meet your team

Lilley Harvey

Inspiring, delighting and challenging her students, our founder Lilley Harvey radiates enthusiasm and sees the potential in everyone.Taking students on a journey to a more fulfilled and connected life, Lilley transforms health and wellbeing for people of all ages and abilities.  

Empowering students to make deeper connections with themselves and those around them, Lilley helps people achieve more and open themselves up to positive new experiences. 

Practising yoga since the early 1990’s, Lilley launched Peacock Tree Yoga in 2010. With a career spent teaching all ages, abilities and specialisms, Lilley is dedicated to guiding students on their transformational journey. She also supports and mentors yoga teachers to develop and launch successful yoga businesses.

Ali Sidaway

Welcoming students into our community and supporting them through their yoga journey, Ali Sidaway is both an instructor and our school administrator. Ali’s warm, kind and caring approach ensures students and first-time visitors feel relaxed and cherished in all their interactions with Peacock Tree Yoga.

In her teaching, Ali encourages a somatic approach, where students connect with themselves and on what they need from their practice. Her love for, and dedication to, yoga is reflected in her success in connecting people and building a community.  

Ali started practising yoga in 2007 and, with yoga as a fundamental part of her life, embarked on her teaching career in 2022. Adored by students, she inspires with her strong practice and creates inclusive yoga classes where everyone feels valued.

Outside of Peacock Tree, Ali enjoys taking trips with her family and two boys to the coast or Yorkshire Dales. She is a keen walker, likes to swim and attends music festivals.

Hélène Lecomte

Hélène Lecomte found yoga as a student when her friend took her to a class to help slow down. Becoming physically stronger and more supple has allowed her to navigate everyday life from a steadier place.

Wanting to spread the stillness and positive attitude yoga has given her, she began her teacher training in 2021. By taking deep breaths, we can improve our mental activity – that’s why Hélène includes a sprinkling of pranayama (yogic breathing technique) in her classes. She also believes in counting our blessings, drawing in what we want from our lives and letting go of anything that no longer serves us.

Born in France, you’ll often hear Hélène speaking French in the studio. Outside of Peacock Tree, she works as a scientist developing medical products. In her spare time, she enjoys orienteering as it allows her to explore new places.

Imogen Heald

Imogen Heard discovered yoga as a teenager. At age 16, she started her teacher training in hatha and sivananda yoga. Expanding her knowledge and dedication, Imogen invested in her ashtanga and vinyasa training when she was 19. 

Yoga has allowed Imogen to have a harmonious relationship with her body and mind, and this is something she wants all her students to experience as well. The feeling of seeing people progress with their practice and reach personal goals is the most rewarding part of being a yoga teacher for Imogen.

A creative soul at heart, Imogen enjoys travelling, writing biographies and short stories, modelling and filming when she’s not on the yoga mat.

Jason Scott

The famous pianist and mathematician, Tom Leher, once said, “Life is like a piano. What you get out of it depends on how you play it.” For classically trained jazz pianist, Jason Scott, it’s yoga that allows him to get the most out of life – and his piano! Yoga, he says, trains us to ‘play’ – to live – with steadiness and ease.

A highly accomplished ashtangi (currently working on the third series), Jason’s been committed to this dynamic practice since 2005, when he first discovered yoga in South America. One worn out David Swenson video cassette, a rigorous teacher training, hours of practice under the watchful eye of Joey Miles, and several trips to India’s Ashtanga Yoga Institute later, and Jason has emerged as one of the leading ashtanga teachers in the North of England.

Whether teaching a modified version of this versatile yoga system, variations on the traditional sequence, or talking students through the traditional Sanskrit counted Primary and Intermediate series, Jason brings warmth, humour and expertise to every class – so that everyone can enjoy the life (and piano) enhancing effects of a regular ashtanga practice.

Kat Aries

Kat Aries became hooked on yoga after discovering how moving with our breath encourages us to become more mindful. After 20 years, she has never looked back.

Captivated by the history and philosophy of yoga, she embarked on her journey as a yoga teacher in 2018. As Ashtanga Yoga became increasingly popular, it caught Kat’s eye. She quickly discovered the mental and physical benefits of the challenging practice. She has a particular appreciation for arm balances (especially crow pose) as they build heat, increase strength and improve our focus. 

Kat is also an ecologist, studying the relationships between living organisms, creatures and the environment. She enjoys being outside, going on long walks with her family, taking trips to the beach and going on new adventures.