Having spent over 10 years facilitating life-changing expeditions in Africa, events and transformational yoga retreats, and with a wealth of experience in volunteer team leadership and healthcare, I have spent much of my adult life adventuring, exploring, connecting with incredible humans and hearing incredible stories from all over the world.

I have always known my purpose in life (or my ‘Dharma’ as is the Sanskrit understanding of it), is to give back. I ‘feel’ a lot – and have always had a deep awareness of my own sense of self within a much larger picture. I spent many years stuck in a cycle of listening to outside noise – perhaps I should retrain as a social worker… Or maybe become a nurse? But every time, I hit a block. I knew that in each of these roles, I would be ultimately unfulfilled – because I believed that there was something fundamental missing in each area.

I knew deep down that much of what I would be offering would be focusing on only the surface-level ‘event’ – the symptom of the cause. I also knew that I didn’t want to do that – I wanted to delve deeper into the root of the symptom, to the basic, human, deeper level root, and to study that space.

It wasn’t until a few years later that I would find my own ‘practice of connection’ – for me this was through yoga and meditation – that the pieces of the jigsaw really started to become apparent. This practice was once again deepened and challenged when I lost my best friend and was thrown into the all-encompassing, uncharted waters of grief. I began to question – my own existence, my relationship with myself, what it is to be human and what it is to experience death. I took up gardening and connected with the earth.

And so, in amongst the chaos, Roots of Tolos was born. A space to find yourself, connection and balance.