Faculty & Staff

Our Experienced & Passionate Teachers & Staff

Our yoga teaching 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.

Our Yoga & Meditation Teachers

Our highly comitted and passionate teachers and trainers work together with Celia in order to provide you with the highest standard of yoga and meditation training and education. Find out more about our faculty members below.

Siri Bhagvati

Kundalini Yoga Therapist and Teacher, Professional KRI Teacher Trainer, Kinesiologist and Bowen Therapist

Siri Bhagvati has been working in the field of health sciences and yoga for 20 years. She lives in Melbourne and is the co-owner of Kundalini House, a Complementary Health Clinic and Yoga Studio. 

Since 2014, Siri Bhagvati has focused on Yoga Therapy with the Guru Ram Das Center and is a member of the faculty team, teaching open courses and courses within its professional accredited Kundalini Yoga Therapy training. In her clinical work, she has been successfully running specialised courses and one on ones for people in the recovery of trauma, PTSD and health recovery.

Simon Borg-Olivier

MScBAppSc (Physiotherapy) APAM c-IAYT

Simon has been practicing traditional forms of posture, movement, breathing, and mental control for 50 years. He has been teaching for 38 years and has been a registered physiotherapist for 23 years.

Simon works as a research scientist and a University lecturer. He has been regularly invited to teach about lifestyle, posture, movement, breathing and meditation at conferences, festivals and intensive teacher training courses internationally since 1990.

Simon has studied with great traditional masters from Tibet, Japan, India and China. Along with his fellow physiotherapist, Bianca Machliss, Simon has co-authored many books and scientific articles, including ‘Applied Anatomy and Physiology of Yoga’, which is the textbook for two courses they teach at RMIT University in Melbourne, Australia.

Sharon Carius

Clinical Nutrition, Metabolic Balance® Practitioner

Just as food causes chronic disease, it can be the most powerful cure.” Hippocrates

Sharon Carius is a degree-qualified Clinical Nutritionist and Metabolic Balance® practitioner who is passionate about improving the health of her clients. Sharon started her journey with nutrition and food as medicine for a healthy lifestyle over 30 years ago.

Working with a diverse range of people, Sharon offers expert nutritional advice and clinical nutrition therapy for a wide range of health conditions and nutrition-related issues, including but not limited to Metabolic Medical Conditions – blood pressure, cholesterol and blood glucose regulation, Food Intolerances & Gut Health, Women’s Health, Supporting Weight Loss & Sustained Management of Health, Metabolic Balance® Program Facilitator & Coach.

Lisa Carrigg

Accredited Practicing Dietitian (AUS), Registered Dietitian Nutritionist (USA), Certified Intuitive Eating Counselor, CEDC (Certified Eating Disorder Clinician)

Lisa provides support as an Accredited Practising Dietitian with additional training experience to help weave in nutrition science while guiding clients back into connection with their own body’s needs and their own preferences and their own values so they can heal from dieting, feel more empowered to make their own choices for their unique body’s needs and pursue living and engaging in their lives in ways that matter to them.

Anita Cassidy Bowman

Integral Sound Healing Practitioner & Associate Teacher

Each minuscule part of us vibrates, creating sound, which then merges with and influences the energetic vibrations of the rest of our world, from the inner Earth to the stars and beyond.

An appreciation of this understanding is carried with me as an associate teacher and tutor for the international Sound Healing Academy, for whom I facilitate workshops in Queensland and NSW, as well as in my diverse sound baths, story-telling events, and one-to-one sound therapy sessions.

For 20+ years, I have explored the traditional vocal therapy and sound science of ancient India, integrating what I have learned into meditation and Nad (sound) Yoga classes. I combine this knowledge today with a love of indigenous and shamanic sound practices, an ever-deepening connection with the natural world and my Irish Celtic heritage.

Marian Cavanagh

Senior Yoga Teacher
Registered Relax & Renew Instructor

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.

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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 post graduate 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.

Oliver Crossley

B. Physiotherapy / APAM

Oliver is a Physiotherapist, a dedicated practitioner of Ashtanga Yoga and Zen Buddhism from the Gold Coast, Australia. After first discovering Yoga and Buddhism whilst living in North-west India in 2011, Oliver quickly fell in love with the practice that ended up changing the direction of his life. Switching from studying Economics to Physiotherapy, he had an aim of one day blending the worlds of Yoga and evidence-based medicine.

His clinical work is predominantly in the treatment of complex pain conditions, and he’s currently studying to specialise as a Pain Physiotherapist. He aims to bring the age-old principles and wisdom from Buddhist and Hindu contemplative practice traditions together with the best scientific research into pain, movement and contemplative practices to empower and educate Yoga practitioners and patients. Oliver has taught Yoga and Meditation in studio, clinical and rehab settings since 2015.

Leanne Davis

Former Yoga Australia President Viniyoga, Yoga Therapist, Senior Yoga Teacher

Leanne undertook teacher training in 1988 with Sivananda Yoga and Vedanta academy in India and commenced her second teacher training in the tradition of Krishnamacharya in 1996.
Leanne is honoured to have the opportunity to serve, along with the wonderful team of Committee members and office staff, as the former President of Yoga Australia.  She has great enthusiasm for contributing to the profession of yoga teaching and helping to foster the practice and understanding of yoga in our community. Leanne brings a level of training to BIYOME that is second to none: her interest in preserving the authenticity of yoga from its cultural and textual roots whilst embracing the evolution of yoga into contemporary Australia provides teacher training that truly encompasses BIYOME’s values.

Melissa Day

Associate Professor, UQ

Dr. Day completed her MA(Clin) and PhD at the University of Alabama, followed by her Clinical Psychology residency at the University of Washington. Dr. Day then undertook a post-doctoral research fellowship in pain psychology, also at the University of Washington. She is now a licensed Clinical Psychologist and Health Psychologist in Australia, and works as a Senior Lecturer in the School of Psychology at The University of Queensland. Dr. Day’s program of research has focused on implementing randomised controlled trials to evaluate the efficacy and mechanisms of cognitive-behavioural and mindfulness-based interventions for chronic pain conditions. She recently (2017) published a sole authored book with Wiley titled, “Mindfulness-Based Cognitive Therapy for Chronic Pain: A Clinical Manual and Guide”.

Edwina Kempe

Licenced TCTSY Specialist
Social Worker

Edwina is a Brisbane-based Accredited Mental Health Social Worker, trauma-sensitive yoga facilitator, trainer, counsellor, and social worker. Edwina’s framework is trauma-informed and draws on social justice and human rights values. Edwina completed her Level 1 yoga teacher training with the renowned Kate Pell and Dan Alder and subsequent 300-hour certification in Trauma Center Trauma Sensitive Yoga (TCTSY) through the Trauma Center at Justice Resource Institute in Brookline, Massachusetts. Edwina teaches students the value of connection to the body and breath through yoga and provides useful tools for Trauma-Informed Yoga Teacher Training.

Dr Khalsa

Kundalini Yoga

A Kundalini Yoga teacher since 1971, Dr. Khalsa began to specialize in teaching Kundalini Yoga and Meditation to people with chronic or life threatening illness and their family members in 1986.

Dr Khalsa teaches globally and resides in the USA and is a Certified Yoga Therapist, a Mentoring Lead Trainer for Levels 1 and 2 Kundalini Yoga teacher training, a Medical Family therapist, and a charter member of the International Association of Yoga Therapists. Her Kundalini Yoga program for people living with HIV is featured in the book, Yoga as Medicine by Timothy McCall, MD, and her groundbreaking work as a Kundalini Yoga Therapist is featured in the book, Yoga Therapy and Integrative Medicine: Where Ancient Science Modern Medicine.

Suraj Khalsa

International Lvl 3 Lead Teacher Trainer & Mentor in Kundalini Yoga and Meditation.

Suraj has practiced meditation and healing for over 40 years. She studied Compassionate Inquiry with Dr Gabor Mate, and Childhood, Ancestral and Collective Trauma Healing with Thomas Hubl. She is a Facilitator for T Hubl practice groups worldwide as well as a teacher of Tibetan Buddhist meditation. For 15 years she has led residential retreats in China, Taiwan, Israel, Australia and South East Asia. She lived in China for 5 years. She embraces the teachings of East & West and teaches across ages, languages, cultures and stages of life.

Suraj developed the Awakened Woman series of teachings, including Conscious Pregnancy & Birth, Ancestral Trauma Healing & The Heroine’s Journey. She brought the first Woman’s Camps to China and Israel.

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. His focus of research is on compassion. He has a broad research interests in compassion.  James also holds an Visiting Fellowship at the Center for Compassion and Altruism Research and Education at Stanford University and is an Honorary Member of the Compassionate Mind Foundation UK.

Kit Kline

Nature Based Therapy, Accredited Mental Health First Aider, Compassionate Inquiry Supervisor

Kit Kline, the founder of Nature Based Therapy, was born in Canada and moved to Australia when she was 10. She is a decedent of the Wampanoag people on her paternal side and is a member of the Sou’West Nova Metis Council. Kit has always felt a strong connection to her Native American ancestry and believes her philosophy on health and wellness derives from this connection.

She has over 20 years’ experience working as a counsellor and educator in the social and community services sector with both public and private health services, specialising in mental health and addictions.

Dr Diana Korevaar

Psychedelic trial therapist, Practising perinatal psychiatrist, Mindfulness practitioner

Diana has worked as a perinatal psychiatrist for over 20 years and is also involved in public-sector psychiatry. She has extensive training in trauma-based psychotherapies and has been part of a Melbourne-based research trial investigating the use of psilocybin for treatment-resistant depression. Diana was an author of a Frontiers in Psychiatry article examining the challenges involved in the community rollout of Psychedelic Assisted Therapies. She has a particular interest in establishing the safest and most effective way to introduce patients with a history of significant psychiatric illness, to altered state work.

Samantha Lindsay-German

Kundalini Yoga

Samantha Lindsay-German is a powerful, engaging teacher with an enormous healing capacity. She is an emotionally intelligent woman who has completed Kundalini, Vinyasa, Restorative and Pilates training. Sam has also completed an extensive study in Women’s Teachings called The Mothers Journey; Kundalini level 2 Conscious Communications; Massage and Reiki; holistic counselling; as well as Trauma Sensitive Yoga and Trauma Release. Samantha has been working with Celia since 2012 and is a teacher who imparts both austerity and kindness in equal measure and trains students with traditional methodologies backed by evidence-informed research and understanding.

Fiona McLaughlin

Fiona McLaughlin

Fully qualified Ren Xue Yuan Gong and Life Cultivation teacher

Fiona started practicing Ren Xue in 2018 when she was diagnosed with fibromyalgia and adrenal fatigue and given a prognosis of two years left to live. Through Ren Xue, she regained her vitality and health. She learned a new way of being, to live in a relaxed and calm state in harmony with others and the world.

Inspired by what Ren Xue offers, Fiona guides others on the Ren Xue path of growth and wisdom. She helps people live a life where they are no longer swept away by their damaging feelings and thoughts, enabling them to experience the world with trust, openness, love, gratitude and deep respect.

She specialises in the practice of Yuan Ming, which helps people identify and resolve the root causes that underlie illness, trauma, or psychological distress. Through this work, people address unhealthy emotional and mental habits and strengthen their overall health. 

Swami Mukti

Satyananda Yoga

Swami Muktibodhananda started her yoga journey in 1972.  She later studied under the direct guidance of Paramahansa Swami Satyananda for 10 years in India.  During this time she authored and had published ‘Swara Yoga, the Tantric Science of Brain Breathing’  and Commentaries on ‘Hatha Yoga Pradipika, the Light on Hatha Yoga’. Swami Mukti is a Yogacharya, master of yoga, and enjoys teaching the ancient yoga practices to a modern day audience.

Dr. Shane Ricketts

Osteopath, Ren Xue & Yuan Gong Qigong teacher/practitioner

Shane believes in the power of holistic healing and the power of the body to heal itself, given the right tools and energy response. As part of his own personal healing journey, Shane tried many modalities, including yoga, meditation and Buddhism. Although these practices were beneficial, nothing he found seemed to make a significant change to his overall health. In 2008 he turned to the teachings of Yuan Tze to learn the system of Ren Xue to help heal his life. 

In 2009 Shane started an eight-level teacher training course to qualify as a Zhineng Qigong teacher, then in 2013, he went through the six-year teacher training program to qualify as a Ren Xue and Yuan Gong teacher.

Shane is also an Osteopath who practices cranial osteopathy, looking at the body structure, its relationship with the function and the interrelationship with the mind and their causes of dis-ease within people. Shane practices Ren Xue & Yuan Qigong as part of his everyday life and attests to the great healing power that it has in our lives. His mission is to bring this power of self-healing to others to enable health, happiness and growth.

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.

Dr. Alana Roy

Psychologist, Social Worker, Psychedelic Researcher & Advocate

Dr Alana (Lani) Roy is the Founder of The Signs of Life Psychology. She is a psychologist, social worker, and therapist and has spent the last 15 years working in mental health, suicide prevention, trauma, sexual abuse, family violence, and the disability sector. Lani is an Associate Research Fellow for Swinburne University and Founding Board Member of Australian Multidisciplinary Association for Psychedelic Practitioners (AMAPP).

Lani specialises in harm reduction in the field of psychedelics, sexual abuse and complex trauma and the Ayahuasca and the vegetelista dieta lineage. She is dedicated to evidence-based therapies and increasing public and professional safety by working closely with key advisors and researchers in this rapidly emerging field of psychedelics.

Dr. Cassandra Shields 

PhD (Clinical Psychology), BPsych (Hons), MAPS, FCCLP Board Approved Supervisor (Psychology Board of Australia: AHPRA)

Cassy is a clinical psychologist, who has been working in private practice since 2011. She was the third Australian therapist to be certified as an Emotionally Focused Couples Therapist by the International Centre for Excellence in Emotionally Focused Therapy (ICEEFT), Ottawa Canada. In January 2017, she was certified by ICEEFT as a supervisor in the EFT model; and has supported therapists throughout Australia and New Zealand to develop and enhance their skills working with couples from an Emotionally Focused framework. Cassy began running workshops for couples in 2018, based on Sue Johnson’s best-selling book Hold Me Tight®, with regular workshops being held at ACEFT. Through her work with clients, Cassy aims to support people work towards developing closer, more secure relationships, live richer meaningful lives, and develop enhanced self-compassion, irrespective of adversity. 

Dr. Stan Steindl 

Adjunct Associate Professor, clinical psychologist and co-director of the Compassionate Mind Research Group at School of Psychology

Stan is a clinical psychologist in private practice with over 20 years of clinical experience in Brisbane, Australia. CFT forms a part of his work with a range of presenting concerns, such as depression, anxiety, stress and anger, as well as trauma-related conditions and addictions. Stan also provides CFT supervision and training, and is the co-director of the Compassionate Mind Research Group at School of Psychology, University of Queensland. 

Claire Stephensen

Registered Music Therapist Feminine Embodiment Coach

Claire Stephensen is a trauma-informed Music Therapist, Embodiment Practitioner, Neuropsychotherapist and Mother living, working and playing on Jagera Country in Australia. She brings together her clinical background in music therapy and neuropsychotherapy together with her passion for somatics and embodiment – exploring what it means to be well through music, creativity, movement and brain-based techniques.

Through working with Claire, people get to know, understand and express the language of their bodies. Informed by her clinical background and own experiences with recovery and healing, Claire’s work helps people move through shame, grief and trauma. Her passion is helping people find compassion and care for themselves, re-discover their capacity for expression and deepen their sense of belonging to self, place and community.

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.

Atira Tan

TedX speaker, Somatic Trauma Specialist, Therapist, Educator & Activist

Atira is a senior yoga and meditation teacher (500 E-RYT), art therapist (M.A. Expressive Art Therapy & Grad Dip. Transpersonal Art Therapy), a Somatic Experiencing Practitioner (SEP), a somatic trauma specialist in sexual abuse recovery and trauma educator, TED speaker and #1 best-selling author. She currently completing her Ph.D. studies in Expressive Art Therapies.

Atira is also the founder & CEO of Art to Healing, an Australian registered charity committed to supporting the recovery of girls and women who have experienced sex slavery, exploitation, and abuse, in Asia and the Pacific. Atira has created and delivered numerous trauma-informed and psychosocial programs in art therapy, counselling, yoga, and mindfulness, from the slums of Kathmandu to the refugee camps in Burma. Atira has supported the recovery of thousands of women and children since 2005 to live lives free from sex slavery and exploitation.

Fuyuko Toyota

Certified iRest Yoga Nidra® Senior Trainer

Fuyuko Toyota is a certified iRest Yoga Nidra® Senior Trainer, Retreat Leader, a certified Yoga Therapist (IAYT) and Meditation Teacher (Association of Meditation Australia). For the past 25 years, she has been deeply committed on the path of Yoga and ancient Non-Dual wisdom. She has been teaching since 1996. She incorporates iRest and Self-Inquiry in her teachings of Yoga, somatic body awareness and meditation at her Yoga studio, Prema Yoga, on the Gold Coast, Australia and internationally.
In 2007, Richard Miller, her spiritual mentor, brought to Fuyuko a deeper understanding of living life in a Non-Dual way, in harmony with all of life. From a life of ever deepening joy, astonishment and Stillness, a heartfelt desire to share these precious teachings has sprung forth. She teaches and hosts iRest trainings and retreats in Australia. She has been assisting iRest trainings in North America for Richard Miller and other senior trainers.

Melissa Warner

Neuroscientist, Psychedelic Medicine Integration Coach, Mindfulness Meditation Teacher

Melissa is an advocate for innovative solutions for mental health and is on a mission to cultivate an evidence and experience-based understanding of consciousness.

Melissa is Secretary of Psychedelic Research in Science and Medicine, co- founder of The Australian Psychedelic Society and a member of the UK Australian Young Leaders Forum.

After graduating in Neuroscience from the University of Melbourne, Melissa traveled to leading international centers of psychedelic research, transformative technology, meditation and somatic practices to forecast next-generation mental health treatments. 

Ken Warren

Holistic bodywork

Ken Warren is a holistic bodyworker with nearly 20 years’ hands-on experience and training in Traditional Chinese Medicine, Psychosomatic Therapy and Remedial Massage. His synergistic approach to bodywork honours the relationship between physical structure and function, the underlying energetic pathways and centres, and the powerful influence of mind and emotion on our state of health and well being.

He is gifted in interpreting the information that our bodies are continuously communicating with us, and able to recognise and release energetic blockages in a safe and compassionate environment.

Chanthalah Webster-Tight

Senior Physiotherapist
Senior Yoga Teacher

Chanthalah believes that we are made to move. She is a Physiotherapist and Yoga teacher and since completing her training from the University of Queensland she has gained experience assessing, treating, educating and rehabilitating a variety of conditions across different populations.  Chanthalah is passionate about optimizing the health and wellbeing through the integrative practice of yoga and physiotherapy.

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