The post Yoga Journal Australia caught up with John Ogilvie appeared first on Byron Yoga.

1 Commit to attending regular classes
Find a class with a teacher you like, where the location and timing fits with your schedule, so it’s easy for you to go at least once a week.

2 Establish your own home practice
Invest in your own yoga mat and start to get up a little earlier, establish a routine. If you need an online resource, Byron Yoga Centre has a Level 1 sequence on our shop page.

3 Start to explore yoga beyond just asana
By now you would have noticed that yoga is more than a physical practice. The Sutras of Patanjali lists the 8 limbs of yoga – do you know what these are?

4 Complete your 200 Hour Level 1
Obviously I would recommend Byron Yoga Centre’s all-inclusive residential intensives. Purna Yoga is a classic hatha style that is suitable for new teachers and we offer lots of practical experience of real public classes to build teaching skills and confidence.

5 Get insurance
Insurance is a must and you could also consider joining Yoga Alliance as a RYT, or this could wait until you are teaching regularly. Subscribing to blogs or magazines such as Australian Yoga Journal and Wellbeing will give you inspiration and aspirations.

6 Start teaching family and friends
Get all the teaching practice you can to build your skills and to keep that momentum going after your training. Even two people in your living room is a class!

7 Set up basic marketing materials: webpage and socials, commit to regular posts
Start to create your ‘brand’. For this you need to consider what your focus is and who you are looking to attract as students. Build followers and an email list so you can communicate with your students.

8 Offer to assist one of your regular teachers
When you assist a teacher you build adjusting and correcting skills, plus you observe sequencing and alignment cues and most importantly, you learn how to hold space.

9 Ask to be put on the covers list at your local studios
This is a great way to get your foot in the door! Be prepared to step in at short notice and be ready to adapt a sequence to suit the class and level of students.

10 Approach gyms, hotels and organisations such as retirement homes
It can be a challenge to get onto the timetable at your local yoga studio, so look outside the box and be tenacious about looking for teaching opportunities

11 (You’re halfway there), time to establish your style
Now you have some general teaching under your belt, it’s a good idea to start to focus in on a style. It could be in the way you sequence, your cues, developing your unique voice, or the energy of your classes.

12 Reach out to yoga studios or gyms for regular classes. Be persistent.
You may need to be prepared to travel outside your local area or to work early mornings, evenings or weekends.

13 Choose a specialist training (Yin, Restorative, Trauma-Aware Yoga, Practical Anatomy – Byron Yoga Centre does them all!)
Adding a specialist training to your qualifications, especially leaning to teach a style such as Yin or Restorative will enhance your employment opportunities.

14 Update your marketing materials with your new skills, perhaps start a YouTube Channel!
You should regularly refresh and update your promotional materials. Look for new avenues for publicity such as blogs, guest ‘takeovers’ on social platforms and presenting at yoga festivals.

15 Book your 300 Hour Level 2 to become a 500 Hour RYT
If you feel it’s time to expand your knowledge, or perhaps you have not had the opportunity for much teaching experience and you want build more confidence, a Level 2 would be your next step.

16 It’s a good time to review how your yoga teaching journey is going and perhaps revisit your aims
Do you want, and is it realistic, to aim for full time teaching of say two classes plus one-two privates per day, or does part time work better for you?

17 If your aim is to teach more then now is the time to utilise your email mailing list and social channels
Put out some promo to seek private clients or find a suitable venue and start your own classes

18 Remember not to compromise your own practice and keep learning from other teachers
Go back to the first three steps and if necessary recommit to them.

19 Consider running retreats or becoming a yoga teacher trainer
Byron Yoga Centre does occasionally have employment opportunities in Byron Bay and Melbourne for E-RYT 500 teachers with a TAE (Certificate IV in Training and Assessment) to work on our 12 month and two year courses. Our tranquil Byron Yoga Retreat Centre is also available for your private group bookings!

20 Open your own studio!
… but this is another 20 step process!!

The post 20 Steps To Building a Career as a Yoga Teacher appeared first on Byron Yoga.

The warm breeze blows through the paperbarks and casuarinas, the familiar sound and scent of the Australian bush fills the air. I close my eyes; the temperature is warm and I listen to life around me. Whether you are a visitor or born and bred, I sense a familiar response is echoed from those who enter the Byron Yoga Retreat Centre. A place of solidarity, where a landscape for coming home to your authentic self is offered.

I am waiting for John Ogilvie, the founder.

John arrives, radiating a happy and calm energy.

This meeting starts my journey into writing about the interconnectedness of yoga and the environment which we all share. Our rare blue planet Earth.

Softly spoken, John expresses, “when you pass through the entrance of the Byron Yoga Retreat Centre you leave the material world behind and enter an embassy, a spiritual oasis…”. An embassy where yogis are available to guide you on your yoga journey.

Byron Yoga Retreat Centre is nestled amongst 30 acres neighbouring the southern boundary of the Belongil-Cumbebin wetland forming part of the Cumbebin Swamp Nature Reserve, located adjacent to the township of Byron Bay on the far north coast of New South Wales, Australia.

Originally, John founded Byron Yoga Retreat Centre during 1987 at the Epicentre, Belongil Beach, Byron Bay. Formerly a whaling meat works, John explains the Epicentre was subject to a large number of cleansing purification processes and the Byron Yoga Retreat Centre was officially launched in 1998 making the Centre one of the longest running Yoga Centre’s in Australia owned by its founder.

With developers moving into the Epicentre in 2009, John was introduced to a site on Skinners Shoot Road, Byron Bay, which now houses the Byron Yoga Retreat Centre. Historically, this site was previously cleared of vegetation and used as a holding ground for livestock, an airfield and then a racetrack for training trotters. Soil was then transferred from a dam in the nearby foothills to the site about 15 to 20 years ago. The soils were compacted, raising the site to accommodate buildings.

The surrounding area contains wetlands of state significance, sensitive coastal dunes, coastal swamp forests and riparian areas. It contains three endangered ecological communities, which provide habitat for a wide range of native animals including threatened species[1] such as the Black-Necked Stork (Xenorhynchus asiaticus); Koala (Phascolarctos cinereus); Large-Footed Myotis (Myotis macropus), and Little Bent-Wing Bat (Miniopterus australis).

The landscape of Byron Yoga Retreat Centre and its greater surrounding area is made up of many features that are interconnected. These include the land, waters, plants, animals, special places, stories, historical and current uses, the Bundjalung of Byron Bay (Arakwal) people, other Bundjalung people and their interactions with each other and place. These features are seen as inseparable.

As the Aboriginal people say, “People talk about Country, speak and sing to Country, visit and worry about Country, feel sorry for Country, long for Country. People say Country knows best, hears, smells, takes notice, takes care, is sorry or happy. It is consciousness and a will towards life. Because of this richness, Country is love and peace, nourishment for body, mind and spirit.”[2]

John’s smile broadens when asked about his connection to land and then articulates that his is, “a custodian relationship where he has a sense of responsibility for taking care of and protecting the land and leaving the landscape better than when he arrived. This principle applies to Byron Yoga Retreat Centre and the planet as a whole”.

John’s fundamental beliefs deeply affects all the decisions that are made at the Byron Yoga Retreat Centre and is an advocate, “to be the change that you want to see in the world”.

With a deep belief, John expresses, “the purpose of human life is to be the best version of ourselves and that Yoga is an optimal vehicle to achieve that outcome”.

The word yoga means to “yoke”, or, in other words, to unify. When our external environment and bodies unify and work in harmony, we are then able to start to experience peace, creativity and longevity.

John says, “as the benefits of yoga start to ripple out you start to feel you again. It’s from this place that we can discover how to become the best version of ourselves, and how to start to live a sustainable life for ourselves, the community which we live in and planet Earth as a whole”.

I ask John, ‘how do we become the best versions of our self?”

Johns elaborates, “when we talk about human philosophy, we talk about the principles of the eight limbs of yoga, the yamas (a universal ethical discipline), niyamas (an individual ethical conduct) and samadhi. Reaching that state of samadhi is when we become the best version of ourselves”.

I explore further, “how do we reach the state of samadhi?”.

John explains further, “the process to achieve the best version that we can become of ourselves is by focusing on growing, improving and changing. Decisions need to be made on those principles to help us meet those outcomes. That’s why I practice yoga and why I founded and have grown the Byron Yoga Retreat Centre. The process of growing, improving and changing by using yoga as a vehicle is accelerated when we are actually helping other people achieve that outcome for themselves”.

I question, “how does becoming the best version yourself relate to the environmental evolution of the Byron Yoga Retreat Centre?”.

John explains that, “Retreat is essential. We know we are moving too quickly in life and this is proven by elevated levels of cortisol in the human race. It’s proven that we have higher baselines of cortisol than we had previously as we are trying to do too much too quickly. Providing a place to retreat from that rapid pace of life is what Byron Yoga Retreat offers. It is why it is here”.

“When we are in our comfort zone we kick back and we are not motivated to do anything to be motivated, changing or improving. When we are outside of our comfort zone then we are motivated to think that something is not quite right and what am I going to do to change things, what can I do to improve things, what knowledge do I need to gain”.

As a past student, I agree. My time spent at the Byron Yoga Retreat Centre took me out of my comfort zone and allowed me to take a break from the material world. I asked myself, “what are we doing to each other and the planet?”. Yoga is the vinyasa of life in every moment, every action and every breath. On and off the mat. To go above and beyond the material world I was then able to unify and align with the natural rhythms of the planet again. The only thing we can change is our self. One person can make a difference.

Absorbing the sounds and aroma of the kitchen during our conversation, I gaze across the greenspace and beyond the pool to the organic vegetable garden. “This is the source of food”, John says, “for the onsite kitchen where sattvic dishes are created for guests”. The body is the divine temple of the soul and we should care deeply about what we feed ourselves. A sattvic diet not only means vegetarian food, but properly prepared seasonal fresh organic food rich in prana ‘life-force’.

The buzz of the bees in the garden reflects the buzz of life throughout the Byron Yoga Retreat Centre. From gathering food from the garden, food preparation in the kitchen, the capture of drinking water, the reuse of water on avocado and bananas trees, composting toilets, no chemical policy and water and waste reduction strategies.

John says, “guests are encouraged to live in alignment with these values that minimise their footprint on the planet”.

As we complete our time together, I take a breath of clean air and honour this sacred Earth. This oasis, the Byron Yoga Retreat Centre, is committed on providing the tools to truly live a connected and expansive life.

I believe the solidarity of all mankind is necessary to preserve the environment. We all have an ethical responsibility to create a civilised humanity, favouring its permanent improvement and happiness.

Humans have a tendency to separate themselves from the rest of the ecocosm by using terms such as ‘natural’ and ‘wild’. However, humans are the most critical and integral component to the ecocosm at this point in history. We are responsible stewards of our bodies and the planet; it’s crucial that our choices and actions are harmoniously aligned with the Earth.

Perhaps the Byron Yoga Retreat Centre has its’ finger on the pulse of the interconnectedness of yoga and the environment. The environmental evolution of the Earth and yourself is as transient as the clouds and in this moment in time it is renewed.

I believe you are your own self-sustaining ecosystem. Live from your heart and give to this life who you really are. Honour your life, yourself and find a way to live in harmony with the planet.

Brigita Katia Arrowsmith is a certified 200-hour Yoga Teacher and Environmental Scientist, fitness, clean eating health advocate and super mum. But most of all she is passionate about helping people connect with their own inner compass and the environment which we all share. Brigita brings to the table a respect for nature and the environment.

www.arrowsmithenvironmental.com © Brigita Katia Arrowsmith, 2018

[1] Source: Belongil Cumbebin Wetland Plan of Management, 2002
[2] Source: Interpretation Australia (2003)

The post Environmental Evolution of the Byron Yoga Retreat Centre appeared first on Byron Yoga.

Name: Antony White

Location: Northern Rivers

Occupation: Share Investor

Why did you decide to come on the retreat in Byron Bay?

Perhaps the question should be why wouldn’t you go! For me, I was keen to fulfil my new year resolution to lose some weight. I knew I had to do something about my general health and fitness.

What was your highlight of your stay at Byron Yoga Retreat Centre?

Losing just over 10kg in 5 weeks!

Apart from the weight loss it was a combination of things. It’s definitely a credit to the staff that Byron Yoga Retreat Centre is such a great place to stay. The whole program of yoga and wellness sessions, the meals, the garden and the facilities were of an extremely high standard for the value for money. I also found the other guests to be interesting and enjoyed getting to know them.

What was your favourite yoga pose during the retreat?

Happy Baby. On day one I was unable to do it. I looked around the room and everyone had done it to some extent. On day four I was able to do a strange version of it. On day seven I felt like I had it mastered. LOL.  It really did make me happy!

Did you have any ‘ah-ha’ moments?

It takes more than exercise and diet to lose weight. In the long term the mind is also critical to the process. John the owner lives on site, he and his family eat a lot of the same meals as the guests. He also spends a lot of time talking to the guests one on one. I cannot help but think the constant feedback keeps things at a high standard. It
is probably the sort of management that you wished all businesses adapted.

How did you most benefit from the retreat?

I sleep better, think clearer, have more energy, feel healthier and my clothes fit better!

Have you implemented any changes to your lifestyle since returning home?

I seem to be heading towards becoming a vegetarian or vegan! I found giving up eating pork, chicken and processed meat quite easy. I travel a lot and I seem to now seek out vegetarian/vegan cafes and restaurants. When I am eating out. I gravitate to the healthy things on the menu which is very different to my past behaviour.

What advice would you give for those considering a retreat?

If you are still not convinced it’s the right idea, maybe read the above again LOL.

Weight loss was my goal and I achieved it at the Byron Yoga Retreat Centre. I am sure other people have different goals and expectations but we all should make health and fitness a priority.

The post Interview – Antony, Retreat Guest appeared first on Byron Yoga.

Name: Jane 

Location: Brisbane

Occupation: NFP Office Manager

Why did you decide to come on the retreat in Byron Bay?
After 5 years of a regular yoga practice, I spent a month in Bali loving all sorts of yoga but upon my return my life changed and I just stopped practicing. I wanted to retreat to Byron Bay to reinvigorate my passion for yoga and spend some time on myself. Also, Byron Bay offers the beach, great weather, nature, great food and people and I love it!

What was your highlight of your stay at Byron Yoga Retreat Centre?
There were so many highlights…the bright smiles from Caitlin and Sarah when we arrived, our lovely clean room, the stunning gardens and pool, the food (oh the food!!), the healthy cafe, the 6am Lighthouse walk with the inspirational John Ogilvie, the beautiful people, the fun student teachers, the many different yoga and meditation classes, the amazing choice of therapies and of course the location.

What was your favourite yoga pose during the retreat?
For me, it was more about the flows, rather than one pose – I loved the moon flow with Tara and I also enjoyed Sarah’s chakra dance meditation – what freedom!

Did you have any ‘ah-ha’ moments?
Gee, so many! One in particular that stood out was that I discovered that I can trust my higher self. It was really comforting to come to the conclusion that, whatever thoughtful decisions I make will be the right decisions because my higher self is involved. I can relax now.

How did you most benefit from the retreat?
I felt free in safe space with special friends, so I was able to relax, do whatever it was that I wanted to do and completely work on myself. I came away feeling completely at peace and was in a really good place. The retreat has brought me calm, has improved my state of mind and my relationships with myself and others.

Have you implemented any changes to your lifestyle since returning home?
Yes, I have joined my local yoga studio (yay!), have practiced yoga in my very own ‘garden shala’ with friends and family and I have made a batch of Kitchari every weekend for the week. I made it for my Dad and now he eats it every day!

What advice would you give for those considering a retreat?
Book yourself in! This is the best value and most rewarding retreat I have found. I did an 8-day retreat to fully immerse myself but there are 3 and 5 day retreats to get a taste. Experience the calm of the retreat, the passion from the teachers and the beauty of Byron Bay. Join me, I’ve booked in again for October! See you there!

The post Interview – Jane, Retreat Guest appeared first on Byron Yoga.

What inspired you to be a transformation facilitator?

There is an ancient Hawaiian story that says that each child has, at birth, a bowl of perfect light. If he or she tends to their light, it will grow in strength and they can do all things – swim with sharks, fly with the birds, know and understand all things.

If however, they become envious, jealous, angry, or fearful, they will drop a stone into the bowl of light and some of the light goes out. Light and the stone cannot hold the same space. If they continue to put stones in the bowl, the light will go out and they will become a stone themselves. A stone does not grow, nor does it move.

If at any time he or she tires of being a stone, all they need to do is turn the bowl upside down and the stones will fall away and the light will grow once more.

(Story from the Hawaiian book Tales of the Night Rainbow by Koko Willis and Pali Jae Lee – An oral history as told by Kaili’ohe Kame’ekua of Kamalo, Moloka’i, 1816-1931)

You were based here in Byron Bay for a while but you currently have a nomadic lifestyle – where are you now?

This month my husband Mik and I are in Hawaii visiting with family and friends, and sharing our Because You’re Beautiful Yoga offering. Our tour kicks off on Kauai, the island where I lived for 13 years where I went heal after I was diagnosed with Graves Disease. This weekend we head to Maui and then we’re off to Oahu for Wanderlust.

We’ll be traveling to 28 countries this year! The US, The UK, New Zealand, Australia and Canada; Brazil, Chile and Peru; South Africa; Russia; and 19 countries in Europe. Highlights for me include Burning Man Festival in September, St Petersburg in June and of course being back in Byron Bay in early April.

For those who weren’t at your Evolve Byron session, what do your Because You’re Beautiful sessions impart?

Our yoga sessions are a love fest… we dance ecstatically and celebrate each other; we talk story, enjoy yummy yin inspired asanas, and sit for 15 minutes in silent meditation. My husband Mik acts as DJ, and plays guitar while I sing to your spirit during key transition points ending with the song ‘Because You’re Beautiful’. This mindfulness journey is to remind you how beautiful you are.

And for those considering joining the one-day workshop on Saturday 2 April at Byron Yoga Retreat Centre, what can they expect?

Rite of Passage: Into the Arms of Beauty is a 6-hour workshop that focuses on creating a personal Rite of Passage. It is engineered to release personal and ancestral baggage in order to create greater bandwidth and access to SELF – Soul Evolved Life Force – to grow our personal seed of evolution.

How did you segue from music to yoga?

In 2003, Eve Ensler, author of the Vagina Monologues, asked me to write an anthem that would inspire people to end violence against women for her documentary, Until the Violence Stops. My song, Because You’re Beautiful went on to win an Emmy that same year.

Then in 2008, I toured the album Keep the Faith, and Because You’re Beautiful was on this album. During the tour, I noticed that men and women in the audience looked somewhat detached. A lot of the women looked like they had left themselves on the side of the road, and forgot to go back to pick themselves up… it appeared to me that these women were losing their playfulness, sensuality, and most importantly, their power.

Because You’re Beautiful had such an impact and inspired me to design a very powerful yoga experience that includes silent meditation and a live performance love shower experience… To read more about my yoga journey go to:  www.becauseyourebeautiful.yoga/toni-bio/

What’s next on the Toni Childs journey?

Over the holidays, I meditated on how to create the most effective workshop experience. To be really effective I realised there needs to be two workshops over the coming year: starting with a one day workshop, Rite of Passage: Into the Arms of Beauty; followed up eight months later with a three day workshop called Rite of Passage: Into the Arms of Beauty Claiming my Bowl of Light.

It may not always be possible to achieve this in some on the venues around the world. But I’m so pleased we can do both the one-day and the three-day at Byron Yoga Retreat Centre. I hope to see you for the one-day on Saturday 2 April and the three-day residential in early December.

The post Toni Childs – her inspirations and her aspirations appeared first on Byron Yoga.

My children were born 17 years apart and so they were very different experiences. There is one thing which underlies both and that is I deeply trusted my body and that it knew what it needed to do. I had little fear about birth and I am very grateful for that.

I was 21 when I had my first child 19 years ago and I knew from the start I wanted a home birth. I attended Satyananda yoga classes throughout my pregnancy and practiced visualisation around the birth itself and with my partner. I had an amazing home water birth and produced a healthy baby girl.

My next pregnancy was 17 years later and as a woman approaching 40 I found it to be quite a different experience. I had sacroiliac joint pain and I suffered painful pubic symphisitis throughout the pregnancy. As a result, my yoga practice was less physical and more focused on mindfulness. I practiced yoga nidra every day and my daily mantra was “We are going to have a beautiful four hour birth.” My baby came in three hours in another blissful water birth experience.

I love sharing my story because many women are exposed to too much fear.  I hear women talking about their bad birth experiences in way that they seem to wear it as a badge of honour and I would really like to break that cycle.

I am very interested in mindfulness and the importance of this during pregnancy. Whilst it is very important to prepare the body for birth, I always tell my students that your body already knows what to do. It is your mind that will get in the way of your body. Make friends with your mind!

And what about new motherhood? How can yoga support women after birth?

All mamas go through this delicious early period where all else seems to fall away and each moment is one of witnessing the wonderment of a new baby. During this period our own needs are generally put on the backburner as we tend to the needs of a caring full time for a new child.

I too went through this same stage when I had my daughter, Willow, 3 years ago. Having her late in life (I was almost 40 when she was born) whilst nursing some health challenges meant that I couldn’t afford to totally neglect my need for Self Care; and so the journey and juggle began of being the mama I wanted to be and making sure to nurture myself so that I avoided an end result of exhaustion and depletion.

So how can a new mama balance the need for being totally present for her baby and honour her own needs too?  I have found tools like Restorative Yoga, Yoga Nidra, and working mindfully with the breath to be very helpful in creating a beautiful balance in a way that didn’t leave me feeling ‘guilty’ and this is what I recommend to the women I work with and this what we cover in detail in our Bliss Baby Yoga Teacher Trainings.

What advice do you have for someone contemplating specialising in prenatal and postnatal yoga?

To succeed as a prenatal and postnatal yoga teacher you must have passion.

It is important to be passionate about working with women and sharing such a sacred space with them. Most women are on this journey for the first time and will need as much support throughout the pregnancy as they do beyond.

Postnatal and Mums and Bubs classes are more than just yoga classes.  They are an opportunity for new mothers to connect with other new mums and it provides them with a safe space to share their experiences.

If this is your passion then go for you it…you won’t look back!

Join Star and the Bliss Baby Yoga team of expert women’s health yoga teachers and follow your passion to train to be a Registered Prenatal Yoga Teacher this August. More info here. 

The post A Passion for Positive Birth – Star Despres appeared first on Byron Yoga.

Meet Gitam, Senior Yoga Teacher and author of Gitam’s Garden – Healthy Sattvic Recipes from the Byron Yoga Kitchen

The post Our Yogis – Introducing Gitam appeared first on Byron Yoga.

The post Healing through Applied Anatomy for Yoga appeared first on Byron Yoga.

The post Our Yogis – Introducing Joni appeared first on Byron Yoga.