Meet Katia

My initial 200 hour Yoga Alliance® training in India was based on a steady Ashtanga practice. Practicing in the humble town of Dharmshala, my journey back to wholeness and healing had only just begun.

 

The Himalaya Yoga Valley Centre® (RYS) paved the foundation of my thorough Hatha yoga practice. Though our wisdom is eternal, the tradition of the Himalayan Masters and the lineage of its teachers are at least 5000 years old. During our silence days, I used to stare at the Himalayas with a sense of remembrance that I had at some point been there before.

As an experienced primary school teacher with an Honours Degree in Learning Support (2010), I was privileged to observe and work with children for nine years, which allowed me to ascertain how we can create environments that allow them to function at their potential. I observed they needed freedom of movement and the use of their body to become immersed in concrete and meaningful learning experiences. A multisensorial approach can ensure all learning styles are catered for, and help them meet their needs within the classroom.

 

Between 2012 and 2014, I became a mother of two children, shifting my perspective and approach to teaching from a space of compassion, experience and understanding. As I flourished in pregnancy, I sought to evolve my practice which led me to prenatal training with women’s wellness expert, J’anaki Ashira.

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This supported me to feel immensely prepared, culminating in a water birth supported with hypnobirthing, yoga and homeopathy. Nineteen months months later, I was recovering from two back to back pregnancies with a miscarriage in between that had left me with severe diastasis recti (abdominal separation), core weakness and persistent sacroiliac dysfunction. It became my soul mission to put the pieces back together, and find my way back to wholeness.
 

I studied and gained accreditation in womb yoga, post-natal re-integration therapy, sacroiliac stability, restorative, yin yoga and yoga nidra. I wanted the whole gamut of healing at my disposal. My children deserved the full presence and strength of the mother they chose. With this powerful intention, I have gained not only strength but a sense of unwavering resiliency.
 

As my own children grew, my fondness for the growing child ignited even further into my yoga journey. In 2017, I attained further certification with a Yoga Alliance® Registered Children’s Yoga School (RCYS) to teach children's yoga and I gained invaluable knowledge as to how yoga can be integrated into schools. In 2018, I completed a course in mindfulness for children and teenagers, which enriches my offerings with engaging content and a creative tool set.
 

Shortly after our immigration from South Africa to New Zealand in late 2017, I felt a strong calling to share my experience and my wisdom with others. This was the birth of New Earth Yoga – a calling to all women who are searching for guidance, support and nourishment in all phases of life, and a place where children feel safe, happy and nurtured.