Workshop leaders:
Alicia Davies is a practising professional musician, artist and writer who was drawn to sound healing after experiencing some major life traumas of her own. The profound and long-lasting effects of her first Gong Bath left no doubt that this was, indeed, ‘something else’. Feeling the vibrations of the gong travelling over her body- even at some considerable distance from the gong master - was intriguing enough to cause her to seek out further experiences of it, and ultimately, to train as a practitioner of the ancient art of sound healing with gongs, with a view to helping people overcome physical, emotional, and spiritual blocks to wellbeing. She is firmly of the belief, as Edgar Cayce once said, that ‘Sound is the future of medicine.’ Alicia currently works mainly with the Earth and Synodic Moon gongs from Paiste’s Planet Gong series. The Earth gong is tuned to the fundamental resonant frequency of our home planet.
Kei Miyata is a yoga teacher, choreographer, performing artist and calligrapher who divides her time between Shrewsbury, Birmingham, and Tokyo, Japan, where she was born. Kei’s fascination for music, fashion, and the performing arts led her to develop a full and creative life, designing soundscapes, music, and costumes for prestigious designers such as Issey Miyake, and for companies such as Frankfurt Ballet, NDT, and Paris Opera Ballet. Since 2008, she has been exploring body, mind, and sound relationships, focusing on Yoga, Qi-Koh (Chi Gong), esoteric Buddhism, mysticism, and various eastern and western body therapies. She has studied yoga and meditation in the UK and Japan, following the teachings of Swami Nishichalananda Saraswati in Wales, and Dr Hiroshi Motoyama in Japan. Both teaching methods are based on Yoga and Tantra, which emphasises the human energy system and the development of a mind-body-spirit connection that can offer insights into the nature of reality.
Kofi Alvin, Wing Chun master, knows from first hand experience that the practice of martial arts can be both physically and mentally demanding. Kofi”s search for a system that would meet the demands of his lifestyle led him, after many years, to Yoga and Taoist Chi Gong. Integrating the two systems enabled Kofi to recover from his many martial arts injuries, grounding him both mentally and spiritually. The practice of both disciplines fits naturally together, whilst the inner sciences of Kofi’s Taoist practice allows him to understand the body both from physical and psychological perspective. The personal success of this journey led him to further explore and deepen his studies of Chi Gong and the healing arts, traditional massage, spirituality, meditation, the I Ching and the five elements. Kofi teaches regularly and is currently training in Chinese Massage and Acupressure.
Debbie Omkari Thomas trained as a dancer with Ballet Rambert, and worked with a number of high-profile dance companies throughout her career. Her dance training helped her to become aware of the importance of the body/mind/spirit connection, which led her towards the study and practice of Yoga as a way of life. Debbie studied Yoga at the Sivananda Ashrams in India and the Bahamas, and, six years on, has been teaching Yoga at international festivals and retreats as well as in regular workshops and events, where there is always a strong emphasis on the alchemy of flow and synchronicity.
Debbie leads groups to understand the energetics engaged by the practice of yoga, focusing on a connection to the breath so that as the body moves the mind becomes centred, quiet and fully present. Through yoga, Debbie hopes her students will take a journey to their soul centre, so finding more harmony with their true selves. In 2013, Debbie was part of the first group in the UK to qualify as a Soma Yoga practitioner.