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YOUR TEACHER

Leah Cooper

I was first introduced to yoga when I was 9 years old. I was seeing a speech therapist and, as part of my treatment, she taught me the yoga sequence 'Salute to the sun'. I have a memory of doing this sequence of movements in her treatment room and enjoying it, but once I no longer needed to see her, I soon forgot all about it.

I didn't really think about yoga much again until I was 20 when my parents became interested in doing yoga. I went on a search for yoga classes in our local area and discovered Ryoho Yoga in Manly. The classes were dynamic and challenging and were accompanied with a dialogue about health based on the macrobiotic understanding of the universe, the application of the five element theory and the principles of yin and yang. What initially started as a quest for my parents, ended up being a journey of self discovery for myself. Although I found the classes challenging, I wanted to learn more and eventually I was attending six to seven classes a week.

I moved away from Manly in 2002 to attend the University of Wollongong, where I studied to become a Physical and Health education teacher. I continued to practise yoga wherever I could and found different teachers. There was Leonard who taught Iyengar yoga at the Uni Gym, and later on, Russell who taught Vinyasa yoga at Younga Yoga studio. However, I was determined to continue my Ryoho yoga studies and, after moving back to Sydney in 2007, I was able to undertake my teacher training with Andzej, the founder of Ryoho Yoga. After I completed my training, I taught classes at Newport Yoga Centre, the Optus Gym at Macquarie Park and at Lunge Yoga in Manly. 

To complement my yoga practice, I have also studied under Sensei Ken McLean at the Shin Sen Dojo in Sydney and have attained a Diploma in Ki Shiatsu and a Diploma in Macrobiotic Counselling.

In December 2012 we made the move to the Barossa Valley. After settling in, I began looking for suitable venues to teach yoga classes and opened The Centre of Ki in February 2013.

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Since then I have also completed a Diploma in Zen Ki Yoga by distance education with Janie Larmour of The Centre of Yoga in Sydney. 

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