Welcome to ToppForm
Holistic Stress Management and Wellness Training
About ToppForm
ToppForm was set up in 2007 by Lisa Topping.
Following the completion of a Biological Sciences degree in 1990, Lisa spent over fifteen years as a manager in the pharmaceutical industry. This provided her with a wealth of experience and opportunities, but she was always aware that it would never feel like her true vocation. Then one day it became obvious. Why not combine her passion for Tai Chi with her experience of working in the stressed-out corporate world? The idea of setting up an holistic stress management consultancy was born.
Lisa developed a keen interest in Tai Chi over ten years ago and has studied with a number of different teachers, including Stephen Russell (aka The Barefoot Doctor) and Richard Farmer from the Rising Dragon Tai Chi School. Finding that regular practice causes considerable improvement to her sense of well-being and happiness, she wanted to share her knowledge and enthusiasm with others. Successful completion of a 225 hour teacher training programme with the Institute of Integral Qigong and Tai Chi between 2007-2009 enabled her to do this. She is also a member of the British Health Qigong Association, and still very much enjoys being a student as well as a teacher, regularly attending training to further develop her knowledge and understanding.
Additionally, Lisa has a Postgraduate Certificate in Teaching Mindfulness-Based Courses from Bangor University. She has also had the privilege of attending a “7-Day Professional Training Retreat in Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction”, led by the founders of MBSR, Jon Kabat-Zinn and Saki Santorelli. Quite an amazing experience if she says so herself! Currently she is training to become an accredited Breathworks trainer.
Bringing the benefits of Tai Chi and mindfulness to the work place is of particular interest to Lisa, as she knows exactly what it is like to be on the “other side of the fence”, but she also likes to teach in the wider community, and holds regular classes in health centres and other public venues.
Lisa says:
“Setting up ToppForm was the best career move I could have made.
It is such a relief to have finally found what I truly want to do when I
'grow up'! Both Tai Chi Easy and MBSR distil the ancient Eastern traditions on
which they are based into contemporary and accessible instructional
systems. I strongly feel that there is an enormous need for such tools
in the modern world, to encourage and enable people to take greater
responsibility for their own health and well-being. I know how
much I gain personally from these techniques, and my ambition is to
convey these benefits to as many other people as possible. ToppForm is allowing me to do just that.”