5 Benefits Of Yoga for Mind, Body & Soul

“The awareness and stillness you cultivate on your mat through the practice of yoga can be taken into your day-to-day interactions, allowing you to live more presently and equipping you with the tools to navigate the waters of life.”

From an early age, movement became a huge part of Brad’s life, as a way to work through the chaos of everyday life. After a few years of experimenting with various forms of training, he discovered yoga.

A practice incorporating physical movements and mindful meditation all wrapped in one. Very quickly he began to see the true healing properties of this incredible ancient tool. With curiosity high and a deep calling to learn more, Brad completed his 200hr teacher training at The Shala in Cape Town in June 2021. He is currently undertaking his 300hr advanced teacher training which will be completed with The Shala in February 2022.

Brad’s yoga classes focus on alignment, mind-body connection and safely building strength through carefully sequenced flows, helping each student to develop and grow their own practice. Brad is committed to helping guide his students to find inner peace and their healthiest selves with the tools and techniques that have been shared with him.

“I believe that yoga is a very personal practice. To me, it is the glue that holds my overall well-being together. It continues to provide me with endless tools that help me navigate my life mindfully and move smoothly through adversity.”

Linnet was never the one to prioritise evaluation concerning where she was headed or determine whether she was truly happy with the direction, and to make adjustments as necessary. Upon growing and coming into her body, she realised she had mainly been operating from the nervous system (instead of in alignment with it) and that, in order for her to hear and see things clearly, she had to move out of survival mode.

Yoga introduced her to the simple beauty of sitting down, taking some time to come into the body, to reflect and then to navigate life from a more grounded space. It helped her so much that she just wanted to share it with everyone around her.

This led her to complete her 200hr Teacher Training with The Wellness Connection and a 30hr Kids Yoga Training in 2019. She recently completed a 50hr YIN Yoga Training as she finds herself falling more and more in love with the marriage between the Chinese philosophy of Daoism & Indian Tantric Yoga.

Accompanied by affirmations, Linnet’s gentle and nurturing nature allows one to connect with their inner silence at their own pace whilst at the same time building strength and capacity.

“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.

Candice completed her 200 hr Teacher Training in May 2020 with Unraveled Yoga and is passionate about sharing yoga in a community space, teaching a weekly community class ever since as well as a Sunday class at the District Six Haven Night Shelter for women.

Robyn was first introduced to yoga at 23 after attending a small yoga class at her local gym. After experiencing the magic of savasana, Robyn fell in love with the practice of yoga.
Being more bookworm than gym bunny, Robyn attended various yoga classes and discovered that yoga, mentally and physically…is hard work!

Still the mind, slow the breath and hear the thoughts in between the inhales and exhales. To Robyn, the magic in yoga comes in those moments when you realize you are enough and are exactly where you are meant to be in life…and in the pose.

Armed with tight hamstrings and absolutely no background in any physical activity at all, Robyn received her 200hr hour teaching qualification in 2017 from the Wellness Connection in Hout Bay and began teaching right away!

Robyn’s classes are relaxed and fun (although you are not obligated to laugh at any of her jokes) and incorporate a foundational aspect to ensure all poses are practised safely. Robyn loves breathwork and a slow mindful meditational focus in class. Robyn loves teaching those whose experiences of yoga are similar to her own. Those who found yoga a little later on in life and whose bodies are more conditioned to sitting at a desk rather than on a yoga mat. For those who still don’t feel downward dog is a rest pose and those who can’t touch their toes.

In short, those who feel they aren’t “good” at yoga. If Robyn (and her tight hammies) can find beauty in this practice, so can you!

Robyn also assists with the House of Yoga social media, blog and studio admin too!

Leigh was introduced to yoga at university, after years of being ungrounded and disconnected from her body. It was a holistic and healthy antidote to stress and anxiety and, with a background in and love of dance, she was drawn to the beauty of the practice’s physical movement and its propensity for keeping the body strong and flexible.

After having spent thirteen years working in the corporate world, ten of those based in London and travelling around Europe, she answered a yearning to return to the wide open spaces of her homeland, South Africa, to work in the renewable energy sector. She is now the proud founder and owner of House of Yoga – an urban sanctuary where people from all walks of life come to reconnect with themselves.

Leigh completed her 200hr Teacher Training with the Marianne Wells Yoga School in February 2016 and obtained her 300hr Advanced Teacher Training with The Shala in Cape Town in February 2020.

Leigh is passionate about showing how yoga is accessible to everyone and how it can bring a sense of calm, ease and peace to everyday life. By focusing on technique, alignment and letting go, she aspires to help her students feel more grounded, connected and nurtured. She enjoys weaving together aspects of her dance experience and the various yoga styles she has practiced (including Hatha, Iyengar, Vinyasa, Scaravelli and Ashtanga) over the past 16 years into her classes.

For Leigh, every time you step onto your mat, you begin a journey – a journey home to yourself. Yoga is about celebrating the adventure of life, being human, your uniqueness, but also your connection of all things.

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.

“As I breathe in I feel calm, as I breathe out I feel peaceful.”

Karen teaches yoga to little humans.

She is a certified children and teen’s yoga and mindfulness teacher, having completed her teacher training through Yoga4Kids, as well as obtaining her Mindfulness4Kids, YogaTherapy4Kids and Peaceful Babes certifications.

After attending her first yoga class more than 10 years ago Karen felt firsthand just how beneficial yoga was in helping her to deal with day-to-day stress and to self regulate through breathing and mindfulness. Over the years yoga has been crucial in helping her maintain a healthy balance between the mental, physical and emotional aspects of herself.

It is through her own ongoing journey with yoga and love for the practice that Karen found her calling in teaching yoga to children of all ages. She would love to make yoga and mindfulness accessible to as many children and teens as she possibly can, and believes the younger a child is exposed to the tools and benefits of yoga, the better they are equipped to handle the challenges of life.

A travelling nomad by nature and a full-blown holistic health advocate by heart. Kim first fell in love with yoga when she was teaching English in Vietnam – the city was chaotic and the yoga studio was not. She came to know and love the calmness and stillness that yoga presents to us on every basis. So, she carried this passion with her throughout all her travels for 8 years until she landed in beautiful Bali where she completed her 200hrs Yoga Teacher Training.

As an integrative nutrition coach and specialist in gut health, Kim believes that it’s not just what’s on our plate that makes us healthy – it’s our lifestyle. And yoga has proven to be a healer of all things in itself, our very own medicine, which is why she teaches it. To guide us complex humans to a simpler path of pure and utter joy and stillness. It doesn’t matter what shape or size you are, or whether you can touch your toes – if you want to better yourself and love yourself and have a lighter walk of life, then her classes are for you. She’ll be there with you every breath of the way.

Aaron’s yoga journey started from a very early age. It left his life, and re-entered when he most needed it. With an upbringing in Martial Arts Aaron has merged this discipline into his yoga teachings and personal practice and has become an advanced practitioner specializing in handstands and inversions.

Wondering why he practiced twice a day and 7 days a week, Aaron completed his long-awaited 200hr yoga teacher training at The Source in Cape Town in February 2020. Prior to this Aaron was taught by and shadowed under many successful yoga teachers focusing on Hatha, Vinyasa, Budokon, Yin, Sivananda and Ashtanga. This has led to the development of his core set of values, devotion, variety of cues, unique foundations and authentic approach to teaching yoga.

Aside from being a yoga teacher Aaron is also a professional magician, Martial Arts instructor and English teacher. The role of being a teacher in these sectors has led to long term exposure, added to his current abilities, and will continue to aid in his progression as a professional yoga teacher.

Aaron’s teachings are aimed at strengthening his students, creating whole body awareness, polishing and rooting into the foundations of the asana to create more balance. Synchronization of breath and movement, and adding the element of challenge enriches his students’ practice in a fun and dynamic manner. Laughing and learning through play is his preferred methodology in order to remain present. By incorporating a gentle smile to the face during practice, this lends to his philosophy of releasing resistance to the present moment.

Through a solid foundation in the structural elements of yoga and proper guidance, inversions and later on, handstands, are attainable and can be learned by all. In the end, a master of any technique, is a master of the basics.