Caroline Coggins
I started studying Yoga in the early eighties. I just had completed Osteopathic studies, which had opened my eyes to the wisdon of the body, but now I wanted to understand more about the human spirit-mine especially. I was lucky to find a teacher and a methodology and so I travelled to India almost yearly to study directly with BKS Iyengar, Geeta and Prashant for over 3 decades.
The work and study of Yoga has been a footprint in my life. The experiental learning that Yoga has given me is the basis for my study and training as a psychoanalytical psychotherapist and then a MA in Theology.
I believe that each of us has a responsibility for our own path of transformation, to find our fit, our alignment with a practice, a philosophy, spirituality or religion. By transformation I mean simply to become who we are, to dwell with enough peacefullness in that. To be aware of our deeper needs, our disposition, strenghts and weakness and to have a practice that allows us to unfold, deepen and simplify our life. Both the inner and our life in the world. Coming to know our particualr usefulness to others, all others, including the non human in our world is a liberation from self preoccupation.
How to do this? Often it is what we love that will show us how to start.
Mentoring students who may become teachers.
If you are interested in developing yourself in the Yoga path it is helpful if you have a teacher who speaks to you, so that then you can and immerse yourself in the subject. Beginnnig to practice, to read and study, to observe everthing, and to observe classes and your teacher teaching.
Yoga is a path of experiential learning, we learn by doing, by developing our sensitivity and awareness. It is not a life style shoice, but it becomes one too.
If you are interested in mentoring please write to me at caroline.coggins@icloud.com
Peta Keaney
PK teacher profile for the Website
Peta discovered Iyengar yoga in 1981 and practiced it steadily for many years. Work and family responsibilities led to a long break from the mid-1990s, but when Peta came back to the mat in 2010, she felt she had come home. She did her teacher training with Alan Goode and Caroline Coggins, obtained her teacher certification in 2014, and has been teaching at the Yoga Centre ever since.
Peta has a light humorous approach to teaching, although it is also demanding and instructional. The rigour and detailed instructions of Iyengar yoga interest her and she sees them as an important part of the Iyengar method …. helping us to hold mind in the body, in the moment, and enabling finer and finer sensitivity and energetic connection.
For Peta, yoga is life changing. The process of paying close attention in asana broadens out from the physical to the mental/emotional body. We start to notice our behavioural propensities, fears, desires, resistances. Through our yoga practice, coming again and again to the mat, we gain a clearer understanding of ourselves. We become better able to respond to the challenges of day-to-day life. We become better human beings.
Helen Willoughby
Helen recently relocated to Northern NSW but continues to be affiliated with The Yoga Centre.
Helen joined Caroline Coggins’ teaching program early in 2014 after more than 10 years as a dedicated Iyengar yoga practitioner in Sydney and Canberra. Helen holds a Introductory Level 2 certification. Helen continues to inform her practice and teaching with yearly visits to the Iyengar Institute in Pune, India and continued studies with Caroline.
Dimity Wehr
Dimity Jane Wehr is a student of Caroline Coggins’ Teacher Training Mentorship and has come to discover Iyengar yoga as a way to develop a yoga practice that supports well-being. She has studied meditation, mindfulness and happiness with an interest in holistic health.
Off the mat Dimity is a university course learning designer with a discipline background in visual and performing arts.
Casey Willoughby
Casey first started yoga in her early teens and has been practicing ever since. Initially she was hooked by the physical aspects of the practice but soon came to understand the effects of the physical on the mental. She has since completed a Bachelor of Psychology, which complements her understanding of yoga. But more importantly, she believes that yoga complements her understanding of Psychology. She is particularly interested in the physical manifestations of mental states and how we can change the mind through changing the body. She commenced her teacher training with Caroline in January 2017.
Caroline Sherwood
Caroline has been practicing Yoga for many years and was drawn to the Iyengar tradition by the integrity and depth of the practice. She is now a certified Iyengar Yoga teacher having trained with Caroline Coggins for 5 years.
Her passion for Yoga has profoundly influenced her work as a remedial massage therapist by deepening her understanding of the connectivity between the body, breath and wellbeing.
She is strong and confident and has a direct and dynamic style of teaching with clear and focused instructions. Her classes, which can be adapted to any level or needs, are uplifting and nurturing.
Caroline has recently run yoga classes for refugees in Lesvos, Greece. She returns with a greater understanding of how to work with people who’s lives have been shattered by war and displacement.
Yoga plays an essential role in Caroline’s daily life as she continues with her studies. She hope to continue her work with refugees .
Belinda Piggott
Belinda began practicing Iyengar yoga 20 years ago. While living in Hong Kong her practice deepened significantly and she began teacher training there, complemented by study with visiting senior teachers and travel to Pune.
Caroline Coggins has been Belinda’s guide and mentor since 2016 and she has been teaching at The Yoga Centre since then. Belinda’s yoga practice is the foundation of her work as a visual artist, she values The Yoga Centre’s affinity with the arts that draws a community of like minded people.
Gilly Dempsey
Gilly relishes the opportunity yoga provides to work deeply on body, mind and spirit. As a teacher she takes great pleasure in sharing the joy and depth of yoga with her students and seeing them progress. Gilly is a certified Iyengar yoga teacher undertaking ongoing training and professional development with Caroline Coggins. Gilly has been practicing yoga for over 25 years and teaching yoga for more than 12 years.
Angela Bateman
After working in corporate high stress jobs for many years, I felt like I had lost my way. I was unhealthy; mentally and physically. I remember my first yoga class was a challenging step. Being on the mat alone and having to face myself was a confronting moment, as I had nothing to hide behind.
My yoga teacher Claire Havey guided me over many years to work deeper into the yoga. For over 10 years I have kept going back to classes and developed a yoga practice. Gradually I started to taste the benefits of yoga..the calm, the peace, the growing self awareness and acceptance that builds. I think yoga is about integration – creating something whole; combining the mind, body and spirit. I joined Caroline Coggins teacher training program in 2015 and gained the Introductory Level 2 certification in 2018 which allowed me to delve deeper into the yoga and its benefits. To teach and learn with students is a joy.
