About Us

By the grace of my teachers, my mission is simple: to share Yoga with the world in the way that it was intended - as a spiritual science designed to awaken us to our highest potential.

Everything I teach is lineage-based, handed down from teacher to student for thousands of years in an unbroken chain of personal transmission. Since I began teaching in 2006, my only wish has been to be serve humanity by sharing this great science and simultaneously honor my teachers and the long line of dedicated Yogis that came before them.

I believe that when practiced correctly and with the right guidance and attitude, the reach of Yoga and its capacity to transform lives is truly limitless.

 

My yoga journey started back in 1999, when I checked myself into a retreat, without having too much of an idea about what that even meant. I was subsequently introduced to the concept of paying a lot of money to someone, for them to turn around and start ‘torturing’ you. Over the years my practice and work has evolved into so much more. Back in 2012, I decided to dive in all the way and attend a Yoga Teacher Training Course in Bali. This really awakened a new side of me and raised my consciousness to a level I was unaware I was capable of. I reflect back on my life now and wonder how I survived (literally), being so unconscious for the past 40 plus years.

The next huge shift for me occurred when I was sitting at the feet of my guru, yoga brother and friend (yes that would be Octavio), and he showed me how to view the world in a whole new way “OFF THE MAT”. This was about cultivating an attitude, belief, mantra or whatever else you want to call it, and moving through the fear of trying some of the more advanced yoga postures (though for me they are all ‘advanced’ ;-)), instead of retreating behind stories like: “I am too fat; I am too old; I am not flexible enough; and what will she think of me.”

So you may ask how a bloke, from a blue-collar background, working for most of my career as a chief engineer on super yachts, could end up opening a yoga studio in Bali. Easy! Well no, actually it was not so easy. But was it worth it? Hell yes! I am all in! As the yoga engineer of the business, it has been challenging and simultaneously it has been magnificently rewarding, living life on and off the mat. Well I am trying to at least, and having a bloody good time doing it. As my guru also says to me “Take your practice seriously, but not yourself”.

Feel free to talk to me sometime and I will share with you a bit more of the uncut version of the story. See you on the mat soon.

 

I have travelled the road less travelled, the road well travelled, and a lot of whacky paths in between.

One of the life-changing paths started with a personal development course in 1999, which caused me to delve into the exciting world of personal development, where I develop an insatiable thirst for knowledge and wisdom, along with physical mind-body practices like yoga and meditation.

As an Australian Army Major at the age of 29, I decided at one point that the box I had learned awesome skills in was just not big enough so I resigned, skipped countries, and took up a role as a Consultant to the 2002 Salt Lake Winter Olympic Games. My leap of faith lead to five amazing years consulting to mega sports events across the world.

But it was in 2007, where I finally found the courage to leave my cushy consulting work to follow my true calling of helping people to tap into their full potential. It was time to set up a Coaching practice, with Bali as my main base.

Fast forward a few years and I have now coached CEO’s, elite athletes, world record holders, actors, UN workers, business owners, entrepreneurs and everything in between. I have also presented seminars to companies like Chevron, Aspire Zone, FINN Group and the SWIRE Group. Plus I run adventure retreats abroad and now authored three books (The Guidebook to Happiness, The Guidebook to Optimum Health, and The Guidebook to Authentic Success).

In the end, I just love seeing people tap into (a lot) more of the potential I know they all have. With 20 years of strategic planning skills, plus skills as a NLP master practitioner, reiki master, personal fitness trainer, hypnotherapist, and Coach, I am fascinated to find the little things we can start doing or stop doing, to unlock our latent potential.

 

Yoga is my life…literally. I started practicing 16 years ago and in 2011 I began teaching in my home town of Melbourne, Australia. In late 2014 I realised that something was calling me to go deeper into my yogic experience, so I packed up my life not knowing where this might lead, but trusting my instincts I set forth. This adventure started with a stopover in Turkey to reconnect with my teacher, whilst enroute ultimately to India, a new journey started teaching yoga in Ubud.

After completing more time with my teacher in India I found myself, with a subsequent offer to stay on and teach at The Practice. It was a golden opportunity and one that I am still engaged in and experiencing now. Contributing to ongoing Yoga Teacher Trainings, Workshops and regular classes, which has bought me into contact with so many wonderful yogis from around the world.

Along with teaching I have constantly worked at my own practice and studies, attending a number of short specialist courses. In 2014 I completed a 200hr RYT in Yin Yoga with Paul Grilleys senior teachers Jo Phee and Joe Barnett, and most recently a 200hr YA Certification Moon. Sun. Fire with my friend and mentor Octavio Salvado.

The journey continues for me and as it unfolds I hold to the importance of self practice, lovingly and patiently remembering that I am forever the student. OM Shanti Shanti Shanti.

 

One of the things I love most about yoga is that it is a veritable feast of technologies for exploring consciousness. No matter where you are on the path it has something to offer you. As my understanding of the practice has matured, the horizons of what I understand yoga to be have expanded also. It doesn’t matter how deep you dig, there is always more.

My movement background extends over 20 years, with 14 years training as a classical dancer before I began practicing yoga. Then, at university, among other things, I studied psychology and philosophy and while I loved philosophy I always wished the ideas we explored would offer answers to life’s big questions in a way that was a little less abstract and had a little more soul. Yoga does that. And I love that it also directs you to experience the answers through conscious breath and movement.

Before teaching yoga I lectured in international security studies (a branch of international relations) at university. I did my first yoga teacher training program out of sheer curiosity and spent several years teaching part-time before I felt compelled to take the leap and leave university behind for good. Since then I have worked between Australia and Bali, most recently for a yoga teacher training school. I also volunteer for the Yoga Foundation in Australia, whose mission it is to bring yoga to people with depression and anxiety who experience hardship.

 

What I teach is based on what I have experienced first hand. I am an explorer of consciousness and a seeker of truth. As I map out new territory I share it with my students. My specialty is Yin Yoga in which I blend Yogic science, Taoist philosophy and mindfulness techniques. My intention is to empower my students to tune in and listen to their intuition. When it comes to Hatha Yoga I combine asana and pranayama to cultivate prana and create a state for meditation. At the core of my philosophy is simplicity and subtlety. Through the practice of yoga we can transform from the inside out to become the change we wish to see in the world.

 

Half-Japanese, half Belgian, born in the UK, raised in The Netherlands, a Third Culture Kid or a Ha-fu as they say in Japan, I spent most of my life trying to fit in and belong. My biggest discovery was that belonging and happiness come as a result of knowing and accepting who you are – and that in fact, we have our greatest impact and are happiest when we show up as ourselves.

And so my coaching journey started many years ago. Initially to understand and heal myself, later on much more to serve others. My personal path has been one of learning to deal with depression and high sensitivity, lack of confidence, fear of failure, cultivating courage and ultimately self-acceptance. I’ve matched personal experience with formal coaching training at “Het Europees Instituut” (The Netherlands) in 2013, and later on with Carl Massy in 2015.

Driven by the desire to make a contribution to the world, I worked in international development for close to a decade. This desire ultimately led me to take the plunge and follow my passion - to work as a coach and help people rise to the occasions of their lives and have their greatest impact on the world.