Teachers
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Students at Kookaburra Creek are supported by a dedicated faculty of experienced teachers with diverse skills and backgrounds. This enables us to offer a variety of styles of Hatha Yoga to ensure there is yoga for everyone!
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Biographies
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Robert BeckerRobert spent many years practising yoga intensively living in ashrams and travelling in India before settling into family life.
In the 1990s Robert built the Kookbaurra Creek Yoga Centre in honour of his Guru which he co-directs with Mandy, with whom he shares the spiritual journey. The centre has been blessed by some great souls (Mahatmas) over fifteen years. Sri Swami Ramakrishna of the Amritanandamayi Mission has visited a number of times, Sri Somanatha Maharishi of Hyderabad introduced the centre to Mano Yoga. More recently Sri Swami Satyanarayana Chillapa initiated Robert as a preceptor in the path of Pranahuti meditation which is now practiced daily and with a group of devotees on a weekly basis. Robert has been practising and teaching yoga for over 36 years in South Africa, Mauritius, India and Australia. Robert was initiated into yoga and meditation at the age of 20 by his Diksha Guru HH Sri Swami Venkatesanandaji Maharaj of the Sivananda tradition, Rishikesh and was given the spiritual name Narayan. Robert teaches a dynamic style of Integral Hatha Yoga based on the tradition of Patanjali's Raja Yoga. Asanas and Pranayama are used to guide aspirants seeking a deeper experience of meditation. Robert has a Masters degree in Psychiatric Social Work and is a skillful life coach and group facilitator. He works professionally in the field and strives to integrate a working life in the world with a love of yoga and meditation and the responsibilities of being a householder, husband and father. This is the challenge many face today, spiritualising day to day life. |
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Mandy BeckerKnoxMandy has been studying and practicing yoga since 1990 when she was twenty years old in both India and Australia. She has taught yoga for over twenty years in Perth, India, and on international retreats.
Over this time she has had the great privilege of travelling to India many times for extended periods studying directly with teachers and masters of yoga including:
She has been a resident in the following ashrams and spiritual centres:
Mandy has also studied towards a diploma in Ayurveda at the Australian Institute of Holistic Medicine, and is currently pursuing additional training in Yin Yoga. Mandy considers being still in nature to be the greatest of all spiritual teachers. Mandy’s yoga journey has been an integration of these teachings over time and deep personal experience. Her teaching style is practical, relevant and spiritual - with an emphasis on a safe and meaningful practice which leads students towards health of the body and peace of mind. Mandy has developed comprehensive courses, programs and manuals for all levels of students and is particularly focussed on absolute beginners - ensuring people new to yoga receive a comprehensive introduction to the often misrepresented teachings of traditional yoga. Mandy focuses on teaching and sharing yoga as a holistic and comprehensive model of self care and self development. There is a strong focus on yogic diet and lifestyle in retreats and courses. Professionally, Mandy has a BA in English, is a qualified graphic designer and continues to work as a consultant editor, designer and publishing specialist after a recent career as Chief Executive Officer of a not-for-profit health organisation. She is an inspiring leader and brings together her creativity, love of organising, and passion for yoga to create and deliver Kookaburra's yoga and retreat program. Mandy’s personal practice and the integration of the wisdom teachings of yoga inform every aspect of her life, and have been a guiding influence through the challenges and joys of raising a family and professional life. |
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Di JonesDi has been a yoga practitioner for 18 years, joining the teaching team at Kookaburra Creek in 2013 after completing a Hatha Vinyasa teacher training course of over 950 hours under the auspices of Dr Jean Byrne.
Di has pursued further training annually in the area of yin yoga completing over 200 hours of study under the guidance of Sarah Powers at the Institute of Insight Yoga. Di’s personal practice honours the traditional lineage of Kriya yoga masters Lari Babaji , to the present guru, Paramamhamsa Prajnananander, but also interweaves the insights of ageless wisdom practices from many traditions. Di teaches Hatha and Yin yoga at the centre. The Hatha slow flow class is a style that blends traditional yoga postures, transitional flow movements and breath awareness together, to bring about deep stillness within the asana. Her Yin yoga classes focus on insightful meditation and connecting with the energy flow systems to heal, restore and maintain whole body system. Di’s influences come from her first teacher who introduced her to yoga, Robert Becker, co – director of Kookaburra Yoga, Sarah Powers her Yin teacher, based in the U.S, and more recently, her Kriya yoga teacher and guide Swami Gurupriyananda Giri who presently resides in Sydney. |
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Will FordeWilliam Forde is the organiser of Perth Yoga for Everybody, a studio that runs classes in Perth and Rockingham. He has practised yoga for 7 years and obtained his 200hr YTT at the Yog Peeth ashram in the Himalayan mountains, namely Kalimpong, West Bengal and is an RYT 200 with Yoga Australia. He promotes a conscientious, breath-conscious, slow approach to hatha teachings, which resonates most with the traditional Indian Satyananda/Sivananda lineage of Hatha Vinyasa. His classes include posture variations and cues to make classes less rigid and more accessible to a wider range of bodies (and neurological configurations!)
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Isabel GranadoIsabel is a yoga practitioner and qualified teacher, who trained in Portugal initially with Carlos Rui (studied and practiced with B.K.S. Iyengar in Pune) and more recently with Pedro Kupfer (studied and practiced with Swami Dayananda in Rishikesh).
In Isabel's classes the practice and values are gradually introduced in a way that leads the students to a broader self-awareness (body, mind, feelings) and self-enquiry. The major challenge in yoga, for Isabel, is to extend the good feelings reached within the practice room, outwards to the daily life. Isabel sees yoga as a way of life beyond the practice room. "Yoga gives me a path to learn more about myself and my role within society. Teaching yoga makes me feel grateful to ba able to share I learn with other practitioners." Isabel's classes include a sequence of Hatha Yoga postures and techniques, approached from the dense to the subtle senses, which include releasing and invigorating the body, calming the mind and observing the self. |
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Joanne CurtiJo’s curious and inquisitive nature began from a very early age and was always captivated whilst watching her Mother doing her regular yoga practice. Jo’s unstable grounding led her to spend her life forever seeking and needing. Whenever there were challenges in coping with her everyday life (becoming a mother and a parent) the universe would present to her, time and time again - Yoga and Meditation.
Practicing yoga became more clear when she met her Yoga Teacher Debbie Hay (FINI) over at Rottnest Island in May 2009 for a women’s retreat over the mother’s day weekend. Jo met other likeminded women from different walks of life, taking time out for themselves. Jo felt like she had come “HOME” to a place of self-love – not to a home that she had ever known before. Jo commenced a regular practice of Hatha Vinyasa Yoga classes, the more she practiced Yoga the deeper she delved and began to learn and be accepting of her true self. Jo’s journey of self-enquiry to her many facets that are “me” were being peeled back consciously, authentically and truthfully. Jo’s belief in a holistic approach encouraged her to learn more of the physical, spiritual, emotional and mental aspects. It is through The Yoga Space that Jo completed The Hatha Vinyasa Yoga Teacher Training with Yoga teacher Dr Jean Byrne PhD, and graduated in June 2014. Jo is a Registered Level 1 Hatha Vinyasa Yoga Teacher with Yoga Australia. Whilst undertaking her Yoga Teacher Training, Jo specialised in Prenatal, Postnatal Yoga and Active Birth, Yin/Yang Yoga and Children’s Yoga. Jo brings to all her classes the sharing of yoga in a safe and welcoming environment, a place to be mindful of staying in the present moment and self-nurturing. Jo has taught at various studios including the Conscious Conception and Birth Centre WA, Mt Nasura. Jo’s professional background includes practising as a Registered Midwife and Nurse. Through the practice of yoga this has allowed her to just be with women on their journeys of self-discovery. Jo’s perseverance and steadfastness encourages her to embrace knowledge every day. |
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Lani NobleLani is a lover of life and the wonderment of simple things. Dedicated to a life of deep inner enquiry she has an insatiable thirst for truth, nature and sharing the message of the Heart through yoga, meditation, ceremonial cacao and writing.
After living overseas for 6 years studying and teaching yoga and meditation Lani is now based back in Perth. Her yoga classes are a fusion of yin and gentle Hridaya Hatha yoga accessible for all, from beginner to advanced practitioners. Each class is infused with a touch of mysticism as Lani blends classical yoga, Advaita Vedanta and Sufi teachings with somatic practices to encourage her students to explore the mind body connection, to feel each movement from within, to breathe, to accept, to let go and to feel free within the body. With a passion for embracing life in all its beautiful humanness Lani gently guides her students on a deep journey through the body into the Heart. Lani holds a 500-hour RYT Certificate as a Hridaya hatha yoga and meditation instructor and she is also a 200hr certified Yin yoga instructor. |
