Our Teachers

Tara Fraser Yoga

Tara Fraser

Yoga has been with me since childhood. I trained professionally as a dancer and took a degree in performing arts. More fascinated by the 'felt sense' of the body than the look of it, I soon discovered that, for me, rehearsals were more interesting than performance. I returned to yoga with considerable dedication and studied in several different traditions, especially the therapeutic approach of TKV Desikachar.

In 1999 I opened Yoga Junction studio in London, one of the few dedicated yoga spaces in the capital at the time. I have been teaching yoga for over 27 years now and am the author several books that encourage self-practice, including 'Yoga for You' and 'The Easy Yoga Workbook'.

Nigel Jones Yoga

Nigel Jones

Nigel has been practicing Astanga Yoga since 1992. He lived and worked at The Practice Place in Crete (now Yoga Plus) and studied with Derek Ireland for 2 years. He returned to London in 1996, where he continued to practice with John Scott. Subsequently Nigel took the British Wheel of Yoga Teacher's Diploma.

Julie_De_Seneville yoga

Julie de Senneville

Julie is passionate about yoga and has taught and practiced for over 20 years. After working with many different styles of Yoga, Julie retrained in the Iyengar Yoga system and qualified as an Iyengar Yoga Teacher in 2016. Julie is currently training
Julie’s classes are friendly and informative. Julie approaches each posture with clear teaching techniques to assist students to understand and explore their own range of movement. With practice students start to regain space and flexibility to areas that have been historically stiff and tight, while building up strength in areas that have been weak.

As the physical body transforms the inner journey begins with a corresponding agility and clarity of the mind-body connection.

Julie works with props to adapt the postures to suit students of varying abilities so that each student can work to their maximum potential.

Freddie-Panichi yoga

Freddie Panichi

Freddie is a seasoned yoga teacher who has been leading classes in London since 2007. She is a person with a natural sense of curiosity who is influenced and inspired by a variety of yoga styles, philosophies and movement modalities.

Her teaching style incorporates elements of applied anatomy and movement science into a steady yet unhurried flow of breath-initiated poses that aid in mobility development and, over time, can make the body flexible and strong.

She also encourages her students to practise mindfulness through the quality of their movement and attention to their breath, guiding them toward greater wellbeing and self-awareness.

Freddie started doing yoga after her first trip to India in 2000. She holds a British Wheel of Yoga teaching diploma, is a qualified assessor of trainee teachers, and a Foundation Course tutor. She is also a Yoga Alliance Professionals accredited Senior Yoga Teacher and is registered with Yoga Alliance as an E-RTY 500®.

www.urbanyogini.com

Olivia-Howden

Olivia Howden

Olivia is an Iyengar yoga teacher based in Muswell Hill. She is a dedicated yoga practitioner having maintained a daily practice for over twenty five years and teaching for over a decade. Olivia’s teaching is full of energy and insight and encourages a balance between effort and relaxation, adapting yoga postures to suit individual needs.

As a teacher, it is her aim to help everyone to improve their yoga progressively in a safe and supportive environment.

She has been to Pune, India to study with the Iyengar family and regularly attends yoga classes and workshops herself to continually improve her practice and teaching. She is junior intermediate level 3 so has undertaken many hours of training and study.

Tessa-Bull

Tessa Bull

Tessa has been practising Iyengar yoga for over 40 years and has been teaching for 25 years. She trained in Australia but has been teaching in North London for the last 20 years. She has studied in India at the founding Iyengar Institute in Pune, India, on many occasions. This has greatly enriched her experience and knowledge of yoga. Over the years she has developed a special interest in yoga therapy and has completed many hours of study and training. She is currently involved in a long Covid study program.

Her classes are popular with all, and she teaches with great enthusiasm and expertise.

Michelle-Dadoun

Michelle Dadoun

Michelle offers an open approach when teaching a Hatha style yoga class, which emphasises alignment, in order to deepen the practise. Michelle teaches tools such as grounding & yielding to enhance energy within poses. Working deeply within poses, learn to let go & create space both physically & mentally. Michelle will also teach breath work as means of anchoring in her classes & to be practised in everyday life. As a trained dancer Michelle has always enjoyed movement & even through dance recognised the therapy that movement gives. To leave the class with a sense of enhanced wellbeing is Michelle’s aim.

Michelle has practised yoga for over 20 years & took her diploma in teacher training with Triyoga. She is a British Wheel of Yoga qualified teacher. Michelle has been teaching on a 1 to 1 basis & was teaching at Yoga Junction in 2019/20.

Dania-Stavrou

Dania Stavrou

Dania is classically trained in Yoga (experiencing her first Yoga class while at Art school some 35 years ago).
She holds a Master's degree in ‘Yoga Traditions and Meditation’ and is UK registered MBSR ( Mindfulness Based Stress Reduction) facilitator.

Her classes are varied with simple and effective techniques to instil a sense of curiosity and awareness enabling you to take your Yoga practice outside the studio into daily life.

All sessions end with a ten minute Mindfulness practice.

At Yoga Junction we all practice together, creating a supportive caring community.
Classes are open level and mixed ability.

Tanveer-Ghani

Tanveer Ghani

After practising various forms of yoga over 26 years I started teaching Hatha Yoga, in the Kashmir style, 9 years ago.

Hatha is true to the original intentions of yoga, connecting body and mind to help create a centred state of lightness, spaciousness, fearlessness. Offering an antidote to everyday physical and psychological pressures, it nourishes and nurtures the whole self, bringing about transformation through building core strength of emotional resilience and freedom of movement.

My classes are suitable for all body types and all ability levels. The emphasis is on tapping into potential, exploring possibilities through slow, strong movements guided by breath – and a light-hearted approach. Through creating space in the body we open up our feelings and our mind to the resonant freedoms of childhood, and connect with our inner power to build a lighter, stronger, Self.19/20.

Karen-Mitchell

Karen Mitchell

Karen has been teaching yoga for over 10 years. She teaches a slow flowing class where people are encouraged to move and breathe with awareness, and uses themes to give a focus for each class. Karen is also a Yoga Therapist and enjoys offering variations which allow people to find greater ease in their own bodies. Karen believes that yoga is for everyone, irrespective of age or physical ability. She also teaches a gentle & chair-based yoga class at Yoga Junction, and enjoys bringing all aspects of yoga – including movement, breathwork, meditation and mudra – into this class. Karen started practicing yoga over 20 years ago as a way of coping with stress. She fell in love with the grace of the practice and the way it made her feel grounded, resilient and awake.

Anna Norman

Anna first took up yoga in her late 20s, building on her interest in meditation that began in her teens. Starting with Ashtanga, she later became influenced by Tara Fraser’s slower classes, undertaking the BWY Foundation with Tara at Yoga Junction in 2011. During her two-year Diploma at Camyoga she met Peter Blackaby, whose humanistic approach has been a huge influence on her practice and teaching over the past decade. Also an editor and publisher, she published Peter’s book IntelligentYoga in 2018. Anna’s classes focus on slow ‘functional’ movement and on finding ways to counteract the stresses of modern living through fully inhabiting the body. Incorporating meditation, breathwork, grounding and awareness/body-mapping techniques, they are suitable for all body types and ability levels. Anna has a particular interest in women’s health, menopause and chronic fatigue.

Anna Clifford

Anna is an interdisciplinary performance artist from Bermuda and discovered yoga at the age of 13. She is the producer & marketing manager for The Motion Dance Collective (@TheMDCollective), a screendance production company that creates innovative dance-film works.

Over the years her love of yoga blossomed and ultimately led her to complete her 200RYT with Yoga Alliance at Good Vibes (London) in April 2018. Continuing her training in varying styles, she now teaches a range of classes including Dynamic Vinyasa, Hot Yoga, Slow Flow, Paddleboard, Aerial Yoga, Restorative and Yin.

As a professional dancer, Anna has always perceived the physical practice of yoga as healing; combined with the power of breathwork she wants to share the wholesomeness of self-acceptance and positivity with her students so that they leave each class feeling alive and grounded.

Anna’s restorative yoga sessions at Yoga Junction are accessible to all - including total beginners, perinatal and those working with injury or chronic pain. She’s excited to bring this practice and its long-lasting benefits to more people.

Tarik Dervish

Tarik holds a BA Hons in Ayurveda and has been running workshops and courses in Yoga with an Ayurvedic approach since 2003. He is a Yoga teacher trainer for the British Wheel of Yoga (BWY), has trained dozens of Yoga teachers and taught thousands of students in his 25 years of teaching. His main approach is to help students establish a sound physical practice that is appropriate for their Ayurvedic Constitution as a foundation for deeper, subtle, meditative work. He is the author of Ayurveda in Yoga Teaching, co-runs the BWY accredited Ayurveda in Action Online Module with Dr Cathy Mae Karelse and has contributed to the Yoga Teaching Handbook and Yoga Student Handbook both edited by Sian O'Neill. He runs a small clinic in Kings Cross and central Brighton. He writes a monthly blog and can be found giving talks and advice on Yoga and Ayurveda on YouTube, Facebook and Instagram. For more information, please visit his website www.yogawell.co.uk

Tabassum Skelton

Hi...I'm Tabassum 🙂

My two young children have been the inspiration and driving force behind my training to teach yoga.

I started practicing yoga over 20 years ago and have completed the British Wheel of Yoga Foundation course and the Yoga Alliance certified Children’s Yoga Tree Teacher Training. I'm hugely grateful to Tara Fraser, Uma Dinsmore-Tuli and Paul Grilley who have inspired and enriched my learning over the years.

I teach yoga and mindfulness breakfast and lunchtime clubs at local schools in North London as well as after school classes at Yoga Junction in Crouch End. My themed classes are taught mindfully with music, breathing exercises, games and relaxation.

For more information and for all bookings please go to https://www.smilekids.yoga