Yoga Mentoring
I am a Senior Yoga Teacher & Registered Yoga Mentor with Yoga Australia
After practising and teaching yoga for over 25 years, I truly enjoy mentoring fellow yoga practitioners, yoga teachers and therapists, and students of all levels.
Whatever your unique, individual yoga journey, there are always times when the presence and open-hearted, compassionate guidance of another may be just the support you need.
Many yogis in modern times, particularly in the Australian context, are practising on their own, or working as a sole-trader, if not teaching yoga as a side-hustle to their ‘real’ job.
It can be rewarding, sure, and there are certainly times it can feel very challenging, too.
Being human trumps ‘being a yogi'! The antarayas (YS 1:30) - the obstacles to obtaining the goal of yoga will inevitably arise in some form, at some point, for everyone.
Developing a relationship with a Mentor can support you to meet yourself fully as you are, and move forward, whatever obstacle to clear perception or ’temporary interruption to flow' you may be experiencing.
As a yoga practitioner, teacher & therapist I have been fortunate to receive mentoring from a number of highly esteemed yoga teachers including Karen Schaefer, Mark Breadner, Michael de Manincor, Libbie Nelson, & Saraswathi Vasudevan.
My principal teacher is Saraswathi Vasudevan of Yoga Vahini, Chennai. I completed my IAYT- accredited Yoga Therapy training with her at Yoga Vahini, Chennai in 2016, and continue to regularly visit India to study with her in person, as well as online.
As a Mentor, I have had deeply rewarding relationships with trainee teachers just starting out, as well as long-term yoga practitioners looking for fresh inspiration, or simply a sounding board for their own internal dialogue.
I endeavour to hold space for each individual’s own inner wisdom to arise, in response to their unique situation.
My training in Gestalt psychotherapy, as well as lived experience in diverse group settings, supports me to listen deeply with compassionate presence and attunement to your individual needs.
In the past few years, I have completed further studies in Mental Health Aware Yoga with Dr Lauren Tober, as well as extensive training in working with grief from an existential perspective with Dr Greg Roberts.
Since learning to chant the Yoga Sutras in a regular weekly study group with Michael de Manincor in 2005, I have continued to study this endlessly relevant and profound classical yoga text.
From 2020 to 2023, I joined an online weekly Yoga Sutra study group with Saraswathi Vasudevan & several senior teachers in the Krishnamacharya tradition.
I have taught the Yoga Sutras of Patanjali as part of the teacher training at Life Source Yoga & Health, North Sydney.
Since 2020, I have enjoyed facilitating an ongoing Yoga Sutra study group online - please contact me to inquire about upcoming online study group dates.
"A mentor is an experienced yoga teacher and practitioner with well-developed knowledge and embodied experience of yoga and the capacity and willingness to offer guidance to other yoga teachers.
As senior teachers registered with Yoga Australia, all registered mentors have completed a minimum of 1000 hours of yoga teacher training and have been teaching for at least 10 years. Some have areas of specialisation.
Mentors aspire to embody the teachings of yoga in life. Mentors may or may not come from the same tradition/training as the mentee.
Well-developed communication and listening skills which include the ability to provide clear, non-judgmental feedback, and support processes that encourage deeper self-inquiry and reflection on issues arising in teaching.
Natural respect and honouring of others, creating and holding trust and a safe space for the mentee. A mentor meets the mentee where they are and supports them to discover their own form of teaching and yogic journey.
Familiarity of the nature of the mentor-mentee relationship, through having been mentored themselves.” - Yoga Australia
