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Our Teachers
Who We Are
Paula Vintiner
Your Own Yoga Founder & Teacher
Slo-Flo ~ Sunday REST ~ Sensory ~ Yoga Teacher Training
"You will find me dancing barefoot on the grass, light with breath and carefree, with an unwavering knowledge that to move and to breathe and to find stillness in the spaces between, is to truly live a life."
Paula has been a student of movement since the age of 3, when she began baby ballet classes back in her hometown of London. She danced all the way through to adulthood and in 2013, discovered that Yoga was the key to fulfilling the urge to move, but with a consciousness and care that would honour her body through her mid-late 30s.
Through Yoga, Paula discovered the joy of bringing rhythm and the flow of breath into union and the many levels on which this could facilitate peace deep within, in the midst of the challenges of navigating this modern world.
Your Own Yoga was born in 2017 and is truly a reflection of the famous words spoken by Krishnamacharya, "If you can breathe, you can do Yoga!" as Paula wholeheartedly believes that Yoga is for anybody and EVERYbody, without exception, and should be explored with the personal wisdom that each and every Yogi holds of themselves, within themselves, to honour their sacred and unique bodies.
When she isn't on the mat (or barefoot on the grass), you will most likely find Paula at home baking bread, enjoying a mouth-watering meal cooked by her husband Andrew, or lounging in the garden with their retired greyhound, Fleurie.
Tess Brown
Susy Ratcliffe
Your Own Yoga Teacher
Slo-Flo ~ Gentle Yoga: Sunday Sādhana
"The opposite of fear is gratitude."
Susy joins the team as one of our most recent 200-hr YTT graduates, having completed her training in November 2024. She realised she was a yoga devotee while reflecting on the subtle ways her practice allows for slowing down, gaining perspective and nurturing self-compassion.
While she loves to experience the stream of shifting sensations in a Flow practice, Susy deeply values space for rest and is a big fan of Yoga Nidra in quieter moments.
Susy recognises that while her asana practice forges pathways to strength, grounding and interoception, she continues to live her yoga 'off the mat' by integrating compassion, inclusion and connection into her lifelong journey of learning and growth.
Her advice for new yoga practitioners is to trust yourself, feel what works for you and always listen to your inner wisdom.
Susy lives in Heretaunga Hastings on the ancestral lands of Ngāti Kahungunu, which she acknowledges with gratitude as a tangata Tiriti. When she isn't yoga-ing, you can find Susy painting, taking walks, enjoying the latest podcasts and gardening with her husband and two beautiful children.
Tess Brown
Zara Burns
from Yoga with Me & Your Own Yoga Teacher
The Slow Down - Tuesday Yin
"Be slow. Be real. Listen to the secrets your body is ready to reveal."
When she takes a moment from being an awesome dog Mama to her pug babies, Wally and Monty, our Zara supports her clients across modalities from health coaching to red light therapy, but sharing Yin Yoga is her true passion and her ability to create spaces for real bodies and real people is a joy to experience.
Yoga with Zara is a nourishing, calming practice that invites you to explore sensation in the body through mindful movement, conscious breath, and grounding awareness. The class is a blend of seated and supine postures, offering space to slow down, reconnect, and settle the nervous system.
Join Zara every Tuesday at the Heretaunga Women's Centre for your weekly Slow Down...