Connect the Dots

Vanessa was first brought to yoga 10 years ago, through a chance encounter with a physiotherapist who convinced Vanessa to attend her yoga class. Vanessa experienced a new sense of calm and clarity, and quickly became a regular Vinyasa practioner, and then later finding Yin yoga and fell in love with the gentle, restorative, emotional release.

In 2016 Vanessa completed her Vinyasa teacher training with the highly esteemed Nicole Walsh. With a strong interest in functional movement, Vanessa has read extensively on anatomy and completed additional anatomy courses with international teachers such as Tiffany Cruickshank. Vanessa brings intelligent sequencing aligned to open and strengthen the body, encouraging her students to delve inward; as we release the tension physically, we subsequently feel the emotional release as well. Vanessa gently encourages her students to feel the energetic shift and the more subtle sensations within their bodies.

Vanessa’s students leave the room feeling they have completed a workout, but yet incredibly peaceful and grounded through the restorative conclusion and the re-set of their nervous system.

I'm very curious and passionate about uncovering & cultivating a deep connection with my body and guiding others to explore their own connections. I've always been drawn to holistic eastern healing modalities although my journey into movement based healing began at 25. Reintegrating with the experience of the body is the key to the work I share.

I have trained with Yoga Synergy & Master Zhen Hua Yang, founder of Calligraphy Health, and studied Traditional Thai Yoga Massage in Thailand. I'm currently completing a double bachelor’s degree in Neuroscience & Anthropology so that I can help build the bridge that integrates eastern and western perspectives of health, healing, medicine and the body. I hold group and private Qigong, Yoga & Body Therapy sessions in Sydney encouraging healing and self-exploration through movement and deep body awareness.

My Mat is my happy place. 

I stumbled across Yoga after my third baby. At the time I was looking for weight loss and fitness and wow, did I not only receive the benefits of those but I also found myself in the process! Through breath, movement and meditation I was able to find the spark that I had let dull for so many years. So after my 'ah-ha' momant in the mat. I was determined to spread this feeling, so I completed my 200 RYT and I will never look back. 

If I am not teaching Yoga I am practising Yoga with my three wonderful children, I love meditating,reading,I love walking the dog along the beach I love bush walking and finding new places to adventure around.

Setting up a yoga studio has been a calling for me!

My career and life have been focused around service. For the last decade, I have been working as a Police Officer in the Australian police force. As a first responder, I have personally known the feelings of anxiety, depression and stress.

Yoga saved me and that is why I have been called to create my studio - Yoga Energy – a healing, transformation and restorative space where you can just be you. But wait, I learned that Connect the Dots was for sale and I knew I needed to nurture another space with the same vision. So here I am!

My real-life battle with witnessing daily trauma in the society I was serving and within myself, gave a me first-hand experience as to how to provide therapeutic support to my community. I value formal and higher education, however I do believe that I have experienced a different education as a former police woman on the streets in Sydney. This experience now translates to the yoga mat and how I run my class.

I have run volunteer yoga classes to emergency service personnel to assist them to deal with stress, to build resilience for their day to day domestic combat and teach them how to restore themselves to factory settings. These are not just skills for first responders. These are skills that every single one of us needs in our daily life to lead the best life possible. 

I have studied at The Yoga Institute and I have been awarded a diploma of Yoga Studies and I am a registered Level 1 trainer with Yoga Australia.

I proudly am a Yoga ambassador and trainer for Yoga For First Responders, which I studied in Chicago, USA under the Founder and CEO Olivia Mead. I was the first Australian graduate of this school, and I committed to pioneering this transformative yoga style in Australia.

I also have a certificate in trauma aware Yoga Education, including Post Traumatic Stress presentations and Neurobiology of Trauma through Frontline Yoga. I have also received a Modern Hypnosis Certification from the esteemed Tad James Co. I have studied Restorative Yoga with the respected Mitch Gibson, YIN Yoga with the valued Marianne Edwards and Antigravity Yoga with the knowledgeable Renee Lee Stevens. 

I am a multi-faceted modern woman. I am a proud mother to four amazing children and I have been married 20 years. The journey has been interesting, challenging and rewarding. I have learnt to be kind to myself and to others on this journey and yoga has been a big part of helping me to manage the guilt of trying to be a super woman mother and wife. Yoga isn’t just for the mat. I have also learnt to incorporate practices with my family and to keep my life in balance externally and internally.

This is just a short snippet of my journey. I look forward to meeting you and holding space for you in my class.

Love, light and respect,

Kate

I aim to give my students a safe space to explore their practice in an inspiring and personal way. I am committed to helping my students develop their practice in a way that promotes their well being and inner balance.   Yoga is about Balance of Mind Body and Spirit and for me I like my students to feel amazing and empowered when they finish my class

Joanna or 'Jo' as she likes to go by is a Sydney based yoga, barre and soon to be pilates instructor. Her passion for the human body began in her professional dance career, which lead her to work commercially in Sydney and on to perform around the world with Royal Caribbean cruise lines. 

Whilst in between contracts Jo completed her 200hr Yoga teacher training with Janine Leigh. Her background of dance and movementt inspires her teaching style, allowing breath to flow whilst finding moments of stillness within the practice. 

Beth discovered the joy of yoga after arriving in Australia with two young kids, finding some much needed calm and balance in early motherhood. She continued on to deepen her practice with her first teacher training with Sukha Mukha Yoga in Bronte. 

Beth teaches a vinyasa style of yoga, with a focus on the connection of mind, body and spirit, not only on the mat but in all aspects of life. By bringing awareness and expansion into the everyday, we are able to pause, take stock and move forward in life with more meaningful intention. 

As well as teaching and enjoying vinyasa, Beth compliments her practice with yin yoga and mindfulness meditation. It is her pleasure to share the teachings of yoga, and continue on her journey both as a student and teacher.

Beth has studied with Idit Hefer Tamir, Katie Rose and Sarah Powers.

“The only journey is the one within.”
 Rainer Maria Rilke

Brooke found her way to yoga for stress management and found a respite and a place to come home to her body. After experiencing anxiety, depression and trauma, yoga became an integral part of her healing. In 2018, she completed her teacher training with Janine Leagh and continues to learn from a variety of different teachers, becoming a forever student.

She hopes that students are able to meet themselves where they are at with loving kindness and acceptance. In the words of Carl Rogers - “The curious paradox is that when I accept myself just as I am, then I can change.”.

Yoga is more than 'asanas' (postures), it's a way to meet yourself, both in shadow and light.

I am a yoga teacher, women’s circle facilitator, wellness writer and host of www.reconnected.me

 

My path of conscious living began many years ago with nutrition and lifestyle being the entry point. Yoga came later, and I realised early on in my yoga journey that the physical asana poses are a vehicle for Self-discovery, awareness and inquiry, and are only part of the whole yoga picture. 

 

My personal practice teaches me to show up, even when it’s challenging, to do the work, stay open, to check-in, take time out for myself and commit to this journey of expansion, on and off the mat. 

 

What I love most about teaching is holding space, creating a safe container and facilitating a shared experience of learning and reconnecting, both for the receiving yogi student and myself.

 

Yoga for me, goes beyond fancy poses and getting upside down. Each time we practice, we have the opportunity to learn about ourselves by witnessing how we are on the mat as a mirror for how we are off the mat, in everyday life. 

 

We can gain deeper insight into who we are, if we are open and willing to notice. And it’s from this place of expanded awareness that we can live more consciously, happily and peacefully, in our relationships, with ourselves and in many aspects of life.

 

I practice and teach vinyasa flow and yin yoga and I can’t wait to see you on the mat! 

Personal Practice: Practicing yoga since 2010

Teaching Since: 2015. I have completed over 410 hours in studying Hatha, Vinyasa style with elements of Yin Yoga. I am also certified to teach Mat Pilates with small balls, bands and circles, which I take with me to all my classes.

About My Classes: Ranging from gentle to dynamic with emphasis on alignment principles to help awaken the spine, my aim is to help students access yoga with respect to their physical capabilities whether they are complete beginners or have been practicing long term.
Making a breakthrough to a higher level by making the external form of your yoga practice more alive. At the same time, the internal form becomes more centred, meditative as you transcend to a deeper place of relaxation.Discover how to play at those edges, transforming a hectic city life into something more centred, cool headed and focussed.

About Me: I love spending time and teaching my granddaughter Kalani yoga moves. I also love my time with my 2 dogs Joker and Ledger who have been by my side for the last 10 years, and have help me become a healthier (lots of walks) and happier person.
I love the ocean and nature.In my spare time I love reading and listening to anything and everything about yoga and Pilates and religiously prepare my self, before each and every class I teach.

For someone who has discovered her innate ability and passion for Yoga and Pilates fairly late in life, I believe that the same could be true for others. 
                                    “It’s never to late to start”

Rachael was drawn to Yoga at the early age of 11 and practiced for some years which lead to teaching in 2007. A qualified teacher having gained certification from Qi yoga in Manly, and is a member of the Yoga Teachers Association of Australia. Rachael also holds a Certificate 111 in Fitness.Her earlier career in the corporate sector as a web consultant gave her insight into the pressures and challenges that most are faced with on a day-to-day level and how practicing yoga is self-sustaining.

For general, senior and prenatal classes Rachael shares a dynamic & nurturing Yoga class combining flowing yoga sequences. The focus of each class is to inspire and guide her students with enthusiasm & a strong desire to see her students transform on all levels, mental harmony, physically increasing strength, coordination and balance, emotionally & spiritually with deep relaxation and breath work.

Rachaels simple, friendly and warm instructions and demonstrations in her childrens classes make it easy for children to learn simple movements, and to feel good about themselves as they become calmer and more energised. Rachael believes in letting the children guide the yoga class, collaboratively and learning together. “We’re not doing the teaching – we’re there learning alongside them.” Rachael enjoys sharing her understanding of yoga with others, and looks forward to learning from all her students

“Practice and all is coming” – Sri Pattabhi Jois

Nikki is a dedicated and compassionate yoga practitioner who has infinite curiosity for the practice. Her classes encourage personal exploration with intelligently sequenced dynamic flows that offer challenging, transformative and empowering experiences that allow students to deepen their practice and reconnect with their body, heart and breath. Her classes focus on alignment and the subtle energy flow that has the potential to leave her students feeling balanced, rejuvenated and connected after their practice. Nikki draws her inspiration from Yogic Eastern philosophy and Western psychology as well as her yoga teachers from whom she is endlessly learning.

I first found yoga while I was a full time ballet dancer at a performing arts school. Even though I was a ballet dancer and had been doing it all my life I found that some days I enjoyed yoga a lot more. In ballet you are literally told to stand behind the person you’re trying to be better than and to be better than you were the day before. This encouraged improvement, however it also brought up negative thoughts. In yoga we work to where we are that day. Our goal may be to improve but it doesn’t matter if we don’t. We focus on where we are in that moment. Live in the present. I then moved to Princeton, New Jersey for a year to begin my professional ballet career. I found a little yoga studio in this small city to go to on the one day off. Continuing my practice allowed me to calm my busy thoughts of ballet and being home sick. 

Due to an injury I had to come back home. I had to find a new path in life. This is hard when all you’ve ever known is taken from you. I did always find peace in the yoga studio though. I forgot all my stresses and worries. 

A the end of last year I finished my HSC and now I have many jobs which I love. In yoga, we all have a dharma -a purpose in life- I believe that someone can have many dharmas. Some of my many jobs include yoga teaching of course, dance teaching, preschool entertaining, kids party entertaining, nannying and babysitting. I equally enjoy kids, dance and yoga and I cannot see my life without one of these. I have just completed my kids yoga teacher training as well which will fit in with everything else that I’m doing.  

This is probably the biggest and best thing that living the yoga life has taught me and I believe that everyone should live by this:

~Don’t let anyone tell you what to do or how to feel. Only you can decide your path and how to look at things in life. You can choose to live your best life and see the positive in everything that may come up. You’ve got this~

Lisa started Yoga in 2005 and instantly felt at home on the mat and knew she would teach one day.

Her mat, the teachings of asana and philosophy have seen her heal from difficult times on her life. She has cried, grieved, grown and mostly importantly laughed through her practice and love of retreats. Her Yoga mat has been a place of solace toward acceptance of her own body image issues.

She started the teacher training journey in 2017 with Nicole Whiteman in the Solomon Yogalates method. With further training in 2019 with Sarah Ball in Yoga for Trauma, Anxiety & Depression & Body Image and Mitch Gibson in Restorative Yoga training.
And in Jan 2020 Yin Yoga training with Sarah Owen.

Using Asana, (postures), meditation, pranayama (breathwork) & philosophy to create a safe & nuturing space for students to find a connection between their mind, body & spirit.

I started practicing yoga about 17 years ago. I was 22 years old and I had just moved out of home. I was studying full time at university and working part time. Even though I did well at my studies, I found it difficult to maintain balance in my life and I would often feel stressed, anxious and overwhelmed. 

One day, I found an advertisement in my letter box from a lady who was teaching yoga in my area. The classes included asana, pranayama, yogic philosophy, yoga nidra, chanting mantras and meditation. I knew after my very first class that I had discovered something special and I would be practicing yoga for the rest of my life! 

Yoga has given me the tools to directly experience my true self and to have a connection with that which is greater than myself. I feel very blessed to have discovered yogic teachings in this lifetime and grateful for the opportunity to share this with others.