Balancing life as a parent to two young children while launching a business in rural Northumberland, Laura Waugh is building Oak & Air — a nature therapy and breathwork practice that helps people reconnect with themselves and the natural world.
With over 20 years’ experience in conservation and community wellbeing, Laura wanted to turn her passion into a sustainable business. She reached out to Linda at NBSL, who introduced her to Enterprising North — a collaborative programme supporting start-ups and growing businesses across the region.
Through Enterprising North, Laura accessed one-to-one business mentoring and tailored advice to strengthen the foundations of her start-up. Her mentor is helping her focus on three key priorities:
- Building a Coherent Brand and Website – Finalising her website with a clear identity and accessible service offering.
- Expanding Reach – Increasing mid-week bookings and connecting with Northumberland’s growing tourism and wellbeing sectors.
- Developing Partnerships – Identifying and collaborating with local venues that align with Oak & Air’s nature-based ethos.
The mentoring process has given Laura both structure and confidence — helping her translate her vision into practical, achievable steps. With continued guidance through Enterprising North, she’s now better equipped to balance family life with business growth and to bring the benefits of nature therapy and breathwork to a wider audience across the North East.
About Laura:
Laura is a nature therapist and breathwork facilitator based in the beautiful landscape of South West Northumberland. For over twenty years, her work has centred around the environment, conservation, and helping communities connect more deeply with the natural world and with themselves.
Throughout her career, Laura has always been guided by one core belief — that nature has the power to restore, ground, and heal. With a BA (Hons) in Advice, Guidance, and Counselling, and a Diploma in Countryside Management, she has brought together her passion for people and the planet in everything she does.
Laura’s path into nature therapy and breathwork was also shaped by her own personal journey. After experiencing a period of deep loss and trauma, she turned to breathwork as a way to find calm and healing. What started as a way to support herself soon became a life-changing practice. Through daily grounding and restorative breathwork, she discovered how something as simple as connecting with the breath could clear energy, bring clarity, and create a profound sense of peace.
This experience inspired Laura to train as a Forest Bathing and Mindfulness practitioner, and later as a certified Breathwork Practitioner. Today, she shares these powerful practices with others — helping people reconnect with nature, release what no longer serves them, and find a renewed sense of balance and wellbeing.
“I trust in nature as an external anchor and the breath as an internal anchor to support my clients as I work as a guide for self-healing”
Laura, Oak and Air
Laura’s services:
Forest Bathing: Guided nature immersion sessions that help participants slow down, engage their senses, and reconnect with the natural world.
Breathwork: One-to-one or group sessions using conscious breathing techniques to reduce stress, release emotion, and promote inner calm.
- Retreats & Workshops: Half- or full-day events combining forest bathing, mindfulness, and breathwork for deep rest and reconnection.
- Corporate Wellness: Tailored wellbeing programs for teams, including short breathwork sessions, nature immersions, and full-day retreats.
- One-to-One Therapy: Personalised sessions blending breathwork and nature-based practices to support emotional healing and resilience.
The Science Behind the Practice
At Oak & Air, each practice is rooted in both ancient wisdom and modern science. Breathwork and Forest Bathing may feel simple, but their impact runs deep — influencing how our bodies respond to stress, how our minds find calm, and how our systems return to balance. These practices work through the nervous system, guiding us gently back to a state of harmony with ourselves and the natural world.
Breathwork gives us a rare ability — to consciously influence our nervous system. By simply changing how we breathe, we can guide the body from fight or flight into a state of rest and restore, reducing stress and supporting emotional balance.
Surprisingly, it’s not just about oxygen. A healthy balance of carbon dioxide (CO₂) is vital for our cells to receive oxygen efficiently.
Slow, gentle, nasal breathing keeps this balance in check, helping the body feel calm, clear, and energised.
Practices like Conscious Connected Breathwork train the nervous system to recover more easily from stress, building resilience and improving overall wellbeing — mind, body, and breath working in harmony.
Spending mindful time in nature isn’t just soothing — it’s scientifically proven to support our health. Forest Bathing (or Shinrin-yoku) helps lower stress hormones, reduce blood pressure, and boost mood by gently slowing the body and mind.
Trees release natural compounds called phytoncides, which have been shown to strengthen our immune system and promote relaxation. Combined with the sensory calm of the forest — the sounds, the air, the light — these effects help reset the nervous system and restore inner balance.
Simply put, nature does what it’s always done best: it helps us return to ourselves.
