About

About Calmin

Calmin has been teaching yoga for nine years, bringing together his learning from creative teacher trainings, love of sport and commitment to mindful movement and meditation.

A lifelong student of the body, he continues to explore how we move and how yoga can be sequenced with clear intention. His experience in endurance sport – including ultra-marathons, trail races, Hyrox events and 100-mile races – has shaped an approach that balances strength and mobility with breath, recovery and stillness.

Calmin’s classes are fiery, creative and playful, with thoughtful sequencing and detailed guidance. Expect an energising Vinyasa practice led by the breath, balanced by moments of softness and deeply guided meditation.

About Courtney

Courtney is an RYT 550 yoga teacher and holistic wellness practitioner with more than five years of teaching experience, both locally and internationally. Her teaching explores the connection between mind and body, combining creative movement and mindfulness with moments of stillness.

She teaches Vinyasa, Power, Sculpt, Yin, Restorative Yoga and Yoga Nidra, creating classes that feel grounding, intuitive and accessible. Her approach extends beyond the physical practice, inviting students to slow down, turn their attention inward and explore yoga as a way of living with greater presence and awareness.

About Mana

Mana is a 500-hour qualified yoga teacher with additional training in Yin Yoga. She enjoys teaching across the full spectrum of practice – from strong, dynamic and energising flows to slow, mindful and deeply restorative classes.

While her classes offer a shared sense of community, Mana encourages each student to make the practice their own. Through thoughtful guidance and attentive movement, she invites students to soften the noise of the outside world, listen more closely to their bodies and respond to what they need in each moment. Her teaching supports students in building trust in their body’s intelligence and developing a deeper relationship with themselves through asana.

About Rowan

I started practicing yoga towards the end of my high school years, just over 10 years ago. Someone gave me a DVD with a 45 minute yoga practice on it, and I did it over and over again. I was never into most school sports, and having stopped gymnastics earlier in high school, I was thrilled to have found something that felt good for my body, and also helped me focus my mind.

I then found Yoga with Adrienne on youtube, and only later discovered the joy of going to live classes. Yoga and pole dance, which I discovered about 6 years ago, have been constant companions to me. I started teaching pole dance in 2022, and in 2025 decided to do my 200 hour yoga teachers training through House of Yoga! I started teaching immediately after my training and have loved it.

It is so special to be able to share something with others that has been such a big part of my own life. My hope is that I can create a safe and comfortable space for you to tune in with your body and mind. To develop strength and focus. To breathe ease into your movements. And to cultivate a gentle and curious attitude in your practice that you can take with you into the rest of your day and week. That helps you engage with the world and the people in your life from a more centred and grounded place.

About Candice

Candice is a 500-hour Yoga Teacher, educator, and inclusive movement advocate who specialises in creating accessible, empowering spaces for all bodies. As a bigger-bodied yogi who didn’t always see herself represented in traditional yoga environments, she is passionate about reshaping the culture of yoga to be welcoming, adaptable, and truly inclusive.

Candice’s teaching is grounded in body awareness, choice, and self-acceptance. Her classes offer thoughtful modifications, props, and variations that honour the uniqueness of each body, helping students discover what feels supportive, possible, and empowering for them. She celebrates progress over perfection and encourages students to take up space with confidence and curiosity.

Alongside teaching, Candice mentors yoga teachers through workshops and training programs focused on inclusive, body-aware, and trauma-informed teaching. She is committed to helping teachers build safe, respectful, and affirming spaces where every student feels seen, supported, and capable.

With a background as a Life Coach, Clinical Nutritionist, and Therapeutic Massage Therapist, Candice brings a holistic understanding of the body and mind into her work. She is the founder of Nova Holistic Wellness and NHW Academy, where she integrates movement, mindset, sharing circles and wellness education to support whole-person transformation.

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About Firdose

Firdose Moonda is a journalist, author, yoga teacher and scholar and combines these roles to provide critical education and examine body politics as it relates to yoga.

Firdose holds an MA in Traditions of Yoga and Meditation from the School of Oriental and African Studies (University of London) and is currently pursuing doctoral work provisionally titled “Yoga, Politics and Possibilities for Social Justice.” Her research interests include embodiment, body politics, cultural politics, decolonization, comparative religions and practice, and migrant studies.

She is a third-generation Indian living in South Africa and recognises the intersections of her ancestral lineage and activist upbringing in a country that continues to grapple with the legacies of colonialism, Apartheid and resultant inequality and what this has meant for the embodied experiences of its people.

About Leigh

E-RYT500

Leigh has been practicing yoga since 2004 and teaching since 2016, following the completion of her 200-hour teacher training and later her 300-hour advanced training in 2020. She is the founder of House of Yoga in Cape Town, established in 2018 as a space for practice, learning, and inner exploration. Alongside her regular classes, workshops, and retreats, Leigh leads the studio’s 200-hour teacher training.

Leigh’s path into yoga was shaped by a background in dance and over a decade spent in the corporate world across the financial, real estate, and renewable energy sectors in London and Cape Town. Throughout these years, yoga became more than a physical practice – it was a steady anchor for the nervous system and a lens through which to meet the complexities of life with greater awareness. This lived experience continues to inform her teaching and her approach to holding space for others.

Drawing from a wide range of lineages – including Hatha, Vinyasa, Iyengar, Ashtanga, Yin, and Restorative yoga – Leigh’s teaching is both structured and intuitive, rooted in tradition yet responsive to the individual. She places strong emphasis on developing awareness through the body, cultivating a relationship with the breath, and learning to listen inwardly with honesty and sensitivity.

At the heart of Leigh’s teaching is the belief that yoga is a practice of remembering – of coming home to oneself. In the context of teacher training, she is passionate about supporting students not only in learning how to teach, but in embodying the practice in a way that is authentic and sustainable. Her approach encourages inquiry over perfection, presence over performance, and depth over external form.

Leigh sees the role of a teacher as one of facilitator rather than authority – someone who creates a space in which others can explore, connect, and discover their own inner intelligence. Through the training, she invites students to develop both the practical skills and the self-awareness needed to share yoga in a way that is grounded, compassionate, and relevant to the world we live in.

About Yarisha

Yarisha is an accomplished movement specialist – a yoga teacher and dance performer, teacher and choreographer with a passion for dance that began at a young age. She earned a Bachelor of Music in Dance with Distinction at the University of Cape Town and performed with several professional dance companies in South Africa for over a decade, including Cape Town City Ballet, Free Flight Dance Company, La Rosa Spanish Dance Theatre, Jozi Dance Company and Msanzi Productions. Yarisha was a well established teacher and choreographer in Cape Town before becoming the Head of Dance at StudioRepublik in Dubai for five years. She has returned to South Africa with plans to continue intensive dance training and choreography within the country. She is passionate about the emotional process within the creative realm, the performer’s mental and physical transformation as well as creative collaboration in the industry.

Yarisha became a certified Yoga instructor in 2009 and went on to open her own studio, Yoga by Yarisha, where she guided many students in their search for personal and physical transformation. She also taught for many Yoga studios across South Africa, Thailand and in Dubai, as well as directing numerous Wellness Retreats. Yarisha’s teaching style is largely a fusion of many different Yoga schoolings, influenced by her dance experience and a quest for balance.

About Giulia

With a background in fitness, Giulia has always followed an active lifestyle – keeping her body moving has always been her number one goal.

A healthy and fit daily routine led her to discover her love of yoga, as the fundamentals of her yoga practice allowed a deeper connection to her body as well as her mind.

After finding her place on the mat, Giulia proceeded with her 200hr teacher training at The Wellness Connection in Cape Town, which ignited a deep passion for the world of yoga anatomy. Giulia’s classes not only focus on strength building and alignment but also touch on a softer side of connection through breath to movement, allowing the mind to reconnect with the body.

Through her experience of teaching, Giulia has discovered the beauty of slow progression through movement and dedication to practice. She aims to focus on each and every student’s journey in their own practice and to guide them in a way which encourages more curiosity about their own body and finding contentment with where they are.

About Karen

“Let’s BREATHE, MOVE & RELAX together.”

Hi, I’m Karen – a certified yoga teacher for both adults and children (through House of Yoga & Yoga4Kids). I’m passionate about making yoga and mindfulness accessible, enjoyable, and meaningful for everyone.

My yoga journey began over 15 years ago, when I discovered how powerful the practice could be in helping me manage stress, find calm, and restore balance in daily life. Inspired by these benefits, I now share yoga as a way to support others in building resilience, cultivating inner peace, and finding joy through movement and stillness.

Whether on the mat or in daily life, yoga for me is about more than poses – it’s about creating space to connect, recharge, and grow. I look forward to guiding you on your journey.

About Candice

“Yoga and meditation have given me ritual, refuge, an opening into self – discovery.”

Through a lifetime of curious exploration, Candice has developed a self-practice rooted in intuitive movement, yoga, meditation, breath work and self-study. She believes this potent combination of weaving breath, movement, contemplation and meditation is the path to healing and empowerment.

Candice’s teachings are gentle and explorative, threaded with embodied philosophy. She holds space for students to journey to their own rhythms and embodiment as gateways to embrace their depths, delighting in their own empowerment and awakening. In this way the practice becomes a call to home – to ourselves.

After undertaking her first 200hr Teacher Training in 2020, she went on to complete her 300hr under the guidance of Tamsin and Thomas Sheehy at The Shala.

About Leigh

E-RYT500

Leigh has been practicing yoga since 2004 and has been teaching since completing her 200-hour teacher training in 2016 with the Marianne Wells Yoga School, followed by her 300-hour advanced training in 2020 with The Shala Yoga School. In 2018, she established House of Yoga in Cape Town, where she teaches full-time, leading group and private classes, workshops, retreats, and the studio’s 200-hour teacher training.

Before transitioning into yoga full-time, Leigh spent over a decade in the corporate world across the financial, real estate, and renewable energy sectors in both London and Cape Town. During this time, yoga became a steady and supportive thread amid the demands of professional life.

With a background in dance and a broad exploration of lineages and styles including Hatha, Vinyasa, Iyengar, Ashtanga, Yin, and Restorative yoga, Leigh’s teaching is both grounded and intuitive. She weaves together these influences to create classes that invite awareness, curiosity, and a sense of coming home to the body.

Leigh is passionate about sharing yoga as a practical and accessible path for modern living. She sees the practice as a way to cultivate presence, build a more compassionate relationship with oneself, and navigate life with greater steadiness and ease. Her teaching encourages students to reconnect with the body as a source of intelligence and guidance, fostering a deeper sense of autonomy, authenticity, and wellbeing.

About House of Yoga

Our teachers

Leigh Wood

Candice Momsen

Giulia Tarantello

Karen Drew

Yarisha Singh

Rowan Banks

Calmin Valentino

Courtney Naumann

Mana Weideman