Sally Flanagan

Bikram Yoga Teacher Training Graduation, September 1999

Sally studied Dramatic Art at the University of Witwatersrand, South Africa and went on to discover Bikram Yoga when she was traveling in the United States in 1998. She received her Bikram Yoga Teacher Training certification in Los Angeles, CA, July of 1999 where she studied under Bikram. She was the 1st person from Johannesburg, South Africa to attend the Bikram yoga teacher training. She founded Bikram Yoga Jozi in June of 2003 with then business partner Louise Boraine. In 2006, sally became the sole owner of Bikram Yoga Jozi. Over the past 5 years Sally has inspired 14 men & woman to attend the training. Johannesburg now hosts 3 Bikram Yoga studios: Bikram yoga Jozi, Fourways and Randburg.

While living in Los Angeles, CA, Sally trained in various other yoga disciplines namely Ashtanga, Vinyasa Flow, Iyengar, Tri-Yoga and power yoga. She has attended classes and workshops with Shiva Rae, Brian Kest, Seann Corn, Ana Forrest, Kali Ray, Gurmukh among others. Sally practices Transcendental & other forms of Meditation.
 

Marinus Müller

Marinus has moved to Cape Town where he will be teaching at Yoga Zone and Jai Yoga. You can contact him on 0826727223.

Marinus Müller, born in '74, has been teaching Bikram Yoga since September 2004.

“A friend invited me to a Bikram class in March 2003, I went back the next week, and the week after that.

"I was privileged to attend Teacher Training in Los Angeles in June 2004. Doing yoga with 200 people, 11 classes a week, for 9 weeks. What a trip!

"Bikram Yoga is simply the most elegant exercise system that I’ve yet come across - it continues to challenge and excite me. Teaching has been phenomenally interesting! I never cease to be amazed by the diversity of people that do this yoga and the changes I see in them.  They become stronger and more flexible, their personalities soften and they become centrally more confident. This is a very rewarding experience.

"In September 2008 I did a 200-hour Ashtanga Teacher Training in St. Francis Bay, with Maria Taylor from Africa Yoga. After practicing Bikram for 5-and-a-half years and teaching it for 4, it was really good to get into another form. Ashtanga adds a lot of things to my practice that I felt lacking, especially upper-body strength and flexibility. It is very different from Bikram and the two combined, in my opinion, is the perfect physical practice. The Training had a strong emphasis on correct alignment and hands-on corrections, learning how to work with different body types and special needs.

"I’m really grateful for my Bikram Practice, I don’t think without it I would have been strong enough to do Ashtanga, the stability and core strength that we get from Bikram has allowed me to get into Ashtanga without injuring myself.

"I’ve learnt that strength is much more important in Yoga than flexibility and that focusing on too much flexibility leads to injury over time. You can't force the body to be flexible, it will get there in it’s own time, but if you create enough strength to support it, flexibility can blossom.

"I am also a qualified KaHuna/Lomi-Lomi Massage Therapist."
 

Zoey: “ All I want to say is, I love Yoga!”

Zoey started Bikram yoga in 2005. After 90 minutes in the room she felt like a normal person (that’s how she described it at the time.) Her head was clear and she was certain of pretty much everything and anything. Her body felt like it had been cleaned from the inside and much more spacious, joyous and free. She wanted to give other people this amazing feeling so she went to the Bikram Yoga training in Los Angeles in 2006.

As a teacher she tries to give yoga practitioners the things that she has found in yoga: determination, the ability to respond to challenging situations rather than react out of habit, energy and the wonderful feeling of being present in ones body and mind.

Zoey is a trained Demartini Method Facilitator, a method that makes it possible to have a different perspective on any person or event in any area of their lives, giving the perspective what time does, without the long wait.”
 

Allistair Wood

Allistair started practising Kundalini Yoga in September 2005 whilst in Rehab for Addiction. Upon leaving Rehab he continued to look out for a studio. He attended his first Bikram Yoga class in December 2005 and was hooked from the word go!

Allistair comes from a very competitive sporting background, representing Provincially in soccer and water polo and competing in many other sports, namely rugby, athletics, swimming and lifesaving. Yoga challenged him on a very different level. Whilst giving him a thorough physical workout, it also challenged him emotionally, spiritually and Mentally.

His personal practice has opened his mind to a new way of living. “Yoga has connected me physically, emotionally, mentally and spiritually with myself and has connected me with some amazing people that wouldn’t have been blessed to cross paths with if I had never begun Yoga,” says Allistair.

He attended the Bikram Yoga Teacher Training in Fall 2007 and found a new perspective and respect for Bikram Yoga and Yoga in general. “My most rewarding gift as an Instructor is to see peoples lives change as they enter a class and over time see their bodies transform as well as their mental attitudes. Instructing and challenging students in class is what I enjoy the most,” says Allistair.

In one of his first classes, he was promised that he would never experience the same thing twice, and that promise has held true.“I hope to be a part of your journey and you a part of mine. See you in the torture chamber soon,!” says Allistair.

Neil Joss

In 2006, Neil tried out yoga with a friend. In his first class, he sweated, went to hell and back and afterwards was glowing with happiness. He was hooked.

He fulfilled his dream by going to the Bikram Yoga Teacher training in weikiki, Hawaii where not only did he train with Bikram but he also swam in the ocean where many of his surfing heroes swam.

His Yoga journey has led him to train with world-renowned teachers Sean Corn, Ana Forrest, Shiva Rae, Gurmukh, Michael Gannon, John schumaker and the Jivamukti duo. “ But no one compares to Bikram. He is an inspiration par excellence” Says Neil

Neil practices all styles of yoga but Bikram is his language. He loves the fact that Bikram yoga is free from new age pretenses and is a practice that is all about working hard to heal oneself.

Neil is an artist (painting and drawing) and an holistic health counsellor. He assists people in finding their own healing through nutritional guidance and connecting with their real selves.
 

Tamara has moved to Cape Town

Tamara graduated from Bikram's Teacher Training in Hawaii, November 2007. She has been teaching since December '07 at Bikram Yoga Jozi and since Feb '08 at Bikram Yoga on Republic. She has attended Ashtanga workshops with Michael Gannon ('06, '07), Iyengar workshops with John Schumacher ('07), and a Kundulini workshop with Gurmukh ('08).

 

Annelize started doing yoga in 2000 and was in the process of completing her teacher training in the Iyengar method when she was introduced to Bikram Yoga in 2003. At first, it was just a pleasant alternative to her regular practice, but the more Bikram yoga she did, the more she wanted to do. A few months later she withdrew from the Iyengar teacher training and emerged herself into a regular practice of Bikram yoga. She completed her teacher training with Bikram in November 2006.
 

Dominique

Dominique began a daily Bikram practice 5 years ago whilst still living in London where the still mind and oneness of a regular practice, a rare feature in frenetic city life, appealed to her immediately. She subsequently moved to New York in 2005 and started working and practicing at Bikram Yoga Manhattan. It was here that she began to receive so much from her teachers and her love and passion for the practice evolved into something she wished to dedicate her life towards. In spring 2009 she attended The Bikram Yoga School of India Teacher Training course in California to become a Certified Instructor and since graduating has already taught at studios in San Francisco, Tel Aviv and Johannesburg. She loves and enjoys every minute in the studio, whether practicing or teaching, and hopes to give that love and joy for life onto others.
 

Annelies De With

Annelies started practising Bikram Yoga in 2008 and was hooked from her very first class. She became a certified Bikram Yoga teacher in Fall 2009, after an unforgettable and intense 9 week training with Bikram Choudhury in the USA.

“The way I felt after my first class was incomparable to anything else. I knew immediately this would always be a part of my life. I felt alive, full of energy, happy, fulfilled, and excited.”

“I was immediately drawn to the “exercise” aspect of yoga and began practicing regularly. Little did I know it would become so much more than just another form of exercise. Soon after I started practicing, I experienced the best quality sleep in years. I woke up with energy and a crystal clear mind. I had tried many other forms of exercise but something was missing, and it somehow always left me drained and exhausted. With Bikram Yoga I discovered something new; a sense of lightness and peace.”

“Every time I return to my practice, I keep discovering more and more. Bikram Yoga makes me feel my practice goes beyond physical challenge. I have gained a better understanding of myself, and I am feeling healthier and stronger than I ever have been in my life”.

“I love to give back. With all the teachers who have inspired me, I hope I can inspire just one student. My goal is to help people establish their own Bikram Yoga practice, achieve their goals and regain their health and faith in themselves.”

“I love teaching and practicing at Bikram Yoga Jozi, but mostly learning so much about love, grace, generosity and friendship from my fellow yogis, teachers and students.”

Bikram says it takes 10 years to be a good teacher. That is where my journey will take me; I am on my way...”
 

Lars Kruger

Lars first dabbled in yoga by randomly attending Ashtanga classes in London in 1997. Only when living in Cape Town in 2002 did he take up a more regular practice. By chance, he walked into one of David Jacobs’ classes, and his rigorous teachings inspired Lars to stick with what turned out to be the “Iyengar method”. After a 3 year training programme, Lars certified as a teacher in February 2008. Along the way, he studied with numerous well-known American and Indian teachers, most of SA’s senior Iyengar teachers, and he is looking forward to a one-week intensive with Dr Geeta Iyengar in London at the end of May.
 

Nazreen Omar

Nazreen Omar initially embarked on a YogaKids Teacher Training program in the USA from 2005. She took three years to complete this elite training program for yoga for children. She began her stint as a kids yoga teacher in August 2005 and taught yoga to young children, teenagers and children with special needs. As the only South African to be fully certified and recognised internationally on this program she also trains school teachers, yoga teaches and other professionals working with children the YogaKids program.

In light of her yoga path she further trained with Sally Flanagan owner of Go Yoga in Illovo, Johanesburg in 2010. The Go Hot yoga training program gave Nazreen her breakthrough into the world of teaching yoga to adults.

In April 2011 she set off to the USA to train with Bikram Choudhary at his Yoga College of India in Los Angeles. After the intensive nine weeks Nazreen returned to South Africa as a certified Bikram yoga teacher. She currently joins a strong, passionate and dedicated team of other Bikram yoga teaches at Go Yoga in Illovo and at the Yoga Republic in Randburg.