Our Team

She landed into yoga quite literally after being thrown out of a boat in Australia 11 years ago and landing with a broken back. After 3 months of rehabilitation she was told her passion of running was no longer an option but yoga would aid her recovery and keep her back pain free. After training with David Swenson in Ashtanga yoga a new yogic way of life flourished.

She has since carried out a number of training courses over the years and continues to further her yoga training, gaining qualifications in Blissology yoga, children’s yoga, pregnancy and post natal yoga and Swedish full body massage. She has a personal and friendly attitude towards her teaching, offering a style of yoga that is dynamic with sequences set to rejuvenate & challenge the body. Through Vipassana meditation she has developed a more spiritual path to her practise, which she incorporates into her teachings both on and off the mat.

She has been facilitating retreats for 15 years now and loves nothing more than to host a group of liked minded individuals. Since becoming a mum of 3, her hosting roles have lessened but she keeps directing and steering Zest Life, in a positive direction for all to share.

Teaching yoga and meditation for over 24 years, Claire is one of the originators of the Vinyasa Method in the West and was one of the 2 first teachers to begin to train UK yoga teachers in the method, back in 2009. Claire’s down to earth teaching method has evolved to be a formulation of traditional practices that keep the historical lineages alive while honouring biomechnical developments including trauma-informed techniques, kriya for purification and music as a therapeutic somatic tool for awareness and freedom.

Focussing on connection, healthful food, quiet sleep and connection with others, Claire’s enthusiastic, precise, inspirational yoga teaching, will welcomes you whatever your yogic background.

Katarina is a senior yoga teacher and co-founder of London yoga studio, Kindred Yoga. She loves hosting and leading retreats and runs advanced yoga and teacher training courses. Continuing to expand her own knowledge of the practice is very important to her: she is trained in many styles of yoga including, Ashtanga, Vinyasa, Rocket Yoga, Mandala Vinyasa, Yin and Prenatal yoga.

Katarina’s teaching style is strong yet playful; she offers modifications and variations to ensure all levels of practitioner are included, using her knowledge of anatomy to ensure you are challenged in a safe and supportive way. Her classes are accompanied by specially curated playlists. Expect to work hard, have fun and enjoy a well earned savasana at the end.

Being an ex-gymnast movement has always played an important role in Katy’s life. After beginning her own yoga journey over 20 years ago and being inspired by the immense physical and mental well-being it created within her, on and off the mat, she decided to follow her passion and qualify as a yoga teacher in 2019. This has enabled her to share her love of yoga with others.

She focuses on balancing strength with flexibility, reinforcing the body and mind, and releasing tension to encourage longevity and mobility. Her sequences are inspired by Vinyasa flow, created to be physically challenging while tailored to ones ability. These sequences provide an active, full body experience that strengthen through stretching, breathing, lengthening and opening.

Leo is a multi discipline yoga instructor specialising in balance and core stability, breathwork and cold water therapy, as well as slacklining and balance boarding. Drop into the world of holistic transformation and inner evolution guided by Leo Oppenheim, a wellness facilitator deeply devoted to harmonising the body and mind to unlock your fullest potential. With a diverse skill set encompassing yoga, creative movement, sound therapy, breathwork, and invigorating cold water immersions, Leo crafts a unique fusion of disciplines designed to facilitate profound mental, physical, and emotional shifts. He incorporates a variety of techniques to harness the full power of your breathing and increase strength, conditioning, and focus. His yoga practice is diverse, but yang and restorative are key to Leo's teaching.

With a wealth of experience in the health and fitness industry, he is head trainer at BLOK Studio Manchester and is a strong advocate for mental health and well being. Retreat guests can expect to learn new skills, deepen their well versed practices, and set mindful and powerful intentions for themselves for the retreat and as they move back into their daily lives.

Rosie, a teacher and specialist in Vinyasa flow with Positive Psychology used yoga as a way to keep her grounded in her work as a magazine editor. Her fascination and interest in yoga and meditation lead her to practice in all four corners of the globe, and after eight years of dedication to learning, she made the jump to teaching.

Rosie’s uplifting and energetic sequences are tailored to suit the student’s ability, energy levels and mindsets from a bio-individual stand point. Rosie is also a wellness journalist and health coach so marrying a healthy mind with a healthy body is key for her. Weaving positive psychology and mantras into her classes, Rosie sets the tone for gaining strength, mobility and resilience, keeping students fully immersed.

Having begun her yoga journey over two decades ago, taught in London studios and with private clients, and trained with leading teachers worldwide, Amy brings a wealth of knowledge and experience to the mat.

She teaches Vinyasa Flow, blending creative sequencing with functional movement and mobility work to support the body in an intelligent and sustainable way. With a long-standing meditation practice and a focus on mindful living, Amy creates classes that encourage students to move with awareness and build a stronger connection between breath, body, and mind.

More recently, Amy has been exploring Shaivism Tantra — a tradition that embraces life fully and wholeheartedly, rather than following a path of renunciation. Its teachings align with her belief in a spiritual path rooted in everyday reality, encouraging vitality, strength, and radiance both on and off the mat.

Gilly is a STA Level 2 Open Water Swim Coach and her passions lie in the outdoors and encouraging others to find their place in it. Having worked professionally in the outdoor industry for over 20 years, the outdoors is as much her profession as it is her pastime.

She is the co-founder of Blue Mind Swim, a free introduction to open water group based in the Lake District and is part of team Wonderful Wild Women. She is a director of the Women’s Trad Festival – an inclusive to all genders, sustainable and accessible rock climbing festival. Gilly has written for and featured in many publications and media outlets, both in the UK and further afield, on the joys of cold water swimming and climbing. As a skin swimmer she has competed in winter swimming events across Europe.

Jonathan has a particular love of very cold water and swims all year-round in just trunks, hat and goggles. As Editor of Outdoor Swimmer magazine for seven years, he oversaw the growth in outdoor swimming while promoting its benefits to a diverse audience. He is an STA Level 2 Open Water Swimming coach who loves introducing swimmers to the joys of outdoor swimming.

From marathon swimming to cold water dipping via swimrun and adventure swimming, Jonathan has a passion for swimming outdoors and promoting the benefits it brings. He has competed in winter swimming competitions around the world and co-founded The Swimmer, a half-marathon with four cold water swims through London. He co-founded Blue Mind Men, a men’s cold water swim club to improve mental and physical health.

Originally from South Wales Dave’s passion for swimming is anchored in his days as a pool & beach lifeguard. He was the first person to swim to the Skerries Isles, off the North West Coast of Anglesey, crossing one of the fastest flowing channels of water in the area, has swum numerous lakes in Snowdonia and swam or coasteered most places around the Anglesey coastline.

He has worked in the adventure sector for 30 years, is a triathlete, a surfing coach, swimming teacher and has coached the Welsh and the GB Development triathlon Squads. He provides swim event safety management for a number of organisations and through his company AcwaTerra, offers specialised adventure training consultancy.

Sioned is a home grown welsh open water swim coach, musician and mountaineer based in Eryri and has a passion for swimming in wild places and combining many of her swims with walks in the mountains accompanied by her dog. Sioned is a member of the International Ice Swimming Association and to date has completed three Ice Mile swims.

She loves sharing her knowledge and passion for swimming and teh benefots of cold water, and really enjoys supporting people to have amazing experiences, whether they are first timers or seasoned swimmers.

George has formulated a range of over 40 products drawing on her detailed anatomical and physiological knowledge gained from 24 years of clinical experience. George created Bathing Beauty to help solve her family’s and patient’s skin and well-being issues.

Passionate about the products, process and the planet, George only includes those ingredients that are needed for each issue. All products are free from Nut, Palm and Fragrance Oils; Parabens and Sulphates Today these multi award winning natural skincare products are still handmade by her all-female team at The Source, a 400 year old Cruck Framed Barn which nestles in the foothills of the Clwydian Range. George looks forward sharing her knowledge and products with you.

John Farrell is a keen runner and Triathlete. He holds the level 2 triathlon coach qualification and coaches regularly with his local club GOG Triathlon. As well as this he is a qualified Sports Nutritional coach, Strength and Conditioning Specialist, Functional Assessment Specialist, Performance Movement Coach and hold an Olympic Weightlifting for Athletes Coaching certificate.

On a personal level, over the last year he has ran every distance up to and including an Ultra Marathon, Competed in the Equinox 24 hour race and completed Marathons in Snowdonia and beautiful trail marathons around Anglesey. He loves passing on his knowledge to experienced runners and performance athletes and also introducing and inspiring beginners to the sport that he is so passionate about.

Marta grew up in the mountains of Poland, and developed a love of the sea when she came to the UK in 2015. She became a qualified Pilates teacher in 2020 when a major life event led her to deepen her knowledge of anatomy and how the body moves. She loves the minimalistic approach to the discipline and teaches mat and foam roller pilates.

She enjoys spending time in the outdoors and nature, whether she’s mountain biking, kitesurfing, paddle boarding or wild swimming. She feels truly connected to elements when she takes a dip in a fresh lake, salty sea or a cold rock pool and adores sharing those moments with guests on the The Zest Life retreats.

Rebecca worked in the far east as a teacher for 15 years. There she experienced the benefits of Traditional Chinese Medicine for general wellbeing and in the treatment of a range of sporting injuries. Upon returning to the UK she retrained, first becoming a Master Practitioner in Tui Na Massage, and then gaining a Diploma in Acupuncture.

Tui Na is a form of rhythmic massage which creates an harmonious flow throughout the body and removes blockages. Tui Na is used in most hospitals throughout China and is often the first and only choice of healthcare. Unlike other forms of massage Tui Na requires that you remain clothed. Tui Na relieves pain from joints and muscles, restores the balance of Qi throughout the body and alleviates stress related conditions.

Kerry is an international life coach who has a track record for transforming lives through powerful coaching. Kerry is passionate about living life to the full, with purpose, and helping others to do the same. Read about how Kerry has helped many other people on her website.

Kerry will be running group coaching sessions on our Signature retreats. She will cover two topics mental fitness and work life balance. The session will provide participants with an opportunity to consider their mindset, their positive and negative voices, and to explore their work life balance. We will collaboratively develop strategies to enhance wellbeing while navigating personal challenges. The format is a mixture of breakouts and self reflection. Each participant will come away with a personalised action plan.

Kelly Mason is a Plant based chef, 1140 hr Yoga teacher and artist. Over the last 6 years she has worked on a number of wellness projects in Melbourne, California, UK, Portugal and India.

During 2017 she moved to Orange County, Southern California and began her training in Raw and plant based cuisine and nutrition.

She has since collaborated on a number of 5 star Multi award winning wellness and health retreats both nationally and internationally and is currently working as Personal wellness chef in Notting Hill for private clientele. She is a conscious recipe developer for a number of transformational superfood and adaptogen brands including Sun potion, LA cold pressed, Mason & Co chocolate, Hempika and Supernova living and has features of her cuisine in Cheshire life, Cheshire living and Vegan life magazine.

Harri is a private chef with a focus on simple, seasonal food made with local ingredients. She spent eight years cooking on sailing yachts around the world, where her love of fresh produce really took off – sourcing ingredients straight from local markets, farms and fishermen.

That experience shaped her approach to food: honest, unfussy cooking that makes the most of what’s in season. Now based in North Wales, Harri brings that same approach to retreat menus – wholesome, flavourful food that feels good to eat.

Cathy has always been passionate about food and has a degree in Hospitality Management and Culinary Arts. She loves experimenting with spices and herbs bringing a wealth of inspiration from her travels around the world. She’s fascinated by the powerful benefits of gut health on the mind and creates amazing plant based recipes that provide all round nutrition.

More recently she has been specialising in fermentation: brewing kombucha for Blighty Booch Kombucha, and making kimchi and sauerkraut. In her spare time she loves baking with her children, cold water swimming or trail running on the Carneddau mountains with her border Collie Skye.

For over seven years I have been teaching origami to adults in a diverse range of settings

from staff at the Royal Albert Hall to employees at Deloitte's Head Office to groups of

pensioners through Leaping Forward for Dementia (a London project empowering people

living with dementia).

As you may already know, origami has lots of uses, both in the workplace and in our

personal lives. Firstly, in a business context it can be used to help to facilitate team building

(eg by encouraging shared learning) and to develop confidence in your ability to be creative.

A statistic about creativity – 85% of people do not believe that they are creative and a very

large number of them formed that opinion at school.

Kimberly is the founder of Naturalli.me, an all-natural women’s health clinic specialising in women's hormones. Australian born and trained, Kimberly is an experienced naturopath, herbalist and health chef who is leading the change to better periods and hormones, naturally!

Kimberly is also an author of multiple international books (The Yoga Kitchen series) and app creator (Naturalli 28Days).

Kimberly has travelled the world running and cooking on retreats from the Swedish archipelago to Sri Lanka. She is a mother of two, with a love language that involves feeding and caring for people.

She is based in Surrey, UK

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Inspired Leaders

Laura Bell

Claire Missingham

Katarina Rayburn

Katy Stylli

Leo Oppenheim

Rosie Underwood

Amy Olivia Bell

Gilly McArthur

Jonathan Cowie

Dave Brown

Sioned Jones

Makala Jones

George Jones

John Farrell

Marta Swierczek

Rebecca Sutton

Kerry Sutcliffe

Kelly Mason

Harri Jordan

Cathy Whitfield

Nessa Hitchmough

Kimberly Parsons

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