Revival Teachers
AMY DICKSON
Amy Dickson is a yoga teacher specialising in Yoga for Back Care and has been teaching with The Yoga for Life Project since it first began. Amy has scoliosis and underwent spinal surgery as a teenager. She originally turned to yoga to manage the chronic pain associated with the condition. In additional to the physical benefits, she found that her daily practice had a profound effect on her emotional wellbeing and her acceptance of her body and her condition. She has been practicing yoga for over 20 years and completed her teacher training with YogaCampus (Yoga Alliance and International Yoga Network.) In addition to Yoga for Backcare, she also teaches Hatha Yoga, Gentle Flow, Chair Yoga, Restorative Yoga and Yoga for Children. Amy’s teaching draws on movement modalities beyond yoga and is based in a somatic approach, taking her students into their bodies and inviting them to explore asana organically in a way that is appropriate to them. In this way she supports her students in a fostering of body and postural awareness that extends beyond the yoga mat, to support them in their day to day lives.
CHANTELL DOUGLAS
As a yoga teacher, psychologist and in her daily life, Chantell likes to operate from a place of compassion. Since finding yoga over 10 years ago, she was drawn to develop a deeper understanding and to teach. She completed her first teacher training in mindful hatha yoga in 2015 (a practice that incorporated yoga and mindfulness-based stress reduction techniques). She has completed further training in mindfulness-based approaches and meditation, vinyasa yoga, transformational yoga, and yoga for children in India, the UK and other parts of the world.
Chantell is also a clinical psychologist and has worked in the NHS for over 10 years. Chantell has specialist training in the vast range of emotional challenges that come up as a part of life. She is passionate about the psychological benefits of yoga and aims to incorporate these into her classes, believing it offers tools that we can bring into our daily lives to promote wellbeing. She hopes to make yoga and mindfulness more accessible for all. Chantell has taught yoga and offers a weekly mindfulness session to NHS staff. Yoga is huge part of her own self-care too.
In her classes, Chantell will guide you through a breath led flow, with poses, breath work, mindfulness, meditation and psychology ideas specifically to support wellbeing. Encouraging us to be with our experiences, as they are, whatever they are. Guided by her gentle and heart-centred approach, she aims to create nurturing and inclusive spaces for self-exploration, strengthening and self-care - on and off the mat.
CLAIRE WHALLEY
Claire discovered yoga in London in her 20s. For her it was exercise, and then something strange started to happen..she found that yoga was bringing calm where there was storm and discovered it could help her navigate a demanding job as a film director and then as a mum of 2 boys (who she delivered using yoga deep breathing techniques). As time went on, she realised that yoga was an incredible tool to have in the tool box of life, to help with life’s ups and downs, stresses and challenges.
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She had the great privilege of taking a best friend who had a brain tumor to specialist yoga classes for cancer patients. When her friend could no longer take part, Claire shared yoga she thought would help her friend right to the end of her friend’s life who said it helped her find peace. Before she died, she encouraged Claire to become a teacher. Having seen the therapeutic benefits of yoga at work, Claire knew her life’s work was set.
She trained first with Charlotta Martinus as a Teen Yoga Teacher and then did a 200 hour TT with Yoga Campus. With a passion to bring the mental and physical health benefits of yoga to a more diverse community and into the NHS, she did additional trainings to teach students with cancer, mental health conditions, digestive disorders, insomnia, hormonal disturbances, long covid and breath-work.
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In 2019 she set up the not for profit, community interest company, The Yoga for Life Project which has brought the health benefits of yoga to over 1000 students, many of whom had never done yoga before. She has helped raise funding to support the growing community with Long Covid with free classes, aimed specifically at their symptoms. The classes also offer psychological support from a group psychotherapist. She’s interested in exploring how yoga can work alongside other medical professions to give people the very best chance of recovery.
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Claire is passionate to share the teachings she has learnt from other teachers from around the world and to give more people who wouldn’t have the chance to train as teachers to do so. Alongside her colleague Alice Harper, she raised funding to create the Revival TT Programme. It is a real privilege for Claire to be able to teach on this course and she looks forward to sharing the wisdom that is ‘Yoga’, which has been shared with her.
FIZZ YASIN
Fizz is a Specialist Yoga Teacher registered with Yoga Alliance UK, a Registered Associate Nutritionist and a Podcast Host of the 'Find Your Fizz' Podcast. She has been teaching across public and healthcare settings, to a variety of people for 3+ years now.
She teaches Vinyasa Flow, Chair Based, Yoga for Cancer, Adaptive Yoga, Yoga for Cardiac Conditions, Yoga for Sleep Recovery and Insomnia, Ayurvedic Yoga, Yoga for Mental Health and Kids Yoga. She also teaches transformational mindfulness and meditation practices.
Fizz was born with a rare form of congenital heart disease, which meant she had numerous heart surgeries growing up. In her early teens, she was encouraged to try yoga as a coping mechanism living with this chronic condition. She was told by her cardiologist that she had to find a way to learn to breathe and support her heart. She discovered Yoga was not only a rehabilitation tool for her heart, but also after a childhood of heart surgeries, she found it helped her scoliosis. Yoga has helped her deal with the pain. Essentially, yoga helped her rediscover her self-worth and self-love again and Ayurveda (the sister science to yoga) became her way of life allowing her to rediscover the meaning of life again.
By integrating body, breath, movement, and meditative awareness, she promotes awareness of the interdependency of all these aspects in personal health and wellbeing.
Fizz's classes are a powerful combination that forms a deeper journey within.
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​JNANA DEV
Om, my name is Jnana Dev and I facilitate mindfulness using ancient modalities such as sound, breath work and meditation. Through practices such as Yoga, Pilates, Gong and Reiki I guide with an intuitive philosophical approach with a disciplined and theoretical foundation; revealing that which is already within us all. The all-pervasive, omnipotence. I endeavour to bridge the gap between the gross and subtle intellect leading from the heart space, back to the heart place.
My journey has been very unique and painful. I was raised in foster care and experienced a lot of abuse. My mother was a single parent diagnosed with bipolar disorder and she still struggles with it to this day. I have never been in her care. As a sensitive child this led me to eventually develop an eating disorder and of course the idea that I was never enough or worthy of love. Through the practice of yoga, meditation and psychic development, I started to grow the love from within. Advaita Vedanta a Hindu philosophy has helped me realise that I am more than the narrative of which I had no control of, I set the intent to awaken such awareness in others. Blessings.
JULIA CAIRD
Julia has been practicing yoga and meditation for over a decade and has been teaching yoga for 5 years, after training with her teacher Norman Blair in 2015 (300 hours). She went on to complete further training with Yoga Campus, qualifying as an Accredited Yoga Therapist in 2020 (550 hours), supervised by Lisa Kayley-Isley. She currently works part time in the NHS as a Highly Specialist Speech & Language Therapist, and the rest of the time teaches yoga. She is particularly interested in the therapeutic application of yoga for reducing suffering and pain and increasing wellbeing, purpose and peace in life. She runs Yoga Therapy Groups for women to support womb and hormonal health called 'Wild Wombs'. She teaches open-level, accessible yoga in studios in East London, and has been teaching Yoga weekly in a school in Newham to children with Special Needs for 4 years. Julia teaches gentle, soothing yoga to allow the body to process life, calm the nervous system, and support deep rest. Her teaching does not separate the mind from the body, providing tools to work with both. She has found yoga very healing in her own personal journey, and this provides her with passion to share these practices.
JULIET BROOKS
Juliet was first introduced to Ashtanga yoga in 2009, followed by Iyengar and she hasn’t looked back since. She completed her 200hr yoga teacher training 6 years ago and went on to study Safe Sequencing with J Brown at Triyoga. Juliet is now a VinyaÌ„sa flow, Power vinyaÌ„sa, Breathwork and Meditation teacher. She is also a certified Nutritional coach who integrates a unique blend of holistic health and body awareness for her clients.
Her love of travelling & teaching yoga internationally presented an opportunity to teach yoga to professional runners in Hamburg and later qualify as a Trauma Informed yoga teacher whilst living in the US. She has since returned to the UK and gained an additional certification in the specialised field of Trauma Sensitive yoga for Depression.
Juliet is able to combine her love of anatomy, alignment and music through her regular taught classes. Her private 1 to 1 sessions are adapted to the individual needs for people with common musculoskeletal issues and more recently she is researching the application and effectiveness of Somatic Yoga Therapy for people with Sickle Cell Anemia and Trait. From having worked with a range of abilities and group classes, Juliet is very passionate about helping communities with limited access to yoga.
Her diverse experiences has led her to train as a Yoga Therapist at Yogacampus (550hr).
Now as a self confessed ‘eternal student’ of yoga philosophy and functional movement, Juliet’s aim is to offer healing tools for her clients to reconnect with their bodies, minds & recognise their own inherent potential.
NATALIE REID
With a solid yoga practice since 2011 and desire to work in education, Natalie trained and set up Natty Little Yogis – a yoga practice specialising in yoga for children and teens to address the pressures faced by our young people.
As a 200hr qualified yoga teacher and specialist Children’s and Teen Yoga teacher, fully qualified with the Special Yoga Foundation and the Teen Yoga Foundation, she has been fortunate enough to share Yoga and Mindfulness with children and young people at nurseries, schools and sixth form colleges, as well as local youth and adult community groups.
A parent of two children, Natalie understands the benefits of a yoga and mindfulness practice from an early age; improved concentration and communication, confident self expression and increased physical and mental wellbeing.
With the current academic and social pressures on our young, it is important to support their mental, emotional and physical wellbeing. By promoting inclusion through Yoga, in sport and pastoral care, we can arm them with the tools to become the best they can be.
Natalie is passionate about sharing yoga in order to reach those pockets of communities who cannot readily access it.
RUTH VOON
Formerly a professional contemporary dancer for over 15 years working in the UK and abroad, Ruth is a 500-hour senior yoga teacher at Triyoga London where she teaches a range of styles. She came to the yogic path after a big shift in her personal life, and found it helped her deal with life’s challenges off the mat. Her teaching is influenced by her studies in Yoga and Buddhism, and she has a particular interest in sharing the philosophical aspects of the tradition within the framework of physical practice to cultivate heartfelt awareness, self-acceptance and compassion.
A long-held fascination with how the body works and first-hand experience of awareness of habits and patterns, Ruth discovered the combination of practice, diligence and just the right amount of effort could lead to self-healing. A self-confessed anatomy geek, she is curious in finding support and spaciousness in the body for energy to flow freely.
Ruth’s primary interest lies in healing - healing the body so that its intelligence and wisdom can guide us, and healing the separation in our heart mind so we remember our true nature. To that end she is also a trained massage therapist and transformational coach, and is passionate about empowering people to live happier, vibrant and more compassionate lives.
Ruth is a registered Senior Yoga Teacher with the Yoga Alliance Professionals
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Shaka is a yoga teacher, energy healer and tarot reader - alongside being a creative and managing the community wellbeing program for the charity St Margaret's House. She has been practicing Ashtanga yoga for over 13 years and also regularly practices Iyengar yoga too. In 2017 she graduated from SOAS with MA Traditions of Yoga and Meditation (distinction) and teaches yoga philosophy workshops on the Hotpod Yoga Teacher Training Course and now the Revival Yoga Teacher Training Course for young BME people.
Her yoga classes draw on different approaches/styles to explore the fundamental principles of yoga through posture, breath, relaxation and meditation, Within all of her disciplines and offerings Shaka's core aim is to connect her students and clients to the innate and infinite wisdom of their own being and experiencing the sacred space within and beyond.
SHAKA LISH
Trudi has been teaching Hatha yoga for over 16 years with a genuine passion toward promoting equality in wellbeing, learning and opportunities across diverse communities. During a time of such unprecedented challenges, she believes it is more important than ever for yoga to be a welcoming, inclusive and accessible environment for everyone - which is why the work and initiatives being led by The Yoga For Life Project feels so crucial. Her current role is as their Teacher Training Director co-ordinating the Revival Yoga Teacher Training Course - the first fully funded UK initiative to qualify young ethnic minority people (18-30yrs) to teach yoga and mindfulness in schools and BME community hubs across London. She trained with The Life Centre (Yoga Campus) and with Barbara Gordon and Nora Belton. Trudi is British Wheel of Yoga accredited and a registered Senior Yoga Teacher with the Yoga Alliance Professionals.