My name is Alyssa Bird and I am the new Post-grad Manager for the Seniors Chair Yoga, Restorative, and Pranayama & Meditation courses.

I am a mum to three young daughters and live in Manly, NSW, where I enjoy being by the ocean and spending time with my husband and kids.

My yoga journey began ten years ago when I was doing a lot of running, and I decided to try out some kind of stretching and strengthening exercise to compliment my exercise routine. I’d always been curious about Yoga, so I went along to my local Vinyasa class to try it out. I went in thinking I would be doing some easy stretching, but came out 90 minutes later sweating and amazed and how challenging it was and how much upper body strength I lacked! I kept going back because I loved the physical workout, and it really did help my running! I began going along to short courses run by the teacher on Yogic Psychology, Pranayama, and Meditation. After my first experience of a full Yoga Nidra, I was hooked!

When I had my first baby, I had to slow my practice down and fell in love with the slower pace and deep restorative poses in the prenatal classes I attended.
Since then my yoga practice has guided me through the ups and downs of raising three children away from family support, and a relocation from NZ to
Australia. It has allowed me to deepen my connection to my intuition and opened up a spiritual practice for me, becoming an instrumental part
of my daily life.

After I had my third baby, I had time to complete my Yoga Teacher Training with IYTA in 2019, which I absolutely loved, and which took my personal practice to the next level. I have recently started covering classes as I dip my toes into teaching. I feel like I have been so well prepared through
my training last year and I am so excited to progress in this journey.

My role involves liaising with the lecturers in setting up the courses, taking enrolments and being the point of contact for each course. Making
sure the course participants have all the information required and helping them navigate our online platform. I look forward to working with the IYTA team to bring existing and new courses to various locations around Australia!

This role came along shortly after my youngest started preschool and offers the flexibility I require as a stay at home mum, so it felt like the stars aligned and the perfect opportunity! I feel so lucky and excited to be part of an organisation that I have learnt so much from and even better that it’s all about my passion: Yoga!