The People

Teachers of the Institute are people from a diversity of backgrounds who share a commitment to Yoga. The teaching staff includes people qualified and experienced in the trades, social work, the law, psychology, business, information technology and environmental management; and current trainees include people from the military, academia, consulting, full time parenting, agriculture, environmental science, school teaching and the public service. A number of the teachers or trainees began yoga as youngsters and entered into training during their early to late twenties, whilst others found Yoga later, even after retirement. This diversity in the teaching and trainee population is a demonstration of Yoga’s power to transform us, wherever we are at in our lives. It touches us and holds us as we step moment by moment through life.

Alan Goode

Alan Goode is the Director of Yoga Mandir. He holds an Junior Advanced teaching certificate. Alan has studied regularly at the RIMY Institute in Pune India with the Iyengar family for almost 35 years.
Alan is passionately involved with the practice of yoga and its application to daily life. Through his writing he unravels the themes of the yoga sutras and demonstrates their link to our daily practice. Alan has developed an extensive resource library and engages in ongoing research work to support teacher development...

Caroline Plunkett

Caroline is a certified Iyengar Yoga teacher; she holds an Introductory Level 2 Certificate with the BKS Iyengar Yoga Association of Australia. She completed her Preliminary Teacher Training with and attends Professional Development with Alan Goode. Caroline started attending yoga classes in Canberra in 1999 as a young adult. She commenced teaching at Yoga Mandir in 2012.
Caroline has tertiary qualifications in social work, law and Asian studies (Japanese). She has an interest in women’s health, babies, children and Ayurveda...

Demeter Davis

Inspired by her study of Indian philosophy as an undergraduate, Demeter attended her first Iyengar Yoga class in 1999 and commenced a home practice in 2001 using Light on Yoga as a guide. Demeter started teaching Yoga in 2003 and also completed studies in psychology at the University of Sydney. Holding these two views side by side has deepened her understanding and appreciation of yoga, and confirmed its position at the centre of Demeter’s life...

Sally Mumford

Sally started Iyengar Yoga in 1992 in Darwin. In 1996 she began teaching in Alice Springs and ran a school there till 2011. She has continued to maintain her role as an Iyengar Yoga teacher for students in Alice Springs, returning regularly to conduct weekend workshops. Sally is a certified Iyengar Yoga teacher; she holds an Introductory Level Certificate with Iyengar Yoga Australia.
Sally is also studying for a Visual Arts degree at ANU, majoring in Drawing and Print Media...

Sabrina Sonntag

Sabrina is a certified Iyengar Yoga teacher; she holds an Introductory Level 2 Certificate with the BKS Iyengar Yoga Association of Australia. She completed her Preliminary Teacher Training with Alan Goode.

Kylie Elliott

Kylie is the Office Manager at Yoga Mandir and a trainee in Alan Goode's Preliminary Teacher Training Program. She began studying yoga at the Institute in 2011 and immediately knew that she had stumbled upon a practice that would change her life...

Ela Majocha

Ela began attending Hatha Yoga classes in Poland in 1987 in her first year at university and discovered Iyengar Yoga in 1995, when she moved to Edinburgh, Scotland. Ela trained as an Iyengar Yoga teacher in Edinburgh, from 2002 to 2004. Ela holds an Introductory Level Certificate with Iyengar Yoga Australia. In 2006 she moved to Perth, Australia where she continued to teach until moving to Canberra in 2015, to devote more time to the study and practice of yoga at Yoga Mandir Institute. Over the years, she has studied with senior teachers in Europe, Australia and India...

Mark Boast

Mark is a certified Iyengar Yoga teacher; he holds an Introductory Level 2 Certificate with the BKS Iyengar Yoga Association of Australia. He completed his teacher training with Alan Goode.

Darryl Alexander

Darryl is a certified Iyengar Yoga teacher with an Introductory Level 2 Certificate issued by Iyengar Yoga Australia on behalf of the Ramamani Iyengar Memorial Institute (RIMYI), Pune, India. Darryl grew up in India and completed his secondary education at schools located in the Himalayan foothills where Yoga and Ayurveda were accepted as part of daily living including all aspects of their history and philosophy. Darryl’s interest in Yoga as a way of life deepened around 2003, in Perth WA, long after he and his family had migrated to Australia.

Jenny Devlin

Jenny first fell in love with Iyengar yoga as a young university student in 1995. Today, more than 20 years on, Jenny continues to be intrigued by the subject of yoga. Over that time, the practice has provided the delight of physical play, the solace of healing and rest, and the sustaining wisdom of compassionate awareness.

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