Ibbi - Ibbi founded Gentle Retreat, with a desire to create holistic wellbeing experiences that are potentially nurturing and restorative. She has developed tailored strategies within workplace settings to promote wellbeing from global multinational organisations to hosting meditation retreats in idyllic rural locations. These have included meditation, positive psychology tools, executive leadership development and mentoring projects. Programmes have been organised to incorporate either or both workplace settings or locations within the depths of tranquil secluded rural spaces, using the wild natural landscape as inspiration for reflection and creative thinking. With a career spanning business, creative industries and philanthropy nationally and internationally, she has facilitated programmes witnessing the impact any giving with an open heart can achieve. She is is a British Wheel of Yoga teacher of Meditation, Mindfulness, and Zen Yoga and a Certified Practitioner of Positive Psychology with an eclectic interest in music, and art.
She has carefully sought to seek out guest tutors and facilitators who share an ethos in the social purpose of Gentle Retreat - with an aim to donate a generous percentage of profit from this social enterprise to mental health and homelessness charities specifically for young peoples benefit.
Local teacher Clare has held Hatha Yoga classes in North Norfolk since 2007, having qualified with The British Wheel of Yoga. Her main interest has been in sharing yoga to people with a range of ages,conditions, and abilities, ensuring nobody misses out on the lifelong physical, and emotional benefits of a regular yoga practice. She has taken her classes to village halls, gyms, hospitals, and work places, as well as retreats and wellbeing events.
Her caring, inclusive approach ensures the simplest of breathing, yoga postures, relaxation and mindfulness techniques can help us all to live our best lives.
Anya Konefal – Anya is a British Wheel of Yoga teacher. Her journey with yoga started over 20 years ago in Poland. She attended systematically and for many years classes with Iyengar trained Polish yoga teacher Leszek Mioduchowski. It shaped the foundation for her own yoga practice. Anya has been teaching yoga in the UK for last 15 years. Her approach gives priority to alignment, slow pace and the gradual building up of poses with use of yoga equipment. During her years of working with people in various settings Anya discovered a role of relaxation in the development of positive mental states and in opening and aligning of the body.
Together with her therapeutic background a mindful approach flavours Anya`s yoga teaching. She learnt meditation during many years of systematic practice with the Western Buddhist Order. Working with students with various body problems and working with her own body changing with time, led Anya to the appreciation of the core strength and importance of regular core stability practice. Recent years have enriched her teaching with a more holistic understanding of the body, movement, mind and psyche in the context of natural spirituality and the healing influence of natural cycles, seasons, moon phases and direct experience with the simplicity of raw nature.