Rachel Zinman-Jeanes

Rachel Zinman-Jeanes’ yoga journey started with an Iyengar class in Sydney’s Bondi. Rachel remembers that

“I wasn’t too sure about at first but after a while I could feel the benefits of the practice…”.

A few years later she moved to Byron Bay where she met yogini Louisa Sear of Yoga Arts and really got started on her yoga journey.

Studies with Louisa Sear and Alan Finger

Louisa’s classes were so inspiring that Rachel ‘couldn’t help wanting to be just like her’. From there a friendship blossomed with Sear suggesting that Rachel study with Dena Kingsberg and then take a year-long apprenticeship with Jenny Groves, a student of Martyn Jackson. Following this experience Rachel started teaching a pre natal class at John Ogilvie’s Byron Yoga before she took the leap to move to New York in 2000.

In New York Rachel started studying with Alan Finger, who introduced her to Ayurveda and Tantra as well as teaching her the meditations in the the Kriya yoga tradition of Yogananda. This was an incredible eye-opener for her, where she went from a limited view of yoga to understanding that yoga is the natural state of every human being and that all we need to do is remember we are that all the time.

Rachel dedicated herself to learning as much as she could from Alan Finger and was eventually lucky enough to be offered a position teaching at his school and becoming a part of the teacher training team, which for her was a wonderful creative time where she learned an enormous amount about how to teach.

Teaching ISHTA Yoga

After four and a half years in New York, it was time to head back to Byron Bay, where Rachel accepted her teacher’s invitation to start teaching his style of yoga known as ISHTA. At the same that Rachel was starting to teach ISHTA in Byron, some of Alan’s other teachers were opening studios around the world in places like Japan and Germany. These teachers then invited her to take part in their training programs and this was how she started on the path to becoming the global yogi that she is today.

Travelling the globe as a Yoga Teacher

Rachel has been travelling and teaching worldwide since 2004. For her, being in different countries amidst different cultures reminds her of the diversity of life. She finds it awe inspiring to recognize the SELF in each and every being no matter what their culture or beliefs. The benefits and blessings of sharing her practice and teachings with students worldwide far outweigh any disadvantages experienced through extended travel schedules.

For Rachel yoga is an art and a way of life. Her workshops, retreats and trainings aim to inspire participants to develop and deepen their understanding of what yoga really is through learning about the various aspects of yoga such as philosophy, tantric meditations, Bhakti yoga and Ayurveda. Her retreats, workshops and trainings are a space where like-minded people can come together and share and inspire each other through group flower yantras, chanting together in Kirtan, sharing meditation experiences and enjoying the physical practice of asana.

As human beings we have the incredible gift of being aware of ourselves, and for Rachel sharing this in community in places all over the world is the most wonderful way to celebrate the gift that we all are. For more information about Rachel or her classes and events around the world, Make an Enquiry.