Events & Workshops
Why Meditate?
with Anne Love
1:30 – 3:30pm (both days)
Saturday & Sunday, February 7 & 8, 2026
$79
Please note that Anne is donating her proceeds to Climate Council.
AYA is thrilled to welcome back Anne Love, our long time friend and former lecturer at Australian Yoga Academy for this special journey into meditation.
Why Meditate? is an opportunity to join Anne for two afternoons of practise and contemplation in exploring the path of Insight Meditation. Anne will help you to clarify the motivation for practice and will help you to dedicate some time to learning foundational practices of insight meditation.
Each afternoon will include:
- Dharma talks to support our understanding of the path and inspire practice
- A range of meditation practices
- Inquiry and dialogue
Together with Anne you will cultivate calm, clear seeing and an open heart, to support the development of insight and a well lived life.
Everyone is welcome including those new to meditation and experienced practitioners.
About the Facilitator
Anne Love is a Partner at SHK People Advisory firm and a meditation teacher and facilitator. Anne’s expertise spans career, leadership, wellbeing and executive coaching, facilitation of group sessions, and managing large-scale organisational restructures as well as teaching meditation in corporate, school and community settings. Anne has lectured in mindfulness to yoga teachers in training and teaches a range of classes and courses.
As a meditation teacher, Anne is passionate about honouring the depth of the meditation traditions that these practices have come from while meeting each person where they are and encouraging people to make meditation a practice and way of life that benefits themselves and those around them. She has been practicing some form of meditation for over 25 years. She has a Masters of Adult Education, is a qualified MBSR, Mindfulness and Mindful Schools Teacher, has a Diploma of Mindfulness and Compassion Teaching, and is currently participating in a 4 year Dharma Teacher Training program with Insight Meditation Institute.
Please see annelove.com.au for more information about what Anne offers.
Trauma Informed Workshop – The Body Keeps the Score: How trauma + chronic stress show up on the mat
with Renee Robson
10:30am — 1:30pm
Saturday, March 14, 2026
$89
This workshop is a thoughtful exploration of how our bodies store and respond to significant life events. We’ll balance neurobiology with practical, embodied practices to help you understand the connection between your body, brain, and nervous system. This session will explore the physical impact of chronic stress and trauma in modern life without requiring any personal disclosure. Through guided, educational content, you will learn how to support your nervous system more effectively, both on and off the yoga mat.
This session draws on foundational work by figures like Bessel van der Kolk and Gabor Maté, providing a compassionate and accessible introduction to the idea that the body holds our life experiences. It is designed to offer a new perspective on resilience and self-awareness that is useful to everyone.
We’ll be:
- Learning the foundational principles of polyvagal theory and the nervous system in clear, everyday language.
- Discovering how focusing on safety, choice, and bodily awareness can help regulate the nervous system.
- Exploring practical “brain bicep curls” – simple exercises to build your capacity for regulation and resilience.
- Participating in a trauma-informed yoga practice that prioritizes personal agency, choice, and a deeper sense of internal awareness (interoception)
You’ll leave with insights and tangible skills you can apply right away in your teaching or practice, along with a sense of how the extended training can deepen your knowledge.
Who It’s For
This workshop is for yoga practitioners, teachers, and anyone in a related field who wants to deepen their understanding of how the body holds stress and trauma. It is also for anyone curious about the connection between their body, mind, and nervous system, regardless of previous yoga experience.
About the Facilitator
Renée is a trauma-informed yoga facilitator and educator and works to make workplaces kinder and more psychologically safe through the social enterprise she’s founded, ‘Trauma Informed Leadership’, supporting leaders and organisations with transformational learning on evidence based leadership practices and transformational change.
With training in Hatha/Vinyasa, Yin and Yoga Nidra, Renee facilitates trauma-informed yoga with a special interest in supporting those from disadvantaged backgrounds, complex trauma, accessibility and mental health challenges.
A passionate believer that the world being more trauma-informed makes it better for everyone, Renée is currently completing her Level 2/300 hour teacher training with the Trauma Center Trauma-Sensitive Yoga (TCTSY) program and has completed the Certificate in Traumatic Stress Studies via the Boston Trauma Centre (founded by Bessel van der Kolk, researcher and author of ‘The Body Keeps the Score’). She’s also a vocal advocate for complex trauma survivors, and mental health, regularly speaking and writing about the importance of trauma-informed practices, better leadership and healthier workplaces.