Meet the D-F Studio Yoga Instructors
Our D-F studio team
We are home to diverse, worldly, wise and kind teachers. No class is the same, nor is any teacher. Explore and meet our team.
We are home to diverse, worldly, wise and kind teachers. No class is the same, nor is any teacher. Explore and meet our team.
Sophie has a background in education, working as a high school teacher and university tutor for over 15 years. Her passion for teaching has taken many shapes and forms over the years, and she loves that this path has now led her to teach yoga at D-F Studio. Sophie believes that yoga is for everybody and always ensures that everyone feels welcome and supported in her classes, regardless of experience, fitness, or flexibility.
Sophie’s passion for yoga started when she was struggling in life, trying to find the right path, looking for peace in a busy world. She could barely touch her toes and never considered that turning up to a yoga class would have such an impact on her life. The spiritual side of yoga is most important to Sophie, and she believes passionately in the power of yoga to open our lives and our souls to our divine essence.
As the studio owner, Sophie is currently living out her dream life – running her own business as well as teaching yoga is the perfect fit! She still gets to enjoy the numbers side of business management but is also passionate about offering the best Yoga & Pilates offering to the community. Her favourite things about D-F are chatting with the D-F community and planning the D-F workshops and events – always looking for something new and engaging for our members.
With over 15 years’ experience teaching yoga as well as extensive sports coaching experience, Marty brings a wide range of knowledge and wisdom to D-F. Marty started his yoga journey to help rehabilitate a sports injury, and the rest is history! His passion for yoga is well-known in the Northern Beaches community.
Marty is passionate about how yoga can benefit our lives both physically and spiritually. You can expect a challenge in his vinyasa classes, but always with a playful edge! He is enthusiastic about the benefits of a strong practice and his classes give students the opportunity to try out adventurous yoga poses under expert guidance, ensuring you have the space to explore safely.
He is passionate about the spiritual benefits of yoga and how our practice can build connection between the body and the mind. He endeavours to motivate his students to develop their yoga practice so that they can integrate the benefits into their lives.
Jess is a Yoga and Pilates instructor with a passion for helping people move well and feel supported in their bodies and lives.
With an active background and a long-standing love for yoga and Pilates, Jess’s teaching blends functional movement, mindful awareness, and breath-led flow. Her classes are thoughtfully designed to build strength and mobility while also creating space to slow down, reconnect, and regulate the nervous system.
Jess is known for her calm, grounding presence and inclusive teaching style. She encourages students to trust their own intuition, honour their energy, and meet themselves with compassion, both on and off the mat. Her intention is to support students in feeling strong, steady, and more at home in their bodies.
Tash comes from an experienced background in Personal Training, with a depth of anatomical knowledge. Submerged in the world of health and fitness from a young age, she quickly developed a love and fascination of the human vessel.
Movement through space, with awareness on breath, became profound and necessary tools in her journey toward self-exploration and transformation. In her quest to deepen this inner exploration, Tash eventually found herself living in Mexico at the Hridaya Yoga Centre. Here, immersed in a yogic lifestyle and the traditional Hatha teachings, was the start of her ongoing yoga journey. She has since completed multiple trainings, taught in retreats overseas and continues to inquire with awe into the nature of the human organism.
Tash believes much of our “knowing” has been limited to the brain alone, where many aspects of ourselves cannot be truly met. She draws from her coaching background, in-depth anatomical knowledge and diverse movement education, to guide her students through an integrated practice of conscious anatomical and energetic explorations in order to deepen the Mind-Body experience.
She views each movement practice as a portal for conscious connection with our self and the world around us, and aims to inspire in her students a curiosity of the self – to feel, taste and honour each breath, and subtle bodily sensation as a gateway into revelation.
Yin | Restorative | Yoga Nidra
Aimee was first introduced to yoga in her early twenties, during a time when she was experiencing debilitating panic attacks. While most doctors referred her to endless tests, it was Dr. Ebba who prescribed something different — yoga. Stepping into a studio for the first time changed her life, sparking a deep curiosity about how movement, breath, and stillness could so profoundly change her life.
That curiosity became a lifelong journey. Aimee has trained with influential teachers in Rishikesh, London, and Sydney, and her practice continues to evolve alongside her lived experiences of grief, loss, pregnancy, and motherhood. Having personally experienced yoga’s profound therapeutic effects, she teaches from that space of lived wisdom.
Over the years, the deeper Aimee has gone into her practice, the slower her teachings have become. Once believing that the advanced yogi was one who could master headstands, she has since come to see the advanced yogi as one who can rest deeply in stillness — connecting with the quiet within and around them. This insight informs her classes in Yin, Restorative, and Yoga Nidra, where she gently guides students into the deeper layers of the body — inviting curiosity about how the body speaks to us and encouraging connection with the whisper within.
Her path has also led her to study Yoga Therapy, Trauma-Informed Yoga, Holotropic Breathwork, and Psychotherapy, each a reflection of her commitment to understanding the mind–body connection. In her classes, Aimee blends this training with her own journey, creating supportive spaces for students to explore their inner world and develop a relationship to the whisper within. She’s forever thankful for Dr. Ebba, for seeing beneath the symptoms and guiding her to this sacred practice that changed the course of her life.
Raf believes yoga is a practice that extends far beyond the mat, offering tools for awareness, balance, and clarity in everyday life. His classes focus on mindful movement, guiding students to connect with both body and breath while exploring their own physical and mental boundaries.
In 2021, Raf made a major life change, leaving a two-decade career in banking to dedicate himself fully to health and wellness. Since then, he has continued to develop his teaching through a range of additional trainings including Advanced Vinyasa.
Although he first encountered yoga in 2005 while training in martial arts, it was his 200-hour Vinyasa and Yin teacher training in Ecuador in 2019 that revealed the transformative potential of the practice. This experience inspired him to deepen his understanding of yoga, both as a personal practice and as a path to supporting others.
Raf’s approach blends physical challenge with mindfulness, encouraging students to cultivate awareness that flows into daily life. By fostering both strength and stillness, his classes aim to leave participants feeling grounded, energised, and more in tune with themselves.
Vinyasa | Slow Flow | Yin | Restorative | Yoga Nidra
Lailla Sena brings over 20 years of personal yoga practice and more than 7 years of teaching experience to her classes. She views yoga as a doorway to reconnecting with our innate wisdom.
Her classes are thoughtfully designed to both challenge and nurture students, offering a space to deepen their connection with their bodies and explore intuitive movement. Drawing from her studies with master teachers in Brazil, Costa Rica, and Australia, Lailla blends traditional yoga principles with somatic awareness to create a well-rounded and intentional practice.
As a breathwork facilitator with a background in studying ancient traditions, including shamanic practices, Lailla weaves these diverse influences into her teaching. Her classes extend beyond the physical, guiding students to release tension, cultivate presence, and explore self-awareness. Each class offers a unique journey of challenge, softness, and an opportunity for self-discovery.
Yin | Restorative | Yoga Nidra
Imogen is an experienced Reiki Master and multidisciplinary yoga teacher with a deep passion for supporting others on their journey to healing and inner peace. Imogen’s warmth and approachability make her classes a deeply nurturing and centring experience. She aims to celebrate and support every person who makes the decision to invest in their own self-healing journey by taking time to practice yoga and meditation, whether they are a complete beginner to the practice or an experienced yogi.
Imogen believes in the transformative power of both yoga and energy healing, guiding students toward a deeper, more compassionate and loving connection with themselves and to help them to access their innate ability to heal. With a welcoming, intuitive style, she fosters a warm, inclusive environment where each person feels supported on their unique path.
Olly has been teaching and practicing yoga on the northern beaches for the past 10 years. She loves teaching and being part of the yoga community and is grateful for the friends, connection and lessons that she has gained along the way.
Olly is passionate about helping people to move their bodies in a way that is wise and intuitive to them. She believes that movement is medicine and with each class her intention is for students to connect deeply to their body, mind and breath using strong but simple movements.
Olly is also a Chiropractor and has had experience working with people of all ages from all walks of life. During Olly’s chiropractic education she has extensively studied movement, physiology and the nervous system. She loves incorporating her knowledge into thoughtful movement practices. She is trained in Pilates, Vinyasa and Yin.
Vinyasa | Strength + Soul
With over 17 years of personal yoga practice and a strong background in the fitness and wellness industry, Elise brings a depth of experience, intelligence, and embodied understanding to her teaching. With a Bachelor’s degree in Sport & Exercise Science and more than a decade working as a personal trainer, group fitness instructor, and movement coach, Elise bridges the gap between strength, mobility, and mindful movement.
Elise discovered yoga as a powerful complement to her athletic training, and over time it became a central pillar in how she moves, lives, and connects. Her approach is informed by both science and lived experience, blending functional strength, breath awareness, and fluid sequencing. Her classes invite students to feel strong, capable, and supported – meeting their edge with curiosity rather than force.
Elise is deeply passionate about the way yoga supports not only physical health, but nervous system regulation, emotional resilience, and connection. Her classes offer a space that encourages students to build trust in their bodies and confidence in their practice.
Above all, Elise is committed to creating a welcoming environment where students can deepen their relationship with movement and carry the benefits of their practice beyond the mat and into everyday life.
Yin | Restorative | Yoga Nidra
Radha is a spiritual aspirant and yoga teacher with over 30 years of practice and teaching, rooted in the Satyananda Yoga tradition. She offers a gentle, embodied approach to every yoga class— including asana, pranayama, meditation, and philosophy — guiding students to explore presence, ease and awareness within their own body, mind and spirit.
Her work as a somatic practitioner naturally flows into her teaching. Drawing on private clinic healing sessions, Radha helps students tune into their bodies and individual needs bringing a compassionate and responsive energy to every class.
Through her life as a mother, mentor, and lifelong student of yoga, self‑study, and spiritual growth, Radha brings warmth, curiosity, and presence to her teaching. She encourages students to move mindfully, feel fully, and connect with their own inner strength, creating a safe and welcoming space for exploration and growth.
