Yoga life journey

a little background

YOGA TEACHING JOURNEY

My journey as a teacher began during my time as a karma yogi at Anahata Yoga Retreat, Aotearoa’s dedicated yoga ashram.

Nestled 670 metres above Takaka on crystal mountain, on the edge of Abel Tasman National Park in Mohua/Golden Bay, Anahata became a powerful setting for transformation and study.

While living there, I completed two teacher trainings: a 200-hour RYT with Avene Kelly of Golden Flow Yoga (Hatha, Yin, and Ashtanga) and a 120-hour training in Yoga Nidra, Breath Methods, Restorative Yoga and Yoga Nidra with Swami Karma Karuna. Kundalini Yoga has also been a significant influence; I’m drawn to the use of kriya, mudra, mantra, and breath to generate energetic clarity and vitality.

ANAHATA YOGA RETREAT

My 8-month immersion at Anahata grounded me in the lived experience of yoga as
a whole-of-life practice. Daily rituals included bhakti yoga (mantra), karma yoga (selfless action), havan fire ceremonies, and kirtan. The rhythm of ashram life offered a deep contrast to city living. When I returned to urban life, I felt the dissonance, the constant noise, urgency, and overstimulation that many of us take for granted.
This reaffirmed something vital: our nervous systems and spirit need quietness,
space and nature to truly thrive.

YOGA LIFE JOURNEY

I’ve been drawn to yoga since I can recall, around the age of six, flipping through my mum’s Yoga for Health book from the 70s. After leaving home at 16, yoga has been something I’ve returned to through every twist and turn. It has helped me survive and heal through life’s challenges.

Over the past 20 years, I’ve slowly reshaped my lifestyle to prioritise simplicity, practice and wellbeing and fluid timeframes. My background includes Post Graduate Business and Graphic Design qualifications. Plus all the life-enhancing studies and practices of Vipassana meditation, Reiki, Yoga and Breathwork, plus Menopause Wellness, a recent course that deepened my understanding of hormonal shifts and how to support the body and mind through this powerful phase of life.

I’ve had incredible teachers, especially in Queenstown and Nelson, and I still love being a student.

Now based in Wellington, I’ve taught over 1,000 hours at City Fitness studios and Anahata Yoga Studio. My classes blend Hatha and Vinyasa yoga with functional movement, helping build strength, stability, and mobility for a long, healthy life.
I guide from lived experience, only teaching what I’ve truly embodied, so I can speak to how the body feels and moves through practice.

Somatic awareness is at the heart of my teaching, tuning in to the felt sense of body, mind, and breath. I believe in the power of Yoga Nidra as a balm for our overstimulated, over-busy lives. It’s a practice I return to often, and I love introducing others to its deep rest and subtle transformation.

Yoga reminds us of what’s already within us; vitality, calm, clarity.

I currently offer Yoga Nidra Journeys every second month in Wellington. These sessions are restorative, gentle resets of the nervous system, releasing held tensions, and allowing space for healing, creativity and renewal.