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The pause is as important
as the note

Truman Fisher

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Founder Bio

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"The soothing, restorative combination of practices of Nourishing Rest and in particular Yoga Nidra is truly a form of gentle yet 'powerful rest.' It has been an invaluable method to support my own wellbeing, pain management and increased energy levels."
Due to a longstanding chronic illness, I sought a practice that would nourish and calm my body from pain and exhaustion and the trauma of being ill. I have found Yoga Nidra to be an invaluable tool in my wellbeing regimen and in combination to apply the complimentary practices.  They are a series of restorative and nourishing practices helps to sustain more inner peace, resilience, and to instil more awareness.

 

For those with chronic illness and chronic fatigue or on a path of recovery from burn-out or convalescing from illness, these practices help to strengthen the body's healing process and support better and deeper restorative rest and to improve quality sleep.  I have personally found that by doing these practices regularly, even for short periods helps to sustain more resilience and an increased capacity to cope better with chronic fatigue illness and chronic illness, especially during a bad pain flare up. 
These practices are also being done in prisons and for ex-combat military staff to calm the nervous system and to help to cope with PTSD and trauma. Many studies have, and continue to be done, about their profound restorative benefits, particularly meditation, breathing techniques and yoga nidra. 

Anyone can benefit from these nourishing practices for whole being well-being.


 

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Leigh Taylor (Sherab)
Founder's Bio

 

Leigh is an experienced facilitator for:

  • Yoga Nidra (Training UK 2015 & 2020)

  • Mindfulness & Metta (Loving-kindness) since 1999

  • Pranayama & Breathwork since 1999

  • Buddhist Meditation since 1997

Qualified and trained/certified in:​

  • Coaching (MOE UK) 2015 & NLP  (2021)

  • Trauma Conscious Yoga Method (TCYM) 2021

  • Trained Mental Health First Aider (MHFA UK) 2020

  • Mental Health & Neuroscience (NCIB) 2020/2021

  • Fundamentals of TCM (2005)

  • Balance & Wellness at Work (SIY)

  • Indian Head Massage (Prof. Iqbal Badat 1998)

  • Biophilic Design - Sustainable Green Practices (2021)

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“My aim is to help ease the habit of the stress consciousness and to provide more accessible methods that can be easily and effortlessly integrated into your everyday life.
I believe this powerful combination in your personal wellness toolbox offers effective wellbeing habits to deeply soothe weary bodies and overwhelmed minds, creating a life of more alignment, balance, and inner harmony.
These practices also serve to remind women of their own intuitive wisdom, loving-kindness and compassion, and reawakens the capacity to heal and nourish themselves and others. Anyone can benefit from these nourishing easeful practices for whole being well-being and serves to nourish ourselves and others.”

Read more about nourishing rest practices

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Founder's Bio

Leigh Taylor has been running and organising holistic wellbeing and meditation retreats internationally since 2000 for meditation centres, corporate and particularly wellbeing retreats and sacred pilgrimage for women. Leigh spent 15 yrs in Asia doing extensive meditation retreats in the Himalayas, studying with great accomplished masters and simple humble yogis. Leigh is a seasoned meditation and mindfulness facilitator having facilitated, organised and guided retreats since 2000.

She loves being a Wellbeing and Life Coach (UK 2015) and more recently her focus has been on practical Trauma conscious methods using restorative yoga, breath techniques, somatic movement, mental health training and NLP methodology to enrich her offerings particularly for supportive healing to support overwhelm, chronic fatigue, burn-out and chronic illness.

“My aim is to help ease the habit of the stress consciousness and to provide more accessible methods that can be easily and effortlessly integrated into your everyday life. I believe this powerful combination in your personal wellness toolbox offers effective wellbeing habits to deeply soothe weary bodies and overwhelmed minds, creating a life of more alignment, balance, and inner harmony. These practices also serve to remind women of their own intuitive wisdom, loving-kindness and compassion, and reawakens the capacity to heal and nourish themselves and others. Anyone can benefit from these nourishing easeful practices for whole being well-being and serves to nourish ourselves and others.”

Read more about nourishing rest practices

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Background & Experience

Leigh has been running and organising holistic wellbeing and meditation retreats internationally since 2000.  Particularly retreats for women and sacred pilgrimages to India. She spent 15 years, most of her adult life in India and Nepal, studying meditation and Asian philosophy.  She has undertaken extensive meditation retreats in the Himalayas, where she was fortunate to study with accomplished humble yogis, and cherishes meeting the Dalai Lama. She studied under the guidance of Ayang Rinpoche, Dzongsar Khyentse Rinpoche and Tenzin Namdak Rinpoche. She first visited Nepal and India in 1997, where she spent one year living in a simple wooden hut in the Himalayas studying meditation and doing personal retreat. She worked for many years in refugee centres and monasteries in India and Nepal,  including voluntary work to help organise global events for the Office of His Holiness the Dalai Lama in Mumbai, India and in South Africa. 

In South Africa she managed the retreats centre for a large international meditation
organisation FGS for three years and co-organised the annual Peace and Light Festival.
Leigh co-ordinated the children's charity outreach programmes in underprivileged communities.

Leigh loves creating conducive and nourishing practice and retreat environments and was tasked with the interior design for the urban and country meditation retreat centres.
Leigh spent 6 months in
intensive meditation retreat in the Ch'an (zen) meditation centre in South Africa under the guidance of Shifu Hui Re.


Leigh is a seasoned expat and has lived on 3 continents in 8 countries so understands the challenges expats face, especially as women, working in high pressure corporate environments navigating complex transition and change. 
In London she was a research assistant for a large oil company to co-ordinate planning for oil spill prevention and emergency response centres in Africa and Asia, which deepened her interest in protecting the environment and the impact of modern industry. In South Africa she worked for one of the largest medical health companies doing their graphic design, layout and print. She volunteered for many years for NGO's and non-profits doing print and publishing in India.

Leigh was an invited speaker for the international women's movement 'SheSpeaks' alongside Google in Amsterdam in mid 2018 ,where she guided mindfulness and yoga nidra restorative events for busy women in corporate careers, part of Balanced Life Design. She also facilitated wellness events for entrepreneurs at Escape the City (London) and Zoku Amsterdam for start-ups for staff wellness and Delite Labs for expats and Syrian refugee entrepreneurs in Amsterdam.

She founded Red Lotus/Sustainable Human Being (2014/2019) and qualified in London (2015), as a certified Life Coach, and Mental Health First Aid support (2020). Her fields of expertise include Trauma Conscious and Restorative Yoga practices, Energy movement and Yoga Nidra Rest and mindful deep relaxation practices. These are based on traditional Sathipathana (four foundations of mindfulness and breath awareness) and Metta (loving-kindness meditation), Pranayama (vital breath) based on the authentic methods from India and Tibet. 


Leigh's passion lies in supporting women with holistic wellbeing and healing for chronic illness, chronic fatigue and burnout. And particularly for healers, carers, leaders and teachers. Leigh's heart lies in Humanitarian work and her most recent incentive is to support charitable projects during the Covid pandemic to overcome burnout and long-term illness. She frequently works with charitable organisations in India and Africa and supports Gender based violence groups and feeding schemes for children and the underprivileged in South Africa.
 

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Practices of deep rest, restore and recharge us to activate our innate healing capacity.


Like sun, water, earth and air, and essentially space - rest and pause are vital ingredients for our beings to flourish. Rest is a healing tonic and a balm to nourish us.
 

Our bodies, and each system within, should be treated as a whole, being attentive to each part, like a flower and all its component parts - petals, stem, seeds, leaves and roots, to fully grow, bloom and flourish. 
Nourishing rest offers a holistic approach to health and whole being wellbeing, nourishing every part of ourselves, our bodies, our minds and our hearts and for maintained spiritual sustenance.

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We need to nourish wellness for every part of us, the whole of our being.

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Leigh is a fanatical lover of plants, the ocean, trees and nature to restore wellbeing and to unwind deeply. She is a passionate cook, specialising in cooking nourishing vegan and vegetarian meals for retreatants and also for those recovering from illness. She is also an ardent student of ergonomic and creative sustainable eco-design, particularly for wellness in the workplace, and for health and healing centres. She is excited about integrating contemporary sustainable Biophilic Design practices to create healthy settings and conducive spaces for harmony, inner attunement and wellbeing, using natural products and materials. She incorporates this approach into her wellbeing and coaching offerings. Her passions include photography and film complimenting her qualification in graphic design and as a print specialist.


‘Sustainable Human Being’ brings you this chapter of 'Nourishing Rest’ which is the culmination of many years of deep work, varied experience and her own journey and struggle with chronic illness.  With 'Nourishing Rest' she aims to distil and combine supportive tools and methods to help women feel more empowered about their own paths towards health, healing and wellbeing.
The Women's Wisdom Healing Collective is a platform for synergistic collaboration with other like-minded women who wish to share their skills, compassionate methods and expertise and support each to thrive. 


Annually Leigh manages and co-facilitates Soul Trader retreats in Portugal - 'Doing business with Heart, Leadership & Legacy', with Rasheed Ogunlaru, esteemed coach and speaker with her beloved husband Justin, a yoga teacher and IT specialist. They infuse the retreat with the element of synergistic wellbeing offerings to balance the approach to heart-centred business. 
They are passionate vegetarian and vegan cooks and serve large meditation retreats and support yogis doing extended personal meditation retreats. Leigh & Justin owned a small yoga studio and gift shop for local and Asian wares in South Africa, whilst they worked on a sustainable project for an eco housing incentive during 2015-2017. Their dream is to establish their own wellbeing and meditation retreat centre near the sea for Sustainable Human Being.

Leigh currently lives in Barcelona, Spain near the beach and enjoys Jazz, Indian Classical music, Roots Reggae, and adores long walks in forests.
She is also partial to good coffee and yummy chocolate!

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