We Are

I am Carla Almeida, the resident chef at OYA in-person retreats. It brings me joy to provide nutritional nourishment for guests' during their stay. I leave each retreat feeling emotionally, mentally and spiritually nourished.

I like to infuse our vegan menus with African dishes that reinvigorate the palette and our imaginations of what vegan food feels, smells and tastes like. While I have always loved to cook, I have a Diploma in Professional Cookery (QCF) as well. Most guests leave asking when I plan to publish a cookbook. My answer is: more soon come!

When I walked into a ‘Mysore room’ in the year 2000 it was the beginning of a life changing journey. Once the flame was lit, it grew - today my life revolves around my own practice and guiding others in their practice. I facilitate a vibrant community of practitioners in Shoreditch, who meet 6 days a week, in the early hours of the morning, to connect with themselves through mindful movement.

12 years into my practice I began travelling to Mysore, India to practice at the home of Ashtanga Yoga. I received level II authorisation to teach by Sharath Jois in 2014 and in 2017 I completed a Masters in The Traditions of Yoga and Meditation. Personal and professional study revolves around psychotherapy, ancient yogic texts, race, identity, intersectionality, as well as different movement systems. My teaching is precise, mindful and from the heart.

Meet Corrie

Pranayama & Yoga Instructor: I am a queer Indian trauma-informed yoga teacher, connected with the roots and benefits of Yoga, focussing on Hatha. Pranayama is my speciality, and building a practice that can be taught for people to practice independently at home.

My experience includes facilitating classes for children, those with varying disabilities and those over the age of 60. At the start of the pandemic in 2020, I co-created a community class called “Come Breathe” centring the QTIBPOC community that still runs to this day. Keeping it free and accessible for over a year, people have joined from all over the world for accessible, safe, healing – to support immunity, anxiety and depression.

Meet Natalie

Body Work Therapist: I am a fully qualified, reliable, and dedicated massage and bodywork therapist certified with a Bachelor of Science (BSc, Health Sciences) in remedial massage and neuromuscular therapy. My philosophy is "Movement is Life". My bespoke treatments translate as a window of opportunity that aim to help people find their well-being and balance through a supportive, engaging and person-centred approach. My work seeks to reunite the body and mind.

Visit Léa’s website

Yoga Teacher & Registered Nutritionist: I am a yoga teacher and registered nutritionist, mBANT, mCHNC, specialising in women’s health, hormones and the menstrual cycle. I am also the host of the Period Story podcast. I work with women who want to get control of sugar cravings, mood swings and hormonal acne, bloating and headaches, as well as increase their energy levels.

I have helped many women with hormonal issues ranging from PMS, PCOS, fibroids, endometriosis, heavy, painful, missing & irregular periods, post-natal depletion, perimenopause and menopause.

I set up my practice Eat Love Move to help empower and educate women to understand their bodies, advocate for better healthcare and heal.

Visit Le’Nise’s website

Ayurvedic Healer & Yoga Nidra Specialist: I practise with a combination of Yoga, Ayurveda and deep Eastern healing methods to empower my clients to live a life of balance. My approach is simple and down to earth yet effective. I employ realistic methods so it is easy to understand and apply. My desire is to empower individuals with practical tools that will enable them to maintain positive physical, mental and emotional health.

I work with a consolidated program, ‘Clear, Cleanse, Create’ that gives me good results. I also run empowering workshops, courses and cooking classes that give my clients something to ponder and act on, way after they have left my class. I feel it is important that everyone has the opportunity to learn how to look after their health and their loved ones.

Visit Ratna’s website

Sound Healer & Yoga Instructor: I am a yoga teacher and sound healer from South London. I truly believe in the power of yoga, both on and off the mat, to guide us through our modern day lives and create connection to ourselves, to others and to the world around us.

Connect with Rebecca on Instagram

Jae is a space holder and somatic coach cultivating rites for being, rituals of rest and paths of play within people-centred, community-focused, trauma-sensitive spaces.

Jae’s approach is shaped through a decolonising lens which honours each person as resourceful, creative and whole.

Visit Jae’s website

Fatuma is a qualified and experienced sound therapist, cacao facilitator and yoga teacher with a focus on creating experiences that generate balance in the body, mind, and soul.  She creates sanctuaries and immersions that deliver a multi-sensory experience by combining both yin and yang practices such as sound healing, yoga, meditation, breathwork and ecstatic dancing to tap into your own innate ability to heal and generate harmony in the nervous system.  Fatuma is also a trained and experienced transformational coach and mentor.

Tiffany is a yoga and movement teacher, writer, poet and spiritual seeker.

She is a dedicated student of the energetics of yoga - specifically learning how this modality can create soul-expanding change in our modern lives.

Tiffany's classes use creative flows, with a strong focus on embodiment, to challenge, uplift and empower the practitioner in their practice.

Find more here.

Tamzin Jade is inspired by movement. A Black Queer Yoga Teacher and Dance Artist, based in London. Their work explores the harmony between spirituality and dance. A graduate from London Contemporary Dance School (2016), expanded their study of movement and spirituality through yoga. They have completed multiple trainings including a foundational 250-hour Yoga Teacher Training (2018) as well as Radical Darshan's 300-hour Advanced Yoga Teacher Training (2022) which addresses yoga through the lens of Decolonisation, Anti-Racism and Trauma Sensitivity.

Tamzin interweaves movement, intuitive and indigenous wisdom into whole being experiences. They teach from their heart space and an understanding of our interconnected humanity. She facilitates compassionate, inquisitive and playful explorations as a resource for joy and liberation. Tamzin curates playlists that amplify People of the Global Majority as soundscapes to their teaching. They endeavour to create work in reflection of their intersectional daily life experiences and lifelong spiritual practices.

Workshop Facilitator and Psychotherapist: I am an integrative therapist, facilitator and trainer working with individuals, couples and groups, with a particular interest in supporting Black people, people of colour and Indigenous people with their mental health and wellbeing. My interests include grief, relationships, managing stress and working with sexual shame.

Connect with Kim on Instagram

All her life, Aisha Nash has been fascinated by the human body, anatomy and what it means to be well - she takes this curiosity into every Yoga class she teaches. At the age of 19, she studied for her degree in Biology, and then trained to be a pastry chef - you would've had to be there to connect the dots.

After a few years of the high stress environment that is London-based Michelin starred kitchens, Aisha burnt out, and left. She’d planned to leave for a short while, but it ended up being for good. Her body was physically wrecked and still carries whispers of the pain that was so bad she left her dream job.

Knowing about Yoga her entire life, she went back to its ancient wisdom, and rehabilitated not just her body, but also her mind, using the physical practise to provide gentle movement for her body and the philosophy to restart her life. This then led her down the rabbit hole that Yoga teacher training tends to be. She took her first one in March 2016 and has completed a further 12 since, specialising in Trauma informed Yoga, Restorative Yoga and Mindfulness.

Now coming up to being a teacher for 8 years, she is combining her professional chef knowledge with the healing that comes from intuitive eating and cooking. To reflect her heritage, Aisha creates menus that incorporate Ayurvedic knowledge with traditional spices and seasonal produce.