The Light Centre

The Light Centre is a multidisciplinary health centre situated in leafy Belgravia in London, just a few minutes walk from Victoria train and tube station.

We have three studios and four treatment rooms with 56 teachers and practitioners and over 4,000 registered clients.

The Centre hosts more than 50 Yoga and Pilates classes and 15 different therapies a week, as well as a wide range of weekend workshops,  courses and retreats.

Open for over four years the centre is an oasis in the middle of the city and a haven for many health conscious people who live and work in the area.
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The Light Centre is home to the Light Programme. It was developed seven years ago by the Centre’s founder and principal, Mark Thompson operating initially as part of his own private practice. Establishing a team of teachers and therapists to deliver the programmes and a venue to host them was one of the main reasons for setting up the Centre.

The programme is offered on a non-profit basis as a way of demonstrating to the medical world that good health is available to all with little or no need for drugs and medical institutionalism.

The Light Centre’s own website is at www.lightcentre.com. 

The Light Programme is written and overseen by the founder of the Light Centre and leading Osteopath / Naturopath, Mark Thompson.

Mark is an expert in evolutionary and adaptive biomechanics and has written an acclaimed book on the evolution of the human body and mind. He has eradicated injuries and improved performance for a number of top international sports stars and produced a revolutionary injury prevention programme for the Welsh Rugby Team. He is also a sought-after lecturer and media commentator and recently designed a unique new car seat for the world’s top sports car manufacturer.

As a Naturopath and nutritional expert he has been a weekly health advisor on BBC Radio, been consulted by supermarkets and recently gave a digestive master class to the country’s leading gastrointestinal surgeons and physicians at the Royal Free Hospital.

Psychologically, he has helped many international performers with their mental toughness and has coached a number of top business leaders to greater levels of success.

Mark is joined on each programme by a group of teachers and practitioners from the Light Centre’s extensive staff.

100 Year History

Timeline of Natural Health in the UK, leading to the Light Centre and Light Programme

1900 - American, Barr Macfadden (pioneer of today’s fitness movement) launches his ‘Physical Culture’ magazine in the UK and promotes the building of ‘glorious health’ through seven natural laws.

1909 - Macfadden comes to the UK and opens a health sanatorium in Brighton accommodating 50 patients. He demonstrates remarkable recoveries from chronic diseases without the use of drugs.

1920 - After the war Macfadden returns to the UK with a protégé, Stanley Lief and opens another sanatorium in the Chilterns called Orchard Leigh.

1925 - Stanley Lief opens his own Nature Cure resort called Champneys in Hertfordshire and starts a magazine called ‘Health for All’.

1930s - Stanley Lief and Boris Chaitow develop Neuro-muscular Technique, a whole body mobilisation routine to redress the growing physical stresses of modern life.

1949 - Stanley Lief founds the British College of Naturopathy to train Naturopaths.

1957 - The college is gifted a building in  London by Hector Frazer, a grateful patient, and becomes the British College of Naturopathy and Osteopathy (now BCOM).

1957 - Naturopath, Tom Moule takes over the Directorship at Champneys from Stanley Lief .

1969 - Terry Moule, takes over his father Tom’s practice, becomes the UK’s foremost sports practitioner an in the 1990s becomes President of the British Naturopathic Association.

1993 - Osteopath’s Act of Parliament recognises many of the treatment methods established by Naturopaths.

1999 - Naturopath, Mark Thompson takes over Terry Moule’s practice.

2004 - Mark Thompson starts the Light Centre in London, a new model for encouraging and supporting natural lifestyle improvements.

2007 - Mark Thompson starts the Light Programme