A Journey Through the Eyes of a Yoga Teacher

This is my journey on becoming a Yoga Teacher and how that shaped the rest of my life.

How does one start Yoga? Usually by being invited by a friend.  And I was no different. 

I was invited to attend a class with Swami Shakti Ananda (Joy McIntosh) around 1979. She became my teacher, my mentor and my very dear friend, even to this day. She is approaching 96 years of age.  

Joy asked me to start my teacher training with her and of course I jumped, nervously, at the opportunity. 

Training was mainly handed down by word of mouth. We would meet each morning at around 4 am for meditation and lectures, or as Joy called them “wonderful chats”. From these early morning starts for around 4 years I graduated as a teacher.  

Years later, when both Joy and Roma Blair decided I was “knowledgeable, capable, and worthy” I was initiated as Swami Prema Ananda.  A huge responsibility and a huge honour. From these exciting, difficult, and very tricky times, (Yoga back then, was not mainstream and we were regarded as “quite strange people”)

I went on to start my own business, which is still running today. I could say I fell in love with the best lifestyle anyone can have. You get to understand what wellness is like, how you can help others and so much more. It was also a privilege to be involved in the start-up of the organization known today as Yoga Australia. It is wonderful to see how far this organization has come. 

In 2017, with a friend, we started Trinity Inner Cor Yoga Teacher training.  

I think, at last count, our school had trained around 150 wonderful Yoga Teachers. After this, Inner Cor Yoga started 60+ and Gorgeous (Yoga for older persons) and have now set up a post-grad course in training teachers and have trained approximately 20 students thus far. I also started Inner Cor Yoga Evolve (Survivors of Stroke).

Inner Cor Yoga Evolve had the assistance of a researcher to prove the success of this program.   

Throughout my career I have taught in Jails, Hospitals, Psychiatric clinics specialising in eating disorders, schools, private and public, Kindergartens, Disabilities activities, Sporting organisations, Corporations, principal of 20 or more Vipassanas (and still do) around Australia. DVDs with Auslan, Inner Cor Yoga even had its own Yoga props and clothing range.   

My world was consumed with yoga. In fact, I was teaching over 32 classes per week. And so on and so on.  

This is the first time I have looked back over my Yoga working life and I feel so honoured to have such a wonderful, amazing journey. This journey of Teaching, Vipassanas, Personal Development, and training students still excited me to this very day.  

If you would like to learn more, I am always available to assist with your next step.  

Are you looking at becoming a Yoga teacher? Follow your dreams, it truly is a magic lifestyle.