MEET THE CHILLOUT TEAM

Natalie Smit-Ash, is the founder and director of chillout retreats, (BA Hons, Dip, MICHT) and has practiced yoga for over 25 years, is a hatha yoga teacher, Pilates teacher, a fully qualified Holistic Therapist & Reiki Master/Teacher. She has over 20 years of qualification, expertise and experience in the field of Complementary Health. Natalie was born into a family of complementary therapists with her grandfather practicing conventional medicine alongside acupuncture and Reiki with the Native American Indians in North America".  Natalie has completed massage training in Thailand, practiced yoga in India and expanded her knowledge of Aromatherapy and Reflexology in Australia and China. She lives in Dorset with her husband, two children and their dog Marley.

Mel Smithson offers a holistic approach to Yoga teaching and is based at home in Tuscany, Italy. She positively encourages her students to develop their own expressive and unique style of movement.  Her training in acting, dance and music brings an exciting and expressive quality to her style of teaching. As well as teaching yoga Mel also offers private consultations based on Yogic and Ayuvedic principles. Mel also teaches SUP yoga - yoga on stand up paddle boards.

Lucie Simon (BA, Dip NT) and registered nutritionist, freshly prepares all breakfasts, lunches, and dinners on some of our retreats. She is passionate about food and creates the heartiest dishes that are considerate to body and mind. Many retreaters return on the strength of her wonderful food...she really is like gold-dust and will happily share recipes, nutrition advice and educate anyone on the art of her cooking. Lucie holds nutrition and cookery workshops on many of our retreats and is available for private consultations too. Lucie is also a Central St.Martins degree level trained artist and offers art workshops on some retreats.

Maria Ash Aka "Mimi" Aka "Finishing touches fairy" freshly prepares all breakfasts, lunches, and dinners and creates a warm and friendly homely feel on many of our retreats. She is Italian, so passionate about food and creates the heartiest dishes that are considerate to body and mind. A skilled artist in sculpture and passionate about culture she holds a wonderful conversation.

Louise Shannon is our bookings and admin manageress and quite frankly 'a real gem!' She is your first point of contact prior to retreat and often manages retreats in the UK. Louise is a fully qualified Holistic Therapist and offers a range of treatments from hot stone massage to ant-age rejuvination treatments too.

Kate Tilston trained as a Life Coach 1 years ago and is passionate about 'Solution Focus Coaching', helping people to move forward in their lives in a very practical and focused way. Kate facilitates the hugely popular "LOVE YOURSELF" self discovery workshops mainly in the South West region and offers one-to-one life coaching too.

Victoria Smith is a fantastic holistic therapist & Hypnotherapist who has a magic and intuative way of working.  She is dedicated to making people’s lives less stressful through the art of massage & therapy. One of her greatest strengths is her ability to quickly develop a connection with people so they may feel at ease in her company which is a key aspect to the success of her practice. She has the ability to quickly assess where clients hold their stress and therefore know which muscles need to be worked on for greatest effect...she's quite special!

Dil is a 200hour certified yoga teacher specialising in Hatha and vinyasa flow yoga. She began practicing yoga 10 years ago whilst living and working in East Africa and hasn't looked back. Dil's teaching style is strong, playful and deeply restorative using visualisation and therapeutic grade essential oils to promote greater focus, relaxation and awareness. She is gifted and an inspiration to those who wish to enrich their lives by following their dreams. Her experience as a guest on many of our retreats prior to her joining the team, has given her the insight to make a retreat truly special..

Emma Waklin graduated from Brighton & Hove City College qualifying in Complementary & Holistic Therapies (VTCT Diploma Level 3). Modules included Aromatherapy Massage, Swedish Body Massage (both relaxation and deep tissue techniques), as well as Reflexology. Hot Stone Massage and Indian Head Massage qualifications, as well as attending an enrichment course at Brighton and Hove City College in Holistic facial massage.  Emma’s background in Performing Arts and Classical Dance enables her to understand correct alignment in the body and good posture, both essential for the body as good posture is seen to have many advantages.

Gini North is compassionate and kind, another amazing Chillout Therapist, who developed a wide range of Beauty & Holistic therapy techniques whilst running her London based Clinic in Islington. She now offers a wide menu of treatments and is one of our most established and experienced therapists on retreat.

Carla Williams manages our Henlow Grange retreats and is a very passionate and inspiring yoga and dance teacher. Her Principleship at her own Academy of performing arts couples well with her ten years of yoga teacher training. She infuses the movement of dance into some classes and also loves teaching all aspects of yoga from yoga flow and hatha to a slower and deeper release of Yin and restorative. She brings a little bit of magic to everything she does and her classes will leave you glowing on the inside and out.....

Rebecca Hartwell is our mindfulness & meditation teacher.  Becks has been practicing meditation since 2007 and trained with Zen Master Daizan Roshi, of Zenways. She has introduced mindfulness programmes into businesses and colleges, with the aim to also bring the amazing benefits to schools.  She specialises in working with people that suffer with anxiety and depression.  She is also a reiki therapist, qualified in indian head massage, and currently studying Naturopathic Medicine at CNM, London.  She is an essential oils wellness advocate & loves to help others with physical and emotional health with the power of the oils, hosting classes and workshops. Becks is also passionate about fire performance, and her fur baby – Diddy the miniature dachshund! Becks believes in balance in life and that laughter and fun is one of the best forms of medicine there is!

Anita is a Holistic Beauty Therapist with 20 years experience, she has worked in Spa Hotels, Sports Clubs and travelled the world on the QE2 Cruise Ship.

She offers Swedish and Deep Tissue techniques in my Massages as well as Indian Head Massage, Hot Stones, Reflexology, Ear Candling, Reiki and Natural Facials.

“I love putting as much relaxation into the treatments as possible to insure the muscles can be worked on properly and tension in the mind and body can be released. Every treatment is important to me and I strive to make it the best it can be”.