I’m Emily! I'm so pleased to connect with you. I have been a student of Yoga & Meditation for over two decades and have been teaching Yoga for over 8 years and Mindfulness Meditation for around 3 years. I first started learning to meditate in my teenage years to help me manage periods of stress and anxiety. Curiosity about diverse cultures, ideas and techniques for enhanced wellbeing is something that I am grateful to have been surrounded by growing up.
Through my teachings and guided practices, I draw together the diverse, yet connected, teachings of Buddhism, Yoga, Science and connection to Nature, through my own lived experiences. Together they create potent opportunities for embodied awareness.
Having studied and worked in human rights and social justice for many years I am called to teach these practices as ways to support the way we act and serve ourselves and others, with kindness, integrity and compassion. I believe that there really is a practice for everyone and that we all have shared roots in this journey towards greater awareness and connection. I am here to help you find your unique path there. The written word is and always has been my favourite form of expression. I was a book worm, I followed an academic path, I’ve journaled all my life. I love that YOU can choose if, what and when to read my words.
I hope they resonate with you.
With much kindness and peace, Emily xx
From a young age Emily loved dance as a form of exercise and creative expression but moved away from this to pursue a more academic path at university, where she studied Politics. She spent many years energetically volunteering as a human rights activist, becoming a leader in the student activist space in the UK, particularly with Amnesty International.
Emily also grew up immersed in Eastern philosophy with both parents practicing Tai Chi regularly and having a large collection of spiritual books. This fuelled a love of the philosophies of Yoga, Taoism and Buddhism, as well as an interest in the ancient spiritual traditions of Indigenous cultures. Emily started meditating in her teenage years however, it was at university that Emily established her practice of Yoga and fell in love with the way she could not only move her body but also find calm and peace in what was often an overactive mind.
Emily moved to Australia and continued to deepen her yoga practice, particularly loving the tools and insights she gained throughout pregnancy with her first child. She began her yoga teacher training in 2014, completing a Mindful Yoga 200 hour training with her home studio, Grass Roots Yoga.
After also completing a Masters in International Development, Emily worked in leadership roles in the international education and NGO sectors for over ten years before giving up the ‘office job’ to focus on teaching yoga.
Emily has trained with a number of international yoga teachers including in Vinyasa yoga with Jenni Morrison-Jack & Simon Borg Olivier, Yin yoga and Mindfulness with Sarah Powers, Energetic Anatomy and Sound & Mantra with Irene Ais, Pranayama and Tantrik philosophy with Uma Spender and Cultural and Trauma Sensitive practices with Mei Lai Swan.
She also a qualified Prenatal, Restorative and Kids Yoga teacher, Breath work practitioner and Trauma-Informed Yoga Teacher. Emily has completed 1000 hours of Yoga teacher training, has been teaching for 7 years and is registered with Yoga Australia as a Level 2 Teacher (500 RYT).
Emily has also completed a number of Mindfulness meditation programs, has graduated from a two year Mindfulness Meditation teacher training with world renowned teachers Jack Kornfield and Tara Brach and she is a registered teacher with Meditation Australia. A dedicated daily meditation practice in the Buddhist Insight tradition has been of great benefit to Emily, both personally and as a teacher and she is excited to also share meditation classes, courses and private mentoring as a certified mindfulness teacher.
Always curious, Emily loves to read and write as a creative outlet. She is currently exploring her own cultural roots of the Northern Traditions of Britain & Scandinavia, and the intersections between their ancient practices and those of the lineages of Yoga & Mindfulness that she shares. Emily particularly loves to draw on philosophy, story, symbolism, music and ritual through her classes and retreats, encouraging her students to find their own unique path to spiritual awakening.
In her spare time Emily loves to play piano and electric bass as well as hike or ski in the mountains where she lives!
Training
2014 – 200 Hour Mindful Hot Yoga Teacher Training, Grass Roots Yoga
2015 – 40 Hour Prenatal and Postnatal Yoga Teacher Training, Bliss Baby Yoga
2015 – 20 Hour Vinyasa Teacher Training, Australia Yoga Academy
2016 – 10 Hour Restorative Yoga Teacher Training, Bliss Baby Yoga
2016 – 10 Hour Chakra Healing Diploma, Yoga Alliance
2016 – 150 Hour Postgraduate Yoga Teacher Training, Ihana Yoga (Jenni Morrison-Jack and Simon Borg-Olivier)
2016 – 60 Hour Insight Yoga Teacher Training Level 1 (Yin and Mindfulness), Sarah Powers
2018 – 50 Hour Kids Yoga Teacher Training, Rainbow Kids Yoga
2018 – 50 Hour Anatomy of Yoga Teacher Training, Om People Yoga (Irene Ais)
2019 - 10 Hour Tarot training Keziah Gibbons
2020 – 20 Hour We are Vibration Mantra Training, Om People Yoga (Irene Ais & Josh Blau)
2020 – 100 Hour Breath of the Heart Pranayama Teacher Training, Uma Spender Yoga
2020 – 30 Hour Trauma Informed Yoga Foundations – Yoga for Human Kind (Mei Lai Swan)
2019 – 2021 Mindfulness Meditation Teacher Certification Program, Jack Kornfield & Tara Brach (~ 300 hours)
2021 – 30 Hour Yoga, Social Justice & Spirit – Yoga for Human Kind / We-ali (Mei Lai Swan & Jarmbi)
Other qualifications
2011 – Master of International Development, RMIT University
2015 – Mental Health First Aid, This Healthy Life
