRIGSBY - DOWN BY THE RIVER
Down by the river is a creative floral studio run by Lisa Marie Grigsby, a floral artist based in Hay-On-Wye. With a background in lifestyle photography and styling for artists and brands, her love of flowers kept growing, leading her to train at the renowned Tallulah Rose Flower School in Bath and onto start hosting her first seasonal workshops. Her interwoven skills provide a unique creative flair with intentional use of foliage and textures reminiscent of a childhood spent in the countryside and an affinity with nature.
Here at Larchwood, she holds Gather- a seasonal mini retreat focused on wellbeing and creativity in collaboration with the yoga practitioners at Larchwood. She has also taught creative workshops on guest retreats with activities such as floral wreath making, botanical ink drawing, creating macrame plant hangers and much more. She is a great believer in the benefits of the natural world on wellbeing and has a focus on sustainability and ethical practice wherever possible.
Lisa hold regular workshops at Larchwood. You can also book her directly for bespoke workshops, 1:1 or private/family groups.
Lisa Marie Grigsby www.downbytheriver.co.uk
ALICE STEEL - REFLEXOLOGIST
Alice is fully qualified in Advanced Clinical Reflexology and is a member of the Association of Reflexologists. She offers both 1:1 treatments and small group sessions at Larchwood studio.
Alice is also qualified to level 3 in counselling and believes that by bringing her counselling training together with reflexology, she can offer you a supportive, holistic and powerful experience.
Since her initial training, Alice has also completed a ‘Reflexology for Women’s Health’ training course with Hagar Basis at the reflexology academy London. This is an area of particular interest for Alice and she continues to learn more around reflexology for menopause and for fertility.
Alice works primarily on your feet, offering you the chance to connect with your body and feel where tensions are being held as she supports you in releasing any physical or mental stress. Above all, reflexology is an extremely relaxing therapy, and Alice provides you with the space to feel calm, still and balanced.
Group sessions
Alice is running monthly group sessions at Larchwood which are a chance to learn more about reflexology and how to ‘work’ your feet. We have a new focus each month, for example, stress, sleep problems or digestive issues, and learn a new routine to support that particular area of your wellbeing. This is a chance to ask questions, get to know your own feet and reflexology reflexes, have some tea and a good chat!
Usually on a Monday evening at 7pm, the sessions will last between 60 and 90 minutes.
Alice holds regular workshops at Larchwood. Book her directly for bespoke workshops, 1:1 or private/family groups.
Email: reflexologywithalice@gmail.com WhatsApp or text: 07464948568
ROSIE ELPHINSTONE
Whilst working as an Assistant Head at a secondary Academy in London, Rosie introduced Yoga classes for staff and saw the huge benefits that it had on well being, helping to reduce stress for all who attended. After two babies in quick succession, and a move to rural Herefordshire, she began teaching more Yoga classes and soon Connection Yoga was born.
200 hour teacher training at The House of Yoga in Putney, and a pregnancy and post-natal training with Sally Parkes have led Rosie to specialise in female-focused practise as well as online classes aimed at employees and new Mums looking to engage in Yoga classes from the safe and comforting space of their own homes.
LAURA SHAKESHAFT - Essential Ayurveda
Laura is a certified Ayurvedic Practitioner and co-founder of Ayurvedic herbal company Essential Ayurveda. She has been working with people for over 20 years, sharing Ayurveda’s guidance for greater health and a happier life –the link between metabolism and health, influence of the seasons and environment on health and links between mental resilience and physical health. Working with nutrition, herbs and touch therapies Laura supports people to create positive changes towards health, renewed energy and enthusiasm to live the life of their dreams.
Laura is also a teacher and therapist of Amnanda Process, a course of 12 monthly treatments - the combination of attuned touch, compassionate presence, and the anointing of herbal oils on the body nurture a process of rejuvenation and transformation.
Laura has weekly treatment slots available at Larchwood and runs Amnanda Therapist training courses.
Please contact Laura directly at laura@rhythmandharmony.co.uk www.rhythmandharmony.co.uk
JAN SMITH
Jan Smith Nurse / Tai Chi Movements for Wellbeing (TMW) Teacher / Reflexologist
After many years working as a nurse, midwife and development worker both in the UK and overseas,
Jan qualified as a reflexologist and Tai Chi Movements for Wellbeing teacher as a way to provide
more holistic support to clients. She is passionate about helping people to improve their health and
wellbeing. Tai Chi Movements for Wellbeing is a beautifully simple range of moves that combines
the essential elements of Tai Chi, Chi Kung and meditation which, when practiced can help to keep
the body relaxed, healthy and feeling well.
Jan runs Tai Chi Movements for Wellbeing classes at Larchwood Studio For more information on TMW and classes, please contact Jan Smith on 07879 244042 or email janetsmithreflexology@gmail.com
visiting practitioners
JESSICA BROWNING - WILD PAWS YOGA AND NATURE
Jess is the founder of Wild Paws Yoga and Nature.
She has been practising yoga for about six years and like many people found it through the physical side to help her body stretch and relax after a week of weightlifting in the gym. However, she soon discovered that yoga is so much more than asanas and found that the breath work and meditation helped her find a calm in her mind and body that she’d come to believe didn’t exist.
Jess is an avid walker / hiker / camper and enjoys being outdoors. This connection to nature has been prevalent since her holidays in the Lake District as a child. As an adult, the importance of connecting and grounding with nature, to help her stay in tune with herself and feel connected to the world around her, has become so important.
As a teacher, Jess naturally wants to share her passions with others and genuinely believes (and science also shows) that yoga and connecting with nature has many benefits for our health and well-being, both mentally and physically. She has been teaching in a comprehensive for 8 years and her role as a teacher has led her to also want to bring Yoga and Nature experiences to children and teenagers; providing them with a tool that can help them take on the challenges of growing up in an increasingly pressurised world.
Jess would love you to join the Wild Paws Community, to either start or continue your yoga journey and rewild yourself in nature.
SIMONA AND ANTONY
Exercise and breathing therapy with Simona Armstrong . . .
How you breathe determines how you feel. It is that straightforward. Free your breath to free yourself! Whether the approach is through exercise alone or just working with the breath, I am honoured and humble to assist you on your journey to becoming a more conscious being. So much to discover together!
Sound Healing with Antony . . .
Antony Blackmore of Spirit and Song is a remarkable Sound Healer who will create an amazing sound that will invade your entire body, making your experience quite surreal.
We are both delighted to welcome you to our class.
KATIE FRAIN
Katie is a qualified pregnancy and postnatal yoga teacher. Her yoga style dives into the embodiment of love and motherhood whilst supporting women to embrace their divine feminine energy. Her classes are slow-paced but include gentle challenges that allow participants to take the mind and body to the edge, as this is where change begins. Katie will use her knowledge and skills from her MSc in Applied Positive Psychology and Coaching Psychology to provide a safe space to meet yourself as you are with love and acceptance, with the opportunity to create small goals that provide forward momentum, improving overall wellbeing.
Katie also offers yoga with a focus on post-traumatic growth and positive psychology. After her son passed away following a complicated pregnancy, she is dedicating her yoga practice to building a wellbeing community that facilitates transformation after trauma. Although most of her work focuses on women and motherhood, she also provides classes, retreats and workshops for partners and family members too. The baby loss community has a home with Katie, and you will all be welcomed with love, empathy, and honesty.
If you’ve experienced baby loss, Katie wants you to know you are not alone. She is here to guide you, help you shine bright and grow with grief.