Kate Haskard
Studio Owner

Having a corporate background myself, I know first hand the importance of balance - especially in high stress, deadline driven roles.

“While working in the corporate world, I had this vague sense of searching for something, for looking for some kind of ‘peace’ that couldn’t be articulated. I certainly wasn’t expecting Yoga to shape my life when I walked into my first studio.
I thought I was looking for exercise and relaxation, but I wasn’t expecting Yoga to shape my body, mind and spirit all at once.”

“In that room I found a space where I could let go of my judgements and just be me. I found a space where I could challenge myself both physically and mentally; to be awake, to really listen to my soul and my body. I found the space to get back to the essence of what it means to be alive- the breath, movement, energy, wholeness. I found community and spirituality; I found the space to reassess and reconnect to what’s truly important; how to find the Joy in this moment, in the stillness- right now.
And what I love is that I continue to find new spaces, day by day, practice by practice. Yoga is the journey by which I continue to discover my truest self.”

In 2016 I left my corporate role to pursue my passion for Yoga and moved to Canberra with my partner and two children in 2018.

Kate Rafferty

Initially, I was drawn to yoga for the physical benefits. Like a lot of people, I wanted to become strong and flexible. After developing a regular practice, I noticed a wonderful shift in my thought patterns. I discovered that I enjoyed the mental benefits of yoga as much as the physical. Each class offered me the opportunity to strengthen and stretch my body, while providing a much needed vacation from my monkey mind.

For me, the benefits of yoga are unparalleled. Yoga has so many layers: philosophy, anatomy, personal reflection and self-study, alignment, human connection, focus, lots of challenges and ultimately surrender (and the list goes on!). It is this diversity and depth of learning that makes me an eternal student; yoga nourishes my body and mind.

I believe wholeheartedly in the benefits of yoga. It can provide guidance and a safe place, when life begins to overwhelm. Yoga cultivates stability, strength and flexibility – for body and mind - in a world where finding balance is becoming increasingly difficult.

Tina Best

Tina's yoga is a playful exploration of the connection between mind, body and breath. She offers an invitation to embody magic, grace and mindfulness as you flow through your practice.

She will encourage you to practice from the heart, centering in self love, as you explore, nuture and open your body and mind to unbody possibilities.

Bri Cyrus

Bri’s yoga journey originates in Los Angeles where she was drawn to it while studying nutrition, and continued through her graduate degree in pathology. Her 250 RYT certification was completed at Raw Power Yoga in Brisbane. She believes that the practice of yoga is the ultimate vehicle to connect the mind and body. Through this connection one can continue growth and self-development, reaching her full potential.
Bri keeps in mind the first two limbs of yoga when teaching, (the yamas and niyamas), and develops a class centred around a specific philosophy.
Bri loves to teach a powerful vinyasa class, but also enjoys slowing it down, adapting to the energy of the class.

Amber Janiszewska

Amber has been a yoga enthusiast for two decades, first coming to yoga purely for the physical asana practice. It wasn’t until her early 30’s, when she undertook prenatal and yoga nidra classes that she truly appreciated all the benefits and blessings yoga offers, beyond the physical, and credits the application of pranayama techniques and mantra in aiding the birth of her children.

In 2019, Amber left paid employment to help her mother care for her terminally ill father, a humbling and transformative experience, from which she sought solace in her yoga practice. As fate/good fortune would have it, her local studio offered teacher training (thankyou universe), where Amber completed her 350hr teacher’s qualification.

Amber now spends her time teaching between Canberra and the South Coast, while caring for her family.

“Those that know me, know I don’t take myself too seriously. Life outside the studio can be serious enough, so I try to keep my classes light-hearted and joyful.

Whether it’s for the sun salutations or the savasana, the meditations or the mantras, the child’s pose or the chakras; the pranayama or the peace; I don’t mind why you’re here, I’m just glad you are. I hope to see you on the mat soon!”

Carmen Jereb

I have been in the “movement industry” since I was 10 years old. After 11 years of studying contemporary dance in Romania, I decided to share my passion for the movement body by becoming a dance teacher while studying at university. Moving to Australia, I discovered yoga, initially in Sydney but more so after relocating to Canberra. I practised yoga for the last few years, and in January 2017 I became a Level 1 (285 hours) Vinyasa Flow certified yoga teacher.

Yoga has allowed me to rediscover myself and my passion for dance and movement. Initially, maybe like many others, I thought that yoga is just a physical practice, but soon I discovered it is a lot more. It is truly about the whole of me – mind, body and spirit. Now through my yoga practice, and during my classes, I try to bring this awareness and mindfulness towards one’s inner self and inner happiness.

Amanda Morley

Amanda was introduced to yoga during university, to help manage performance anxiety. It was not love at first downward dog, but she developed an interest in the philosophy and that is what kept her coming back. She started teaching as part of a natural extension of further study into the practice and it’s been a continual evolving path.

Amanda's classes are holistic and therapeutic. She has experienced the therapeutic benefits of the practice, and aims to make the practice accessible to everyone. You will deepen your awareness of physical alignment and anatomy, learn modifications to optimise your practice, embody philosophy and experience the effects of meditation and pranayama.

She encourages students to look inwards and approaches the practice with an inquiring mind, an open heart and laughter. With a strong focus on physical alignment she weaves philosophy, mythical stories and tales of the everyday to connect students to their body, mind, breath and the practice of yoga, while encouraging mindful living off the mat. Amanda has completed over 1000 hours of training and offers workshops and teacher training in REY Aligned Yoga.

Ebony May

About 10 years ago I began to notice a shift in what I now know to be my consciousness and developed a deep curiosity for spirituality and connection between earth, mind, body and soul. I love being active and exploring and learning about practices that pop culture would describe as ‘alternate’ but have always felt very normal and natural to me. I also began attending yoga classes about the same time but in the past 4-5 years the urge to ‘do’ more yoga began to feel more of a calling or something that I am meant to do. I enjoy all styles of yoga but when I discovered Tantric Hatha and the energetics as well as the sense of peace, I began to practice and learn about it more regularly. When the opportunity arose for a 200hr YTT immersion in one of my favourite places in the world, Jindabyne, I knew that this was for me. My primary intention at the beginning of the training was to just open up to be able to absorb all the learnings and that this experience was just the beginning of a life long journey as a student of yoga. I have absolutely fallen in love with the philosophy of Ayurveda, Yoga and Tantra and would love to share the feelings of complete balance and peace and that it can be achieved by simple movements with breath techniques.
I am hoping to guide people through a practice where they feel as though they have had a beautiful experience for not just their bodies, but their souls..

Amanda Jezek

I love how in yoga we dance between the light and dark. Some days you're lighting up the mat and rocking out some poses and other days you uncover some junk hiding in your hips or shoulders and you just feel like doing 1 hour of child's pose or savasana.

After always being involved in the fitness industry and pushing my body physically, I found yoga when I needed to slow down and help me deal with the anxiety and depression  from losing my dad to a sudden heart attack.

Yoga during this difficult time helped me connect to my breath (which is really hard with anxiety), shift my focus and find gratitude with all the beauty I already had in my life. 

Haeyoung Moon

I initially turned to yoga to compliment running help me through injuries and post-operative rehab. I was aware of the physical benefits of yoga but the more I practiced, the more I found it was having a profound effect on my mind, body and soul. I felt accepted, energized and calm.

I completed my 200hr Yoga Teacher Training in Vinyasa and 50hr Yin yoga training whilst living overseas in Thailand.

I love how yoga is not about competing or judging, it is about you (and you are enough!) and your journey of self discovery. I strongly believe that yoga can benefit anyone and everyone regardless of age, gender or whatever other sports you do. I also believe yoga should be accesible to all and would love to share my practice with you in the studio.

Radhika Gupta

Radhika has been passionately practicing yoga for over 10 years and has been teaching it since 2016. Radhika is a Master of Yoga or Yoga Acharya who teaches classical Hatha yoga. Yoga training and teaching follows the tradition of Yoga practice established by Swami Sivananda. She has undertaken many professional development training programs in yoga and meditation practices.
Her own style of teaching has been influenced by several well-known teachers from diverse backgrounds and teaching styles.
Radhika is an experienced coach helping people to improve their well-being. She is an effective and entertaining facilitator and has a strong background as a teacher of Hatha Yoga and mindfulness.
She works extensively with individuals, coaching and supporting them to lead happier, more fulfilled lives. Radhika integrates her intuition and creativity with a focused and systematic approach.
She has extensive experience in leading yoga and meditation classes for groups of various sizes; has conducted yoga workshops; taught in embassies, companies and schools; delivered customised yoga training and rehabilitation programs successfully helping in recovery from certain diseases; and, led yoga retreats in Australia as well as in India.

Lorelle Bunyan

Prior to becoming a Les Mills Body Balance instructor in 2011, Lorelle practised yoga for around 25 years. She later discovered YogaFit, a hatha style founded in yoga, grounded in fitness, that aims to make yoga accessible to the gym population.

As well as the base YogaFit modules, she has completed the YogaFit for Warriors (Trauma-Sensitive yoga) 150 hour training programme, and YogaFit for Seniors and Children. Her Vinyasa Flow Teacher training (285 hours) was completed with Yoga Trinity in 2017. Lorelle’s passion is Yin Yoga and she is heavily influenced and inspired by Paul Grilley and Sarah Powers. She completed level 1 and level 2 Yin Yoga and Mindfulness teacher training with Sarah Owen, an Insight Yoga Teacher endorsed by Sarah Power’s Insight Yoga Institute. Lorelle has also completed teacher training in Yin Meridian Theory and Traditional Chinese Medicine in Yoga taught by Jo Phee, one of Paul Grilley’s senior teachers.

Yoga has aided Lorelle with her own recovery from depression and physical injury. She enjoys sharing yoga with others so they too may find their own path to health and inner peace

Janelle Fife

Janelle has been practicing yoga for around 15 years, initially being drawn to try it out of simple curiosity. Being an active and athletic person all her life, she very quickly discovered that yoga was unlike any other form of exercise or movement she had experienced before, noticing the calming and positive effect it was also having on her state of mind.

As her practice grew to a point of steady regularity, she observed that she was able to carry the mind and body awareness she was cultivating on the mat out in to her daily life, and that it was also benefiting her mental health in coping with stress and depression. Recognising that yoga had become a fundamental presence in her life, she eventually decided to take the plunge and complete a yoga teacher training course, receiving her 300-hour Vinyasa Flow teaching qualification from Yoga Trinity in January 2018. She's since undertaken further studies in meditation and yoga philosophy, and has a very long list of other training she'd like to immerse herself in, with the understanding that she will forever be a student of yoga as well as a teacher.

Her aim in teaching is to demystify the myths around who yoga is for, and to help students discover the benefits of yoga safely, at their own pace, and with curiosity and optimism. She wants students to leave her classes feeling good about their practice and themselves, and with a sense of clarity in the mind and body.

Anna Hayden

I have been teaching yoga for around 9 years, having completed my 200HR yoga teacher training in Kerala, India in 2012. My journey to teaching Barre classes came about through finding a style of exercise that was safe and fun, and that really complimented my yoga practice by gaining strength, stamina and tone - all set to music which makes for a dynamic class.

Through my Barre teacher training, I gained an interest in Pilates and now also teach mat pilates classes. All three disciplines combined assists in flexibility, strength and core alignment. I have loved joining the Balanced Yoga Kingston family and I look forward to helping you on your Barre and Pilates journey.

Sarah Nuttridge

Sarah (Sare) started her yoga journey over eight years ago when diagnosed with Osteoarthritis. With mobility in mind, she started her personal practice with Power Yoga and Yin Yoga when living in Brisbane, and then trained in Vinyasa with Yoga Trinity a year after she moved to Canberra. Today, she is a full-time Yoga Teacher, Thai Yoga Massage and Reiki Practitioner, and she continues to expand her skills into health and wellness, studying Yoga Therapy through The Yoga Therapy Institute (formerly Enlightened Events).

One of Sarah’s main interests and enjoyments in yoga is to provide students with options and props so they may customise their practice for their body, breath and mind. As part of this passion, she is an Accessible Yoga Ambassador. When she finishes her Yoga Therapy training, Sarah wants to expand into helping people living with disabilities, chronic conditions, and neurological conditions in a therapeutic, accessible approach to health and wellbeing.

Kelly Wolf

Kelly has been teaching Yoga & Dance for over 10 years. Having completed her Vinyasa training with Clare Lovelace, Kelly brings a Soul Flow to us at Balanced Yoga. Your Vinyasa with Kelly will be a soulful experience, allowing you to tap into your senses with music, flow and an atmosphere steeped in the ancient yogic philosophies and deities.

Kelly is a Mum of two, has a Bachelor of Information Management: Major in Law, is a Reiki Master - Usui, Tiger Reiki, Shiva-Shakti Reiki,
Bodytalk Practitioner, Cert III in Psychosomatic Therapy, and Neurolinguistics Practitioner.

Kelly is a Temple of She Accredited Yoni Massage Practitioner and Wharetangata Ora (Womb Massage) Practitioner and has completed intensive study in the USA in Sexual Healing.

Kelly’s yoga and dance training is based in Taoist, Tantric & Egyptian philosophies. She has also completed her Vinyasa & Yin Training with Clare Lovelace of Soul Tribe Studio.

Dracaena Scott

My journey so far has taken me in many directions but a path that sits with my values- healing in all shapes and forms.
I started out as a family and criminal barrister in the UK. I found that I was doing more good for peoples lives counselling have also been a mediator than just being at the end of the chain as a band aid.
Then having married having a family of 3 I took up Yoga trenching Ashtanga and Jivamuki. As time went on I gave up the law. Took a Stott Pilates training in 2004, moved to AUstralia 2009 and taught at Golden Door and Gwinganna retreats in Queensland.
I moved to Israel 3 years ago and worked taking further courses and verifications along the way working in a studio in Jerusalem. I found for me Pilates had the perfect balance of eastern and western healing modalities. Joseph Pilates originally called the system Contrology. He developed a series of exercises and in order become better at them he made equipment. He expounded an exercise system and was very forthright about philosophy, principles and theories about health and fitness . Ahead of his time but whole body mind and spirit.