About New 23

I am the fire of the dragon
that inspires the intentional path
I am the air through which the faeries fly
freeing the beauty on their way
I am the sparkle of the sea that creates the ease and flow
I am the crystal and the stone
that connects to the truth of my soul
A child of the elements, I burn, I breathe, I surge, I grow

Diane Oliver, Imbolc 2018

Diane Oliver MEnvS BDes DipDYT

I created Woodland Elements in 2015 to blend my passion for yoga, community development, permaculture and splashing about in the sea. Based in Ardfern, Argyll on the West Coast of Scotland, I have a nomadic spirit and love to travel. It's great fun planning and heading off on mini adventures with my husband, Bill. Over the last few years I have been dedicating more of my time to yoga with a little social enterprise development freelancing on the side.

Having played hard in the outdoors all my life, I've given my body a fair old trashing and gifted myself several injuries; and then over the last 10 years or so, I've experienced plenty peri and menopausal symptoms as I transition from creatress to dark queen to wise woman. Having lived through these experiences and relied heavily on my yoga practice to get me through, I truly believe it enables me to offer and share practices to help others see the good in everything and explore the opportunities within the challenges we face in our lives.

As a gardener's daughter, permaculturist, plant and tree lover, I am strongly drawn to a land based spiritual practice and bring an earthy, elemental perspective to all my work. I circle the Celtic wheel of the year and have 'apprenticed' Ros Simons since birthing my shamanic drum with her in 2015.

I honour and thank all the teachers, mentors and wisdom keepers who have so generously shared their knowledge and experience with me over the years.

My Values

Sound

I offer tuning fork therapy and use sound in my workshops. Working with mantra has transformed my confidence and when I experienced the power of tuning forks for the first time around 2015 I stepped into a journey with vibrational medicine, little knowing where it would lead.

I qualified as an IHHT (Infinity Holistic Health Training) Sound Therapy Practitioner in 2023 (having started my training pre lockdown in 2019).

I am also honoured to be considered part of the Sacred Notes and Red Kite flutes team. Click on the pic below to listen to one of my beautiful flutes.

Yoga

I love yoga and meditation. Yoga has been part of my life since I was a teenager when I was part of an amazing youth contemporary dance explosion. During this time I gained a real sense of community and although I let go of dance in my twenties, yoga has remained part of my life ever since. I later realised that being able to dance enables me to connect with my emotions, be truly free and authentic and by discovering shakti dance I have been able to reconnect with this vital soul part.

I qualified as a Dru Yoga teacher in 2016 and as a Shakti Dance teacher in 2017, I am a member of the Dru Professional Network and am Dru Yoga Back Care and Wellbeing plus Dru Yoga Kids and Teens post grad accredited. I also volunteer as a support tutor with Dru Scotland and assist with the yoga teacher training.

During my classes and workshops I share my creative, down to earth approach to life, my honest openness, and wholeheartedly hold a supportive, safe space for healing and empowerment.

Breath

Having practiced and shared pranayama and breath work through my yoga for many years, I am delighted to now also be a Dru Breath Coach.

Dance led me to yoga, yoga led me back to dance and dance will lead me home

Previously......

I worked in community and economic regeneration in a range of management and development roles for 25+ years. Having a strong interest in land and people and the connection and interaction between, my key strengths and skills lie in networking, enabling partnerships, action planning with groups and supporting the development of projects and ideas. Oh and all the letters after my name - I graduated from Duncan of Jordanstone College of Art with a Bachelor of Interior and Environmental Design (1991) and Strathclyde University with a Masters of Environmental Studies (1996).

I strongly believe in community and grassroots development and have worked with Community Woodlands Association in various roles since 2010, covering a range of aspects including native woodlands and their communities, social enterprise development, training and health in woods.

I last worked with CWA in 2022-23, researching the benefits of community management, ownership and development of the Atlantic Rainforest - you can see one of the films made as a result of the project here:

I am a water baby. Although I loved swimming as a child it never occurred to me to try watersports until I was in my 20s and working on, in and around the Forth & Clyde Canal in Glasgow. The minute I sat in a kayak I was utterly hooked and paddling became an obsession and I went on to become a Level 3 coach sea and inland with stand up paddle board and canoe experience, working in Canada and Scotland. Over the years I've enjoyed all forms of paddlesport, windsurfing, sailing, surfing and generally splashing about in the sea.
I've recently acquired a longboard and am looking forward to getting back in the surf.