The Yoga Centre
Cairns
Mission Beach
4068 7340
0438 565 423
email
yogajan@yogac.com.au
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Teachers
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Jan Watson
Founder and Senior Teacher
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Jan Watson is a registered Iyengar Yoga teacher and practitioner and a registered senior teacher with The Yoga Teachers Association of Australia. She first qualified as a yoga teacher in 1991, gaining certification with The Iyengar Yoga Teachers Association in 1997. She founded The Yoga Centre in Cairns in 2000. Jan lives on an organic (biodynamic) fruit farm in Mission Beach, North Queensland with her partner Maurice. She teaches yoga in Cairns and Mission Beach and runs workshops, intensives and retreats.
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Jan was very fortunate to have her introduction to yoga with two of the first yoga teachers in Australia, Michael Violin and Bette Calman, when she lived in Sydney in the 1970’s.
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Her interest grew from here and in the 1980’s she studied yoga in Adelaide with Satyananda and IYTA yoga teachers. She completed a 12-month Teacher Training course, which included asana practice, philosophy, meditation techniques, pranayama, dhauti (cleansing techniques) and kriyas. She qualified in 1991 as a Hatha Yoga Teacher with S.A. Yoga Teachers Association.
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In the early 1990’s Jan was taught and practiced Ashtanga Vinyasa Yoga series 1 and dappled in series 2. She was introduced to Iyengar Yoga and this started her passion for the precision and alignment in the poses that has become a trademark of Iyengar yoga. She studied as an apprentice for 3 years with Nicky Knoff, the most senior Iyengar yoga teacher at the time and with James Bryan. She gained certification as an Iyengar yoga teacher in 1997.
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Although her yoga studies have been diverse her passion lies with the Iyengar method and currently she continues her yoga studies closely with Senior Teacher Peter Scott. The precision of the instructions and the movement of the body as taught by Mr. Iyengar are not surpassed. Jan has attended classes in Pune with the Iyengars and continues her studies in both the asanas and on yoga philosophy with internationally known teachers.
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Jan’s instructions are precise; she is patient and emanates compassion. All her teachers have inspired her passion in the subject of yoga although she continues to seek that Iyengar precision in her practice and to convey this in her teaching. Her belief is that yoga is of great benefit to all who find it and that the many styles that are taught allow for all levels of students to practice this time honoured system.
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Oliver Bacchus
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Oliver is an Ashtanga yoga teacher and practitioner of series 1 and series 2. He has been teaching since 1994. He has trained and practiced under John Scott, Graeme Northfield, Peter Samson and has studied intensively with Pattabi Jois in Mysore India.
He moved to Cairns in 1992.
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His was first introduced to yoga in 1987 in New Zealand where he attended Sivananda yoga classes. Later he practiced with Iyengar Yoga teachers and in 1992 attended classes with Ashtanga yoga teacher, John Scott. He has since become an avid ashtanga yoga practitioner and teacher.
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Oliver taught at Te Aro Ashtanga Yoga School in Wellington, New Zealand for a time before moving to London and then to Cairns.
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He has a quiet manner and gives firm but gentle adjustments using the students’ breath as a guide of where and how much to adjust. He takes his students to their edge allowing them to feel the position and depth of each pose.
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Catherine Traynor
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Catherine has been involved in natural health since 1989 having worked as a remedial body worker and massage therapist for the past 15 years. She is an inaugural member of Cairns Remedial Therapists and is an accredited member of the National Association of Stretch Therapists (NAST).
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From early in her career Catherine noted the marked difference in the progress of clients who exercised, particularly in yoga or pilates, as opposed to those who just sought treatment. Catherine has always encouraged gentle exercise to her clients and this led her to study with Kit Laughlan (author of ‘Overcome Back and Neck Pain’) to become a stretch therapist and teacher.
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Catherine founded Get Stretched in 2005 and enthusiastically teaches stretch to both one to one and to groups. Programmes can be established for rehabilitation of common physical problems, in particular back and neck pain, for injury prevention, for proactive functional exercise in the corporate worlds as well as for athletic enhancement.
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Catherine has lived in Cairns since 1988, embraces the tropical lifestyle and is committed to furthering health education for herself, her family and to anyone seeking a greater quality of life.
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Nathan Dobbie
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Nathan qualified as an Iyengar Yoga Teacher in 2007. He is also a pharmacist and studied anatomy and physiology at the University of Queensland for 2 years.
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He found yoga in 1998 at the Noosa Yoga Centre run by Peter and Sue Scott. He remained a student there until he moved back to Brisbane in 2001 where he attended classes with a number of different teachers.
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Nathan moved to Cairns in 2002 and began his teacher training in Iyengar Yoga in 2005. He continues practicing and studying yoga and is working towards upgrading his teaching qualification.
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Katrina Ruth
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Katrina, originally from Adelaide, has been a student of yoga for over 20 years. Her keen interest in the yoga practices and philosophies lead her to study the Iyengar and Ashtanga styles of yoga. Her passion continued by further studies with several acclaimed teachers in Australia and Hong Kong. Katrina started teaching yoga in 1996.
She is a registered yoga teacher with Yoga Alliance R.Y.T. 500and also a certified Mat Pilates Instructor
Her journey began in 1978 with Transcendental Meditation and Satyananda Yoga, which led to her studying the basic principles of Ayurvedic medicine. By 1988 Katrina had started practicing Iyengar yoga and went onto learn and practice Ashtanga Vinyasa and Vipassana meditation. She has also lived and worked in India.
Katrina has taught yoga in Adelaide, has run her own yoga school in Port Douglas and taught and assisted with teachers’ training in Hong Kong for two years at an internationally acclaimed yoga studio.
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Margaret Frederick
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Margaret has studied and practiced yoga since 1984. She gained teaching qualification under Yoga Alliance in 1998 and has been teaching beginners at The Yoga Centre since 2005.
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Her first formal yoga experience was an 8-week general hatha beginners course run in Melbourne by the Council of Adult Education in 1984. She continued to attend classes “on and off” at a local hall and then discovered Iyengar Yoga at the Rathdowne Yoga Room in 1989. She moved to Cairns in 1994 and regularly attended Iyengar Yoga classes with senior teachers at The Ashtanga Yoga Academy. She also commenced Ashtanga practice.
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Margaret completed a ten week intensive teacher training course and 1998 and qualified under Yoga Alliance. She has attended many workshops and retreats with different teaches over the years (both Iyengar and Ashtanga). She still enjoys both styles of yoga and seeks to combine both in her own practice.
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Her work as an operations manager and as a Business training consultant has helped with her teaching yoga to beginners.
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Rita Kreileman
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Rita is a certified Yoga Teacher and Naturopath. She qualified as a yoga teacher in 2006 and is a member of the IICT (Natural Therapies).
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Since 2000 Rita has studied and practiced different styles of yoga. In Europe she completed teacher training in Astanga Yoga Primary Series with David Swenson and Manju Jois. In Cairns she successfully completed the Yoga Foundation Course with senior teacher Nicky Knoff: an intensive 8-week program (352hrs) of asanas, pranayama, meditation, teaching methodology, philosophy, ethics, yoga life-style, anatomy and physiology.
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Inspired by the alignment and precision of Iyengar Yoga, she is further developing her training in Iyengar Yoga with Senior Iyengar Yoga teacher Peter Scott.
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Rita’s teaching focuses on grounding and balance between strength and flexibility.
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