The Sanctuary yoga studio developed out of thoughts of connecting community and assisting people to explore a healthier and happier life with the help of yoga.
In our busy world of today many of us need a sanctuary, free from the hustle and bustle of work, cities, traffic, home and society. A place free from having to take that mobile phone call or answering that email straight away. A place to arrive in, to balance within. A place that gives you a break. A pause. A space. A place that nurtures your body, heart and mind and refreshes your outlook.
Out of these thoughts grew The Sanctuary.
At The Sanctuary we teach Functional Yoga, meaning that the aim of our teachers is to assist every student to practice their yoga the best way it benefits them, individually. We celebrate each students’ uniqueness and even though practicing yoga in a group setting, we encourage and assist towards a more individual and an organic yoga practice.
A functional approach to yoga on a physical, mental, energetic and heartfelt level.
We take pride in our teacher team that delivers an authentic and safe yoga practice to suit every induvidual. All our teachers has at least 300 hours of recognised Teacher Training education and are continiously upgrading their education to provide even greater teachings to our comminity.
Our founders Mysan and Tim have through years of their own yoga practice, experienced how yoga provides us with sanity for our entire Being – from our physical outer shell to our deepest emotions, our heart and our energies balanced in joy.
At The Sanctuary we believe that life is brilliant – every part of it and in every moment.
We believe that when we remember the brilliance of life, we shine.
This begins with our functional approach to yoga. With less ‘rules’, compensated by greater knowledge in our teachers, we aim to develop a practice that guides the individual, firstly to honour our anatomical uniqueness and then to remember our individual brilliance! Who we are. So we can shine our light and when doing so, give other people permission to shine too.
Our functional approach to yoga gives each person the opportunity to live a fuller life. As we evolve through our yoga practice, (physically, emotionally and energetically) we all, as individuals, gradually but automatically connect into ourselves, and to our commonality.
As we do so, a greater overall health emerges – not only for the individual but for the whole of humanity and the planet.
Our yoga practice and philosophy is about opening minds and bodies to live with love and bring out our ‘wild and free’ – connecting back into nature and remembering who we are.
Remember that we are all shining stars and that the essence of us all is pure love, peace, success, kindness and pure potentiality.
Love. Laugh. Move. Shine. Share. Enjoy. Lend a helping hand. Grow. Learn. Come together. Sparkle. Breathe.
The Sanctuary is a space dedicated to you and to yoga. The meaning of yoga here is much more than ‘just’ the movements in and out of asanas (poses). It is about bringing yoga into your life; off the mat and into the world. It is about kindness, self-study, understanding, peace, respect, compassion, community and mostly, it’s about LOVE.
It is a space where we provide movement and health for our bodies, bring focus to our minds, depth to our breath and attention to our overall health.
Yoga Citta Vritti Nirodah means Yoga is to still the whirlwinds of our consciousness and this is one of the most important sentences in the ancient texts. This is what makes our yoga practice. As important as it was for the ancient yogis thousands of years ago, it is equally important for us today as modern yogis and ‘urban mystics’.
The asana practice of yoga is here for us to start to feel the deeper within, where compassion, respect, love and kindness reside and let all of that goodness come to surface to be shared in our community.
This is our Sanctuary.
The Sanctuary is a space where health, happiness, good-feel vibes and calmness is the key.
Make sure to be on time to class – we recommend arriving 10 minutes prior to class to set up your yoga nest and get in to the zone. The entrance doors will close right on class start time. Being on time pays respect to your fellow yoga practitioners, to yourself and to your yoga teacher.
As you enter, leave your shoes at the door and inhale a sense of peace.
Make sure your mobile phones (and any other devices) are switched off if you bring them with you into the studio.
The yoga shala is our yoga practice room. There are pigeon holes inside for your valuables.
There may be a class or yoga course taking place inside the shala. Please respect your yoga community and keep your voice on comfortable talking level and your beautiful laughter to a soft giggle.
Please bring a recyclable water bottle for your practice and feel free to fill up water at our hydration station at any time. If you enjoy some tea in our chill out area, make sure to clean up after yourself so others can enjoy the area too.
When coming into the yoga shala, roll out your mat and grab any props that you may need for your practice. This is a space where many of us come to relax and enjoy a body-mind reset after a busy day, so please continue to let the peace and tranquillity fill the room – Become a part of it.
Your yoga practice starts at the door when you walk into The Sanctuary and should leave with you as you head back outside after class and into your life.
We do start our yoga classes on time – the door downstairs will close 5 minutes after class start so please make sure to be on time so you do not miss class. Why do we close the door? For safety reasons – we want to feel safe when we practice and we do not want any interuption from the street, neither do we want student’s to start to practice after class start since both our mindset and physical body has not been prepared and warmed up with the rest of the group.
Mindfulness for yourselves, respect for others and for the whole environment.
Love all around.
The entire yoga studio space is built, as far as possible, from recycled materials keeping the environment in mind. We spent a lot of time at demolition yards, sourcing second hand and pre-loved items as The Sanctuary came to life.
Our yoga gear and props are sourced where possible from sustainable and eco-friendly providers and made from organic cotton and organic materials.
The hand-soaps, cleaning products and the toilet paper that we use at The Sanctuary are all eco-friendly. Our aim is to minimise the use of chemicals, plastics and the use of ‘one-time-use’ items that are non-biodegradable.
We would love to be an inspiration for all of you and we have many tips up our sleeve for a more eco-friendly lifestyle. Feel free to ask us if you are interested and keep your eye out for upcoming community events to learn more about this.
Tim has for over ten years practiced yoga and with a background as a black belt in Karate his focus and discipline is strong in his practice. He practices Hatha, Yin and Yang yoga as well as meditation.
At university Tim studied psychology (among other subjects) and has backed that up with plenty of self-development courses to understand our Human ways with all the up’s and down’s, the goodness and the madness that it involves.
He has also deeply studied yoga philosophy from the ancient yogis and their texts. Ancient yogis that have inspired Tim are Yogananda Parmahansa and Sri Yukteswar as well as Patanjali. The Yoga philosophy teachings are very much a practice that Tim lives from.
There was a time in Tim’s life when he felt broken. Broken on a physical, psychological and emotional level. Explloring ways to mend his life, after many dead ends, Tim stepped through the yoga door and that door is still wide open, constanlty leading to the opening of new doors. He found truth, simplicity, ease, nurturing, lightness, healing and health. In all a better way of experiancing life, living life. His yoga practice is continous and Tim is studing Yin yoga, Hatha yoga and yoga philosophy.
Tim sees the magic in everyone and wants to help people shed the superficial dramas, tensions and hearthaces to live fully.
His asana practice is about physically finding strengh with relaxation. Stability with mobility. Balance from the inside out. Sthira sukam Asanam, and that crosses over to all aspects of his life and this is what Tim loves to share that with others.
Tim has 480 hours teacher training completed. Tim has a 200 Hour Hatha Yoga Teacher training with Byron Yoga. He has also completed a post grad of 200 hours Yin and Yin Yang Teacher training as well as anatomy training with Mysan Sidbo. His latest studies was Yin and Anatomy with Paul Grilley.
Tim is teaching Yin yoga and Hatha yoga and thrives in giving support and a helping hand to his students and our community. His passion for yoga has blossomed through his own practice where he has experianced and gained freedom and increased life value on a physical level, energetic level and on a hearfelt level.His teaches from his heart, with lightness and joy and laughter comes easy in Tim’s classes.
Both Mysan and Tim are all about living their yoga, both on the yoga mat and into the world of everyday life.
Yoga involves not only the practice of asana (poses) and meditation, but very much the mindfulness of all Beings and things such as the care for the environment, respect for Mother Earth, care for our fellow Earthlings and the sharing of love in our community.
Mysan has been practicing yoga for 20 years and has been teaching for over 15 years. She teaches Hatha yoga, Yin yoga and Yang yoga as well as Meditation and Pranayama (breath awareness).
She is a senior teacher of Yoga Australia and has completed over 5500 hours of teacher trainings through the years. Among those trainings is mentoring under her Indian yoga teacher for over two years, followed by a 1 year Hatha yoga diploma and endless studies with her teacher Paul Grilley, whom she travels to study with yearly.
She has a strong anatomy interest and knowledge and is constantly attending wet labs, anatomy studies and formums to further understand our human body and applies that understanding in to a functional approach to yoga and body movement.
Mysan’s Hatha yoga lineage is from Krishnamacharia providing very much an individual focus to yoga. Ancient texts that have inspired and educated Mysan are the Yoga Sutras by Patanjali as well as the Bhagava Gita and the Hatha Yoga Pradipika. Her yearly studies with her teachers Paul and Suzee Grilley allows her to dive deeper into anatomy, our Being, meditation, philosophy and yoga.
Mysan has had the pleasure of assisting Paul and Suzee Grilley in their Yin Yoga teacher training program providing her with an even deeper understanding of how to share the yoga knowledge.
Mysan is an international senior teacher and she is a teacher training educator, conducting yearly Yin and Yang yoga teacher training programs for yoga teachers worldwide to develop and gain further understanding about how to share and live our yoga.
When she is at home, on the Central Coast of Australia she enjoys teaching classes, trainings and workshops at her studio The Sanctuary.
Mysan has been educating teachers for many years as a mentor and a teacher trainer. She conducts a 400 hour Functional Hatha Yoga training as well as a 200 hour post grad Yin Yang training. She also offers anatomy, epigenetic, neuro anatomy courses, applied movement neurology sessions and courses on yoga philosophy.
Mysan thrives when teaching Yin Yoga, Hatha Yoga and Anatomy courses for yoga teachers. She also teaches yoga philosophy courses and yoga workshops for curious yoga students. Today, Mysan teaches classes at The Sanctuary as well as teaching workshops and yoga trainings in Australia and internationally.
If you are interested in educating yourself through Mysan’s Teacher trainings and courses and would like to know more whom you will be studying with, here are some Mysan’s qualifications:
