Our Team
Vishwam Heckert
Founder
Vishwam is a yoga minister, teacher & teacher trainer based in Shetland. He also serves as a writer, heart meditation facilitator and wellbeing coach. Vishwam began his formal yoga practice in 1999 and has been teaching yoga since 2011. His 500+ hours of yoga teacher training includes the application of yoga in gentle, therapeutic ways for those who may be looking to address various health conditions, both physical and emotional. Vishwam has also been guiding others in the art of sharing heart meditation and other heart-centred yoga practices since 2017 with the Heart Of Living Yoga Foundation.
He loves to listen from the heart, holding space for anyone who might be going through a challenging time in life or just needing someone to talk to. Vishwam’s teachings and writing also flows directly from the listening heart.
Vishwam is also qualified as a reiki practitioner, and massage therapist with a permaculture design certificate and an academic background in psychology (BA, Grinnell College) and sociology (PhD, University of Edinburgh).
Originally from Iowa, he’s been in the UK since 1995 including such beautiful places as Edinburgh, Poole (Dorset), Matlock (Derbyshire) & the Scottish Borders. Vishwam is delighted to live in Shetland these days where the sky seems so close to the Earth and a beautiful beach is never far away. He loves to collaborate with others to help make what seemed impossible become possible. Whether this is in 1:1 work or in groups, Vishwam values the innate wisdom of all present.
Professional memberships include the Yoga Teachers Together, Scottish PEN, Lapidus International & the Permaculture Association.
Haripriya Scott
Administrator, Heart Meditation & Therapeutic Writing Facilitator
Haripriya started her professional career as a political scientist working as a researcher for an M.P. In Westminster. This was followed by 15 years in local government focussing on equal opportunities and social inclusion policy. Having been unable to change the world through politics and policy, Haripriya re-trained as a counsellor specialising in complex trauma, in addition, qualifying as a Clinical Supervisor and Mental Health Improvement Trainer. Spending a further 10 years in the NHS and 5 years in the voluntary sector. She is also a fully qualified Heart Meditation Facilitator, having completed the 100 hour training with the Heart Of Living Yoga Foundation.
Just before Covid hit, Haripriya took early retirement and is now focussing on her yoga and heart meditation practice, therapeutic writing, exploring philosophy and delving deeper into her own spirituality. Originally from Edinburgh, she now lives in Falkland, Fife where she likes nothing better than walking in the local woods with her dog and planning her next knitting project, sometimes she even gets as far as picking up the needles!
Tejas Eleni
Heart Meditation & Creative Writing Facilitator
Tejas is a Writer/Illustrator, Artist, Actress, Singer, and Heart Meditation Facilitator. She has over 20yrs experience in teaching the disciplines of dance and Performing Arts and has directed and choreographed professionally. Tejas is writing and illustrating a number of written works, including a collection of poetry, and is researching visual art and creative writing projects to help people with Chronic Pain. She holds a BA Honours in Theatre, a Certificate of Education and is currently studying an MA in Illustration with Falmouth University. Tejas assists in Wave of the Heart where she loves to listen to all the beautiful writings shared there.
Amanda Collis
Artist
Amanda Collis is a painter living in Derbyshire on the edge of the Peak District. She writes, “My work tends to be intuitive, improvised, often textural and tonally variegated, perhaps reflecting the wonderful limestone and woodland environment I grew up in and currently inhabit. … I am fascinated by borderlands, for example between abstraction and figuration.”
Her paintings are held in private collections in the United States, Canada, Australia, Italy, Greece, the Netherlands, Germany, Switzerland and the United Kingdom. You can also find one of her beautiful works on our ‘Writing from the Heart’ Journal available in our shop here.