About

Three seniors looking at the camera

Who we are

We are on a mission to spread the goodness of yoga throughout the community and to empower people to live their best lives.

We are firm believers that yoga – both the physical practice and everyday application off the mat – has the capacity to change lives for the better.

The Yoga for Good Foundation is a platform offering innovative programs, events and grants that benefit communities through yoga principles and practices for a purposeful, peaceful life.

Our values

Our values are our guideposts, our true north. We create all our content and programs with these values in mind.

NATURE – A deep connection to one’s true self, nature and universal elements – harmony of mind, body and nature.
PRACTICE – Creating the time to physically and mentally reset through yoga practice and mindfulness tools.
DISCOVERY + SELF ENQUIRY – Attaining enlightenment through the rich philosophy of yoga as a way of life.
COMMUNITY + CONNECTION – To share the wonders of yoga, bring people together and help them foster an inner-connection.

Our history

Our history dates back to 1976 with the establishment of the Satyananda Yoga Ashram on the Central Coast.

Regrettable incidents in the ’70s and ’80s hurt innocent people, inspiring us to rebuild with compassion and resilience. Our Board of Directors has spent years working tirelessly to right the wrongs of the past and share the wonderful tools, techniques and positive contributions that the Satyananda lineage offers.

The Ashram has long closed, and Paramahansa Satyananda passed in 2009. Now, our foundation inspires better lives and goodness through yoga.

BOARD OF DIRECTORS

Anthony Grieve

Anthony has been a Committee Member and President since 2015. Starting in 1986, he regularly attended yoga classes and participated in Mangrove Mountain weekends during the ’90s.

He holds degrees in civil engineering, project management and law. Anthony is an active member of the Resolution Institute, Institution of Engineers Australia and Master Builders Association and continues to maintain a presence, specialising in engineering, law and dispute resolution.

He previously served as a director at the non-profit Institute of Arbitrators and Mediators Australia for several years.

Wyn Janssen

Wyn, a Committee Member and Secretary since 2015, took up yoga post-retirement from commercial finance in 2012. Formerly the Regional Finance Director for South East Asia and the Middle East in a multinational corporation, he hails from Wollongong, NSW.

As the current Chairman of the non-profit organization Warrigal, Wyn has been a Board member since 1997, overseeing the provision of support and care services to over 3,400 elderly people through aged care services.

He brings a wealth of knowledge and experience while also having a deep appreciation of yoga.

Moira Gordon

Moira, a committee member since and a Director in 2018. She has practised yoga since her teenage years in Britain. Following her arrival in Australia in 1991, she became a yoga teacher in 1994.

Balancing a corporate career, Moira has maintained a steadfast commitment to yoga, teaching for many years in the workplace and in the community. She is passionate about her Vedic mantra meditation practice and yoga and Ayurveda.

Moira is a creative and critical thinker who balances business, yoga and art to serve the common good.

Chris Roach

Chris, a committee member since 2015 and a Director in 2022. He studied at Mangrove Ashram, culminating in a diploma in yogic studies in 2015. For an additional three years, he taught the diploma and actively contributed until the ashram’s closure.

In 1998, Chris started his yoga journey to enhance HSC exam concentration. Later, he explored Buddhist teachings and found Integral Yoga by Swami Satyananda near his home town after a four year pilgrimage across Asia, the Middle East and Europe.

Chris and his partner, both yoga teachers, prioritise swadharma (self-study) amid parenting, gardening and building a home.

Community yoga classes

We are passionate about sharing the joy of practising yoga and offering you an opportunity to connect with your true self on a regular basis.
View previous classes or book now for our next class.

Free
3rd February 2025 - 12:00 to 1:00pm Sydney Time (9am WA time)

Nicky Smith – Dynamic Relaxation Yoga Community Class

Online Yoga Community Class Link

Meeting ID: 834 8185 1566
Passcode: 326861

Join Nicky to experience the Dru Yoga difference, finding the stillness within. Dru Yoga is a fresh approach to nurture your entire being, balance the nervous system and leave you feeling deeply connected and calm.

Stay cool and calm this Summer with Energy Block Release 7 or Dynamic Relaxation. This sequence is perfect for those hot days when you want to practice some slow yoga. Dynamic Relaxation is well suited for those with a busy mind and who have trouble settling into the stillness of relaxation. The focus is on the coordination of breath and movement in slow, subtle mindfulness, leaving you refreshed.

Nicky is a Dru Yoga Teacher, Dru Meditation Teacher, Dru Breath Coach and Mental Health Aware Yoga Teacher. Her business is True Equanimity Yoga, and her practice focuses on mental health and wellbeing or “innercise”. Nicky lives in Dalyellup, Western Australia and loves to spend her time walking in nature and fostering rescue kittens.

Free
13th March 2025 - 11:30am to 12:30nn

Melina Murphy – Loving Kindness Restorative Yoga Community Class

Online Yoga Community Class Link

Meeting ID: 838 7373 9503
Passcode: 767969

This loving-kindness yoga class is an extended version of Melina’s insight timer class, held weekly at 7 a.m. at the weekend and sponsored by YFG. The asana sequences are based on traditional yoga and guide our awareness to be super kind and loving to ourselves as we move through this restorative yoga practice.

We fall into Self-love as we move and stretch to open the body, mind and spirit to flow and dive into the deep well of happiness within.

Melina presented at our Annual Retreat 2024, where her joy brought us joy and laughter. She is a healer with thirty years of experience helping people create joyful wellbeing through counselling, herbal medicine, nutrition and yoga.

Melina fell in love with yoga as a teenager, and her passion is going strong. She has been teaching yoga since 2005 and has taught at festivals, in halls and rooms, at her local gym, online, and in her Natural Health Clinic on Djangadi Country.

Testimonials

Our sole mission is to create opportunities to do good for others through yoga.
And we’re making an impact.

A huge thank you to the Yoga For Good Foundation...

…for their incredible contribution to our Life Now Yoga and meditation programs!

This generous donation will mean we can buy new yoga equipment, run a new yoga class in Broome, and enhance our meditation program for cancer patients and their primary carers.

Cancer Council Western Australia

Sending out gratitude to the Yoga for Good Foundation.

Their grant is enabling me to offer FREE trauma informed therapeutic movement and relaxation to frontline mental health and social services staff in Bega.

Participants are really valuing the time out for themselves and experiencing integrated poly vagal theory. And I get to be in a teaching space, yay!

PremKranti Counselling

The generous grant we've been awarded from the Yoga For Good Foundation...

…allows us to reach more underserved and vulnerable community groups who can benefit from a trauma-informed yoga and embodied mindfulness practice at zero cost to the participants.

Some of the community groups we’ll be serving in the current months include 000 Foundation, Men’s Walk and Talk and WAGEC.

Yoga on the Inside