Rowan Banks Teacher Profile Photo 267×267
Rowan Banks Teacher Profile Photo 267×267
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.
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.
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.
E-RYT500
Leigh has been practicing yoga since 2004 and completed her 200-hour foundational teacher training in 2016, followed by her 300-hour advanced teacher training in 2020. In 2018, she founded House of Yoga, where she has been teaching full-time ever since. Leigh leads group and private yoga classes, workshops, and House of Yoga’s biannual retreats.
Before establishing House of Yoga, Leigh spent many years working in the corporate world in the financial, real estate and renewable energy sectors in both London and Cape Town. Throughout her corporate career, yoga was a constant source of support, helping her maintain balance and wellbeing amid the demands of professional life.
Leigh is passionate about making yoga accessible and relevant to modern living. She believes its timeless wisdom and universal principles offer practical and inspirational tools for navigating life – both its “everydayness” and its deeper questions. Her teaching focuses on yoga as a pathway to greater presence, self-awareness, and holistic wellbeing on all levels — physical, mental, and emotional.
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.
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.
“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.
“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.
For me, every time we step onto our mats, we begin a journey – a journey home to ourselves. Yoga is a philosophy and practice for living. It’s about celebrating the adventure of life, being human, our uniqueness, but also our connection to all things.
Coming from a background in dance, I’ve always found joy and expression through movement. But it was yoga that really taught me to listen in and to feel. To move the body in a conscious way, and to reawaken my breath. To embrace not only strength and resilience, but also stillness, quiet and surrender.
After over a decade in the corporate world in London and the renewable energy sector in Cape Town, I was fortunate to found House of Yoga in 2018 – an urban sanctuary in Claremont, Cape Town where people from all walks of life can explore the gifts of yoga.
I completed my 200hr Teacher Training with the Marianne Wells Yoga School in 2016 and my 300hr Advanced Teacher Training with The Shala in 2020. I’ve practiced yoga for 20 years and love interweaving the teachings from the various styles I have explored (including Hatha, Iyengar, Vinyasa, Scaravelli, Ashtanga, Yin & Restorative) in my classes.
Through movement, breath work, meditation and philosophy, I am passionate about sharing with others what the practice has gifted me: tools to navigate life with presence, to manage stress and anxiety, and to heal the relationship with self.