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Susi Davies
Susi is the owner and principal teacher of the Cairns Yoga Academy.
She was born in the Czech Republic in 1966 and during the Russian
Invasion in 1968 her family fled to Switzerland where she was raised
and educated. After her studies (foreign languages and business
studies) she travelled around the world and settled in Australia at the
age of 24. She was born with a hip defect and experienced a nervous
breakdown at the young age of 25. Due to those reasons she started
changing her life and studied to become a Remedial therapist at the
Australian Institute of Natural Therapies in Brisbane and gained
certifications in Swedish and Sports Massage, Foot Reflexology,
Orthobionomy, Structural Alignment, Lymphatic Drainage & Shiatsu,
as well as Anatomy and Physiology.
She started her yoga path in 1993 and studied with various Senior
Iyengar teachers in Australia and is a certified Iyengar teacher and
holds the US Yoga Alliance E-RYT 500 as well as other Advanced, Yoga
Therapy and Vinyasa certificates. Her main influence in teaching comes
from studies with: Donna Holleman, John Stirk, Judith Lasater and Julie
Gudmestad. She has studied also with Donna Farhi, Sri Venkatesh, Geeta
Iyengar, David Williams, Erich Schiffman, Seane Corne, Noah Maze and
others. Her meditation teacher was Laurence Khantipalo a Buddhist monk
and later Zen-master Hogen-San.
Susi travelled to Nepal and the Himalayas on a spiritual journey to
deepen her meditation practice in 1999 and to study Thai Massage in
Chiang Mai Thailand in 2000. Furthermore she regularly attends silent
meditation retreats. Trips to the US, India (where she married Rich)
and Europe further deepened her yoga studies.
She lived and taught in Switzerland and Europe from July 2007 – 08.
Susi was featured in the Australian yoga Life Magazine as a cover
model/ and an article about her hip workshop, was written in the
Finnish Yoga Magazine in 2008. She developed her SOULFLOW ®
Vinyasa style and produced her first DVD “Growing your Lotus” beg. of
2007, which is presently selling internationally. She believes she has
started doing the “real yoga” when her son, Maceo Soul, was born on
July 4, 2005. Susi's style of teaching is dynamic, inspirational and
motivational, underpinned with sound anatomical, physiological and
biomechanical principles, emphasizing Intention, Breath and Movement
Ian Laver
 Ian
was born in New Zealand in 1956. He had begun yoga studies at the age
of 18, practicing regularly from Auckland. A lack of meaningful
teaching caused him to step back from physical yoga practice and to
begin to concentrate on meditation. He arrived in Australia in 1979
after travels through Asia, UK and the US and spent the next 15 years
exploring the energy pathways of Tai Chi, Akido and the metaphysical
teachings of the Western Mystery Schools.
Ian’s return to the
practice of yoga began in 1996 after experiencing the profound effects
of simple yet spontaneous asana movement – eventually leading him to
gain his teacher certification in 2000. During that year he was
introduced to the practice of Kriya Yoga, becoming fully initiated in
2004 by his guru Swami Paramahansa Prajnanananda; a direct descendant
in the guru line of Paramahamsa Yogananda, author of ‘Autobiography of
a Yogi.’ Kriya Yoga is an ancient technique of loving, breath
controlled meditation leading to self realization - it has underpinned
and transformed how Ian views the use of yoga as we experience it today
and its potential for change in daily life. Whilst continuing his asana
studies he has found that meditation practice is where his heart focus
now lays.
Ian’s approach to physical yoga is by the way of a dynamic Vinyasa
flow. Over the years he has studied asana and pranayama with teachers
T.K.V. Desikachar, Adam & Nila Bornstein, Clive Sheridan, Simon
Borg Oliver and Susi Davies. He places a deep emphasis on breath,
energy alignment, sensitivity to Prana flow and the gradual releasing
of everyday awareness into the subtler aspects of the body/mind
structure. This allows for the manifestation of detachment and the
awakening of awareness of our inner forces, using them to move the
student more and more towards the practices and rewards of meditation.
Ian is available for private classes to further your yoga practice
using asana, pranayama, deep relaxation, yoga nidra and meditation.
Shawna McElroy
 Shawna
McElroy first practised yoga in 1999 when she took a semester-long yoga
course at university. She quickly realised its benefits, both physical
and spiritual, and became immediately hooked, practising many different
styles of yoga over the years.
Being the yoga enthusiast she is, Shawna continually felt a draw to
India, the birthplace of yoga. In 2006, this dream was finally realized
when she traveled to India to study yoga further. Shawna completed the
Sivananda Teacher Training Course at an ashram in the Himalayas, whose
curriculum is based on the teachings of Swami Sivananda and Swami
Vishnu-Devananda, one of the pioneers responsible for bringing yoga to
the western world.
Shawna was born and raised in the United States, but after travelling
the world, and living in both Honduras and Thailand, she has decided to
settle in beautiful, tropical Cairns. Shawna is a strong believer that
we are all students and teachers of yoga and continues her study of
yoga through diligent self-study, working with senior teachers, and
attending lectures and workshops.
Dagmar Hirsch
 Dagmar
has recently settled in Cairns from Germany with her husband Tilo and
children Coco and Leon. She has been practicing yoga for over 15 years
and is a qualified Pre-natal Yoga teacher, certified Midwife and
Reflexologist . She has been trained in Hatha yoga and Tri Yoga flow
with internationally recognised teacher, Kali Ray.
Rich Davies
Originally from Switzerland and the UK, Rich started practicing with
Susi in July 2000. Rich is the co-owner of the Academy and is
responsible for the administration of the Cairns Yoga Academy. He
studied with Donna Holleman, Donna Farhi, David Williams, Sri Venkatesh
and completed his Yoga Teacher Training August 2006.
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