Barefoot Testimonials
I did this course on recommendation from a friend because I wanted to give up smoking and as a gift to my beleaguered lungs. It also turned out to
be the best gift I could give my beleaguered soul. The safest ongoing space I have ever been in to find myself and get honest about where and how it hurts, with all the support and love to then heal. And all of this in surroundings of unparalleled beauty and simplicity, with everlasting light thanx to the glasshouse/group room. Thank you Andy and Ella.
Fiona
As a direct result of participating fully on the Barefoot Practitioners course, and integrating the healings, lessons and practices into my daily life, I have developed a deeper acceptance, love and respect for myself - and all life. Since completing the course my awareness of my self as body and spirit has deepened, and I am excitedly setting up two businesses (ethical and consciousness raising) and building a new home. I can’t think of a bigger or more loving gift you could give your entire being than embark on this journey with Andy and Ella, and most importantly, your self. Go on. Because you’re worth it!
Dan
Doing the Barefoot courses with Andy & Ella has felt like coming home. Coming home to my true self, coming home to source, and the love and light within. My daily practices and meditations take me deeper into my roots, which, like a tree, then enables me to grow more towards my fellow creatures, helping me to reach out and support others and be of service, whilst staying deeply connected to myself, nature, and the source. The past three years of breathwork, meditation and counselling skills and practices have led me into some profound changes in my life. They have shown me some dark places where I still hold on to old pain and trauma, but are leading me through towards deep love, trust and surrender into the constant and eternal perfection of the Dao. If that sounds a bit flowery-don't be fooled : it aint easy! Then again - it's as difficult as we choose to make it; consciously, or unconsciously. And there are glimpses of bliss on the way too! And good old fashioned earthiness! ‘nuff said. With deep love and gratitude to the beautiful Barefoot people, Andy & Ella and all my fellow travellers. And to the Dao.
Lisa
Doing the practitioner training has had a profound impact on my life. It has been an intense and deeply fulfilling journey into all my unconscious patterns and behaviour that had been having a devastating effect in my life. Andy and Ella provide a very safe environment to work in and have created an amazingly well thought out set of weekends which cover a whole range of issues. Through this course I learnt to love myself, to understand the true meaning of presence, recognise my unconscious patterns and take responsibility for myself and my behaviour within my relationships. The course has shown me the power, trust and safety one can experience from working with a committed group of people. I feel I am going away with a full tool bag which has got all the tools I need to move forward and grow into my true, full human spirit. If you love music, fires, laughter, tears, truth, honesty, openness, sharing, connection, massage and dancing and if you are up for working in a group and journeying deep with the wonderful guidance of two dedicated teachers then this is the course for you! With deep gratitude.
Georgie
The two and a half years I have been working with Andy & Ella have been a totally life enhancing and awakening time during which I was encouraged to lovingly heal and rearrange layers of deeply held trauma, distress and fragmentation alongside a surprising abundance of fun, laughter, dancing, bouncing friendship and good times. The steadiness of their union, the beauty of their home, the loving of their arms, the presence of their eyes have all continually inspired and fed me and the profound yet simple directions they offer for living in presence have enabled me to discover the true life of my being.
Dorrie
The training for me has been deeply profound and has really changed my life. It was all about my willingness to embrace the work we did and through that embracing it has changed the course of my life and my family's lives. I got to know the patterns that have come from my upbringing and early experience of abuse- the addiction patterns and the dysfunction that has come from all that. I understand myself so much better and am now able to recognise what is mine in any conflicts I have in relationships which has changed things so much. The soul healing that naturally emerged from the breath work has helped me understand myself and my life and what I am here to do in my life. I feel empowered now to work with the changes that are happening on the planet. I have been really helped by learning to feed myself with my life energy – how to energise myself through connecting with earth and sky.
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The course has taken me to really deep levels. I felt I went into a state of disorientation each weekend in which I somehow trusted Ella and Andy to see me through the untangling of whatever was happening – I didn’t know what was happening but always by the end of the weekend I understood. Since finishing the advanced course I’ve started working regularly with people – doing body and breath work. The course allowed me to explore, discover and remember my natural abilities. I’ve learnt to trust myself and my ability to hold space for others. I’ve learnt to trust the breath. Its been incredible to have done the courses and had deep personal healing for myself. It has not been about learning techniques but about a profound experience of healing at a cellular level – really getting it in my body and through this being able to know the healing path and share it with others.
Tegwyn
and some feedback from a while ago....The first time I came to the Eden garden created by Andy and Ella, I had a strong feeling that I had come back home. When I heard about the BPT It felt like it was something I had to do, that it was going to deeply change something in my life and since then this feeling has never weakened. In the strong, solid, and powerful presence of Andy and Ella I have experienced and integrated things I have been trying to understand for years - like the real sense of being present, being aware, facing my feelings and staying with them. As time goes by I have become able to more quickly and clearly identify what is happening in me, to find the roots of it and then to transform it into a new vision of life and of myself. My degree of acceptance for all parts of myself is improving in the same way. During these nine months I have been growing in my sense of sacredness of being a woman, a human being. Surrounded by a group of true beings who are committed to growth, a powerful circle of healing energy has been created which is a precious support to this wonderful magic journey into the depths of oneself. Andy and Ella are not teaching Tao, they are Tao - that makes all the difference. Now with a heart open I want to tell all my love and gratitude to my fellow travellers and to our guides - the gatekeepers, isn’t that their perfect name?!....
Anne-Laure
The following feedback is from Li who trained with us over a few years completing about 14 years ago. She is now a breathwork practitioner in Australia.-
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Working with Andy and Ella has had a profound impact on my life, and continues to do so until this day, about 10 years on. I had such a wide and rich range of experience in training with them. I have been led slowly and gently back, back into past lives and the Bardo and my mother’s womb, and my childhood. I have sat in huge amounts of pain and confusion. I experienced a feeling of love that I had never come across before. I found the place inside me that was beyond, behind, under all the "stuff"- my centre. I learned many many tools for healing and growing. In our time together we covered so many aspects of the path of healing. We breathed, did body work, massage, dancing, de-toxing, hugging. We wrote and spoke and sang and were silent. We cried and laughed and raged, we meditated and purified, and had fun. We worked on issues about love, intimacy , sexuality, work, parents, creativity, the list goes on.
Andy and Ella brought so much of themselves to their work. Every time something comes up for me, I have several tools at hand to help to clear it and move on, all directly shown me by Ella and Andy. The work I did with them has set me up for life, on all levels. Emotionally, I discovered how to give space to, access and express my feelings. Mentally, I learned how to identify outdated thought patterns that were running my life, and how to clear them for more appropriate ones. Physically, I let go of a lot of tension stored from childhood traumas. Psychically, I had all sorts of goulies and ghosties and etheric objects that were affecting my energy and my aura released, helping to free up my psychic space.
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Be it in my relationships, my work (fancy being able to pass on, in my own way, all this abundance of experience and get paid for it!), my creativity, my sexuality, my family, every aspect of my being and my life has been helped by working with and training with them.
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Yes, some of it was hard, there was a steep 'learning curve' here and there!! but the bits that were challenged or died, were only bits that were not really me at all. Ella and Andy are not perfect, who is?, but hey, they know their stuff, their intent is true, their dedication to their spiritual journey is grounded in their earth connection (ah, all those giant fire cleanses at night under the stars), and I would not hesitate to say that anyone working with them would come out a richer, deeper, clearer person than they were when they went in!! Bon voyage to anyone who goes on a training course with them! You are in for a wide, rich, challenging, tender ride. It may be hard, in places, but you won't regret a minute of it, for they are so alive, Ella and Andy, and they are so wanting to help you discover and be the life that is pulsating deeply within you, and they will do their human best to help you be you, the truest gift we can ever bring to ourselves, our life and this beautiful, troubled planet.
Li