Meet the Teachers: Alice Faulkner on Nature, Nervous Systems and Slow Flow
In this edition of Meet the Teachers for the Kilifi Wellness Festival, iN caught up with Alice Faulkner at Arcadia Bush Camp near Kilifi, where she is currently immersed in Kenya’s coastal wilderness.
Alice is a Hatha, Vinyasa and Trauma-Informed Restorative Yoga teacher, as well as a Reiki practitioner. Based in the UK, she offers Yoga & Reiki in the Woods — an outdoor, nature-led practice designed to help people reconnect with the natural world while restoring balance to mind and body. She still works as a locum doctor in the NHS alongside her yoga & Reiki.
She describes her classes as slow, enriching Vinyasa flow, linking breath to movement through creative sequences inspired by nature.
“My cues are often rooted in nature,” she explains. “It’s about connecting inwardly, while also connecting to the environment around you. I want people to feel grounded, but also uplifted and rejuvenated.”
From Emergency Medicine to Embodied Practice
Before teaching yoga full time, Alice trained and worked as an Emergency Medicine doctor. Her wellness journey began alongside her medical career, where she witnessed firsthand the need for approaches that support not just physical health, but long-term mental and emotional wellbeing.
“Working in Emergency Medicine made me recognise how important stress management and balance really are,” she says. “Yoga became that space for me.”
Alice has now been practising yoga for ten years. What began as something she returned to intermittently soon revealed its transformative power. Over time, she felt drawn towards a more holistic and spiritual way of living, ultimately choosing to step away from clinical medicine and focus fully on teaching yoga and Reiki.
Although her classes are not strongly alignment-focused, Alice says of having a medical background and yoga teacher training, “I have studied anatomy so I do have that knowledge, but when I’m teaching my yoga classes, it’s much more about the softer side, much more about the nature, the connection, the breath, the fluidity, than it is about the physiology”.
Yoga as Reconnection
Alice aims to create a serene and supportive atmosphere in her classes, guiding students to connect with their breath, their bodies and, through that, their intuition. Her hope is that people leave feeling stronger, with greater self-trust and more able to show up authentically in their lives.
“For me, the way I like to offer myself as a yoga teacher is as a way of creating space and the illusion of time, for people to quieten, to reconnect with themselves, reconnect with their true self that may be hidden, to allow them to discover their potential and to reach that potential and see what’s available to open up and stretch, not just physically but also mentally, spiritually, and in all aspects of their lives.”
A deep reverence for nature sits at the heart of Alice’s practice. She believes yoga practised outdoors offers a uniquely calming and immersive experience, one that goes beyond studio walls.
We’ve all heard of forest bathing in recent years — the practice of mindfully immersing yourself fully in a forest or other natural setting, without distraction and with a focus on mindfulness and the senses. Research increasingly links it to improved mood, better sleep quality, reduced stress, improved concentration and memory, and lower levels of the stress hormone cortisol.
“There’s so much increasing evidence around forest bathing and so much advice from mental health charities to go for a walk and spend time outdoors. And there’s a reason for that. We are designed to be outdoors. It has so many identifiable elements, but also subtle or micro elements — just in leaves when you smell them, the hormones and chemical changes it makes in your body. I think it transports you a little bit further than being in a building.”
She reflects on how this awareness developed in her own life:
“In my independent practice I noticed over the years that I would always crack the window and as soon as I felt the breeze on my skin, it would help to drop me into the practice deeper. I’d always prefer to practice in the garden. I found the energy and the influence of nature into my practice really uplifting and reenergizing.”
This connection was further cemented when Alice completed her yoga teacher training in an off-grid national park in Portugal.
A Circular Return to Kenya
She was born in Zimbabwe and spent her childhood in Zambia and South Africa. Her parents lived in Nairobi before having children and travelled around Kenya.
Last year, Alice wanted to see this country that had influenced her parents some thirty-odd years ago, making a circular journey and connecting with the land, in more ways than one.
She loved the experience so much that she returned again this year to host the Reconnect, Rest & Rewild Retreat at Kilima Gardens in Nanyuki. The retreat was a gorgeous, rejuvenating and deeply well-loved experience for participants, Kilima Gardens staff and Alice alike. Its success has already secured its return, with Reconnect, Rest & Rewild set to take place again from 21–27 February 2027.
Catch Alice at Kilifi Wellness Festival
Alice will be teaching three classes at the Kilifi Wellness Festival:
Stretch & Restore Yoga
A relaxing and mindful yoga class to wind down the mind and body, suitable for all levels.
Sunrise Yoga
An uplifting yoga class of creative Vinyasa Flow sequences inspired by nature, suitable for all levels.
Grounding Yoga Flow
A nourishing yoga class of creative Vinyasa Flow sequences inspired by nature, suitable for all levels.
You can find out more about Alice, her offerings in the UK and her Reconnect, Rest & Rewild Kenya yoga retreat at www.alicefaulkner.com.
