For me, yoga is more than a physical practice, it is a way of living…

Gyani’s Story

Lavish London

Gyani was born in Kent, UK. She always had a passion for the creative industries, and after university and her gap year travelling she ended up getting a job in advertising in London. Her job enabled her to live a lavish and extravagant lifestyle - she lived the London lifestyle to its fullest! This was all great until she was diagnosed with Hodgkins Lymphoma cancer at the age of 24. This pressed pause on her life.

After intensive chemotherapy and radiotherapy she was given the all clear, and was able to slowly return back to her old life and job in advertising. However something very deep within her had changed and she wasn’t driven by the same as before, she had no interest in going back to the party lifestyle. It took her a time to build up her immune system to then quit her job and leave London to go on a journey of healing.

A path to healing

In early 2007 Gyani travelled to New Zealand and somehow ended up at a yoga ashram, Anahata, on top of a mountain in Golden Bay, South Island. Gyani had never been to yoga classes, or done any meditation or chanting mantras before. She had signed up for a one week Explore Your Self course she had seen advertised on a poster and was literally thrown in at the deep end.

The ashram is traditionally a place of “inner work” dedicated to personal transformation through service and regularity of yogic practice. It is a beautiful and peaceful setting in nature, a sanctuary that follows an authentic yoga lifestyle in the Satyananda tradition. The ashram schedule ran from 4.30am to 8.30pm with periods of silence, no internet or phone reception, an integrative style of yoga with asana, pranayama, mantra, and meditation, and also karma yoga which involves selfless service to others.

The ashram environment and yogic lifestyle had such a power it affected every single aspect of her life - physically, mentally and emotionally and spiritually.

Yoga therapy works

While Gyani lived at the ashram she started sessions with senior yoga therapist. Her yoga therapist gave her an accessible daily practice and insight to make small lifestyle changes that had the most profound effect. During her stay Gyani started to trust her physical body again - she felt stronger and healthier than ever. Her fatigue improved, her nervous system was nourished, her immune system was stronger, and her chronic insomnia lifted.

Home of her heart

After staying at the ashram in New Zealand for 6 months she felt a strong pull to go to heart of the tradition to the ashram in India. Making this happen a few months later she travelled to India to spend 2 months in Rikhiapeeth ashram, in Jharkhand, immersed in yogic disciplines, practices & lifestyle. She felt like she had found her spiritual home. The energy and vibrancy of the Indian ashram filled her up with light and inspiration.

After India her journey took her to Australia to start a 2 year Diploma of Yogic Studies which she completed in 2009 and became a 2000hr registered yoga teacher.

She felt a big pull to go back to her spiritual home in India so decided to to move there in December 2009. She lived at Rikhiapeeth Ashram for the next 3 years and her experience was equally challenging as it was soul fulfilling. It taught her a lived experience of yoga - humility, compassion to all beings, and one pointed focus or dharana. (Her stories from India will need to be shared another time.)

After leaving India she came back to Australia to teach and live in a retreat centre in NSW. She ended up spending nearly 10 years of her life imbibing a yogic lifestyle in ashrams/retreat centres around the world.

Life after ashram

In 2015 her journey led her to Bunbury in Western Australia when she started teaching yoga in the community. She focuses on teaching an integral style of Hatha Yoga including asana, pranayama, yoga nidra and meditation, Yin Yoga, and Chair Yoga. She realised her calling was to make yoga accessible to all ages and bodies offering her classes with joy, passion and a smile.

Always a student

In the last few years Gyani has completed over 150hrs training in Yin Yoga, 150hrs with Byron Yoga Centre, and recently completed her 750hrs Post Graduate training in Yoga Therapy and Ayurveda. She realises the importance of ongoing study, which will be her lifelong journey.

She has attended many 10 day silent meditation retreats in the Goenka style of Vipassana mediation. The Vipassana mediation and the practice of Yoga Nidra have become the backbones to her life, helping her to find peace of mind and be better equipped to manage the stresses of a busy modern life.

Gyani has a taste for ‘the subtle’ and enjoys sharing the deeper aspects of yoga. She now hopes to inspire others with her experience and help her clients reach their full potential and thereby blossom fully as human beings.

Gyani holds the following qualifications and registrations:

Diploma of Yogic Studies and Yoga Teaching with Satyananada Yoga Academy (over 2000hrs)
Graduate Certificate in Yoga Therapy with Yoga Therapy Institute (750hrs)
Certificate in Clinical Ayurveda with Yoga Therapy Institute
Level 2 Yoga Training with Byron Yoga Centre (300hrs)
Yin Yoga Teacher Training with Jo Phee (150hrs)
Advanced Yin Yoga Training with Hugh Lee
Advanced Yoga Training in Trauma, Mental Health and Body Image with Sarah Ball (50hrs)
First Aid certificate
Registered Yoga Australia Level 1 Yoga Teacher since 2014.
Registered Yoga Australia Yoga Therapist since 2024.

Swami Satsangi, Rocklyn Ashram, Victoria