Teachers

Twisting Fish supports a group of independent teachers, who work together as a community, providing a space for students to learn traditional authentic yoga teachings. Each teacher brings  their own unique approach, sharing their personal experience and wisdom of yoga. This helps not only the students to grow in their practise but also their fellow community of teachers. Every senior  teacher at the studio has a minimum of 10 years teaching,  encompassing 1000’s of hours experience. With this community of teachers sharing their wisdom and yoga paths amongst themselves, it allows an extensive depth of knowledge to be transferred, enabling students to learn and grow their practise.

As experienced teachers, we understand that yoga is practised by students for many different reasons, depending on where you are at in your yoga journey at this present time in your life. Some practise to have set times in their week where they can retreat de-stress and have some personal time. Others practise to bring more pleasure and joy into their lives and for some some it is to strengthen and to make the physical body more flexible. For others it can be to awaken to the more subtle aspects of yoga and to live a more spiritual life.

Fortunately at Twisting Fish our teachers are experienced in many different styles of yoga, allowing a sharing of embodied Knowledge/Wisdom/Experience. This means we can offer classes and teachings across the full spectrum of yoga, from the Gross Physical Layers to the Subtle Energetic Layers that our experience as a human being is made up of.

Matthew Exley
Principal Teacher & Founder

Matthew is the principal teacher and founder of the Twisting Fish yoga studio.

Finding the practice of yoga in 1992 was the life change that I had been searching for. My experience began in Iyengar yoga where I practiced and trained for several years , and completed a two-year teacher-training course.

Later, I was introduced to the vinyasa system of Ashtanga yoga, which I practiced and trained for several years under the guidance of some of the worlds leading Ashtanga yoga teachers. This eventually developed into my interest in learning, practising and training in various Vinyasa methods over the years. Although my yoga practise still encompasses the aspects of some of the more modern yoga methods of vinyasa and physical alignment, the core of my practise, training and studying is in the more traditional ancient practise of Kriya yoga.

I have been initiated into the study and practise of the 144 yoga techniques towards self realisation of the ancient Siddha Kriya Yoga Masters. In 2022 I completed after many years a vigorous acharya training with my teacher Satchidananda, the head of the kriya yoga foundation and have been inducted into the order of Acharayas. This gives me permission to share 1st initiation pranayama and meditation techniques through yoga seminars.

Having spent many years in training, teaching and  practising different styles of yoga, it has given me a healthy perspective on different approaches that in the end all lead to the same path of eventually awakening us to our highest human potential. This enables me to understand and work with students on many different levels of where they are in their yoga journey.  I have had the good fortune of teaching in the USA, Canada, Mexico, Europe and Asia, creating a wealth of knowledge and experience. Through the teachings of yoga, I wish to share the knowledge of what I have learnt from my teachers and my own experience of this truly magnificent practice of the life of yoga. In my classes, you will move from a base of Kriya Yoga (Awareness in action) while incorporating physical yoga postures, connecting you to a deeper subtle experience of a traditional yoga practise, facilitating a more aware connection to yourself. I have also found from my own personal practice that a combination between the subtle aspects of Kriya and the more gross aspects of slower Vinyasa movements also leads one to a calmer present mind  and a cleaner body,  All these practises help to facilitate steadiness in the mind and body, allowing the witnessing consciousness , the part of you that is always watching to come forward, which is the awareness needed for the dimension of yoga to open up. "Through surrender to our breath, our mind and body is transcended and what remains is the true essence of our practise”.

Matthew is a yoga alliance registered teacher. 

Helen Heppingstone

I have always been interested in the effect that moving the body has on our energy, our emotions and our mental state, starting at 16 years old creating lunchtime movement classes for the girls at my girls’ high school, to improve their wellbeing. Teaching and studying in this Western human movement arena until my late 20’s, it was when I learnt about the founding ethics of the Yoga practice, the Yamas and Niyamas that my practice shifted, my life shifted. With these guiding principals that I live my life in accordance with, how I show up in the world everyday, the way I parent, my relationships, I continue to experience shifts, through every aspect of my life. My daily practice has now deepened into the ancient practice of Vedic Chanting and the study of the ancient language of Sanskrit. It is from all of these areas that I draw inspiration to inform my teaching, with each class a journey to connect you back into the stillness and quietness that is deep inside of us all, bringing us back into wellness and in balance with ourselves and the rythms and cycles of the environment we are surrounded by. Through the practice of Yoga we are afforded an opportunity to embrace a deeper awereness of ourselves, from this we can then have a better understanding of what is going on around us. I love working with people who are new to the practice, and those looking to delve beyond the physical aspect and explore the richer teachings of this ancient practice. Having utilised practices from the Yoga teachings to heal from personal trauma I am also sought after to work one to one with those needing support with their own journey. 

Satcitānanda
Truth Consciousness Bliss This is our true nature xHelen 

Maria Coaunis

So I begin with my name, as it is sometimes confusing for people……...

My name is Maria Couanis, although I am known mostly as Maree. Yes, in school I tried to camouflage my Greekness with a modified first name. Didn’t really work and now I am very proud of my Greek heritage and comfortable with both names.

I discovered yoga as a teenager when I opened the pages of BKS Iyengar’s book, Light On Yoga. I began learning his precise practices, moved to Ashtanga, back to Iyengar, Vinyasa, Yin. Loving and absorbing all. Learning is having an open mind and heart.  There was something that connected me to yoga even though in my early days I found it difficult to stay committed. In the past 20 years I travelled between many yoga studios and learnt from many teachers, including travelling to India and other countries, that is until the day I entered Twisting Fish. I knew from that moment I was home. Home with a beautiful community, teacher and space.  It challenged me in ways that made me feel uncomfortable and in that moment I knew I was making progress. Facing my fears, processing and letting go to grow.

I have now been teaching at Twisting Fish for almost 10 years and have come to recognise that I like to teach the way I like to practice, with peace and love.  What style is that you ask? Awareness of breath and energy. Awareness of slow movements with breath and to feel nourished with total involvement in the complete practice, knowing that this energy you are working with can bring about healing at emotional, physical and mental levels. Taking care in what we do in all aspects of life. Being gentle and strong at the same time. That's the essence of my yoga practice. I hope I can share it with you. Your's in yoga, Maree Couanis.

Sheila Hayes

Sheila has been teaching yoga for 48 years.  She is one of the founding members of the British Wheel of Yoga (one of the highest standard of yoga in the world ) She has studied and trained with many of the great yoga masters.

Refusing to let an Osteoporosis diagnosis define her or slow her down at the age of 89 years young , Sheila is a shining example of how yoga can be incorporated to minimise stiffness and maintain mobility mentally and physically. Her personal experience enables her to plan and conduct class programmes to benefit all attendees with different ranges of ability and flexibility.