Rachel Zinman

Rachel Zinman is a yoga teacher, teacher trainer and mentor. She first came across yoga at 17 and has practised since 1983, taught since 1992 and trained teachers since 2000. She has studied with Louisa Sear, Dena Kingsberg, Alan Finger and Mark Whitwell, and has immersed herself in Vedanta in the lineage of Swami Dayananda. She credits Alan Finger, her mentor, for her passion for meditation and Tantra. She credits her partner John Weddepohl, who initiated her into the tradition of the ancient Tamil Siddhas, for her deeper understanding of pranayama.

In her classes she shares pranayama, asana, meditation, mudras and mantras from the Laya and Kriya Yoga traditions. She teaches a style called ISHTAM, which combines these practices with a foundation in Ayurveda and the philosophy of Vedanta. The aim is to help people remember themselves in everyday life as well as on the mat. Her classes focus on sequences that rejuvenate and heal, a transformational approach to alignment, breathing and meditation practices, creativity, beauty and bhakti, and bringing Ayurveda into practice and life.

Rachel and John taught their first retreat together in 2011, combining yoga and Self Knowledge, and have travelled and taught together since. Together they created the Sundaram Online Ashram, which offers live and recorded yoga, meditation and Self Knowledge teaching. She offers in-person courses in Mullumbimby and private and group classes from her home studio in Byron Bay. She also mentors yoga teachers.

Her life has included more than yoga. She was a professional dancer from a young age and trained as a Steiner educator, teaching in Australia and New York City. She is a singer and songwriter who has produced award-winning CDs of devotional music, and a published poet. She is also the best-selling author of Yoga for Diabetes: How to Manage Your Health with Yoga and Ayurveda. She writes for online and print magazines, including Australian Yoga Journal and Australian Yoga Life.