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Grounded in her own study of Yoga, Buddhist teachings and meditation, non-dual Tantra, dance and embodiment, Ashka aims to facilitate a path to inner wholeness.

Her teachings are an invitation to welcome more play and pleasure into the experience; she believes they are fundamental on our path to healing and lead to a deeply intimate and fulfilling life.

I was born in Poland in 1977 in the midst of a political and social crisis. Despite the upheaval, I recall our lives being joyfully simple and deeply aligned with the cyclical patterns of nature. I like to think it allowed me the insight into our own ability to continually renew and rebirth ourselves and the resilience needed to sustain it.

It came in handy later in life.

I have been graced with a bodily-kinaesthetic intelligence meaning that my experience of the world and self-expression has always been primarily through my body. Deep sensual aliveness is my natural state.

Yet, most of my young adulthood I spent controlling my body; from how it looked to how it felt. In the process of trying to fit into cultural and societal standards, I ended up rejecting all that was deeply authentic and spontaneous in me. I now know that it was also in large part due to my unresolved childhood wounds and trauma.

After my mother’s death, my ability to feel myself was completely lost. I was 30 when pain and grief rendered it impossible to draw creativity or pleasure from my body; numb and dissociated, I lost any sense of intimacy and connection to myself and to life.

Though deeply shocked and traumatised, I was back at a studio within months; dancing, moving, breathing into and  through all the contraction, armouring and lifelessness in my body. I studied dance and Yoga, I immersed myself in somatic and embodiment practices. My journey into understanding of our innate ability to renew and rebirth ourselves began to unravel and so did my healing. My body re-awakened. Beyond anything I ever thought possible.

If there’s one thing I learnt along the way, it is that we have a choice. We have the power to reclaim our inner space, re-awaken our body and own our right to a life of deep pleasure, empowerment and joy.

I INVITE YOU TO OWN YOURS

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Ashka has been studying movement her whole life, practicing yoga since 2006 and teaching since 2011.

In 2008 she completed Diploma in Dance at Birkbeck College London and Dance Movement Psychotherapy foundation at Goldsmiths University London.

She trained with the Yoga Campus in 2012.

Ashka holds MA in Bilingual Translation from Westminster University London, 2007 and studied Philosophy of Mind at Birkbeck College in 2005

In 2019 she studied Somatic Stress Release with dr. Scott Lyons, an inquiry into the process of identifying, releasing and healing emotional wounds through the body.

In 2020 she expanded her understanding of psychosomatic patterns of trauma, and delved deeper into the embodiment of pleasure and play studying Embodiment level 1 and 2 with trauma and intimacy therapist Michaela Boehm and Steve James.

Ashka is deeply inspired by the teachings of Yogic Intimacy and Polarity developed by David Deida and took many workshops in Feminine Embodiment with his assistant Nina Lombardo.

Having explored meditation for most of her adult life, she undertook Mindfulness Meditation teacher training with Michael Stone in 2016 and now implements its core teachings into every class she runs.

Ashka has been teaching private and corporate clients across London and has been a teacher at Battersea Yoga, The Life Centre and The Space in Clapham.

She was holding space for people living with dementia and Alzeheimer’s disease running weekly yoga and movement chair-based activities between 2009-2020. She taught chair yoga for the Age UK charity.

Her passion for dance continues to grow with her current love for Contact Improvisation Dance, a movement form performed with a partner or partners, where spontaneous, improvised dance serves as a foundation to explore the embodied dynamics of relating and to develop deeper emotional intelligence.