TWA Teacher
Katia Major
Co-Founder and Faculty Lead Teacher
Reading, Berkshire
Katia is a movement teacher, soft tissue therapist and studio owner who helps people move well for life.
Also find Katia at
About
After more than 14 years in corporate education, managing large contracts and delivering programmes in the UK and abroad, Katia made a deliberate move into health and wellbeing. She had long believed that movement is one of the most powerful ways to improve quality of life, and had felt its effects first-hand through running, strength training and yoga.
She qualified as a yoga teacher in 2014 and played a key part in growing Yoga Reading into a well-established community studio. It now offers classes, workshops, retreats, and wellbeing programmes for workplaces and schools across Greater Reading. In 2018 she added a Level 5 Soft Tissue Therapy qualification and a Level 3 Personal Training Diploma, building her skills in rehabilitation, injury prevention and exercise prescription.
Her approach rests on movement optimism: the belief that getting people moving, and enjoying it, brings lasting benefits to body and mind.
Katia loves working with like-minded businesses and entrepreneurs who want wellbeing to be genuinely accessible. Through Thames Health and Wellness, she brings clinical know-how, professional credibility and plenty of enthusiasm to help individuals and organisations build healthier, more energised lives.
Specialisms
- Ashtanga and Yin Yoga
- Clinical Soft Tissue Therapy
- Personal Training and Exercise Prescription
What is Oxford School of Sports Massage?
Katia is a graduate of Oxford School of Sports Massage (OSSM), a specialist UK training centre for soft tissue therapy. OSSM prepares practitioners for independent clinical work and is linked to the professional pathway of the Institute for Soft Tissue Therapists (ISRM).
Why does Level 5 matter?
On the UK regulated framework, Level 5 sits at the same band as a foundation degree or HND, well above a Level 3 sports massage certificate. The diploma trains assessment, treatment and rehabilitation of musculoskeletal pain and injury, not only recovery massage for healthy clients. That clinical depth is what Katia brings into studio teaching, one-to-one work and faculty standards at Thames Wellness Academy.
What should you look for in soft tissue training?
- A specialist school focused on soft tissue therapy, not a short online badge course
- Level 5 clinical scope: assess, treat and help rehabilitate complex pain and injury
- Professional standing through ISRM membership eligibility after graduation
Explore related pathways: Foundation Training, CPD and Workshops.
Qualifications
- 300-hour Yoga Teacher Training, Ashtanga and Yin Yoga (nine months, 2014)
- Assisted the following year and received a second 300-hour certificate
- Advanced Yin Yoga, 80 hours
- Yoga Nidra, 30-hour CPD
- Level 5 Soft Tissue Therapy, ISRM / Pearson BTEC
- Active IQ Level 3 Diploma in Personal Training
- Keiser M3 indoor cycling instructor certificates
- Level 2 Fitness Instructing: Group Indoor Cycling and Exercise to Music
- The Vital Shoulder and The Vital Nerves, further training with John Gibbons
- First Aid, Worksafe Training
What is the 300-hour Ashtanga and Yin training?
Katia's first substantial teaching qualification was nine months: a 300-hour Ashtanga Vinyasa and Yin programme with Zolder Yoga, registered with Yoga Alliance (RYS 200). Lead tutors were Melanie Cooper and Norman Blair. The course covered teaching craft, anatomy and philosophy: the practical foundations of standing in front of a room with care and confidence. The following year she assisted on the programme and received a second 300-hour certificate.
How did it open a new pathway?
Before teaching, Katia spent more than 14 years in corporate education. Yoga began as personal practice: a way to feel well, stay grounded and enjoy movement. Completing the first 300-hour gave that private interest a professional shape. Assisting the following year, and the second certificate that came with it, deepened the same path: teaching, helping grow Yoga Reading into a community studio, and later building clinical and faculty work under Thames Wellness Academy. The certificates did not invent her love of movement. They gave her permission, structure and credibility to turn it into a livelihood.
Why does this matter for new teachers?
Many people arrive at teacher training the same way: first as a student, then as someone quietly wondering whether there could be more. Sometimes the next chapter is chosen freely. Sometimes life asks for change more firmly, through burnout, redundancy, relocation or a simple sense that the old path no longer fits. Serious training does not erase that uncertainty. It gives you a solid place to stand while a new path forms.
A substantial Ashtanga and Yin programme is not a weekend novelty. It is a commitment that says: this practice can become skilled work. For Katia, that commitment became studio ownership, clinical soft tissue study and, eventually, leading others who are making a similar shift into professional wellness.
- Personal practice can grow into professional craft when the training is thorough
- A recognised 300-hour pathway builds confidence for real classrooms, not only home mats
- Career change, chosen or pressed by circumstance, needs credible skills and community around it
Memberships
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Professional body
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Accreditation body
Certificates
Verified qualification certificates for Katia's teaching and clinical work. Each row links to the awarding or training body, with a PDF download.
| Issuer | Qualification | About | Year | Download |
|---|---|---|---|---|
|
Active IQ Level 3 Diploma in Personal Training |
Regulated Level 3 diploma covering programme design, applied anatomy, nutrition, and professional practice for personal trainers. Awarded by Active IQ. |
2024 | Download PDF |
|
BTEC Level 5 Soft Tissue Therapy |
Clinical soft tissue therapy diploma (Level 5), issued by the Institute for Soft Tissue Therapists with Pearson BTEC validation. Training centre: Oxford School of Sports Massage. |
2019 | Download PDF |
|
Keiser M3 instructor certificates |
M3 Cycling Foundations and M3 Power Training instructor certificates from Keiser, completed at Sportspark Reading (REPs / SkillsActive endorsed CPD). |
2017 | Download PDF |
|
300-hour Ashtanga and Yin Yoga teacher training |
Nine-month, 300-hour Ashtanga Vinyasa and Yin programme with teaching techniques, anatomy, and philosophy. Course registered with Yoga Alliance (RYS 200). Lead tutors: Melanie Cooper and Norman Blair. Katia assisted the following year and received a second 300-hour certificate. |
2014 | Download PDF |
|
Level 2 Certificate in Fitness Instructing: Group Indoor Cycling |
Level 2 group indoor cycling instructor certificate from Drummond Education, aligned to REPs and European Health & Fitness Association standards. |
2014 | Download PDF |
|
LAO Level 2 Certificate in Fitness Instructing (Exercise to Music) |
Ofqual-regulated Level 2 qualification for planning and instructing group exercise to music, awarded by Lifetime Awarding (now part of Lifetime Training). |
2011 | Download PDF |
Issuer logos link to the relevant awarding body, training provider, or register page. Pearson BTEC validation for the Level 5 soft tissue diploma is included in the ISRM PDF download (Pearson Qualifications).
Testimonials
Student feedback published on the Yoga Reading testimonials page, under the heading On Katia.
Katia's manner is really motivating and encouraging. She explains the benefits of the poses as we go through them which I find really useful and motivating. Her own enthusiasm and commitment is inspiring.Student feedback · Yoga Reading
Keep up the excellent individual attention: I have learnt more in this class about the finer details of successful postures than from any other yoga teacher! I enjoy the talking: it keeps my mind from wandering, and the description of anatomy being used helps with understanding the various parts of the body we use. I particularly enjoy hearing about the specific/wider health benefits associated with each posture (more of this may motivate me to try harder with the postures I find challenging!).Student feedback · Yoga Reading
Find Katia online
Verified public profiles for Katia's teaching and clinical work.