Our Story
With quite an active background in ballet, aerobics, running and working in the fitness industry for 16 years, the birth of her 3 children led Stephanie to the realisation that she needed something that would sustain and nourish her body and soul. She was seeking some sort of activity that was more than her current meditation practice, but nothing that was exhausting and something she could sustain in life.
Stephanie came to Iyengar yoga at the age of 40, where she first attended a class in Mt Barker. From the first class, she was hooked due to its precision, attention to alignment and detail which reminded her of her ballet training. After 3 years of attending and assisting at classes, she began to teach for 5 years, before taking over the school. She continued to develop it for another 5 years before finding the ideal sized location for her school. After renovating the space on Mount Barker Road, Stirling, she was fortunate to have many of her students follow her to her new location; where the business flourished.
In 2015, she completed 3 years of yoga therapy study with Stephanie Quirk who worked directly with Mr. B. K. S. Iyengar in Pune, India, for many years. She also worked with Garth McLean to assist those suffering from Multiple Sclerosis. Stephanie continues to train with her teacher, Pixie Lillas, in Sydney and all teachers at the school have attained Iyengar Yoga certification or who are currently undertaking a rigorous teacher training programme with her. She continues to travel regularly to Pune to study with members of the Iyengar family.
After 9 years at Mount Barker Road, she moved the school to Piccadilly Community Hall & Stirling RSL whilst the space on Pomona Road in Stirling was being built. On the 13th of January 2018, the new yoga school was open and commenced a teacher training program with 9 trainees. Fast forward to 27th July 2021, she moved to a new space in Stirling Business Centre.
Stephanie has been teaching Iyengar Yoga in the Adelaide Hills since 2000. She has found running a yoga school a demanding but extremely rewarding job, and that yoga is proving to be an invaluable tool to assist people at all stages in their life. She considers herself extremely lucky to have found a passion for teaching yoga and attracting many other like-minded teachers, trainees and students.
Our Teachers
Stephanie Hansen
Principal Teacher & Manager
Stephanie is a senior Iyengar Yoga Teacher, at Level 3,with over 25 years of experience in teaching and practice. She has studied Yoga, in both India and Australia, with members of the Iyengar family. She is a keen practitioner and travels regularly to Sydney to continue her professional Yoga development with Pixie Lillas.
Stephanie is trained in the therapeutic aspects of yoga instruction. Areas she works in include:
Neck, shoulder, hip and back problems
Chronic fatigue, depression and post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD)
Auto-immune diseases
Neurological conditions, including multiple sclerosis (MS) and Parkinsons
Diabetes
One on one private therapy sessions are available by appointment.
She is passionate about Yoga and committed to ensuring that all classes are taught in a safe, professional manner. Stephanie believes that, with commitment and perseverance, all people are able to access the many proven benefits of Yoga and come to understand the role that Yoga can have in leading a healthy lifestyle.
Stephanie has a strong conviction that Yoga provides solutions to a diverse range of issues for people of all ages and fitness levels.
Jessica Jones
Jessica is mum to 4 children; 1, 4, 15 and 17 years. She has been a student of Iyengar yoga for over 10 years.
Graduating with a degree in Early Childhood Education, she has worked in Environmental Education for over 13 years. Her teaching experience extends from birth through to aged care settings and includes a wide range of abilities and needs.
In 2016 became a certified kids yoga teacher and has been conducting classes with toddlers through to teenagers since. In 2019, Jessica completed her teacher training with Stephanie at the Hills Yoga School. She believes the practice of yoga is most helpful in bringing balance to our busy lifestyles, connecting with ourselves and each other and more broadly to our natural environment.
Jo Slade
Jo started practising yoga in the late 90s whilst raising two children, working full time and renovating her property. She was drawn to the precision of Iyengar Yoga and the professionalism of her teachers. She gained strength and flexibility, perspective and calm in her busy life and credits yoga with maintaining her health and sanity over the years!
Jo undertook teacher training with Darrin McNally at the Kensington School of Yoga in 2014 with no intention of becoming a teacher, just wanting to deepen her practice. However, she found that teaching became a joy, learning as much from her students as she could teach them. Jo wishes for her students to experience the joy and benefits that yoga can bring to their lives, as it does to hers.
Molly Murn
Molly is a certified Iyengar yoga teacher and author. She regularly teaches at Kensington School of Yoga as well as Hills Yoga School and trained under senior Iyengar teacher, Darrin McNally. Molly initially came to yoga through her dance practice and has been passionate about the wisdom and instruction of yoga asana ever since.
Yoga has carried her through pregnancy, childbirth, parenting, injury, creativity, teaching, and is essential to her work as a writer. Molly is interested in sharing yoga with her students as an embodied spiritual practice that allows easeful and healthy movement for all bodies at all stages of life and ability. Molly loves reading, belly-dancing, walking, writing, and lives in the Adelaide Hills.
Sam Smith
Sam found Iyengar yoga in 1999 and from that very first class has journeyed a path of steady learning and exploration of the endless benefits of yoga. She is a dedicated practitioner and has enjoyed sharing her love of yoga with fellow staff, parents and students in her role as a secondary Psychology and Nutrition teacher.
Sam completed her teacher training with Stephanie at the Hills Yoga School in 2019 and is now a certified Iyengar yoga teacher. She is a passionate lifelong learner of yoga.
Jess White
Jess took her first yoga class, when she was a young teenager, at Hills Yoga School’s first reincarnation on Gawler Street in Mount Barker. In between travel and studies she has studied with Hills Yoga on and off all throughout her twenties.
Jess is a High School Art teacher who has completed her yoga teacher traineeship under Stephanie at the Hills Yoga School in 2019. Jess spent time studying yoga in India under Iyengar teacher Usha Devi, who credits Mr Iyengar as the person who got her to walk again! She loves practising yoga as she feels it just makes her feel better, always!