team

Jane is the founder of The Big Pause and London’s 'Ishy' a centre for powerful alchemical shifts in energy healing + mental, physical, emotional and spiritual fitness in the heart of Notting Hill.

"A happiness guru: Jane's yoga is therapy in itself, she can overcome a racing brain in one meditative session" - Francesca White - Tatler Magazine

Her work is dedicated to the power of teaching wiser thinking, wiser feeling and wiser being - a heart head revolution which creates wiser relating to ourselves and others. She helps clients to integrate the polarities that lie deep in shadow within, to love and to honour their feelings, to train their minds to choose better and higher thoughts to provoke joy, passion and creativity and to look inwards rather than outwards for structure and understanding. Her mantra is with a flexible, strong, elegant mind, heart and body, you are free at any age. Health through all of the layers is our true wealth.

Guests on The Big Pause meet Jane as their host and through the teaching and learning of a daily yoga/meditation practice and privately (which can take several forms: with all paths leading to a gentle yet deep ploughing of the sub-conscious, a release of old patterns and energy and the reformation of new strengths and creative spaces in the psyche and soul). Sometimes her work also tracks significant dreams and the symbolism therein.

Jane’s training and expertise includes: hypnotherapy, embodied movement, yoga (kundalini, vinyasa, Iyengar) breathing practices, psycho-spirituality, shadow work + couple work.

Alongside Jane's yoga disciplines we always have another specialist trained in other forms of movement on the retreats who can tailor make a practice for our clients whilst there and for their return to their 'normal' life.

James Philip, from the Scottish highlands, is a highly experienced spiritual channel; shaman; teacher and healer with over 16 years experience supporting the profound growth of thousands of people. James’s skill is being able to deeply connect with the world of energy ie. beyond the cognitive, logical mind of the seen world and into the land of vibration and energy and to help our clients see life beyond sometimes limiting mindsets and deep subconsciously rooted beliefs..  By helping people access and understand their magical subtle energies, James and his spiritual allies, gracefully guide people home to their authentic soulful power, truth and love. This channelled energy wisdom and alchemy can have a beautiful effect on all aspects of our day-to-day lives, relationships, careers, creativity and general health and wellbeing.

He is the founder of the Celestial Earth institute with a thriving practice in Central London, and teaches at numerous leading centres in the UK and internationally including, Findhorn Community, Scotland; Omega Institute, NYC; Meta Center, NYC; Mind Body Spirit Festival, London. 

Our specialist body whispers philosophy is grounded within a desire for all people to reconnect with their aliveness and true embodied selves

Our team are highly intuitive osteopaths, they listen to the client speaking whilst simultaneously listening to the underlying body dialogue and use a highly refined sense of touch to identify any restricted, weak or mis-aligned areas of the body-mind continuum. So whether a client comes with back pain, injuries, scar tissue, adrenally exhausted, joint pain, digestive disorders, poor breathing (and therefore impaired oxygen up-take) etc. we meet them where they are at.

Jane's naturopathy study + expertise underpins all of the culinary output at The Big Pause. So food is seasonal supporting whichever organ/body system is most relevant to that season in Traditional Chinese Medicine terms.

Andrea is our Italian chef who heads up the team in the kitchen. His roots are firmly grounded in traditional French cooking techniques combined with nouvelle cuisine, but his work has gone far beyond his days as a student at Le Cordon Bleu. He defined himself in the kitchens of Michelin star restaurants, traversing Basque country, and hand picking ingredients in Emilia Romagna under the supervision of Massimo Bottura, whose restaurant Osteria Francescana was recently given the award of ‘The Best Restaurant in the World’ by San Pellegrino. Andrea has a unique flair with flavours and a passion to continually create and re-invent. 

Here at The Big Pause we teach workshops on raw and cooked foods, the use of adaptogens, herbs, superfoods and their benefits to our health whilst also tasting and looking great. All of our meals are wheat, dairy, gluten free. Our products are organic and wildcrafted whenever possible Our juices are potent and purposeful. We use bio-fermentation, sprout our own seeds and use probiotics that help heal the gut and build immunity whilst also helping to decrease sugar cravings. Clients learn to thrive with more easeful digestion, increased energy, glowing skin, and potent liver support. 

Andrea is joined with our wonderful kitchen crew – Maria Angeles, Nieves and Ana. 

Our beautiful spanish sisters run the riding + horse sensing aspect of the Journey.

Horses + riding are beautiful areas to explore + deepen our relationship to trust, intuitive embodied moving + silent thinking/sensing.

The addition of our horses enriches our work encouraging us to feel into how we relate, communicate and embody a softer, stronger intuitive strength. Many of our clients don't ride, don't wish to ride, however by the end of the week they truly don't want to leave their horse behind.

It's not about how 'good' you ride or how 'un-keen' you may be to try - it's all about being surrounded by our four legged friends and just watching them play.

When not on our Big Pause Journeys Ester and Marina can be found at their riding academy in Cordoba where they teach young disabled children and adults to ride whilst also competing themselves in major dressage events.