About UMEUS : Our Story

UMEUS Foundation was founded by Sam McCarthy and Leo Taylor in 2015 when they collaborated in response to their experience of motherhood and what they felt they needed; a place to explore the changing nature of life after having children.
With a successful career editing women’s fashion magazines, Leo’s burgeoning family life had asked her to apply a different rhythm, away from the London commute and the intense demands of publishing deadlines, she’d listened and responded.
Already immersed in a yoga community having trained as a yoga teacher with Vajrasati School in 2006, Leo was running a supportive group called Mindful Mamas in Brighton, when she and Sam met to explore the possibility of developing a eudaimonic organisation that aligned both their offerings.
Connected through a mutual friend Charlotte Watts, now also an active affiliate of UMEUS, Sam was volunteering for the National Childbirth Trust and had contributed to the creation of a local community group for expectant and new mothers, she was also collaborating with Sure Start, developing a program to support post-natal women struggling with anxiety.

But it was an evening together at an event with one of the worlds most recognised proponents of mindful practice, Jon Kabat-Zinn, that propelled the creation of UMEUS.
In May 2015 Leo and Sam boarded a train to London. With daughters aged just 3 years old and both women balancing work, study and parenting, the evening glimmered with a sense of optimism and trepidation.

UMEUS in 2015

UMEUS in 2019