Faculty & Staff
Our Experienced & Passionate Teachers & Staff
A Committed Family of Yoga Professionals
BIYOME has a diverse and respected faculty of Senior yoga & meditation teachers & allied health professionals. We believe in bringing to you the highest quality educators in their respective fields. Our teachers are amongst some of Australia’s finest Senior teachers. They are sought after, dedicated and passionate teachers with years of experience in delivering high quality teacher training programs.
Our latest faculty contributors include University professors, engaged for their outstanding contributions in their chosen field of study in Integrative Lifestyle Medicine.
BIYOME is run by a close and small team of managers and administrators who are always happy to assist you with your every need with the hope of furthering your education and success.
Yoga & Meditation Faculty
Our highly committed and passionate teachers and trainers work together with Celia to provide you with the highest standard of yoga and meditation training and education. Find out more about our faculty members below.
Anita Cassidy Bowman
Integral Sound Healing Practitioner & Associate Teacher
Each part of us vibrates, creating sound that merges with and influences the energetic vibrations of the world, from Earth to the stars. I carry this understanding as an associate teacher and tutor with the international Sound Healing Academy, facilitating workshops in Queensland and NSW, alongside sound baths, storytelling events, and one-to-one therapy. For over 20 years, I have explored the vocal therapy and sound science of ancient India, integrating this into meditation and Nad (sound) Yoga. Today, I blend these traditions with indigenous and shamanic practices, deep connection to nature, and my Irish Celtic heritage.
Marian Cavanagh
Senior Yoga Teacher, Registered Relax & Renew Instructor, Bachelor of Clinical Sciences (Osteopathy), Master of Osteopathic Medicine
Marian Cavanagh is a Level 3 Yoga Australia registered yoga teacher with a wide range of training. She is a registered Relax and Renew Trainer, certified by Judith Lasater and is passionate about sharing this nurturing, healing practice. She has been teaching yoga for over 10 years with hundreds of hours of restorative teaching practice. With BIYOME, Marian provides workshops that emphasise the need for deep internal rest. Her practices incorporate a focus on long-hold, quietly held spaces, with the use of props to truly support holistic relaxation.
Alisa Craig
Breathwork Therapist
Alisa is a Breathwork Therapist accredited by the Australian Breathwork Association. With a trauma-informed background, Alisa helps people use the restorative power of their own breath to improve emotional health and release subconscious programmes in the mind and body from negative past experiences. Alisa is also an experienced group therapist and holds postgraduate qualifications in the social work field, and has worked as a Relationship Educator and Parent Educator, helping people improve their emotional intelligence to create loving, secure relationships with themselves and those they love.
Dr Tony Fernando
Psychiatrist, Sleep Specialist, TEDx speaker
Dr Tony Fernando is a psychiatrist, sleep specialist, educator, TEDx speaker, and former Buddhist monk who blends science with lived wisdom. Trained in the Philippines and at the University of Pennsylvania, he now practices and teaches in Auckland. An award-winning lecturer, he holds a PhD in compassion and specialises in insomnia and physician wellbeing. His book Life Hacks from the Buddha makes Buddhist psychology accessible worldwide. He has taught mindfulness in prisons and speaks on wellbeing, stress, and sleep, helping people live with greater balance, compassion, and ease.
Dr David Frawley
Vedacharya, Vedic Counselling & Ayurvedic Psychiatry, Founder of American Institute of Vedic Studies
Dr David Frawley (Pandit Vamadeva Shastri) is a distinguished Vedacharya and a leading authority on Vedic knowledge, recognised for his interdisciplinary approach encompassing Yoga, Ayurveda, Jyotish, and Vedanta. He holds two Doctor of Letters (D.Litt.) degrees and has authored over 50 books to promote Vedic knowledge systems, including Yoga, Vedanta, Ayurveda, and Vedic Astrology, based on his research and publications. In 2015, he was awarded India’s Padma Bhushan for his exceptional contributions. He is also the founder of the American Institute of Vedic Studies.
Arno King
Landscape architect, Vastu Shastra specialist
Arno is a Brisbane-based landscape architect, horticultural consultant, and urban designer. He is known for his radio broadcasts, speaking appearances and numerous horticultural and gardening articles. He learnt about Vastu Shastra in northern India as part of a Rotary Scholarship. On his return to Australia, he was approached to work on a number of projects by the Indian community. More recent projects include the Hare Krishna Temple at 17 Mile
Rocks and the Wat Thai Buddharam at Forestgrove.
Dr James Kirby
Lecturer in Clinical Psychology UQ School of Psychology
James is a Lecturer and Clinical Psychologist. He graduated with his PhD in Clinical Psychology from the University of Queensland in 2013. He has broad research interests in compassion. James also holds a Visiting Fellowship at the Centre for Compassion and Altruism Research and Education at Stanford University and is an Honorary Member of the Compassionate Mind Foundation UK.
Dr Diana Korevaar
Author, Consultant Psychiatrist, and Senior Advisor for Contemplative Sciences in Psychiatry
Dr Korevaar provides clinical supervision on integrating contemplative practices, including breathwork, pranayama, Eastern psychology, somatic therapies, trauma-informed yoga, and meditation into psychiatric care. At BIYOME, she supervises senior educator Celia Roberts BSc, Fellows of the RANZCP, and BIYOME students, ensuring these practices are taught and applied in alignment with ethical psychiatric standards and evidence-based one-to-one and group psychotherapy.
Fiona McLaughlin
Fully qualified Ren Xue Yuan Gong and Life Cultivation teacher
Fiona began practising Ren Xue in 2018 after being diagnosed with fibromyalgia and adrenal fatigue and given a prognosis of only two years to live. Through Ren Xue, she regained vitality and health, discovering a way to live in calm harmony with others and the world. Inspired by this, Fiona now guides others on the Ren Xue path of growth and wisdom, helping them overcome damaging thoughts and emotions. She specialises in Yuan Ming, supporting people in resolving root causes of illness, trauma, or distress, transforming unhealthy patterns, and strengthening overall wellbeing.
Dr Shane Ricketts
Osteopath, Ren Xue & Yuan Gong Qigong teacher/practitioner
Dr Shane Ricketts believes in holistic healing and the body’s innate ability to recover with the right tools and energy. After exploring yoga, meditation, and Buddhism, he discovered Ren Xue in 2008 through Yuan Tze’s teachings, which transformed his health. In 2009, he began Zhineng Qigong teacher training and later completed a six-year program to qualify as a Ren Xue and Yuan Gong teacher. An Osteopath specialising in cranial osteopathy, Shane integrates body, function, and mind. Living Ren Xue daily, he is dedicated to helping others achieve health, happiness, and growth.
Psychedelic Assisted Therapy Faculty
Our highly committed and passionate teachers and trainers work together with Celia to provide you with the highest standard of psychedelic assisted therapy training and education. Find out more about our faculty members below.
Prof David Castle
MBChB MSc MD GCUT DLSHTM FRCPsych FRANZCP
David is Professor, Department of Psychiatry, The University of Tasmania; and Co-Director, Tasmanian Centre for Mental Health Service Innovation. He has wide clinical and research interests, encompassing schizophrenia and related disorders, bipolar disorder, OCD spectrum disorders and disorders of body image.
He has a longstanding interest in the impact of licit and illicit substances on the brain and body, and is actively engaged in programmes addressing the physical health of the mentally ill and the mental health of the physically ill. He has published widely in the scientific literature and is a frequent speaker at scientific meetings.
Isa Gucciardi
PhD, Teacher, Author & Transpersonal Psychologist
Isa Gucciardi PhD holds advanced degrees in cultural and linguistic anthropology, comparative religion, and transpersonal psychology. She has studied spiritual, therapeutic, and meditative techniques from around the world and was an early pioneer in bringing shamanic and Buddhist perspectives into the clinical setting. Isa is the creator of the groundbreaking therapeutic model Depth Hypnosis™ and the innovative conflict resolution process, Coming to Peace™. She is the Founding Director of the Foundation of the Sacred Stream, author of three books, speaks six languages, and teaches and lectures nationally and internationally.
Dr Lena Oestreich
BSc, PhD, NHMRC Emerging Leadership Fellow
Lena is a Senior Lecturer in the School of Psychology and a Group Leader at the Centre for Advanced Imaging at the University of Queensland. Her primary research interest lies at the intersection of clinical neuroimaging and computational psychiatry. Lena is particularly
interested in studying mental illness using big data and advanced, multimodal neuroimaging methods. More recently, one of her research areas focuses on the neural mechanisms underpinning psychedelic-assisted psychotherapy, to improve our understanding of their
profound potential to offer rapid and long-lasting relief from severe psychiatric symptoms.
Dr Nikola Ognyenovits M.D.
M.D., FRACGP, FACRRM, FAChAM (RACP), Addiction Medicine Specialist Physician / Psychedelic Therapist
Nikola is a psychedelic therapist with ketamine assisted psychotherapy in a community private practice in Brisbane since 2020.
He advocates for ethical psychedelic medicine use.
Nikola trained in Grof Transpersonal Training by Stanislav Grof and Tav Sparks, he has co-facilitated Holotropic Breathwork sessions in Queensland and he incorporates transpersonal psychology into his practice.
Nikola completed MAPS training in MDMA Assisted Psychotherapy, and he is currently involved in a psilocybin assisted psychotherapy trial for treatment resistant depression. Nikola studied and trained in shamanic healing traditions. With over 15 years of global ceremony and therapy experience, Nikola shares insights to support fellow practitioners.
Dr Tim Read
Consultant psychiatrist, psychotherapist, author, breathwork facilitator, psychedelic therapy trainer and researcher
Dr. Tim Read is a London-based psychiatrist, psychotherapist, and author specialising in psychedelic-assisted psychotherapy. He served as a consultant liaison psychiatrist at the Royal London Hospital for 20 years, leading the crisis intervention service and developing treatments for psychiatric emergencies.
Dr. Read is a certified facilitator of holotropic breathwork and co-director of the Institute of Psychedelic Therapy, where he co-facilitates a two-year training in Depth Relational Process. He has authored several works, including “Walking Shadows: Archetype and Psyche in Crisis and Growth” and co-edited “Psychedelics and Psychotherapy.”
Prof Susan Rossell
Psychedelic trial therapist, Professor of Cognitive Neuropsychiatry, Author
Susan is a Professor of Cognitive Neuropsychiatry, an NHMRC Senior Research Fellow at Swinburne University, Melbourne, and Co-Chair of MAGNET – the Australian mental health clinical trial network.
Her research has focused on understanding the cognitive impairments involved in psychosis, mood disorders and body-image-related disorders, aiming to develop new interventions for these debilitating cognitive symptoms. She has published over 400 peer-reviewed articles and book chapters. Recently, her treatment research has focused on the use of psychedelics. She is currently running Australia’s largest clinical trial examining whether psilocybin-assisted psychotherapy is effective for the treatment of treatment-resistant depression.
Monica Schweickle
MAPS FCCLP MAAPi, Clinical Psychologist & Director
Monica Schweickle is a Clinical Psychologist with 20 years experience across diverse mental health settings. Monica is an experienced MDMA and psilocybin assisted therapist, and the Founder of The Psychedelic Consultancy and The Peridot Clinic. Monica directed the first psychedelic assisted therapy mental health service in Australia and led a team of clinicians across two states. She is an accredited EMDR practitioner, IFS level 2 trained therapist, Certified iRest yoga nidra teacher and psychology board approved supervisor. She is passionate about mental health innovation and supporting clinicians and authorised prescribers to provide safe and effective psychedelic assisted therapy.
A/Prof Petra Skeffington
Clinical psychologist with international expertise in trauma and recovery, Academic, Lead Therapist in MDMA and psilocybin trials
Associate Professor Petra Skeffington is a Clinical Psychologist in Private Practice, and an academic at Murdoch University in Perth. Her research and clinical expertise centres on psychological trauma and recovery, including resilience to trauma, prevention of post-trauma pathologies, and innovative approaches to treating psychological trauma. A/Prof Skeffington was one of the first Australians to achieve MAPS certification for MDMA-Assisted Psychotherapy in early 2023, is a lead therapist on a clinical trial investigating MDMA-Assisted Psychotherapy, and is part of the therapy team on a clinical trial investigating Psilocybin-Assisted Psychotherapy.
Dr Nigel Strauss
Psychedelic trial therapist, Psychiatrist & Clinical Associate, Swinburne University Melbourne
Dr Nigel Strauss, an Australian psychiatrist for over 40 years, has a special interest in psychedelic-assisted psychotherapy. He is an Honorary Research Fellow within Psychiatry at the University of Melbourne, and he also holds Honorary positions at Swinburne University, Melbourne and as a Senior Consultant with St Vincent’s Hospital, Melbourne. He is a published author of papers on psychedelic medicines and is currently a Principal Investigator and senior therapist in a clinical trial in Melbourne using psilocybin-assisted psychotherapy for patients with treatment-resistant depression. He is a MAPS accredited psychedelic assisted psychotherapist.