Our Teachers

Lilli is originally from Norway, where she first started her career within the fitness industry. As a teenager Lilli loved dance, ballet, aerobics and jazz-ballet, finding inspiration through one of Norway’s top Fitness teachers - Trine Tschudi. 

Lilli Started practising Yoga and Pilates upon moving to the UK in 2000 and loved it so much that she decided to become a Yoga/Pilates teacher herself.  

 Veronica had been an aerobics teacher for 15 years when one of her class participants suggested she tried Iyenger Yoga. Initially she found the Yoga classes a complete contrast to her usual fast paced aerobic exercise. Also she found the postures challenging since her muscles were so tight from all the aerobic exercise she had been doing. Veronica decided to stick with the classes because she knew the stretching would be good for her. She was amazed how quickly her body responded to the practice and postures she found difficult  soon became her favourite. She started to attend some Hatha classes which were more varied and started to notice changes in her body and her approach to her own wellbeing. She started to realize that she didn’t need to treat her body aggressively to achieve the same results; strength, suppleness, leanness. Yoga left her with renewed energy and vitality, unlike her aerobic classes. Wanting to study the more subtle aspects of yoga and learn about the history and philosophy of yoga, Veronica decided to do the British Wheel of Yoga (BWY) Foundation Course in 2004. It was during that year that Veronica knew she wanted to teach. She then went on to do the BWY Teacher Diploma Course  in 2005 learning every aspect of Hatha yoga including physiology, asana, pranyama, kryas, chakras, meditation and studying the ancient texts.  She started teaching in 2006. She completed the 31/2 year diploma course in 2008. During her studies she was introduced to Ashtanga Yoga which she just loved from her very first class.

She has been teaching Hatha yoga classes for the last 4 years and Dynamic Yoga for 2 years. She has excellent vocal skills helped by her experience of teaching a hugely varied amount of classes and large numbers of people over the last 25 years. She has excellent knowledge of how the body works as she has studied anatomy and physiology at degree level and is a qualified Gym instructor. She has empathy for people who think they are ‘no good at stretching’. She believes Yoga has something to offer everyone regardless of age, shape or ability and absolutely advocates all the benefits that yoga brings: fat loss, greater range of movement, strength, core stability, calmness, confidence, reduced stress, and general overall health and wellbeing.

Sophie first started practicing Pilates over eight years ago but it was only whilst training to be a sports massage therapist that she decided to qualify as a Pilates teacher, as she saw how complementary the two skills would be.

In 2008 she discovered the Body Control Pilates method and enrolled on their teacher training course in London. The following year she graduated from The London School of Sports Massage. She has studied under many teachers, learning from their different techniques. Her clients range from teenagers and athletes to housewives and  lorry drivers and she enjoys sharing her love of Pilates with each of them and helping them feel the benefits in their own bodies.

Sophie left her corporate job in e-commerce in 2010 and she now works as a Sports and Remedial Massage Therapist in Caversham and teaches Pilates classes in Reading and Windsor. She is also training in aromatherapy massage to add to her massage skills.

Her classes will leave you feeling relaxed, energised and toned, and feeling muscles working that you didn’t know you had.

Darren has now been practicing yoga for twelve years; at the age of 19 he was first introduced to Iyenger Yoga by a friend and discovered a sense of clam and well being that was different to anything he had even known. Although at the time his body was not flexible and very stiff, Darren was quick to realize the benefits of yoga and became hooked. At the age of 22 Darren became self taught in Astanga Vinyasa Yoga and committed a six day a week practice. In 2003 Darren had his first class experience when a class was handed down to him from his teacher at the time.

In 2004 and 2005, Darren spent two terms at a yoga centre in Crete www.yogaplus.co.uk developing Astanga yoga with senior yoga teachers Radha and Pierre. (Renowned teachers John Scott and Liz Lark also trained at Yoga Plus). During his time in Crete Darren also gained knowledge in Pilates and massage.

Darren has also been teaching Yoga classes for six years with regular weekly clients and enjoys watching his students develop at this close relationship.

Taking his teaching further Darren has trained with Chi Yoga and has gained extensive knowledge of different yoga styles which include, Sivananda, Iyenger and Astanga. Chi Yoga also includes Anatomy and Physiology, study of ancient yoga texts and history, Pranayama, Chakras and Kryas. Other aspects include Neuro Linguistic Programming (NLP), Shiatsu, Tai Chi and hands on adjustments with many workshops.

With a degree in dance and theatre arts from the prestigious London Studio Centre under her belt, Emily began her career as a performer and dance teacher.  She very quickly realised that teaching was her vocation and with her knowledge and understanding of anatomy and alignment which she has studied in depth, she developed her classes into challenging but safe workouts.

In 2009 Emily created the StagePlay Academy with a colleague from the acting profession.  StagePlay runs workshops during school holidays for children incorporating dance, drama and singing and culminating in a performance for parents.  www.stageplay.org.uk

As well as building a career and always keen to try something new, Emily sampled many yoga workshops and classes with a variety of different yoga teachers, including the Studio 42 founder Lilli Villmo Fearns, and was inspired!  And so began her journey to become a yoga teacher.

Emily saw how beneficial yoga was to the mind as well as the body and was keen to help other people to discover this too.  She believes one of the most amazing benefits, particularly for the western lifestyle, is the stability yoga brings as an alternative to a fast paced life.   Having trained in competitive dance classes for several years, which she found created hype and adrenaline, she was able to fully appreciate the clarity of thought and the calm that yoga brings.

Emily embarked on her yoga teacher training with Yogahaven under the instruction of the founder, Allie Hill, and with mentors Toni Roberts and Sharon Smillie.  Emily passed the course with wonderful compliments from the instructors to encourage her in her teaching.

Emily’s classes are taught with a wonderful energy and happiness and she welcomes anyone to her classes who is looking to be strengthened and uplifted.

Debbie went to her first yoga class at the age of 16, from that moment on she was hooked. Like most people she went to a regular class every week, then one day her teacher said to her” You’re going to be a yoga teacher.” The following year (1997) she registered with the British Wheel of Yoga under her first teacher Swami Satchidananda Ma which took 3 years to complete.

In the year 2000 Debbie’s life was to take on new direction when she visited the ‘mind body spirit festival’ in London where she met her present Teacher and Guru `Radha Warrell` of Astanga Vinyasa Yoga. Debbie says “I remember seeing Radha demonstrating the Primary series and I thought to myself “this is what I have been searching for.”

It was to be another year later in 2001 when she met her teacher again in Amsterdam on a Weekend workshop. It was at this workshop she was asked to be an apprentice of Astanga  yoga in Crete, which was a great honour as Radha at this stage had not yet recruited any apprentices. This was to be a life changing experience and to be the first of many visits to the yoga centre teaching and refining her practice. www.yogaplus.co.uk

Debbie has been teaching in Crete for over 10 years. Her teaching is pure traditional Astanga Vinyasa yoga. “I am most interested in the spiritual aspects of the practice - it simply isn’t yoga without the philosophy.” 

(This is not to be confused with the Hot dynamic yoga taught at Studio42)

 In 2003, during Debbie’s first pregnancy, she decided to study a pregnancy Module within the British Wheel of Yoga. Her teacher at this time was Wendy Teasdill (author of Yoga for pregnancy).

Debbie really enjoys teaching antenatal yoga and has found it to be extremely helpful during her own labours and births especially when her second child was born in May 2010. She has also taught midwives at the Royal Berks hospital helping them to understand movement with breath work.

For the latest editorial on Debbies pregnancy classes please visit:  

http://www.familiesonline.co.uk/Locations/Thames-Valley-West/Articles/Health-Wellbeing-Pregnancy/Yoga-in-Pregnancy

Her teaching is pure, classical & traditional with a heavy leaning toward philosophy and spirituality and above all, a way of life.

Debbie’s interest in the dynamic world of hot yoga is founded on the traditional. That said, her classes are challenging and appeal to both beginner and advanced students alike.

Polly has been working in the fitness industry for over 9 years as a Personal Trainer, Sports Therapist and Pilates Instructor. Having left University in 2002 with a degree in Marketing Management, she decided to follow her passion for “Health and Fitness”.  Polly Gained a diploma in Personal Fitness Training and Sports Massage Therapy with the company Premiere in London.  She started and managed her own business in London, then ventured to Dubai to expand the business further.

Through the years working with so many different people she realised there was a huge need amongst existing clients for improving their core strength.  And with the ever increasing number of people with back problems, mainly from injuries or poor posture, it came to her attention that she needed to start training clients in relation to their spine (posture)...mainly focusing on the “core” to strengthen muscles around the spine and abdominals.  This is when she started to train and specialize in STOTT Pilates. 

On her return to the UK, Polly came to join the team at Studio 42.  She says, “Working in the heat helps the muscles to get into postures more deeply and effectively. And promotes detoxification to cleans the body by flushing out toxins to maintain optimal physical and mental health”.  Working in this new and dynamic environment encouraged her to focus more on the benefits of suppleness and flexibility.