teachers
Ahimsa (Helen Cushing) 0474 321 784
Satyananda (Holistic) Yoga Teacher
BA Communications
Diploma of Satyananda Yoga Training
Member of SYTA (Satyananda Yoga Teachers' Association)
Ahimsa has practised yoga for most of her life and has been teaching since 2003. She is a highly regarded teacher and presenter in Australia and internationally. For many years she was manager of the Hobart Yoga & Meditation Centre, a busy yoga hub providing a wide range of classes, workshops and retreats. Ahimsa is the founder of South Hobart Yoga & Meditation and Life Beyond Trauma. She presently teaches in Hobart and travels widely offering retreats and workshops.
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Author
Prior to teaching yoga Ahimsa worked in the media, including in publishing and with ABC TV. Her interest in writing led her to write articles and books on yoga, including for Australian Yoga Life, Yoga Magazine and elsewhere. During several years as a resident of Bihar School of Yoga (BSY) in India, Ahimsa worked in the publishing division, editing an extensive range of books. She continues to write about the benefits of yoga for spiritual living and for specialised applications.
Yoga for PTSD
Since 2004 Ahimsa has taught yoga to war veterans, refugees and others with post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), anxiety and depression. She has consulted to a Colombian study on yoga for PTSD and and gives presentations, workshops and retreats on this topic around the world.
In 2014 Ahimsa produced an award-winning documentary, Heroes of Peace, about the experiences of veterans involved in the yoga program she teaches. View it at the Life Beyond Trauma website.
Her unique book, Hope: How Yoga Heals the Scars of Trauma offers holistic solutions to post-trauma suffering, showing how yoga heals the nervous system and gives skills for managing the mind and emotions.
Touring and teaching
Ahimsa has instructed on yogic studies and yoga teacher training courses Australia and India.
Internationally she's taught a variety of programs in India, Singapore, UK, Europe , Serbia and Colombia.
Yoga Books by Ahimsa
Yoga Day by Day: A Guide to Holistic Practices for Healthy Living
Hope: How Yoga Heals the Scars of Trauma
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Gwendal Faure
Gentle Yoga teacher
Hailing from south-west France, I’ve lived in Hobart for about four years. I like gardening, travelling and yoga. My mother was my first yoga teacher, and since my teens I think I must be one of her most diligent students!
I love yoga so much that I did teacher training in 2018, which is how I met Ahimsa, who was our Yoga Philosophy instructor. I started practising at SHYAM as I discovered that Satyananda Yoga seems to be the form of yoga that best suits my being.
As my thirst for deeper yoga grew, I attended courses with Ahimsa in Serbia about yoga for PTSD, followed by several retreats and meditation courses. In 2019 I completed an in-depth course, Dimensions of Hatha Yoga at the Rocklyn Ashram (Victoria) mainly to build my own daily practice. I must say that my life dramatically improved after this(:.
I teach in France during July and August, and in Hobart the rest of the year.
Sangita (Melissa Howden) 0400 519 323
Satyananda (Holistic) Yoga Teacher, Member Yoga Australia
Diploma of Satyananda Yoga Training
BA Eng & Phil, Dip Ed
Dip Remedial Massage
Dip Natural Nutrition
Mindfulness Teacher Training Level 1 & 2
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Sangita discovered yoga in the 1980s, but it was not until 2015 that she became a yoga teacher, had a sea change, and spent the following three years living at a yoga ashram in NSW, where she became totally immersed in yoga as a lifestyle. Originally from Tasmania, she is back, and passionate about sharing the practices of yoga and mindfulness as a way to enhance wellbeing and create a meaningful life.
Music
Prior to teaching yoga Sangita worked as a music teacher in schools both in Tasmania and the UK. She now runs kirtan workshops for anyone wanting to develop this side of their yoga practice and discover their own inner musical yogi.
Yoga for Cancer Wellbeing
Sangita also loves sharing yoga and meditation for people living with cancer, as this has been part of her own journey, and has ultimately been the catalyst for positive change and personal growth in her life. These rich and informative sessions draw on Sangita's training at the Gawler Foundation.
“Being diagnosed with cancer can be a profoundly stressful experience. Yoga teaches us how to relax the body and calm the mind, and can help us find a sense of joy and purpose in life again. The practices of yoga and meditation support our wellbeing on every level - physical, mental, emotional and spiritual.”