Our Teachers
The teachers at Bikram Yoga & Wellness are regular people who do yoga for the same reasons as everyone else.
Like you, we want to be flexible and strong, mobile and well-balanced. We want the mental resilience to cope with stressful situations. We want to be useful to the people we love and productive at work for as long as possible.
We do Bikram Yoga because it's the most effective tool we know for living a better, healthier life. We became Bikram Yoga teachers because we want to open the door to a better, healthier life for you.
FOUNDER OF BIKRAM YOGA & WELLNESS
Jodie Petersen
When I practised my first Bikram Yoga Class in 1996 I could barely touch my toes, but I knew that day I had found something so special that would be part of me forever.
I loved how quickly my body become leaner, stronger, fitter, flexible but more than anything I felt happy for the first time in a long time. My dark moods lifted, my negative thoughts dwindled, I worried less and slept better. I felt amazing.
I knew I’d found my passion in life.
In 1997, I travelled to the States to train as a Bikram Yoga teacher and returned home to Oz inspired and prepared to open my very own yoga school on the Northern Beaches.
In 1998 I opened the first Aussie owned Bikram school in Australia.
After 25 years I fall more deeply in love with the infinite tangible and intangible possibilities and potential of Yoga. I continue to learn and grow. I am excited to share my growth and have recently qualified to teach Ghosh Yoga, a therapeutic modality from which Bikram Yoga developed.
I am blessed to have some of the country’s most experienced teachers in our team. Together, we are absolutely devoted to bringing yoga and its myriad of benefits to all.
BIKRAM TEACHER
Rowena
I was first introduced to yoga in 1995 as part of my performing arts & acting degree. I hated it and thought it was boring & pointless!
During my years working professionally in the performing arts industry I developed an eating disorder and rheumatoid arthritis which rendered me crippled, unable to work and in the depths of despair. In 2003 I found Bikram Yoga. It was very different to my memory of yoga 8 years before.
It turned my life around 360 degrees! I embarked on teacher training in Spring 2005 and have never looked back!
I absolutely adore teaching, but I also love teaching the teachers! I have been on the management team at Teacher Training many many times where I also led the advanced yoga classes for visiting teachers.
Twice I have become the Australian Asana Yoga Champion in 2007 & 2011. I went on to represent Australia in the world championships.
I run workshops, retreats and have mentored teachers both nationally & internationally. Besides being an enthusiastic teacher, I am an avid student of yoga. I am always learning.
I am really excited to be running our intermediate yoga classes here at Brookvale.
BIKRAM TEACHER
Richard
If you’d told me on 30 December 2008, the day I took my first Bikram Yoga class that I’d one day be teaching this stuff, I’d have laughed at you.
Like a lot of newcomers, I went to my first class for a straightforward reason. For the previous 5 or so years I’d been doing a lot of endurance sports. I loved the training and racing, but I always seemed to be injured. I must have spent $10,000 on just about every therapy under the sun trying to fix my body. Mates of mine had long ago told me about Bikram Yoga, but I avoided it because “I can’t touch my toes”.
I can’t claim that anything Earth-shattering happened during my first few classes, but I sensed that Bikram Yoga was good for me – it hurt so much it better have been! – so I kept it up. As I practised regularly, my body started to change and a few interesting things happened. I touched my toes, my spine opened (I mean I stopped snorting during back bends), and all those injuries? – they vanished somewhere in a pool of Bikram sweat.
For nearly 5 years I was something of a dedicated Bikram Yoga student, but I couldn’t imagine being a teacher. The truth is, I fell into teaching in 2013 when I simultaneously decided a short career in law was too long and I might just be able to survive the teacher training program. It wasn’t an inspired decision, but it was one of my best.
Bikram Yoga is a tool that any of us can use to improve our lives. It won’t make everything perfect. But it can help. It doesn’t matter what shape you’re in. I’ve taught elite athletes. I’ve taught the sick and injured. It doesn’t matter what you believe in. I’ve taught spiritual seekers. I’ve taught materialists. And it doesn’t matter if you can’t touch your toes.
Just come to class, do your honest best and the yoga will work.
Catch you in the hot room.
BIKRAM TEACHER
Kaz
My first taste of Bikram Yoga was at a time (1997) when my exercise routine consisted of weight lifting at the gym and a basic Hatha yoga class.
I had been training at the gym for ten years (including sessions with a personal trainer for the last year). I was looking for a more challenging form of yoga so I tried several different styles – as I discovered, there was nothing to compare to Bikram’s Yoga! I was lucky enough to begin my practice at the first Bikram’s Yoga school in Australia and followed the locations, growth and progress from there. Before long I was off to LA to train with Bikram and finished teacher training in April 1999.
While overseas, I taught in California, London, Thailand and back to LA, where I had the amazing & challenging experience of teaching Bikram, his wife Raj and their two children in a regular class, can you believe it???
Returning to Australia I studied yoga philosophy with Sri Rama Acharya and also began studying for a diploma of Shiatsu (including the practice of Ki yoga) to compliment my career as a remedial massage therapist.
Since then I have travelled and taught in Hawaii, USA and London further enhancing my teaching experience. In 2004 I completed yoga teacher training in Pune, India with Dharmavirsingh adding a different perspective to Bikram’s training.
As a teacher, I feel honoured and privileged to share my passion and knowledge with you, as it is your dedication and growth that inspires me to further mine
BIKRAM TEACHER
Barbara
I grew up surrounded by my sporty family and I’ve always been active and enjoyed sports.
But it wasn’t until I tried Bikram Yoga that I truly found myself. I found something that makes me feel good from the inside out… and the best thing is that great feeling doesn‘t stop… it stays with you.
I’ve been practising Bikram almost daily since 2006. Until my 2 beautiful boys came along it was daily but now it’s a blessing when I can!
I completed the Bikram Yoga Teacher Training in Spring 2007 and taught in Singapore for the next two years. Then I returned back to Australia where I spent 6 months teaching at a newly opened Bikram studio at sunny Noosa.
Now I have finally returned back to Sydney where I first started and where I feel I belong the most.
I am thrilled to teach along with so many amazing teachers here. Teaching is my passion and I’m blessed to be able to share something I love with others around me
BIKRAM TEACHER
Alison
I limped into my first Bikram Yoga class in 2001, walked out limp free and haven’t looked back.
While I came to yoga to avoid a hip replacement, I discovered the benefits to overall health and wellbeing surpassed anything I had tried before.
I quit the gym and became a dedicated Bikram Yoga practitioner. I completed teacher training in 2012.
I have a range of experience from my time as a gymnast, gymnastics’ coach, karate student and fitness/aerobics instructor that enriches my understanding of human physiology.
BIKRAM TEACHER
Castro
I was studying landscaping when I first decided to come along to a Bikram class to help with my concentration.
It was 2010. I can remember my first class – it was a Thursday at 6am with Phee. I loved it! I loved my 2nd and my 3rd class but my 4th class I walked out of the room, I really struggled with the heat in that one. I spoke to Sheriff about struggling with the heat and he said if you’re struggling with heat then you’re not breathing. So I started to concentrate more on my breath.
My concentration did improve and my whole body changed. I lost a lot of weight, felt much more flexible and strong.
I went to teacher training in 2013 because I loved the yoga so much I just wanted to be part of it.. What I love most about teaching is the exchange of energy with the students.
Bikram Teacher
BIKRAM TEACHER
Heather
I’ve been a nurse for more than 20 years, working in a variety of fields – oncology, palliative care, rheumatology and research to name a few – and as a result am passionate about promoting holistic health and well-being to everybody.
My own battle with breast cancer prompted me to follow my dreams and move to Australia in 2003.
I confess that I’m a heat junkie but had never heard of Bikram yoga before I tried my first class in 2005 – my practice was sporadic initially until I did my first 30 day challenge. Then I was hooked!!
Reasonably fit, I was well aware of the changes to my body with regular practice – but the changes to my psychological health continue to amaze me!
I decided to go to Bikram Yoga Teacher Training in 2014 and I truly believe Bikram yoga makes us bullet proof.
Forget what you can’t do- it’s what you CAN do that counts!
BIKRAM TEACHER
Phiona
I had been promising a friend for months that I would join her for a Bikram class but eventually I ran out of feeble excuses as to why I was not living up to my promises and this, along with a vague sense of guilt I had developed over being such an unreliable friend, finally brought me to my first Bikram class right here at the Brooky studio.
It was 2004 and the moment I walked through the studio door I was instantly and absolutely … appalled – so many people, so hot, so sweaty. Eeew. I wanted to leave but I couldn’t very well do that given my months of yoga evasion, my excuses and my guilt. Thankfully, I stayed. It was my first ever yoga class and I was absolutely blown away by the profound feelings of euphoria and utter peacefulness that I discovered during that first class. I have been a devotee of yoga ever since. I will be practising for life: with every passing age and stage, I will practise; as my body changes and my days here become numbered, I will practise; probably on the eve of my death, I will practise. I will meditate.
From my first class I knew that I would become a Bikram teacher. People talk about experiencing ‘a calling’ and in that class I heard my name echoing on the winds of destiny. In 2006 I completed my Bikram Teacher Training in Los Angeles and I have been teaching Bikram, Advanced and other forms of Hatha yoga continuously (give or take a child or 2) since. I do what I love. I am blessed indeed.
BIKRAM TEACHER
Paul
Paul trained as a Bikram Yoga Instructor and subsequently taught in the UK, USA, and Asia before living in Australia. His teaching is also certified and accredited by The Yoga Alliance, following 1500 hours of additional training. The journey towards yoga was a natural progression, coming from a sports and movement background.
Apart from teaching yoga, Paul works as an actor, presenter and voice coach. Integrating his knowledge to assist the training and development of yoga teachers is one of Paul’s passions. His teaching emphasises the balancing of strength with relaxation, and sincerity with play. He loves to laugh. And also to practice Vipassana meditation.
Yoga students describe Paul’s classes as clear, kind, and fun! During his classes students feel encouraged to explore their strengths and deepen the therapeutic benefits of their yoga practice. After practicing Paul’s class you’re likely to feel energised, calm, and light. He’s been teaching Bikram method yoga since 2006
BIKRAM TEACHER
Mel
Ultimately, yoga is all about the mind and it was for this reason that I knew I had found something really special following my very first Bikram class back in February 2010 right here at Brookvale.
I had previously practiced various forms of yoga, but nothing came close to the mental stillness I felt following a Bikram Yoga class. As a runner I have always used saunas as part of my recovery so the combination of a yoga practice and the heat also made therapeutic sense to me.
At the time of my first class, I was a “recovering Corporate Executive” and an anxious new mum who was learning to navigate motherhood following the traumatic birth of my second baby. It was an incredibly wise GP who suggested I try yoga again and I guess, the rest is history.
Bikram Yoga is without a doubt the foundation to all my health and wellness today. It was the catalyst for my healing as well as the springboard for all my subsequent studies.
I completed my 500-hour Hatha Yoga teacher training in 2016 with Raja Yoga Academy and I am soon to complete a Post Graduate Diploma of Yoga Therapy at The Yoga Institute. I have studied Yoga Psychology with the Australian Institute of Yoga Therapy and will soon be eligible for my International Accreditation as a Yoga Therapist. I am also a certified Buteyko Breathing Practitioner.
In 2017 (while living in Canberra) I developed a Yoga in Schools program that was formally recognised by the ACT Education Directorate. I have worked with children with special needs as well as adolescents with mental health challenges.
I am hugely passionate about the overall health benefits that a regular yoga practice can provide. It is a holistic practice with physical, mental and energetic dimensions. It develops a strong and flexible body and helps to create the mental stability and peace of mind to deal with the stresses of life.
I will forever be a student and so grateful for this opportunity to teach and do what I love.
