Wellbeing Programme

Woodland Meditation & Sound Bath

10.30-12.30 and 13.00-15.00 | Sacred Glade

During this year’s Well Read at Wasing, we are offering you the chance to explore the ancient woodlands and be fully immersed in the healing properties of nature and sound. In today’s modern times it is so easy to become disconnected from our natural world. Modern living can easily trigger the sympathetic nervous system, and without the chance to reset we can see an increase in chronic stress disorders. Being immersed in nature reconnects us to the rhythms of the natural world and helps foster recovery from mental fatigue. Mindful time spent in nature has been shown to boost our immune system, improve sleep, increase energy levels, reduce stress, and improve mental wellbeing.

Based on the principles of Shinrin Yoku, also known as Forest Bathing, you will be guided through the woodlands by Forest Bathing practitioner Tania Park, immersing yourself in nature, whilst engaging your senses. Sound Therapist Monica Bazzani will then guide the group though a very special Sound Bath, held beneath the ancient grandmother Yew Tree. Monica is an experienced sound therapist, Reiki Master and Qi Gong teacher who specialises in immersive gong baths and sound journeys with her practice known as Luna Sound & Energy. She weaves together gongs, drums, voice and other therapeutic instruments to create rich, meditative soundscapes.

This restorative session offers you the chance to slow down and to reconnect to this awe-inspiring planet.

Please note: Not recommended for those with pacemakers, metal implants, tinnitus, sound sensitive conditions or epilepsy or those who are pregnant in their 1st trimester. We do not offer any medical advice whatsoever. You attend the event at your own risk. If you have any health-related queries, please consult with your Doctor before making a booking.

Tranquil Flow Yoga: breath, body and self-awareness

9.30–10.30am | Sacred Glade | with Maura Barber-Oosterhuis

Ticket holders at Well Read will be able to join this complementary yoga session as the festival opens (please bring your own yoga mats). 

Maura Barber-Oosterhuis’ love of yoga is infectious. Committed to offering a heartfelt experience she encourages you to reach further by breathing fully and feeling deeply. Rather than teaching perfect yoga poses, she invites exploration, sensing and feeling – listening inward, noticing what feels good and practicing what we need. Her practice is meaningful and all about connection – getting to know ourselves more deeply, understanding what we carry in our bodies and finding ways to release what feels stuck.

Maura’s 25 years of yoga experience range from the dynamic Ashtanga and Vinyasa Flow Yoga to the gentler Somatic Movements, Yin and Restorative Yoga. With a keen interest in mindfulness and meditation, her unique style is infused with all these disciplines. Inspired by the teachings of Ayurveda, fascinated by the subtle Craniosacral rhythms and hugely interested in Qi Gong, tapping and self-massage, she enjoys weaving these influences into her class, adding sprinkles of whatever feels supportive and nurturing to her practice and teachings.

The Breathing Tree: conscious breathwork for self-healing and wellbeing

11am-12.30pm | Sacred Glade | with Rebecca Dennis

Author, international breath and body coach and workshop leader, Rebecca Dennis has nearly 20 years’ experience in her field and is the founder of www.breathingtree.co.uk. Through her intuitive and compassionate approach, she supports communities, clients and workplaces in better understanding their patterns and behaviours. She looks at how the past has shaped experiences, emotional blockages and physical tension. Rebecca fervently believes that embodied breathwork is the ultimate key to our well-being, health and inner peace.

Rebecca’s approach blends breathwork, bodywork, coaching, somatic trauma counselling techniques, bi-lateral processing, nervous system regulation, parts work, shamanic, IFS (Internal Family Systems) and mindset tools for a holistic approach. Through her skilled space holding and extensive experience, she is dedicated to helping individuals access lasting transformation and optimum well-being.

Drink The Forest: talk and walk on foraging and botanical distillation

1pm-1:45pm | Sacred Glade | with Thomas Daniell

Join Thomas Daniell, the founder and professional botanical brewer of Old Tree Brewery CIC, for a foraging talk and walk. From oak-leaf kombuchas and herbal vinegars to hydrosols, hedgerow wines, forgotten beers and ancient brews, this session invites you into a deeper relationship with the plants of this land and inspires a revival of the alchemy of our ancestors. Thomas will describe how he uses innovative approaches to fermentation and distillation rooted in ecology, seasonality and reciprocity with nature.

Thomas Daniell is the founding director and CEO of Old Tree Brewery CiC and Old Tree Soil. These are social enterprises regenerating biodiversity from garden to gut with plants and microbes, through foraging, fermentation and composting. He has a background in the Theatre and Visual Arts as well as Sustainable Design and has been combining creative environmental activism with social enterprise initiatives for 15 years.

Dance workshop

2–2.45pm | Sacred Glade | with Lynne Page

Move your body mind and soul with movement director Lynne Page. Lynne uses many techniques to allow you to feel fluid in your body and connect to the collective effervesce of sound and community.

Lynne works across Film, TV, Music, Musicals, Commercials, Plays and Opera.  In 2010 she was nominated for a Tony Award, a Drama Desk Award and an Olivier Award for her work on the West End and Broadway’s La Cage Aux Folles starring Kelsey Grammer.  In 2023 she was nominated for the Oliver Award for Best Theatre Choreography for Standing at the Sky’s Edge at The National Theatre. She has worked for Warner Brothers, 20th Century Fox, Working Title, Netflix, The National Theatre, the RSC, and extensively in the West End and Broadway and has coached artists including Renee Zellweger, Christopher Walken, Lady Gaga, Vince Vaughn, Claudia Schiffer, Alfred Molina, Brandon Flower and Kanye West.

Eleanor Mills – author of Much More to Come: Leasons on the mayhem and magnificence of midlife published by Harper Collins

 3pm NOON Circle with NOON.org.uk | Sacred Glade| with Eleanor Mills

Come and experience one of our famous magic sharing Circles for yourself! NOON is the UK’s premier network for midlife women, the home of the #Queenager with chapters all over the UK, built around NOON Circles where midlife women come together to share stories, inspire and support each other.  in the 100-year-life 50 is only half way through – so what are you planning for your next act? CUt through the kind of gendered ageism and other conditioning that can hold women back and find your new tribe! NOON tent – Wellbeing Glade – 60minutes 

Reishi Sound Bath: soundscape meditation for healing and transformation followed by a Reishi tea ceremony

3–4.30pm  | Sacred Glade | with Chloe Goddard and Elle Kennedy

Join Gong Master, Chloe Goddard, in this unique sound bath, where you’ll be bathed in the vibrations of carefully played instruments and held in the loving energy of Reishi. As the sound washes over you, you’ll enter a deeply relaxed state that allows your body to heal and your mind to quiet. Some people experience moments of clarity, while others feel a deep emotional shift.

Sound has been used for centuries to heal, connect and restore balance. Whether it’s the rhythmic beat of a drum around a fire or the ancient resonance of a gong, sound has always been a tool for emotional, physical and spiritual healing. In today’s world, many of us are searching for ways to reconnect with our deeper selves. Sound meditation offers a way to do just that, by tapping into a profound, intuitive experience that speaks to the part of us that feels beyond words. The gong has been a part of spiritual and healing practices for over 1,400 years. Played skilfully, it creates a vast range of sounds that can trigger physical and emotional responses. These vibrations help restore balance to your body’s energy and promote healing on a deep level.

To close this session, Elle Kennedy from Bristol Fungarium will provide a ceremonial Reishi tea experience, while sharing the history, folklore and medicinal qualities of this beautiful UK-Native mushroom.

Yoga mats will be provided, but you may want to bring a pillow, blanket and eye mask for comfort as well.

Root & Rise: Forrest Yoga in the Sacred Glade with Carlita

 5–6.30pm | Sacred Glade| with Carlita

An embodied Forrest Yoga practice inspired by the rhythms and wisdom of the natural world. Through deep, grounding stretches, mindful breathwork, and core-strengthening sequences, we will release tension, awaken energy, and reconnect with the body’s innate wisdom. Held in the sacred glade, this session invites you to root deeply into the earth, open your chest and heart, and flow with presence and vitality of nature – a restorative and empowering experience for body, mind, and spirit.

Carlita (www.yogawithcarlita.com) is a Forrest Yoga teacher, intuitive bodyworker, breathwork and meditation guide, and ceremonial space holder. Her work weaves together yoga, breathwork, intuitive healing, and sacred space-holding to support deep transformation and reconnection with the wisdom of the body.

Inspired by earth-based traditions and the rhythms of nature, Carlita creates nurturing spaces where people can soften, listen within, and reconnect with their inner strength, intuition, and truth.