Our Ethos and Aims
Our approach is holistic, grounded, open-hearted, non-denominational and all-inclusive. We draw our inspiration from a diverse and eclectic mix of creative and spiritual landscapes.
To bring together exceptional people in their field of Natural Healing under the collective intention of healing and transformation for all, personal, communal, local and global
To make each session with us a genuine, sensory, hands-on, interactive, fun, explorative, sharing, informative, creative personal experience for all
To offer unique sessions on a diverse range of tools of Natural Healing for professional development and personal transformation to all
To offer opportunities for spiritual growth to all
To provide and hold a safe and non-judgemental forum of self expression for all
To create a sacred ambience with beauty and simplicity at our sessions
To interact with others with compassion, being present in the moment and with integrity
To live ethically and magically, with a reverent connection to Nature
To be grateful for being alive each and every day
To keep journeying
Profiles
Emmalene Katayama
BA (Hons) and MIFPA
Principal and Main Tutor in Holistic Aromatherapy, Massage and Healing, School Partner, Co-creator and Founder
Yorkshire School of Natural Healing
Holistic Aromatherapist, Spiritual and Shamanic Healing Practitioner
Qualified with a Distinction in Holistic Aromatherapy at the Northern School of Holistic Aromatherapy early 2002, Emmalene has been working with clients from her private practice ever since, and at holistic health centres, community centres, business offices, community festivals, a gym, and a hospice.
Trained in Spiritual and Shamanic Healing, Emmalene intuitively offers her clients a unique and transformative experience in their own healing. As a grounded and open-hearted witness, she gives deep spiritual healing using a diverse range of tools alongside excellent experienced massage skills enhanced by her intimate relationship with Aromatherapy essential oils.
In autumn 2007, she founded the Yorkshire School of Natural Healing, fulfilling a long-held personal dream. Emmalene holds her workshops Journey through the Chakras and Spiritual Massage bi-annually, sharing a wealth of theoretical and experiential knowledge with heartfelt passion.
Emmalene is also an integral part of the trio of practitioners in the NHS award winning team Time Out which promotes health and well-being through complementary therapies to members of the local community.
Her Path
Emmalene spent her childhood in Hong Kong, where her parents were teachers. She is thankful for growing up in a multi-cultural environment with classmates from all over the world.
A graduate in Politics and East Asian Studies in Japanese from Newcastle University, Emmalene spent a decade living and working in Japan as a Japanese Language Translator and Interpreter, a Journalist, a Judge and Moderator for national English Language oratorical and written examinations, and taught English as a foreign language. Returning to England in 1999, she was a Teaching Fellow in Japanese at the University of Leeds for one year, teaching Beginners’ Japanese through to the MA in Applied Translation, followed by 3 years assisting in the set up and working in Accounts, Logistics and Quality Control at a small Japanese trading company in Leeds.
Emmalene has always been sensitive to ‘energies’ and she is dedicated to expanding her understanding and experience of spirituality and explore ways to access healing energy to treat others. Under the guidance of International Healer Mike Robinson, she studied Advanced Healing Skills, and with Spirit Horse in their valley in Wales and on pilgrimage in Ireland, she learnt ceremony and ritual, recited poetry, became a storyteller of ancient tales, and communed deeply with Nature. She has also been exploring life and healing in dance through Gabrielle Roth’s Five Rhythms since 2003. She trained as a Shamanic Healing Practitioner with the Bridget Healing Centre in Glastonbury.
Our Associates
Josephine Finegold
BA (Hons), DipSH, MRSS, CThA, CNHC
Community Outreach and Development Manager,
Yorkshire School of Natural Healing
Shiatsu Practitioner, Holistic Therapist and Yoga Teacher
Josephine is a fully qualified and registered Practitioner of Shiatsu, Aromatherapy and Therapeutic Massage, with over 12 years experience. She works in private practice as well as on site, with a variety of corporate groups, organizations and charities, offering 
individual clinic treatments alongside self help and relaxation programmes for groups. Also qualified in Cognitive Behaviour and Addiction Counselling and 5-point Auricular Acupuncture, Josephine has worked extensively with individuals and groups around substance abuse and addictive patterns of behaviour. She has a special interest in the use of hands-on therapy for mental health. She is MRSS registered with The Shiatsu Society UK, the Complementary Therapists Association and the Complementary and Natural Healthcare Council.
Josephine is also an integral part of the trio of practitioners in the NHS award winning 
team Time Out which promotes health and well-being through complementary therapies to members of the local community. She has been continually developing strong links with the local community in Calderdale in collaboration with NHS Primary Care Trust since 2005, and is the Community Outreach and Development Manager for the Yorkshire School of Natural Healing.
Josephine is a Yoga Practitioner who combines the philosophies of Yoga, Chinese and Western medicine.
Her Story
After graduating with a History degree from Liverpool University, Josephine trained as a Teacher, before moving to London to work in publicity and marketing for artists and designers. She returned to Yorkshire to be the Co-Director of FCA Gallery, representing the interests of local and national artists.
Her interest in holistic therapy began when her partner suffered a disabling spinal injury. Having been told that it was unlikely that he would ever fully recover, he found that touch therapy was the only form of treatment that eased his pain and was pivotal in his full recovery. This inspired Josephine to train as a Practitioner of Massage and Aromatherapy. Graduating in 1997, she went on to do the 3-year practitioner training with the Yorkshire School of Shiatsu and became a full member of the Shiatsu Society UK in 2002. Around the same time, she developed her passion for Yoga and in the last decade she has studied with teachers from the lineage of Sri K. Pattabhi Jois, following in the Mysore style of practice. Use of the breath and movement is integral to her work as a therapist.
Josephine has trained with many renowned international teachers, all specialists in their different approaches to health and healing, but she has found that her best teachers are her clients. Her approach to treatment is to use all her skills honed from several disciplines and trust her sense of touch to appropriately meet the needs of the client.
Trish Durkan
MIFPA, Aromatherapist, Reiki Master, Reflexologist, Colour Healer
MSc (Womens Reproductive Health)
BSc (Midwifery with Education) RM, RN, ADM
Main Tutor in Holistic Aromatherapy
Yorkshire School of Natural Healing
Trish has worked and taught in health care for 33 years and as a Senior Lecturer in Complementary Therapies for the last 10 years. She holds Distinctions in Aromatherapy and Massage, and is qualified in Hot Stone Massage and Aromatic Ear Candling. She is also a Reflexologist qualified in treating palliative care clients and in Precision Reflexology; and is currently completing training as a Colour Healing Therapist. Trish holds strong beliefs in the mind-body-spirit connection to health and wellbeing.
As a new member of the core team, she looks forward to sharing her expertise and skills with our students.
Her Story
Trish discovered she could feel energies at a young age. Later she became a Reiki practitioner and Master/Teacher and regularly offers sessions. Following a personal experience at the age of 8, she developed a deep love and respect for Angels which has supported her life choices.
Trish qualified as a Nurse and Midwife in the early 1980s, with a special interest in Womens’ Reproductive Health, especially the menopause. She worked as a Senior Lecturer in Midwifery and Sexual Health until 2000 when she embraced the opportunity to run complementary therapy courses for health professionals teaching them new ways of viewing clients’ health needs. This continues to be an abiding interest, merging her love of physiology with the spiritual and mental aspects for overall wellbeing.
Trish has worked as Accreditation Chair for the IFPA (International Federation of Professional Aromatherapists), and as their School Inspector both in the UK and Asia. She has sat on many accreditation panels and worked as an External Examiner for universities and colleges, so has a wealth of experience in ensuring high standards are met and maintained.
Ann Leach
Guest Workshop Tutor
Ann is an experienced Aromatherapist and IFPA (International Federation of Professional Aromatherapists) Council member for five years, and the Chair for the last 2 years. Her career in health care and nursing spans 40 years within the Huddersfield area, in hospitals, the community sector and teaching.
Ann gained her first degree at Huddersfield University in 1994 which led her to work as a full time Lecturer in Nursing, with a specific focus in Palliative and End of Life care. She has developed important working relationships with Hospices and Cancer care personnel across the West Yorkshire region. Her interest in Complementary Therapies stems from the Philosophies and Holistic Principles in Palliative care which she incorporates in her own training and teaching to both pre and post registration nursing students. Ann delivers to Aromatherapists an advanced workshop in Aromatherapy and Pain Management through the Yorkshire School of Natural Healing.
Inayah Sher
Aromatic Product Blending for the Diploma in Holistic Aromatherapy and as an Advanced Aromatherapy workshop for training and qualified Aromatherapists
Further details to follow.
Ilyana Vilensky
Ilyana Vilensky (or Preet Kaur, meaning Embodiment of Love) is an exceptional woman with many gifts that she shares with individuals and groups as a Sound healer, Singer, Kundalini Yoga Teacher, Retreat Facilitator, Acupuncturist and Reiki Master. Based in Somerset, England, she has worked in a variety of settings including a G.P surgery, Hewlett Packard clinic, complementary therapy clinics, a Fasting Retreat Centre and community centres. She worked alongside a Shaman in Peru and Portugal for several years and is committed to her own journey of healing. She is a member of the Complementary Medical Association and the Kundalini Yoga Teachers Association.
Ilyana features in collaboration with Craig Pruess, creator of the Sacred Chants Series, on her profoundly healing CD, Angel of the Earth. This is an album of vast expanse, deep relaxation, yogic presence and total immersion. On the album, Ilyana graces us with her shamanic other-worldly vocals, and plays the 56 string Monochord, a large wooden stringed instrument designed for sound healing (which you lie on). The harmonics and overtones of this celestial instrument have a profound effect on the nervous system, the body and the emotions. Heartfelt and penetrating, the whole CD creates a sound bath, wave after wave washing over the listener.
For sound samples of the Angel of the Earth, click on:
http://www.heaven-on-earth-music.co.uk/hoemwebsite/sounds.html
We at the Yorkshire School of Natural Healing feel very honored to host Ilyana’s Kundalini Yoga and Sound Healing workshops bi-annually. On 1-3 October 2010, Ilyana is holding her first Kundalini Yoga and Sound Healing Retreat in Yorkshire at Fell Edge Barn, Addingham Moorside, near Ilkley.
Ilyana’s words: “It is a humbling journey when we take steps to heal ourselves and open to who we really are. It is always a privilege to work alongside people in their healing, to witness their courage, to be present with their pain, their joy and their transformation. The healing journey requires a commitment, saying yes from a deep place to life. This means taking an active part in our healing journey; to practice what we know serves us to come into wholeness, whatever that is. The more we do this, the more we rest in our Being, the more we realise that we are absolutely supported, then we move from doubts, fears and separateness towards trust, deep love and union and live our dreams to their fullest.”
Ilyana can be contacted directly by phone on 07704 636647 or by email Ilyanavilensky@yahoo.co.uk
Claire Morris
Guest Tutor for the Diploma in Holsitic Aromatherapy
Details to follow shortly.
