Two people, one river,
and a serious interest in what actually helps.
Wittering Wellbeing grew out of Wittering SUP, the paddleboarding school James and Alex built on the River Avon at Arden Sailing Club in Worcestershire. What began as a passion for getting people on the water became something more interesting: an observation that time near water does something measurable to how people feel, think, and recover.
James brought the science. A background in mindfulness practice led to formal MBCT training through the Oxford Mindfulness Foundation, then to blue health facilitation with the Academy of Surfing Instructors, and eventually to programmes that bring the neuroscience of attention and recovery into practical, everyday use. The approach has always been evidence-first. If it cannot be explained, it is not offered.
Alex brings the physical dimension: yoga, SUP yoga, and wild swimming woven through the programmes so the science lands in the body, not just the head. Between them, they cover both ends of it: the science and the practice, the understanding and the felt sense.
Outside the business, James and Alex are approved foster carers. It shapes how they think about resilience, about what people carry, and about why looking after your own mind is not a luxury. That tends to matter more, not less, when you are responsible for other people.
- Evidence-based throughout. Nothing is offered because it feels nice.
- Sceptic-friendly. People do not need to believe in anything, only to notice.
- Practical. Every practice should be portable and usable outside the room it was learned in.
- Honest about limits. The science is emerging in places; we say so.
- Grounded in place. The River Avon is doing something throughout every session, whether you are on it or beside it.
James and Alex Wittering
Evidence-based, body-aware,
and beside the river.
Why the River Avon matters
Arden Sailing Club sits on a quiet stretch of the Avon between Pershore and Eckington in Worcestershire. The location is deliberate. Proximity to water is consistently associated with lower cortisol, improved mood, and faster attentional recovery in the research literature. The river is doing something throughout every session, whether participants are on it or beside it.
The blue and green environment softens directed attention, the kind that cognitive work depletes, and allows the mind to recover without effort. People do not need to understand this for it to work. But knowing it tends to change how they relate to any time they spend near water after that.
In their own words
Arden Sailing Club,
River Avon, Worcestershire.
If something here sounds useful, or you want to find out whether it might suit you or your team, get in touch.
Book a call with James