My name is Lesley Wood or you may know me as Namrata Devi.

Originally from Newton Aycliffe, I moved to Middlesbrough in 1978 and trained at North Ormesby Hospital to become an Operating Theatre Practioner - helping surgeons and nurses to mend bodies. Interested in the holistic approach to health and healing, I studied Holistic Aromatherapy with Joy Burnett in Newby Village, Cleveland and became a member of I.F.P.A (International Federation of Professional Aromatherapists) this lead me on to do further study in Reflexology, Indian Head Massage and Reiki.

Still working for the NHS I went on to work at James Cook University Hospital, running a stress-relief clinic for staff within the Cardio-Thoracic division, and massaging patients on the wards and in CICU to help support their recovery.

Continuing my interest in Holistic Health, I studied for a teaching diploma with the British Wheel of Yoga and subsequently left the NHS in 2000 to become a self employed Yoga Teacher and Holistic Therapist. I am also a British Wheel of Yoga Foundation Course Stage 1 tutor.

Since then I have studied a variety of Yoga styles and, in 2007, I completed a Satyananda Yoga Integration Course with Swami Vedantananda Saraswati in London and Portugal. I now teach in the tradition of Satyananda Yoga. Whilst at the ashram studying on a Kryia Course at Rikhia Peeth, India, I was initiated as a Karma Sanyasin by my Guru Swami Niranjanananda Saraswati.

I teach yoga for stress management within Industry, to patients in Mental Health Hospitals, adult community classes, to children in schools and nurseries and a variety of community classes.

I have regular contact with my teachers and organise weekend and day programmes to bring Satyananda Yoga to Cleveland and North Yorkshire. With the opening of the Yoga, Meditation and Therapy Space at The Earthbeat Centre in Saltburn I can offer even more.