Seven months in and we’re finalists! Best Yoga / Pilates Studio Devon
When the email landed in my inbox telling me that SENSE GREATER PEACE had been shortlisted as a finalist in the Devon Muddy Stilettos Awards 2026 for Best Yoga/Pilates Studio, I had to read it twice.
Seven months. That's all it's been.
And yet somehow, this small studio on the North Devon coast is already being spoken about in the same breath as some of the best wellness spaces in Devon.
Where it all began
I've been teaching for over 35 years. That's not a number I throw around lightly - it represents a lot of early mornings, a lot of learning, and a lot of people who trusted me with something deeply personal.
It started in London and Bristol - health clubs, osteopath clinics, community halls, private clients, and also working with Bristol Old Vic Theatre School for seventeen years, supporting Bristol Rugby players with movement and recovery. From there, retreats across the UK, France and Italy. Thousands of hours spent understanding how the body works, how the mind and body speak to each other, and what people actually need when they walk into a class - which is rarely what they think they need when they walk in.
Along the way I trained with some of the most respected names in the world of movement and wellness. I became a fully certified STOTT Pilates instructor. I studied yoga with Rodney Yee and Colleen Saidman in New York. Garuda Full Cert with James D’Silva, I have trained in sound healing, trauma-informed yoga, meditation, reiki, bodywork, spiritual practices, breath-work and somatic practices. Not because I was collecting qualifications, but because every training answered a question and opened three more.
Coming to Woolacombe
North Devon found me rather than the other way around, as the best places often do. ( it is a long, sad and yet beautiful story)
When I saw the space that would become SENSE GREATER PEACE, I knew immediately. This was where it was supposed to land.
I opened the studio in September 2024. A Reformer Pilates and yoga studio in the heart of Woolacombe, with the Atlantic a short walk away and a community I hoped would make it their own.
What I wanted to build was somewhere that felt genuinely different. Not a gym. Not somewhere you come to perform or be pushed beyond your limits for the sake of it. A space where the nervous system could settle. Where movement felt like something you did with your body and breath rather than to it.
Who the studio is for
In the seven months since we opened, the people who have found their way here have surprised and moved me in equal measure.
Some come to build strength and fitness - and find that Reformer Pilates challenges them in ways they didn't expect. Some arrive mid-recovery from injury, cautious and a little uncertain, and gradually find their way back to a body they trust again. Some simply need somewhere quiet to land - an hour away from work, from family demands, from the particular exhaustion of modern life.
All of them are welcome here.
The studio offers Reformer Pilates, mat yoga and Pilates, beach sessions, sound baths, one-to-one treatments, retreats and coaching. Every offering is designed around the same principle: that you are not a collection of parts to be fixed, but a whole person to be supported.
What this nomination means
Being shortlisted for Best Yoga/Pilates Studio in the Devon Muddy Stilettos Awards, just seven months after opening, is something I couldn't have anticipated.
But more than the recognition, what it tells me is that the people who've come through the door have felt something worth telling others about. That the studio is already becoming what I hoped it would be - a place that genuinely helps people, in whatever way they need.
That is because of this community. The people who found us early and kept coming back. Who brought their friends. Who sent a message after a class to say something had shifted. You are the reason this nomination exists.
A small ask
Voting in the Devon Muddy Stilettos Awards 2026 is open until 1pm on Tuesday 26 May. If SENSE GREATER PEACE has given you something - a stronger body, a quieter mind, or simply an hour that felt entirely yours - a vote would mean a great deal.
It's free and it takes less than a minute.
Vote here: https://devon.muddystilettos.co.uk/awards/vote/
Thank you for being part of this from the beginning.
Sue x
