Solace Sessions

30/10/2023

As this page is no longer active, I thought I’d share where you can find me now: Sarah Jean - Photographer

My new page is dedicated to my work as a photographer and copywriter. If you’re interested, I’d love for you to follow along 🧡

After many years of solely using Instagram, I’m finally active on this platform! Let’s begin this page with an introduction 🌞

Since 2018 I’ve had the pleasure of crafting visual and written narratives for brands and individuals passionate about nature, wellbeing and ethical practice. From seasonal foraging guides for Unique hideaways and stories of the road featured by Passenger and Goboony, to branding and event photography for various companies in the UK and further afield. Not to mention my affinity for capturing moments of love during elopement, engagement, wedding photoshoots.

As a passionate storyteller and lover of wild spaces, I like to think my work extends beyond content creation - it centres capturing feeling and encouraging individuals to connect with themselves and the natural world.

In a generation with an ever-increasing obsession with feigning perfection, I prioritise conscious and considered creation that is both honest and engaging.

You can read more about me, and my work, here: www.sarahjean.co.uk/about

I have limited availability for the rest of 2023 and am now taking bookings for 2024. Thanks for being here 🧡

07/08/2023

An update.

As of today, I’m stepping away from my role as studio manager at and am no longer involved with the space.

I poured my heart and soul into setting up and opening the studio, from designing and building the website, all the marketing and social media, photography and copywriting, timetable organisation, and collating and managing the team of incredible freelance practitioners. It is a beautiful space built from the best intentions with community at its heart, so, though I am no longer involved, I urge you to support the practitioner’s classes and offerings from the studio and 1:1 space, as they truly are some of the best in the North East.

This sadly means our weekly Solace Sessions are on hold until further notice. I understand that to many of you, these pockets of time are far more than a yoga class, and are a (often rare) chance to have space held completely for you. Please know that I am still available for you, even if it's just to grab a coffee or go for a walk.

I will be sending an email out to all of you on the Solace Sessions mailing list with details of where we’ll be going from here - it’s exciting, actually, and will look very different to how things have been this far. If you’re not on the list and would like to stay updated, click “Solace Sessions” in my bio link.

A friend said to me a few evenings ago:

“Life will unfold under your dancing feet”

I’m moving forward with that as my motto throughout this next phase whilst I take some time away to enjoy the final moments of summer.

As always, big love x

14/07/2023

And just like that… our new studio www.karmacollective.uk opens on MONDAY!

I actually can’t believe what we’ve achieved in the space of two months. From an idea that was spoken of in the Karma Coast dispensary in 2021, to work beginning on May 14th 2023, to now, exactly 2 months on, just 2 days from opening.

I can’t thank Magda and Dylan, the founders of the Karma Coast spaces, enough for trusting me to help them bring this new space to life and to act as their studio manager.

The coast, and Newcastle in general, has been missing a space like this. is something truly special, and I can’t believe we’re lucky enough to have some of the best practitioners in the area offering their services and classes from the space.

Whether you’re seasoned in these things or have never tried yoga/sound therapy/breath work/etc before, I wholeheartedly urge you to try one of the classes or offerings. You won’t regret it.

Classes start this Monday.

www.karmacollective.uk

Here’s to

05/07/2023

As our new classes at are approaching, I thought a reintroduction was in order.

Hi, I’m Sarah 🧡

Throughout 12 years of personal practice, my relationship with yoga has transformed from a practice initially focused on physical inversions, arm balances, and strong vinyasa, to embracing a more traditional practice akin to hatha yoga, incorporating breath-centric movement and a focus on the tradition’s philosophical teachings.

Completing my 800hr training at Australia's Byron Yoga Centre in 2017, I’ve since pursued further studies specialising in mental health including: yoga for mental health, counselling and therapeutic communication, as well as qualifying as a mental health first aider and mindfulness (MBSR/MBCT) facilitator. Drawing from my personal and professional practices, I created Solace Sessions: a unique blend of yoga-inspired guided movement and mental well-being practices. My aim is to make the benefits of yoga more accessible and applicable to everyday life, while deeply honouring the tradition's origins.

In addition to our weekly sessions at , I offer the following services both online and in person:

* 1-1 Yoga Sessions
* 1-1 Mindfulness Sessions
* 1-1 Listening Support
* Corporate & Industry Wellbeing Support
* 1-1 Mentorship (through a yogic framework)

Alongside Solace Sessions, I am a Wellbeing Consultant for the wonderful .coast and the Studio Manager of - you can find me in their dispensary during the week, and BTS running the studio. I spend some time working as a freelance photographer and writer too!

Through Solace Sessions (and all my services) I don’t intend to ‘teach’ you anything, but I do intend to give you the space to face yourself, in all your perfect messy humanness. To let yourself off the hook. To be less serious. To feel your feelings - the pretty and the ugly ones. To find solace in yourself and your stories. All whilst stretching and strengthening both body and mind in the process.

More information on myself, my work and booking info can be found on my website.

Thanks for being here 🧡

01/07/2023

One day, when I’m old and grey and our kids ask who I was when I was their age, this will be the photo I’ll show them.

Snapped before one of the best surfs of my life: house on wheels parked up in the sand dunes, 25 degree British Summer heat, second surf of the day with wetsuits rolled down to our waists, pure glass peeling as the sun set.

Taken on a 2 week trip around the coast of Wales. 2 weeks of wearing no shoes, parking up and sleeping in farmer’s fields, eating every meal outside, spending all day at the beach or in the trees, going to sleep sun-cooked and salty. Moments well spent in a life well lived.

(Kodak Gold, 35mm)

30/06/2023

Within 12 years of personal practice, I have undergone a significant shift in my approach to yoga. Initially, my entire practice was heavily focused on physically demanding asanas (poses), including inversions, arm balances, and constant flowing movements. Looking back, my need for constant movement in my yoga asana practice reflected my resistance to ever stay still and set roots in my life. Over time, as I’ve found the value in slowing down and finding steadiness in life beyond my mat, I have gravitated towards a more internal, introspective, and steady yet strong asana practice. Or maybe it’s the other way around - chicken and the egg, right?

This shift has led me to embrace a more traditional practice akin to hatha yoga, while also incorporating breath-led movement that remains challenging and fluid, yet simplified. By spending more time arriving at and staying in each pose, I have discovered the transformative nature of gaining the insights they have to offer, and understanding the correct engagement of each muscle and element of focus they require. This style of practice has taught me that even the most seemingly “simple” poses can be incredibly challenging when approached with mindfulness, integrity, and intentional muscle activation and alignment. And, perhaps most importantly, it has taught me that even in challenge, it is possible to find a sense of ease.

While I acknowledge the vinyasa flow style I have so often guided people through was enjoyable for many who have attended my classes from 2017 to now, I wholeheartedly believe in the value of these traditional teachings and am deeply committed to sharing the practice that informs my life. As a result, I am so ready to introduce more of this approach to our sessions. Embracing a practice that is more focused on spending time with each pose, gaining the insights they have to offer, and finding both strength and ease that exists within challenge to create space for deeper exploration and self-discovery.

I can’t wait to see you at soon. Booking via the usual spots x

23/06/2023

Our final Solace Flow Session at The Yoga Station will be held this coming Monday (26th) at 8pm. There are just 2 spots left.

I’ll be announcing the starting date for our new weekly classes at .uk very soon - I can’t wait to share this space with you.

Links in the usual places 🧡

08/06/2023

Out of Office 🧡

We’re heading off in the van for a couple of weeks to visit friends & family before driving along the coast of Wales to spend lots of time outdoors, in fresh air, far away from screens.

Our final Solace Session at The Yoga Station will be held on June 26th, there’s a few spaces left to book. From July, we’ll be running from the new .uk studio in Tynemouth and I can’t wait.

In the mean time, my out of office response is turned on and I’ll be back online Friday 23rd.

Big love x

“Doing those deeply unfashionable things - slowing down, letting your spare time expand, getting enough sleep, resting - are radical acts these days, but they are essential… It’s one of the most important choices you’ll ever make.” - Wintering, Katherine May

29/05/2023

In sessions, I often enquire “how does your mind feel, now your body is still?” - lately, mine’s felt very difficult to quieten down for various reasons.

This weekend though, we took some time to disappear to my favourite place on earth for my birthday and walked for miles, swam in blue Northern waters, ate delicious fresh food, drank hand-ground coffee, watched beautiful sunsets from the top of sand dunes and slept a lot.

Today, we woke, surfed, ate burritos ( we love you too much), I worked from the garden, we surfed again, and I’m running a session tonight.

And life, with all its swings and roundabouts, ebbs and flows, right now, feels good.

🧡

24/05/2023

I don’t spend much time on my mat practicing vigorous asana these days. I’m usually face-to-the-floor in a restorative or yin pose. Why? I honestly just have less interest in moving that way. My practice has become so breath-centric (a term I learned from my incredible teacher & mentor ) that anything which disturbs a steady breath, I generally now avoid until it doesn’t.

What’s interesting though is how my relationship with running has developed. When Theo (my fiancée) and I met, our initial time spent together was him teaching me how to run, and me teaching him how to surf. Prior to that I’d never been able to establish a consistent running practice - I always went too hard and burned myself out. But together we built up to running 10k+ trails, all whilst keeping a slow pace and steady conversation going - and what did that mean? A steady breath.

I’ve realised I have the same relationship with running as I did to my asana practice in its earliest days 12 years ago. Clumsily and committedly finding my way around syncing the right kind of breath with the right kind of movement. Feeling like a cringey fraud when I post a photo/long caption about it (🙋🏼‍♀️). But most of all, the meditative state it puts me into. The steady self confidence that develops and permeates my daily life when I accomplish something - a distance, running for an extra minute - I thought I couldn’t.

I ran and completed my first ever timed 10k event in 68 minutes on Sunday, with wonderful friends. I ran steadily, with a steady breath (until the last 100 metres haha). I enjoyed it. And I’m so proud of myself.

Which leads me to say, I’ve been reminded lately of the fact that our “yoga”, our “practice”, doesn’t have to be asana (poses) on a mat. When supported with the philosophy’s attitudes and moral principles, and a syncing of breath, body, and mind, our yoga can be anything.