Our Teachers

Harry

This is a brief story of my journey to becoming a yoga teacher. My up bringing would be considered as “normal” and I was raised in the country in Quirindi, NSW. After stints as a Fruit picker, Jackaroo, Barmen and Soldier with the Australian Army, I attended my first Yoga class with the famous TV Yogi, Swami Sarasvati. She told me that I should be a Yoga teacher, which at the time, I thought was the craziest idea ever!

In my mid twenties I started to experience a lot of health issues, mainly skin and digestive problems which were eventually diagnosed as Eczema, Psoriasis, Fissures and Candida. The standard western approach of medication and cortisone creams helped initially, however eventually my symptoms became worse. These health issues were caused from my lifestyle choices of excess alcohol and a diet rich in meat and refined foods.

I made a conscious decision that I would try a more holistic approach to my health problems and this was the start of an amazing journey that took me all around the world exploring different types of yoga, healthy ways of eating, learning ways to create inner peace and finding some answers to the meaning of life. I did change my lifestyle completely and adopted a vegetarian, sugar, gluten and dairy free way of eating. Yoga, meditation, swimming and cycling were my forms of exercise for the body, mind and soul. This worked for me and as I move into my fifties I feel better than I ever have.

I had an accident in my late thirties and fractured a vertebrae in my neck. By combining yoga, diet, meditation and Shiatsu I was able to create the right environment for my body to heal itself and in 3 months was completely pain free and had the full range of movement back. I have had lower back issues that originated from the Army and it was when I did my Yoga Therapy and shiatsu training at the Ryoho School that I was finally able to fix this issue. I discovered that not all yoga styles will necessarily fix lower back problems.

I have been practicing Yoga and exploring healthy eating for around 20 years and teaching yoga for 10 years. I am passionate about health and well being and have gained a wealth of knowledge about how to maintain a healthy body and mind both from an Eastern and western perspective. My approach to Yoga is to make it all inclusive so that everybody can enjoy the benefits of a regular Yoga practice. There are no magic pills and we must play an active part in creating good health, and this comes down to having a healthy lifestyle.

With the knowledge I had gained through those 8 years of healing, I decided that I wanted to help others transition to a healthy lifestyle and began training in 2001.

• 2001 Completed my Reiki Master training.
• 2005 Completed a Diploma in Yoga Therapy, Zen Shiatsu and Macrobiotics.
• 2006 Started Stretch for Health.
• 2007 Completed the Stretch Teacher Training program with Kit Laughlin.
• 2011 Started teaching in Maitland ,NSW.
• 2013 Completed Level 1 Teacher Training with  Santosha Yoga.
• 2013 Completed the Certificate IV in Personal training at Newcastle TAFE.
• 2016 Founded Harry’s Yoga Studio in Maitland

So that’s a brief outline of my story, I hope you are inspired and ready to start your own journey to a better you and it all starts…

…with a choice.