Meet the Founder
Hi, I’m Jo, a beachy boho soul with a love for sunsets, the ocean, and life’s simple magic – and most importantly, a proud mummy.
Awaken was created from a desire to bring together my passion for yoga, energy work, and conscious travel into one offering—one that supports not just the body, but the whole self.
MY Story
After years in the travel industry, my deeper journey into yoga began during a season of burnout, when I felt lost in life, craved stillness and needed space to breathe. I began to weave together my love of exploration with a deeper inner practice. What started as studying yoga and achieving my 200hr RYT to help enlighten life for myself, quickly developed into something more expansive.
Not long into my teacher training, I knew I wanted to share the practice with others. I was learning so much about myself and discovering ways to help manage everyday stress. How simple some of the ancient philosophy was to guide us through our hectic lives, everyone needed to know this. Until my training I’d always assumed the physical side of Yoga was the main benefactor to peace. Yet my understanding of that had just been blown out of the water, and this was just the surface of the skills I’d learn.
The thought of teaching at that time however was scary and felt overwhelming. With a 1 year old, adapting to the new identity of being a full time mummy and working part time, where did I even start. But one thing that I have always had is unbelievable optimism. A dreamer, a go getter. I knew that what yoga had offered me in the past few years was so precious that I had to share it with others.
Awaken is born
Rooted in Malvern’s calm and creative energy, Awaken started as a studio on Church Street, but juggling work, being a present mummy and running a studio started to take its toll. Financially and emotionally the pressures were building up and starting to dilute the purpose of why I started Awaken.
A change was needed. I wanted to continue teaching, but I needed to ensure I remained balanced and harmonised in my own life too.
Awaken now moves beyond the traditional studio model, allowing me to adapt to a more flexible and intentional way to teach. From weekly classes to monthly events, reiki and 1:1 sessions, everything is still available but within a more fluid offering. With travel and retreats still remaining a big part of Awaken, each offering is designed to create space—for breath, for awareness, and for meaningful connection.
You’ll find my teaching style is just how I am in my day to day life. Authentic, honest, witty and encouraging. Classes are fun and down to earth, with no expectations on ‘how’ they should be. Whilst I ensure a safe and practical practice, I will always promote the phrase of ‘ it’s how it feels, not what it looks like’. There is no perfection, no ‘it needs to look like’… I teach yoga in the way it was authentically taught, a practice to mindfulness and to your higher self.
Always eager to continue my education and deepen my yoga journey, I am currently undertaking my 1000-hour Ayurvedic Practitioner qualification through an Ayurvedic hospital based in Rishikesh, India—the birthplace of yoga and a place deeply rooted in ancient healing traditions. This immersive training is allowing me to deepen my understanding of the body, mind, and spirit through the lens of Ayurveda, learning how to work with individual constitutions, balance the doshas, and support true, sustainable wellbeing.
As I weave this knowledge into Awaken, my intention is to offer a more holistic and personalised approach—integrating yoga, lifestyle guidance, seasonal practices, and subtle inner work—so that each person can feel more aligned, nourished, and connected to their own natural rhythm.
My teachings are an invitation to slow down, be present and just be. Rooted in mindfulness and energy awareness, I am passionate about creating a nurturing environment where everyone feels held, inspired, and at home.
…and through my classes, community and retreats, I hope to offer exactly that! x
Meet the co -Founder
Fiona
Fiona Narburgh
— Co-Founder, Awaken Retreats
Fiona is a yoga teacher, coach, adventurer and Co-Founder of Awaken Retreats, passionate about helping people move well, age well and make the most of life.
After 30 years in the public sector, Fiona stepped away from corporate life to help care for her dad during his final stages of cancer — and never went back. Instead, she retrained as a yoga teacher in 2024 and completed advanced yoga training in India last year to become 500 hour qualified .
In 2025, Fiona joined Jo Guest to deliver the very first Awaken Retreat in Morocco, bringing together yoga, adventure, laughter and connection to create a fabulous yoga “holiday” — and helping sow the seeds for what Awaken is becoming today.
Back home, Fiona teaches everyone from women in their 80s enjoying one-to-one chair yoga to her much-loved Yoga for Men group, which raises money for prostate cancer charities. She has also worked in care homes, encouraging people to keep moving whatever their age or ability. Her philosophy is simple: keep moving, stay curious and keep saying yes to life.
And she certainly practises what she preaches! Fiona has cycled the entire coast of Britain, climbed mountains by bike across Europe and run the London Marathon twice. She even met her husband while cycling the length of Britain — so two wheels have a lot to answer for!
Mum to two fabulous grown-up sons, Fiona loves yoga, people, travel, cycling and heading off in her campervan in search of the next adventure.
She brings that same energy, warmth and sense of possibility to Awaken Retreats — because getting older isn’t about slowing down. It’s about waking up to what comes next.
