Yoga Therapy Training Completed

In Dec 2017, I completed my training towards a Post Graduate Diploma in Yoga Therapy. Over 650 hours tuition, workshops, assignments, assessment and practical work over the past 3 years with Yoga Therapy Australia and Yoga Vaidya Śālā. Formal accreditation is gained once I complete a 100 hour internship in February 2018 with Dr N. Chandrasekaran (Dr NC) in Chennai, India.

It will be a nice way to bounce from this year to the next when I fly back to the birthplace of Yoga for my second visit.

The path of teaching yoga had been getting harder to manage since moving back to Australia. The studios pay less and some disregard their obligation to pay superannuation. I was feeling frustrated and also wanted to break out from teaching a set sequence. Maybe it was the temperature; in Sweden it was fantastisk to go from the freezing snow to the toasty warmth of Bikram Yoga duCalme. On moving back to a warm climate, it didn’t make as much sense.

Anyone would think I was stumbling along a crumbling Himalayan yak track but first world problems seem big time when most of your yoga practice has been in a room full of floor to ceiling mirrors. They serve a purpose yes, but they’re only ever going to show the outside of you.

I looked for an answer and found Viniyoga. I completed the Foundations of Viniyoga with Yoga Therapy Australia in 2014 and went on to complete another Yoga Teacher Training in the tradition of Krishnamacharya with Leanne Davis at Viniyoga Australia. However, my bread and butter were teaching Bikram so I kept teaching the series. It’s funny how things turn out because after learning about yoga at a depth that wasn’t explored at Bikram Teacher Training, I actually regained respect for Bikram’s Beginning Yoga class even though I could not respect the man. Now I teach both Bikram Yoga and Breath Focus Yoga (Yoga in the tradition of Krishnamacharya, also referred to as Viniyoga).

The past three years have been an inward journey. Here I was thinking my Viniyoga studies would provide me with a brand new kit to help others from day one. Very soon though, I found myself on the workbench tinkering away in depths and crevices, with an array of Yoga tools in texts of Sanskrit, thousands of years old. First you must assimilate before you can teach! Combining ancient knowledge with Dr NC’s allopathic, western medical background provided us with a well balanced education in Yoga Therapy, which is fast becoming an accepted health modality in Australia.

If I haven’t posted in a while, it’s because I needed a break from social media and the commercialisation of Yoga. Deleting Facebook was a great relief although I lost touch with a lot of people met during travels. Mostly, I needed space to study. I’ve been getting my head around the many levels of mind, bending with grace not grimace these days and assimilating Viniyoga into the thread of a daily home practice. I’m getting ready to share again so stay tuned for more information on Yoga and Yoga Therapy – they are quite different you know.

If you live on the Sunshine Coast and would like a personalised Yoga practice, based on your individual needs, please get in touch for a Yoga Therapy Consultation. Otherwise please join me for a Breath Focus Yoga class. I’m also back on Facebook so look me up; yeah yeah, I know…