Connect to your inner navigator
Flying Cloud
has over 20 years of experience working with individuals and companies to improve communication and inspire innovation. We offer workshops, coaching, retreats and experiences that lead to inner and outer transformations.
We are inspired by the legendary 19th Century, Flying Cloud: a clipper ship that challenged convention, harnessed the energy of a storm and was propelled into the history books by its’ young female navigator.
We often work with people who navigate storms; those willing to ride the wildest of waves and chart unexplored possibilities. We equip you with tools in body, breath, voice and mind to connect you to your inner compass and expand your horizon.
Setting Sail
We originally set sail as writers, producers and performers, quickly realising our communication and creative skills had a wider reach. We believe that embodied communication, creativity and rest are key to co-creating a more beautiful world beyond mainstream imaginings.
Flying Cloud creates spaces for leaders and pioneers to strengthen their ability in traversing the complex waters of our time through clear, authentic and courageous communication and choices.
Our mission
When the seas are high and there is no longer a map to guide, how do you navigate?
We equip you with practical tools using your body, breath, voice and mind to lead forwards with clarity and confidence. We help you remember what it feels like to be fully seen and heard as you.
We show you how your biology, once understood and respected, brings unparalleled power and resources. We take you back home to your body with the revolutionary act of rest so you are sustained, inspired and inspiring.
We support you to not only be able to weather life’s storms but use their energy and redirection to propel you inwards and onwards.
leadership course, communications deep dive, creativity & innovation programme, retreat to rewild your soul, one to one coaching session…you will be warmly welcomed on board our Flying Cloud.
Whether you’re embarking on a…
We are a crew of expert facilitators ready to create personalised experiences. We hold space for you to unlearn and re-member who you truly are, so you can consciously choose your course and create the truest story of your life. Take the first step by reaching out.
Flying Cloud crew
Leandra Ashton • Founder, actress
Leandra dreamt up Flying Cloud in 2009 as an out of work actress. Perplexed and frustrated by the top-down industry she found herself in, she determined to write new stories for stage and for life.
Leandra has worked for over two decades with body, breath and voice. She is fascinated by what drives our subscription to inner and outer narratives. She has guided thousands of people to explore the stories they carry and begin to embody a lighter, more powerful and authentic version of themselves. She is a regular contributor at the Cambridge Judge Business School including the Rising Women Leaders Programme.
She studied Modern and Medieval languages at Cambridge University before a scholarship took her to The Royal Academy of Dramatic Arts (RADA). She is also trained as a yoga teacher, Well Woman practitioner and Somatic Facilitator.
At the heart of everything Leandra does, is her belief in the vast potential we have as individuals and as a collective. Her approach is always practical, guiding you to discover and release physical and vocal stories that stop your authentic power from flowing.
Perienne Christian is an artist and life coach.
Awarded a scholarship to study at the Royal Drawing School in London in 2006, she then became part of their senior teaching faculty.
She has exhibited nationally and internationally, including at the Royal Academy of Arts, Buckingham Palace and Christie’s in New York.
Perienne has trained in coaching with Tara Mohr: ‘The coaching way for powerful conversations’; with Mindie Kniss: ‘Cor Coaching’, incorporating cutting edge research on heart intelligence from the Heart Math Institute; and also in ‘Experiential Focusing: Felt Sense work’ with Vanessa Murphy.
Perienne has used these tools for both private sector business workshops and local government focus groups. She fuses art, drawing, meditation and the felt sense of the body, to open up participants to shifts in perspective, divergent thinking, heart-based conversations and expansive visions for their organisations.
In her 1:1 coaching work she uses these tools to address issues that might be blocking health, wellness and success in both the personal and professional life.
The sessions are gentle, yet powerful and clients report positive shifts and a feeling of calm and renewed optimism following on from the work with her.
Tom enjoys creating, making and growing things. He is a keen ‘allotmenteer’ and cooker of home produce.
Tom Frere • Artist, director, coach
Tom originally trained as an actor at the Royal Welsh College of Music & Drama, and has worked as a performer and director for more than 35 years. He leads workshops in communication skills for universities, businesses, organisations, and individuals specifically using posture and voice to enhance presence.
Tom also creates labyrinths all over Europe for large scale events and intimate gatherings. He likes to bring the creative, playful and meditative qualities of the labyrinth into his work as a trainer and coach. Tom can also be found making music: playing the oboe, cor anglais and sundry other musical instruments in various orchestras and chamber groups.
Marta Isabella • Yoga teacher, actress, coach, and mama
Marta loves guiding clients on playful and transformative journeys of expansion and reclamation, using an alchemy of acting tools, yoga, embodiment and ritual. Her work is an invitation to embody grace and power, so you can light up the room with your presence.
Marta has acted on stages all over Italy and the UK and brings her performance experience to her coaching and workshops. Marta guides you to remember that your body is your home and an incredible resource of expression, self-knowledge and healing.
Marta studied French Medieval Literature at Oxford University and acting at East15 Acting School, London. She also trained in yoga in India and is a teacher of Hatha Yoga and Shri Devi Yoga – the Yoga of the Sacred Feminine. Marta feels deeply called to serve the rising of the feminine and draws on all her experience to support the women she coaches. She has been collaborating with Flying Cloud since the birth of the company.
Sophie left the police service as a detective in 2020 after 15 years exploring the depths of human behaviour. Following a near death experience, she became a group wellbeing facilitator, pregnancy and rest guide.
As she detached from the ‘system’ of business, she conducted the most important investigation of her life. Her pen recorded her observations daily, leading to the publication of two books.
Sophie Léone • Script writer, 1:1 coach
Sophie is fluent in holding space for women and men to share their fears, hopes and desires. She encourages her groups to know, feel and liberate their unique expression and reconnect with the essence of their vitality.
Sophie co-facilitates workshops, writes scripts and coaches 1:1 with Flying Cloud. Her zest, joy and no holds barred authenticity are a natural conduit to take you on a journey to re-discover who you are.
Born in France, Sophie writes and speaks in English and French. She lives in Suffolk, UK with her partner and children. She is a regular on the spoken word poetry scene and bakes a mean chocolate beetroot brownie.
Jessica is an actor, dancer and choreographer with over 20 years experience as a movement and wellness practitioner.
Jessica Sias Wilson • Actor, dancer, choreographer
Jessica was introduced to the work of Embodiment & Somatics while studying Choreography at Trinity Laban in London. She has a deep and practical knowledge of biomechanics and energetic work and uses this knowledge to guide you to return to the body and its wisdom.
She coaches on posture, alignment and ease of movement as the foundation to everything else you do in your life. She guides you to create and hold space within the body to feel calm, centered and empowered. She teaches with patience and compassion, giving you the tools to show up fully embodied to any situation to bring forth all that you have to offer. She delivers potent concepts in an accessible and friendly way.
Jessica has worked as a professional dance artist in the US & UK and an actor in theatre and television from a young age. She also works as a facilitator delivering workshops on embodiment and communication in various professional fields and is a licensed GYROTONIC®, GYROKNESIS®, Pilates and Reiki practitioner.
Kevin is an actor and a coach from the North of Ireland.
He grew up in a small fishing town beneath the Mountains of Mourne before leaving to study English at Cambridge University and Acting at the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art. He made his screen début in a Hollywood action movie (Hellboy), played a president’s wayward son in a HBO miniseries (John Adams), and has worked extensively on stage in both Britain and Ireland. Acting is an insecure profession so early day jobs included copywriting, ghost-writing, and luxury retail - selling everything from perfume to antiquarian maps.
Kevin Trainor • Actor, coach
Over the last decade, Kevin has combined acting with coaching and has discovered not just a side-hustle but a new vocation. He is passionate about helping people to reconnect to their creativity so that they can embody, energise, and vocalise their authentic leadership presence.
He has designed and facilitated skills development courses for many organisations. Kevin specialises in helping individuals prepare for those spotlight moments when you have to step up and speak out.
Coaching services include: preparing for difficult conversations, practicing influencing upwards, speech-writing, and managing performance nerves. His approach is gentle, thorough-going, and collaborative.