This year marks the 10th anniversary of Te Anau Yoga (TAY) serving the Fiordland community by providing regular classes run by trained yoga instructors. 

Covid-19 restrictions delayed celebration of this event for a few months, but now the date has been set to celebrate TAY's 10th birthday on 12 July 2020.

Registered as an incorporated society in December 2009, TAY started its classes in February 2010 and has been growing steadily since its inception.

From humble beginnings more than 10 years ago with a single instructor leading one yoga session per week at the Te Anau School Hall, TAY has grown to now have five qualified yoga teachers offering classes six days a week.  

What’s unique about TAY is that, unlike most yoga studios which are privately owned and run as businesses, TAY is a community based not-for profit organisation run on a voluntary basis by an annually elected committee. Being registered as an incorporated society enables TAY to apply for funding to purchase yoga equipment, organise workshops, etc. The class fees are used to pay for the room hire, support teacher development and reimburse teachers for their time.

The history of yoga in Te Anau goes back 25 years when a teacher was coming through from Mossburn or Dipton. There was a gap of a few years around the beginning of the new millennium without any yoga presence in town. 

This changed in 2006 when Tammy Magness came from USA to New Zealand with her husband Andy, who took up a teacher’s job at Fiordland College. Tammy, who had been practising yoga for a few years while living in Southern California (San Diego), was looking for a class to join in Te Anau, and having not found any decided to start one herself. Before leaving New Zealand in 2007 she encouraged Te Anau local Kerri-Anne Edge to take over her classes. 

It was Kerri-Anne who was instrumental in establishing Te Anau Yoga.

After Tammy left, Kerri-Anne started offering weekly community group classes at the Te Anau School hall. For three years she single-handedly ran the classes, organised yoga workshops and performed all related administrative tasks while at the same time working full time for the Department of Conservation. In 2009 she went to Australia to begin her formal yoga teacher training and on her return became the driving force behind establishing Te Anau Yoga Inc. where she taught until 2016. 

Kerri-Anne Edge

Kerri-Anne’s contribution to yoga in Te Anau has been huge. She not only lifted the profile of yoga in Fiordland, but also inspired others (including the author of this article) to take on the challenge of teaching. Later, she became interested in the application of yoga as therapy and continued her training in that direction, eventually gaining the accreditation of the International Association of Yoga Therapists. After leaving TAY she continued her commitment to yoga and yoga therapy by forming Flourish (www.flourishkiwi.com ) in partnership with Tammy Magness, who returned from the US to take on permanent residency in Te Anau.

Today Te Anau Yoga teachers come from different countries and backgrounds and each has a unique teaching style. Collectively they offer a variety of yoga flavours from classic hatha yoga, vinyasa flow, yin yang yoga and yoga nidra to kundalini yoga.

Alina Suchanski has attended yoga classes in Te Anau since early 2007. Encouraged by Kerri-Anne Edge to become a qualified instructor, she completed her Yoga Teacher Training and began teaching in 2011. 

A Southland local, Noeline Bolger, started attending yoga classes in Te Anau 25 years ago. She took a break from yoga to raise her children, but later completed a Yoga Teaching Diploma Course and in 2017 joined the TAY teaching team.

In 2019 three more teachers, Mariska Hesselink, Dwi Ayeng and Susan Buckland, joined the TAY team. 

Originally from the Netherlands, Mariska has been living in New Zealand since 2009. She completed two yoga teacher training courses in 2016 and 2017 and prior to coming to Te Anau worked at Vibrant Living Retreat in Hanmer Springs.  

Dwi came to New Zealand from Indonesia last year with extensive yoga qualifications under her belt. She divides her teaching time between Te Anau, Invercargill and Queenstown.

After living in Australia for 27 years, Susan moved to Te Anau in 2018. A Registered Nurse and Ayurveda Practitioner, she trained in hatha yoga in India in 2015. Susan is currently teaching Kundalini yoga – an ancient tradition of yoga that balances mind, body and spirit. 

Smooth running of TAY with so many teachers and classes would not be possible without the hard work of the committee of volunteers, and it’s the TAY committee who are behind organising the free public event to celebrate the 10th anniversary of TAY.

“We are going to have a fun yoga open day with teachers offering a combined warm up session followed by short 20-minute yoga tasters, including Family Yoga, Partner Yoga, Voice of Yoga, Introduction to Meditation and the TAY challenge. The aim of the day is to celebrate, enjoy ourselves and share our passion for yoga with the community We will be finishing of the birthday celebrations with cake and music,” TAY President, Gemma Heaney said. 

“I would like to acknowledge the work of past and present teachers and committee members who have all contributed to the success of TAY. If you have never tried yoga before, haven't practiced for a long time, or have your own home practise and would like to ask a question, come on down and join us,” Ms Heaney added. 

The celebrations will be held at the Marakura Yacht Club on Sunday, 12 July between 1- 5pm.

Entry is free for all. Mats and other yoga equipment will be provided by TAY.

For detailed programme of activities visit the Te Anau Yoga website or Facebook page.