I came to yoga ten years ago, and not because I was looking for anything spiritual. I was working in demanding corporate jobs, living with chronic illness, and running on empty. My body was tired, my mind wouldn’t switch off, and I’d forgotten what rest actually felt like.
Yoga didn’t fix everything overnight. What it gave me was somewhere to come back to. A few minutes of breath, a little movement, some stillness. Over time those few minutes became the steadiest part of my life. I started sleeping better and carrying less tension, and I noticed sooner when I needed to slow down. It didn’t just change how I moved. It changed how I lived.
The science behind the stillness
I’m also a scientist. I hold a BSc in Biomedicine and a PhD in Bioengineering, and I’ve never quite been able to switch that part of my brain off. I want to know why something works, and that’s how I teach.
Every routine I create is built on how the body actually works. I design sequences around the nerves and muscle groups where most of us hold our problems: tight hips from sitting all day, stiff necks and shoulders from screens, lower backs that ache by Friday. I’ll often tell you what’s happening in your nervous system while you breathe, or why a pose helps, because I think understanding your body is part of caring for it. It’s the same reason I teach gentle lymphatic flows: your lymphatic system has no pump of its own, so slow movement and deep breathing are what keep it moving.
After eight years of personal practice, I completed my 200-hour RYT training and began teaching. I’ve been teaching for two years now, and it’s become the work I’m proudest of.
Why sound healing
Alongside yoga, I bring sound healing into my teaching, most of all in our weekly yin yoga and sound bath in Tarbock, every Wednesday at 7pm and Thursday at 6pm, where I play crystal quartz bowls while you lie still. For me it’s the gentlest way into rest: the sound does the work, and your nervous system finally gets the chance to settle. I’m as curious about why it works as I am about how it feels.
Why Rest & Retreat
I started Rest & Retreat because so much of the wellness world felt either intimidating or performative. I wanted to create something calm and grounded, rooted in evidence, and genuinely welcoming, whether you’ve never stepped on a mat or you’re coming back after years away.
I teach in-person classes and retreats across North West England and North Wales, and my students tend to describe them as warm, welcoming, clear and science-led. I love teaching complete beginners, women returning to movement, busy professionals who feel they have no time, and anyone who simply needs to rest. That last group is most of us, if we’re honest.
Why I created RITUAL
My students kept telling me that the calm they felt after class had worn off by midweek. So I built RITUAL, my online studio. It’s a library of yoga videos you can practise at home, whenever you need it, designed with the same science-backed approach I use in class. It’s there for the days in between, so a practice can become part of your life rather than something you squeeze in. It’s £9.99 a month for unlimited classes at home, and subscribers pay £7 instead of £10 for my studio classes.
If you’re nervous about starting
You don’t need to be flexible, fit, or “good at yoga”. I certainly wasn’t when I started. You just need to arrive as you are, tired, stiff, curious or unsure, and I’ll take care of the rest.
I’d love to practise with you.
Dr Kia Prescott, PhD