Why life is sweet for the nature-loving hiking healer

“I was kind of looking for a way to expand what I was doing and how to target the local market,” said the 35-year-old, who recently moved back to her native Carlisle.

“I’d been moving around a lot – I’d lived in Greece and Malta – and I was looking for ways of working with the local community and trying to bring people together.

“My passion is to help other people. I kept getting this vision in my head of holding healing circles at the top of the fells. As a child, I was always out in the Lakes, I was always connected with nature.

"My mum and dad would go and walk the fells – my mum has walked all the Wainwrights. I sat on it for a while. I spoke to a few people who I go to for support and they gave me the confidence to put myself out there and just go for it.”

The basic concept is that Tash leads a hike to the top of a fell, where participants engage in a cacao drinking ceremony.

“I did a trial run last April,” she explained. “I rent out a village hall that’s close to or at the base of the fell, either in the Lake District or I’ve done one in the North East. For the first one I had people in my house, then we went up to Talkin Fell.

"That was the first one because at the top of the fell they’ve got these love heart stones. I had this vision of having everyone sat in the love heart stones doing meditation. I did that and it was beautiful and I got lovely feedback.”

So why the cacao?

“It’s a superfood,” said Tash. “It’s a way to deepen your connection with yourself. It’s been used for thousands of years in shamanic rituals. Cacao is known as the heart opener. It’s the purest form of chocolate. While I’m guiding people through the meditation they’re drinking it.

"It’s a natural anti-depressant and an anti-oxidant. It’s amazing if people struggle with fatigue. It helps you unblock emotions that you’ve held onto.”

In keeping with Tash’s humane ethos, the cacao is ethically sourced. “I source it from small farms in Peru and all the money that’s made goes directly back into them,” she said.

Key to her philosophy is openness, and both she and her mum June, who accompanies her on hikes, share details of their own lives. “I have to be as open as possible to make other people feel comfortable,” she said.

“My mum is there with me while I do it, which I think is a beautiful thing, to explain our healing journey and my mum’s passion for the Lake District and how it’s helped her with anxiety and mental health.

“I think people now are looking for something different. I myself went sober last year for a year to try and reconnect with myself and explore avenues of where I could meet people and grow as a person. I’ve had two men come along to events so I’m really trying to get more to come.

"I guess my natural following on Instagram and social media and in the community is mostly women but I’m more than happy for men to come. I’m even trying to get my dad to come.

“Last year I did a healing hikes sleepover. We rented out a village hall just outside Newby Bridge and did cold water swimming, breath work and meditation and then we had a cacao ceremony in the evening. I think often we’re seeking answers externally and one thing I always say to my clients is that all the answers are within – it’s just allowing yourself to hear them.

"What I say to everyone is, ‘Come with a clear intention of what it is that you want to get out of the day.’ With all the meditations, once everybody has shared their intentions I’ll gauge what the meditation needs to be.”

Trained in Neuro-linguistic Programming (NLP), Tash has a thriving online business based on the concept of ‘Unbecoming’ – letting go of unhelpful baggage in order to heal. Yet coaching wasn’t her first career.

“I worked in fashion,” she explained. “I studied it at university then moved to London and worked in fashion for eight to 10 years. I was living in Manchester when lockdown happened and I was on furlough for six months. I went through a really tricky time when I was coming out of a relationship and I got a life coach and she really changed my life.

“I loved working in fashion but I always felt like there was something missing. I wanted to help people. Then lockdown hit and I started to train in NLP. That’s all about using different tools and techniques to help you change patterns of behaviour and ways of thinking.

"Ever since then it’s just been a journey to doing online coaching. I’ve worked with local communities – I’ve done some work with WeCan based in Carlisle, just sharing my story, trying to help multiple different people.”

Keen to protect the concept, Tash has trademarked Healing Hikes. Mindful that not everyone can scale a fell, she’s also started organising more modest challenges.

“I’ve brought Healing Hikes indoors to hold cacao ceremonies in the log cabin at Talkin Tarn,” she said. “We go for a walk around the tarn and come back and we go through a cacao ceremony. There’s music, drums, alchemy bowls and we also do energy healing. It’s not very often that you can sit with yourself for two hours and be yourself for that time. It’s done in a really safe space. It’s stepping out of your comfort zone if you haven’t done it before.”

To consolidate her work in the community, Tash is branching out further. “I’m just in talks to hold an event at Carlisle Cathedral and something at a village hall where hopefully I can do some kind of sober dance,” she explained.

“I think with my generation it’s been ingrained in us that drinking is how you deal with stress. I guess with lockdown and everything that was going on in the world people had a lot of time to re-evaluate their relationship with everything.

“It’s not to say that you have to be sober – it’s just more the awareness of how you’re releasing stress. I don’t think I would have been able to build Healing Hikes to what it is going out drinking every weekend. It’s knowing that there are other options that will give you the same, if not more stress release.”

Tash has been encouraged by the level of repeat business, with some participants praising the hikes as life-changing. She’s now looking to take them further afield.

“Because I was based down south I get a lot of requests to go down there,” she said. “I’ve got the Healing Hikes van now so hopefully I’m going to be able to go touring in it this summer. I’m looking to collaborate with other practitioners.”