Free Yoga Community Day Byron Bay 2025

Marita is our Head Teacher Trainer at Byron Yoga Centre.

As a gymnast from a young age, Marita realised early on that she’s happiest upside-down – and when she found yoga, it was love at first Downward Dog.

She began teaching Iyengar-influenced yoga in 2002 after apprenticing with her first teacher. A few years later, Marita discovered vinyasa yoga, and relished the freedom of flowing through movement and connecting with breath – her yoga practice became a moving meditation. Marita’s teaching can now be described as alignment-based vinyasa.

When teaching, Marita aims to instill the peace and happiness that she experiences through yoga within her students. By both challenging and nurturing, she teaches people to stretch and strengthen their muscles, but also to breathe, to stand tall, and to live with compassion.

Elise teaches a powerful slow flow with an emphasis on body awareness, alignment and the mind body connection. Her intention is to create a space where students can connect, grow and develop a deeper understanding of themselves.

Elise’s background in personal training and holistic wellness took her on her own wellness journey that led her to yoga five years ago. Since then she has travelled to India where she completed her 200 hour Level 1 training in Hatha and Ashtanga, and more recently her Level 1 with Byron Yoga Centre. She also regularly attends short courses and workshops.

Elise believes that there is some form of yoga for every person, and it is her goal to try and help students find it.

Dan enjoys teaching an alignment-based flow, working with the energy in the room. He weaves in breath, meditation and philosophy, encouraging his students to deepen their practice, from purely physical exercise, to embrace an overall yogic lifestyle.

He is passionate about sharing the knowledge he has learnt over many years. Having completed his first Level 1 training in India in 2017 Dan has since undertaken his Level 2 with Byron Yoga Centre plus completed an Acro Yoga teacher training in 2018. He loves seeing people grasp new concepts and become confident with new skills. This in-turn has helped deepen his love these practices.

Dan has a profound interest in Eastern philosophies and has studied many different modalities including Reiki, studying Tai Chi at a Chinese Shaolin temple, learning about Buddhism and meditation while living in a Buddhist monastery, and travelling across India to study different forms of Yoga.

Richard Mouthaan (Rich) coming to the Yoga way later in life, he has now embraced it completely, and wants to assist others to do the same. Level 1 Teacher, Trauma Aware, Remedial, and Seniors qualified through BYC, with over 500 hours of teacher training completed.

Rich is a Veteran and served 25 years in the Australian Army, and has been drawn to Yoga to address mental and physical injuries, without the requirement for prescription drugs and alcohol. His own personal experience with Yoga has had a profound effect on his quality of life, and he wants to pass on this experience.

Ross has a love for sharing the ancient wisdom teachings of Yoga and Mindfulness, teachings that have profoundly changed the course of his own life. His favourite thing is when others feel for themselves the healing, nourishing and transformative effects of these simple and time tested practices and principles. He is particularly passionate about helping to facilitate mental wellbeing.

Ross qualified as a yoga teacher in 2013 joining the Byron Yoga Centre team in 2016 where he continues to facilitate retreat groups to this day.

He has completed a Post-Graduate Diploma in Yoga Therapy with world renowned teacher and yoga therapist Dr N. Chandrasekaran, as well as trainings in various meditation techniques, Yin Yoga, Restorative Yoga, Trauma Aware Yoga, Zen Thai Shiatsu massage, and Reiki.

Ross loves swimming in the ocean, enjoying yoga, meditation, and good food… learning, teaching, playing, and walking…and enjoying time with his wife Mariana, their two sons Benji and Jesse, and their cat Shanti, in the Northern Rivers of New South Wales, Australia.

With a focus on flow, Georgie’s classes blend strength and softness, encouraging students to stay present, explore movement, and trust their own rhythm. Her teaching blends tradition with personal insight, shaped by years of study, breakthroughs and the steady work of showing up. She always returns to the mat as a student first.