Our Studio
Hello!
Hi, I’m Heather, and I would like to welcome you to our beautiful little home away home, Illuminate Studios. I am absolutely honoured and so happy that you have found yourself here! Our beautiful little studio was created after I returned home to Bundaberg to start a family and found that I was yearning for community and connection, a place to go and move, and breathe. A place that lights you up, that fills your heart with warmth and connects you with others that share this beautiful energy.
Opening my very own yoga studio has been a long-time dream of mine, something I had always put in the ‘not possible’ basket.
I have been a student of yoga for over ten years now, and teaching for over six. Sharing my love for yoga is my absolute passion and if I can leave my students feeling lighter, empowered, and smiling, then I am happy.
I am pinching myself now that my dream gets to become a reality. Thank YOU to my members, that make that possible. Thank YOU to my loved ones for supporting me and believing in my dream.
About Me
My family moved to Bundaberg when I was three years old, making it my hometown for as long as I can remember. Since I was young, I have always been passionate about health and the body and wanted to learn all that I could – everything from exercise, healthy cooking, low tox living, our minds and self-talk. I’ve always loved movement and tried everything from running, walking, hiking, weights, gym class, cycling, HIIT, ZUU.
This fascination led me to complete a Bachelor of Medical Sonography, where I gained lots of knowledge about the body and its functions, as well as anatomy, organs and in particular – musculature.
I first stumbled upon Yoga when, be-grudgingly I started classes for rehabilitation after bilateral hip surgery.
In my early 20’s I was diagnosed with hip dysplasia, having a history of tearing muscles, ligaments and tendons throughout my ankles, knees and hips. Back then, I only valued high intensity workouts – running, burpees, HIIT, you name it, I did it.
I will never forget my first class. Getting a sore neck from looking up at the teacher, feeling unsure and confused by the different names and poses.
After class, I couldn’t put my finger on it, but I knew I felt ‘different’… different in a good way.
I went every day from then on, sometimes twice if I could.
I am so grateful now for that first class. Without yoga, I do not know where I would be today.
Yoga changed my life!
It changed my body physically, but most importantly, it changed my mind and how I felt about the world around me and how I felt about myself.
Before yoga, I had trouble sleeping due to stresses and study anxiety, I felt anxious a lot of the time, and ‘under pressure’.
Yoga taught me a new way of being in this world. It taught me to BREATHE and let go of those stresses, how to clear my mind, how to feel safe and calm my nervous system. Yoga taught me a sense of peace, and inner contentment within myself. It gave me a sense a gratefulness and taught me self-awareness and self-acceptance.
All these benefits I have mentioned, were not felt straight away, so please, if you are new to yoga, stick with it! Give it a few months, and just see how it changes you (for the better).
Now that I have had a baby, I am passionate to learn and educate other Mumma’s about pelvic floor health, and safe exercise while pregnant, and post-partum. I have found a new love for Pilates in the precision and stability it teaches within the body and movement.
With many more study plans on the horizon, I can’t wait to learn and share more with all my members.
I am honoured that you have found yourself here. I hope that you can become a part of our community and feel a sense of belonging and connection here too.
I hope that with each class, you find freedom in your movement, space in your lungs, love in your heart, strength in your mind and body, and happiness beaming from you.
See you on the mat,
Heather
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