Sue Dawson,
Founder of SENSE GREATER PEACE
SENSE GREATER PEACE STUDIO
Reformer Pilates & Yoga Studio, Woolacombe
Welcome. I’m Sue Dawson — guide, mentor, and wholehearted witness to your unfolding.
Since 1991, I’ve walked alongside people through life’s transitions—helping them soften, strengthen, and awaken through practices that honour the full spectrum of our being. My work is grounded in a deep understanding that we are not separate parts to be fixed, but an integrated system of mind, body, soul, and spirit—each informing the other in a dance as ancient as breath itself.
When we begin to listen to that system, we begin to live differently.
We move with more grace and ease.
We feel and think with more clarity.
We meet challenges with greater resilience.
And, perhaps most importantly, we remember who we truly are.
Much of what holds us back lies beneath the surface—entrenched patterns of thought, emotion, and movement that can manifest as physical tension, restlessness, fatigue, or that quiet ache of disconnection. Together, we bring these into awareness. We don’t fix—we remember. We hold space and that space allows release.
Through breath, movement, stillness, sound, and honest reflection, we begin the journey back home to ourselves.
My approach is rooted in lived experience, professional mastery, and an ever-curious spirit.
I weave ancient wisdom with contemporary science, always tailored to the uniqueness of you.
Whether in a soulful group class, a bespoke one-to-one session, a retreat beside the sea, or a quiet moment of guided reflection, every offering is designed to meet you where you are—and gently guide you toward where you long to be.
This is about more than flexibility.
It’s about finding freedom, Freedom to feel deeply.
To move with integrity. To live with joy, vitality, and a sense of purpose that radiates far beyond the yoga mat.
If you’re seeking more than just a class—if you’re ready for a guide who sees all of you, who will hold space with wisdom, honesty, and fierce compassion—I would be honoured to walk beside you.
Because this isn’t just movement.
It’s a remembering.
A reclamation.
A return.
With warmth and wholehearted presence,
Sue Dawson xxx
Founder of SENSE GREATER PEACE
EXPERIENCE, TRAINING & PROFESSIONAL PRACTICE
Experience You Cannot Fast-Track
I have been teaching movement since 1991.
Over those years I have worked with thousands of people — from complete beginners and those living with injury, pain or changing bodies, through to professional actors, performers and athletes.
My professional experience has included:
• Bristol Old Vic Theatre School — 17 years
• The Actors Workshop, Bristol- 3 years
• Bristol Rugby- season before I moved.
• Walnut Grove Osteopathy & Centre of Excellence, Bristol — 7 years
• David Lloyd, London & Bristol
• Redwood Lodge, Viva and Cadbury House
• Presenting at Pilates and yoga retreats and conventions throughout the UK and Europe
• Creating and leading more than 35 retreats across the UK, France and Italy
Those decades of teaching matter.
They have given me something that cannot come from a training manual alone: thousands of hours of observing bodies move, listening to people, adapting, questioning, learning and understanding when to challenge, when to support and when simply to give someone the space to explore.
A DEPTH OF PILATES TRAINING THAT MATTERS
Not all Pilates and Reformer qualifications represent the same depth of education.
My Pilates foundation comes from comprehensive STOTT PILATES® / Merrithew education — an internationally established Pilates education system encompassing the full Pilates repertoire from Essential through to Advanced levels.
Comprehensive Pilates teacher education is very different from simply learning a repertoire of exercises on a Reformer.
My training developed understanding across anatomy and biomechanics, postural and movement observation, programming, modification, practical application and teaching methodology, supported by extensive study, practice, observation and assessment.
Most importantly, it taught me to understand Pilates as an integrated movement system — and to look at the person in front of me rather than simply teach exercises.
That distinction continues to underpin the way I teach today.
BEYOND THE QUALIFICATION
Qualifications matter to me. I have spent my professional life studying, questioning and developing my understanding.
But qualifications alone do not make a great teacher.
Teaching is also about presence.
It is the ability to notice the held breath, the unnecessary tension, the subtle compensation or the moment someone loses confidence.
It is knowing when a person needs more information and when they need less.
When to offer a correction and when to allow exploration.
When to challenge and when to soften.
I don't want you simply to copy movement.
I want to help you feel it, understand it and gradually develop trust in your own body.
That combination of professional knowledge, observation, intuition, encouragement and genuine human connection is at the heart of the space I hold at Sense Greater Peace.
PROFESSIONAL EDUCATION & CONTINUING STUDY
Comprehensive Pilates Education
PILATES, MOVEMENT & BIOMECHANICS
• STOTT PILATES® Fully Certified Instructor —
Matwork - Essential, Intermediate & Advanced
Reformer - Essential, Intermediate & Advanced
Cadillac, Stability Chair, Barrels & Props - Essential, Intermediate & Advanced
Injuries & Special Populations
• ZEN•GA® Mat and Apparatus — Merrithew
• Modern Pilates Certified —
contemporary clinical approach encompassing Matwork & Equipment,
Group & Personal Training and
Rehabilitation through to Athletic Conditioning
• Healthy HIT Pilates — APPI, Australian Physiotherapy & Pilates Institute
MOVEMENT & BIOMECHANICS
Franklin Method Educator — Levels 1 & 2, taught by Eric Franklin
• Garuda Comprehensive — Matwork, Seated/Standing, Barre, Chair, Brick, Sling and Equipment/Reformer, taught by James D’Silva
• Aerial Pilates & Yoga Certified
• FKPRO Suspension Training Certified & FKPRO Teacher Trainer
• RockTape Kinesiology Levels 1 & 2 — RockTape UK
• Exercise & Fitness Knowledge
• Anatomy & Physiology
• Advanced Flexibility Training
• Tye4 & Organics Training
• YMCA Resistance & Circuit Training Diplomas
• RSA Exercise to Music Diploma — 1991
YOGA, BREATH & MEDITATION
• Yoga Shanti — 500-hour training
• Yoga Shanti 200-hour Certification
• Yoga Shanti Advanced 300-hour Certification
• Training with Colleen Saidman Yee, Rodney Yee & Joe Miller
• Meditation Teacher
• Yoga Nidra Certification
• Trauma-Informed Yoga Certification
• Pranayama — continuing professional training
• Menopause — continuing professional training
• Pathway to Yoga — Ann-See Yeoh
• Fitness Yoga Workshops
• Two-Day Breath Study — Leon Chaitow
SOUND, SOMATIC & INTEGRATIVE PRACTICES
• Sound Healing Academy — Group Practitioner
• Sound Healing Academy — Integral Sound Healing, One-to-One Practitioner
• British Sound Academy — GSRT Diploma
• Reiki Master
• Finding Radical Wholeness — five-month programme with Ken Wilber & Dan DiPerna
• Cacao Ceremony Facilitator
BODYWORK & HANDS-ON PRACTICE
Professional Bodyworker with training in:
• Deep Tissue Massage
• Thai Massage
• Thai Foot Massage
• Vertical Reflexology
• Reflexology
• Seated Acupressure
• Indian Head Massage
• Integrated Tool Release
• Swedish Massage
A LIFETIME OF LEARNING
My qualifications span decades rather than months.
And I am still learning.
Movement science develops. Bodies change. People change. I change.
I continue to study because curiosity is fundamental to the way I work — bringing together movement, breath, embodiment, touch, stillness, sound and contemporary understanding of the human body.
The knowledge matters.
The experience matters.
And so does the way you are met, supported, encouraged and seen.
That is the difference I want you to feel when you walk through the door at
Sense Greater Peace.
Breathe. Move. Restore. Flourish.
Sue x