SWAMI BHAKTIPOORNANANDA (Bhakti) SARASWATI is a yoga teacher (accredited with the Satyananda Yoga Academy (no 6770)*) and life coach (accredited with the International Coach Academy) who has also trained and worked as a naturopath and medical herbalist. She supports people's lives by helping them to discover their wants and needs and create the life that will bring these into reality. This service is provided through life coaching, teleseminars, local Yoga classes as well as teleclasses (classes held on the phone).

Her Yogic knowledge is based on the gentle and meditative approach of the Satyananda system. She has been teaching for over 25 years in Australia and Europe.

She has been life coaching for most of these years and has decided to formalise her knowledge and experience by studying with the International Coach Academy. She is specialising in helping people in transition as well as offering spiritual life coaching. She also works with people facing the end of their life, providing coaching and spiritual support.

She took up Yoga and Meditation in 1970 after hurting her back in a snow-skiing accident and also realising how depressed and stressed she was. Daily practice is still central to her management of pain, limitation and stress. She also admits a healthy addiction to Yoga Nidra (the relaxation) but she emphasises that Yoga has been central in her shift from "a human being with a spirit" to "a spirit who is living a human life". With a clearer and more consistent experience of her witnessing self she reports a continuing evolution towards a life of increased ease and beauty.

Her workshops, booklets and CD'S are grouped together by various topics reflecting her areas of expertise. These include Yoga for Spinal Health, Women's Health, Pregnancy, Cancer, and Creating Change in our lives.

She has a special understanding of the application of yoga and life coaching to health and well-being. She brings a wealth of knowledge and a great sense of humour to her sessions. Her style is warm and approachable leaving her clients inspired to create a more balanced lifestyle.

Before taking initiation as a Swami she led an adventurous and varied life. She emigrated from England to Australia in 1974 and took various jobs including check-out chick, delivery driver, nanny and tour boat operator as well as leading a more "normal" married life.

She and her students were introduced to Satyananda Yoga by a travelling Swami who impressed her with the scientific and methodical approach to all practices. Subsequent divorce forced her to reassess and reinvent herself. Most of this work was achieved by going to live in various ashrams around the world as well as becoming a "workshop junkie" for a while! Not only did she mend a broken heart but recognized her true potential as a teacher, inspirer, and friend.

Her name means "bliss in complete devotion" and she is passionately devoted to service to the community through her work.

* SATYANANDA YOGA IS A REGISTERED TRADEMARK AND USED UNDER LICENCE FROM IYFM