Our Yoga Teachers
Meet the team
“Let our friendly, expert teachers welcome and guide you towards your goals of physical wellness, mental clarity, and heart-core happiness.”
The Loft Studio director
Lani Baddeley
I'm Lani, the proud owner of The Loft Studio a space dedicated to yoga.
My amazing journey into the world of yoga began while attending classes and working at The Loft. The positive impact it had on teachers and students fueled my curiosity. The more I delved into it, the clearer it became – yoga has the power to bring benefits to people's lives.
With a background in sports, I was particularly excited about showcasing how yoga contributes to injury prevention and enhances the longevity of sporting careers. The belief in our bodies' incredible capabilities has always fascinated me, and I am committed to helping others, as well as myself, tap into newfound energy through yoga.
In 2019, I completed my 200-hour yoga teacher training in the vibrant city of Melbourne. Since then, my passion for yoga has only increased, and I'm eager to share the joy it brings with our community.
When Tim the founder of The Loft Studio moved to Australia I took the opportunity to buy The Loft I am now working with the community to build a center for yoga and wellness.
Beyond yoga, my interests extend to various forms of exercise, invigorating walks up Parahaki, and spending time with family and friends.
Join me on this journey at Loft Yoga Studio, where we embrace wellness, strength, and the joy of living fully.
Lani Baddeley
Yoga Instructor
Yoga Instructor
Marie Fernau
Marie is originally from Germany but fell in love with the beauty of New Zealand.
Sports have always played an important part in her life. She competed for many years in vaulting (gymnastics on a horse) and while doing this, she found yoga for the first time. It helped improve strength and mobility for vaulting and as a result, she kept practicing it.
While Marie studied Sports Science, she found yoga had an even larger impact on her life. It helped her through those stressful times as a student.
As an exercise physiologist, Marie has found how bringing awareness towards your movements improves your well-being.
Marie decided to become a yoga teacher and in 2020 did a teacher training with Yoga KOH in New Zealand.
Marie is an avid surfer and horse enthusiast so when she isn’t at the studio, you will find her in one of these places.
Marie Fernau
Yoga Instructor
Yoga Instructor
Tara Bolleboom
Yoga Philosophy drew me to start my yoga teaching journey with a year-long Diploma from Wellpark College in 2010. This was a blissfully life-changing experience and set the stage for further yoga training. I went on to study Yoga Therapy and later completed Level 2 and 3 (300hrs) with Ashram Yoga in Tamaki Makaurau.
With a particular interest in the energetic body, I like to connect to the subtle realm through embodied movement/dance and incorporate this into my daily yoga practice. This journey has taught me to be passionate about self-healing and integration.
I use this experience and training to help guide classes that cultivate self-awareness and inspire attendees to work intuitively with their bodies.
When I am not teaching yoga, I’m passionate about building the ecstatic dance community in Northland, being a mother, and spending time with my family. I love exploring Aotearoa through bush walks. I also enjoy creating music and the power music has to make our lives amazing.
Tara Bolleboom
Yoga Instructor
Yoga Instructor
Eloise Keefer
Following a series of back injuries in 2013, I turned to Yoga to help with my rehab, and I never looked back! I have been practicing the 26&2 series for the past six years and became a qualified teacher through the Original Hot Yoga Association.
I am passionate about teaching the 26&2 series to target stability, back strength and improve focus and concentration.
I believe a huge amount of personal growth happens in the yoga studio when practicing this series, and I look forward to being part of that journey with my students.
Originally from the beautiful Bay of Plenty, I moved to Whangarei in 2020 for a change of lifestyle and to run a small farm with my husband just outside of the city.
When I’m not in the yoga studio or working, I love travelling up to Waitangi for some mountain biking or exploring some of the stunning hiking trails Northland has to offer.
I look forward to seeing you in the studio.
Eloise Keefer
Yoga Instructor
Yoga Instructor
Kelena (Len-na) Roughan
Kia ora! Lovely to see you, I’m Kelena – you can call me Lena (said ‘Len-na’). The name Kelena comes from the Niuean language, where my family is from.
A class with me is full of natural flow, allowing the body to move freely, and traditional yoga asana. It delights me to share my passion with others, to find movement, meditation & peace. Since practicing yoga I have been branching out into different dimensions of wellbeing. I enjoy an honest cup of cacao, dance & music.
Find me amongst the elements.
Kelena (Len-na) Roughan
Yoga Instructor
Yoga Instructor
Selina
Yoga has been an incredible tool for the past ten years of my life, supporting me through injury and strengthening my body back to health and wellness.
My passion for yoga has led me to study further and branch into more complimentary modalities such as woman’s health and cyclical living with Samantha Neal, Pre and Post Natal Yoga with Bliss Baby yoga and Breathwork facilitation as well as ongoing Yin Yoga studies with Loka Yoga School.
Yin yoga is what I am currently most passionate about, a beautiful self care tool combining long, slow holds and surrendering to stillness. Taking the time to tune into the breath and listen to the body. I love the way you feel like you just came out of a massage, rejuvenated and full of bliss.
When Im not on my mat I am free diving and surfing, my other loves include writing and sharing my knowledge with the community.
I look forward to meeting you on the mat and am excited to be a part of the team at The Loft Studios here in Whangarei.
Selina
Yoga Instructor
Yoga Instructor
Jax
I’m a local Northlander and I adore this part of the world.
I spent 15 years as a breakfast radio host in Northland before leaving to raise my daughter.
I love to get out hiking, to the beach surfing (well, trying to) with my daughter, enjoying my family and home and playing in my garden growing the best food I can for those I love.
Four years ago, after a massive change in direction, I decided to pursue a life full of creativity and passion and to follow
the things I love doing, training to teach yoga was top of my list.
I started yoga when I was 18 initially being drawn to practice Iyengar Yoga; and like a lot of people when I began it was the physical challenge that I focused on. Over the last 4 years and through my practice and more recently my teacher
training, I’ve discovered that yoga is so much more. I am grateful for everyday that I get to practice as I always leave
my mat feeling better than when I got there.
I simply want to share this with others, it’s way to good to keep to myself!
I look forward to meeting you soon!
Jax
Yoga Instructor
Yoga Instructor
Sharyne Lewis
Kia ora, I’m Sharyne pronounced (Sha-ryn), I have been practicing yoga for many years and have experience in a broad range of yoga styles. I follow the Satyananda Yoga tradition of practicing pranayama Kundalini and tantric yoga meditation.
I have lived all over Aoetaroa teaching, studying or working with movement, creative arts and performing arts projects in New Zealand, Fiji and Melbourne. Among my travels I spent some
time at Anahata Ashram, in Nelson, N.Z.
I’m a holistic movement practitioner, qualified personal trainer, artist and teacher. My love of yoga and performing arts, specifically contemporary dance
has led me to teach a variety of yoga styles over the years, such as Hatha, Vinyasa Flow, Power yoga, Ashtanga yoga, Restorative/Yin and Yoga for athletes.
I am passionate about movement, the body, yoga philosophy, pranayama, meditation and mind- body practices and
self healing.
I enjoy rehabilitating people to help them transition from injury, stress back into doing the things they love and make their life shine brighter.
When I’m not in the studio teaching yoga/ movement, you’ll find me making art, being creative in my art studio, spending time with family and friends, soaking up the sun outdoors in my organic permaculture garden, walking in the bush or at the beach.
Sharyne Lewis
Yoga Instructor
Yoga Instructor
RACHELE
YOGA PRACTITIONER
By applying Myself in the creative healing arts I aim to awaken to My true Self and highest purpose and inspire others to actualise theirs.
I have been a practitioner for 15 years of Bikram yoga and am classically trained in Hatha and Ashtanga Vinyasa yoga.
In 2012 My sister and I ventured to India to travel, soul search and sightsee. We ended our travels in Rishikesh India where we found a yoga ashram Rishikul Yogshala and began an intensive course with the Ashram.
The teachings were incredible. We learned yogic philosophies, practiced asanas (yogic postures) meditation, pranayama (breath work), I remember learning for the first time the benefits of belly breathing and how to breathe correctly!
This new information blew My mind! and I wondered why such vital knowledge which was readily practiced in the East was never brought to My attention in our world in the West?
After this new found knowledge, the peace, tranquility and rejuvenation I felt in My mind and body I was hooked on yoga and vowed to begin a regular practice.
Five years later I completed my first 200 hours of AYA accredited yoga teacher training in Hatha and Ashtanga Vinyasa in Pokhara Nepal 2017, with this same school, Rishikul Yogshala. I completed My 300 hours with Rishikul Yogshala in Kerala, India 2020
I am most passionate about sharing the principles of Hatha yoga involving:
Shatkarmas (Purification)
Asanas (Postures)
Mudras (Manipulations of vital energy)
Pranayama (Breath control)
rachele
Yoga Instructor
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Yoga Instructor
Lesa Sheppard
Kia ora koutou, greetings.
After practising yoga asana for many years, I was called to begin my yoga teaching training in 2021 to further develop my understanding of yoga philosophy. I came to the mat to find peace of mind and found that through embodying the principles of yoga we can extend that peace beyond the mat and into daily life. This is why I am passionate about teaching yoga to others.
I completed my 200hr training with Online Yoga School, alongside my Reiki Master Practitioner studies.
I enjoy amalgamating my Yoga and Reiki studies and guiding classes that cultivate balance in the chakras.
Outside of the yoga studio, you'll find me spending time with my husband and children, immersing myself in nature in any way I can or working from my wellness room at The Loft.
Lesa Sheppard
Yoga Instructor
Yoga Instructor
JO LEES
I took my first yoga class at high school and have been hooked ever since. Yoga has been a constant for me in times of stress and continues to make a huge difference to my overall health and wellbeing.
My 200-hour teacher training was at Contemporary Yoga in Auckland with inspiring teachers like Neal Goshal and Karla Brodie. My passion is flowing, vinyasa-style classes bringing awareness to the breath and incorporating movements to build strength, stability and ease in everyday life.
My interest in wellbeing has led to further study into longevity, hormones and women's health, with a particular focus on intermittent fasting as a tool for healing the body.
"Be where you are, not where you think you should be." is a favourite mantra of mine for life as well as yoga practice. I'm looking forward to continuing my yoga journey with you at The Loft Studio.
JO LEES
Yoga Instructor
Yoga Instructor
HELEN ROSE
Helen is an avid yogi and enjoys empowering people to develop and sustain their own yoga practice. Since 2013 she has explored various styles of yoga, completed a three-year Hatha Yoga apprenticeship (Yoga Being, Whangarei) and attended workshops with Shandor Remete and Emma Balnaves (Shadow Yoga, Auckland & Adelaide).
Helen also has a background in psychology and is committed to creating supportive and inclusive environments for sharing yoga. She is trained as Trauma Sensitive Yoga Facilitator (Center for Trauma and Embodiment, Boston) and is registered as non-practicing member with the New Zealand Psychology Board.
Together, these inform her passion and ongoing explorations of the benefits of yoga in supporting mental wellness, rehabilitation and personal development.
Helen Rose
Yoga Instructor
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Yoga Instructor
Martin Pitout
My yoga journey started 15 years ago when my lovely wife Rouve’ challenged me to touch my toes. As a dedicated aikido practitioner, gym junkie and cyclist I was very confident and accepted her challenge.
I barely reached my knees.
And so it started. We moved to New Zealand in 2018 and stumbled upon the Yoga Loft Studio. With awesome teachers and a wide variety of classes it became part and parcel of my life. It was clear that I had to expand and deepen my practice so a YTT 200 hour training course from the Sattva Yoga Academy in Rishikesh followed. Since completing the course in December 2022 I have been teaching at the Studio. I do not see myself as a teacher, I am merely a co-ordinator of movements. The body is the ultimate teacher so as participants we listen and respect what our bodies tell us.
Like BKS Ieyngar said, “Penetration of our mind is our goal, but in the beginning to set things in motion, there is no substitute for sweat. Yoga does not just change the way we see things; it transforms the person who sees.”
Namaste
Martin Pitout
Yoga Instructor
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