“Rachel adds a magical approach
to encourage us to be present, trust and engage.”

Several challenging circumstances and events shaped my path as a soul healer. As a child I was relentlessly bullied by my older brother, setting the psychological stage for later choices. In my early twenties I met and married a talented but deeply wounded man, who quickly became violent towards me. He committed suicide, leaving me pregnant with his child. One more relationship and couple of years later I found myself a single mother of two, determined to get a handle on my life before the drama exceeded the credibility of a soap-opera plot. To better understand the significance of these shaping forces, you can read more about my childhood and my first marriage in forthcoming blog posts.

The arts have always been my method for processing experience and expressing myself albeit unconsciously at first: as a child I dreamed of going to drama school; at school I lived for art lessons and sang in the choir; and in my teens I sang in a band and made my own clothes. I started dance classes before I can remember and have always danced in some form. In 1997 I discovered 5Rhythms®. Unlike the hours of technique-focussed classes, it lit up my whole being and gradually transformed my life. This inspired me to offer the work to others. I went on to train with 5Rhythms® founder, Gabrielle Roth in the US between October 2000 – October 2001, and have been teaching ever since.

Conscious dance has become the anchor for my life. When I need to process my emotions, I dance. When I want to connect authentically with other people, I dance. When I need inspiration, I dance. More than this though, the 5Rhythms® themselves have given me a framework I can apply everywhere in life. There is deep security in understanding that while the duration and content may differ, the consistent order and energies of the rhythms indicate what is required of me and when.

Flowing is the time for inward focus; staccato invites connection, structure, and action; chaos requires surrender; lyrical is where I expect joyful serendipity to open up; and stillness gives the space necessary to rest, assimilate, and reflect. This knowledge helps me to meet challenges that might otherwise seem insurmountable.

I ran a weekly class in Newcastle upon Tyne for the first 10 years after qualifying as a 5Rhythms® teacher, however longer offerings were few and far between due to my priorities, needs and responsibilities at that time. My main work was facilitating creative movement play for families and children with the Bare Toed Dance Company. This was just what I needed.

I often found adults reluctant to feedback anything that wasn’t 100% positive. Furthermore, when they did it was not always sensitively delivered and was inevitably after the fact so that the learning was always for ‘next time’. In contrast, children’s engagement levels offer instant, honest, non-verbal feedback in the moment, meaning I had to learn to read, follow and predict their energy. The tens of thousands of children I have worked with continue to teach me about presence, timing, clarity, and more. My most recent realisation is that I teach best when I fall in love with every one of my students.

I have continued to prioritise my personal and professional development by regularly upskilling (see Trainings, Qualifications and CPD). In particular, I have studied Open Floor in depth since 2019. After two decades of dancing 5Rhythms I was surprised by its capacity to shine a light on parts of myself that remained in soft focus. In the hands of every teacher I encountered, its distinct and thorough curriculum compassionately and swiftly revealed clear and useful truths. This brought greater precision to my awareness. I find the two practices complementary – 5Rhythms® is a fabulous foundation, offering an easy starting point and a clear, simple structure for regular practice. Open Floor extends the the possibilities by introducing exercises and frameworks for more detailed awareness.

I now have extensive experience of Open Floor and considerable knowledge of the curriculum, including two Ground Floor Labs and two Immersions. I expected to join the 2027 teacher training but my heart surprised me by pulling me towards Systemic Constellations instead – I begin the Foundation traaining with the Centre for Systemic Constellations in autumn 2026. I am nonetheless deeply influenced by Open Floor and regularly draw from and build on both the curriculum and the movement scores (exercises). I have great respect for both the practice and the teachers.

I love teaching outdoors and integrating exploration of the natural world into the dance. My Northumberland retreats in 2010 – 2012 included time in nature every day, I have taught sessions outdoors at Abundant Earth since the COVID-19 pandemic, the venue hosted the Sunday mornings of a 5-week series of weekends in 2026 as well as occasional days during the summer.

Systemic Constellations (SC) is my newest direction. What fascinates me about it is how it taps into some kind of collective field that I have always leaned into but not felt able to talk about openly. SC uses this field in very real and practical ways, reliably bringing deep insight and fresh perspectives to issues and relationships. I look forward to integrating it into my dance work in the future.

Alongside teaching 5Rhythms, in 2001 I co-founded the Bare Toed Dance Company with colleagues Lynn Campbell and Jo Templey. Specialising in creative movement and aerial dance in community and school settings, Bare Toed works with a variety of groups to help them connect to themselves and others in meaningful, joyful, and embodied ways.

In 2012, in the aftermath of the global financial crisis, I started my first undergraduate degree, seeking credibility and a platform from which to advocate for the movement work I could see was transforming more lives than my own. This led to a master’s and culminated in a PhD from which I graduated in July 2026. My e-thesis can be accessed via Durham University’s e-theses repository. I hope to continue to bridge embodiment, academia and real-world impact via research, consultancy and creative facilitation for organisational development.

I dabble in a variety of artistic projects cycling around them depending on my needs. In the past this has been a mostly private process as I can find too much attention uncomfortable. In the last year or so, however, I have unhooked creativity from my ego somewhat. I now view my creative projects as ideas that come through me rather than from me. From this perspective, it is an honour if an idea lands with me, and I have a responsibility to birth it if I can. No longer identifying myself with my work has helped me to be more open about it.

Sewing and crafting

I have a craft room in which I occasionally sew and paint, and I will play around with all sorts of things. I made many of the costumes for Bare Toed and other shows, including the fly costumes in which I occasionally perform doubles trapeze with Lynn Campbell. In recent years I heave really enjoyed making cordage, experimenting with natural fibres gathered on dog walks.

Singing and songwriting

I don’t have an astounding voice but I can hold a tune, I love to sing, and people often seem to want to listen. Busking helped finance 18 months travelling in Europe in the early 90s, I wrote several songs in my 20s and 30s, some of which have been recorded, and I still sing given the opportunity. Recordings of my music will be available on this website soon, including tracks from three Bare Toed CDs and music from two albums recorded with my ex-partner Keith Mills.

Writing

Writing has always been an important way for me to process and understand my experiences. Six years writing my PhD has helped me hone this considerably. I enjoy writing and I think people can often connect with my words. I hope this will be something that grows in my life in the coming years.

In spring 2026 I became a volunteer for the ICMTA Events Circle, stepping into the vacant role of facilitator. The organisation brings together teachers of conscious movement from a variety of schools, providing for their shared needs. The Events Circle organise professional development opportunities and times for teachers to dance together, helping to resource those who resource others.

The ICMTA operates as a sociocracy – through dynamic governance. This structure emphasises equality and distributed power. It seeks consensus – making decisions and appointments by consent. I see this as compatible not only with the principles of conscious dance, but also with my creative facilitator training for working with more conventional groups and organisations.