Rachael (Deng Mao Zi Jiao) is a 16th generation disciple of Daoist Master Yuan Xiu Gang and the Wudang San Feng Pai lineage whom she was trained by in China.

She was born in Edinburgh and left a career in Envionmental Consultancy in 2008 to train first as a yoga teacher with the Inner Yoga Trust alongside studying taiji, qi gong, zen buddhism and shamanic practices to find answers for her struggles in health.

Rachael's work teaching began in 2011 when she started the Soen Ren School in Edinburgh while continuing to train in China and she taught full time for many years with a great community of students and friends there before starting a family. This website has an archive with videos, photos and blogs from this time and from the Wudang training days.

Rachael now has three young children and lives in a very special part of Scotland in Argyll (Earra-Ghàidheal, 'Coast of the Gaels'), close to historically sacred sites. She continues to teach online and in weekly classes, workshops and retreats with an emphasis on connecting to the land as well as to the body and gives guided walks on the area. She also supports women with the physical, psycological and practical processes of birth and postpartum (see www.birthafterbirth.com).