About Me

Hi, my name is Joanna Bertzeletos but most people call me Jo (and if you are very little I get affectionately called Joga, Yoga Jo or Jo Yoga). I am Greek and was born and raised in Australia, so a Greek Aussie makes me a Grozzy!

My yoga journey started almost 20 years ago. I was looking for something to keep me fit so that I could age gracefully (my grandma had multiple sclerosis so I owe a lot to her because she inspired me at the tender age of 5 to start looking for a way to cope with disease and the ageing process) and something to control my mind (you would not believe it now but my mind used to race like an uncontrollable Tasmanian Devil, so much so that I would get ill from it making me so tired).

When I tried yoga all those many years ago I had no idea what a wonderful gift I would be unravelling and continue to unravel. Whatever you are looking for in life yoga has it, from focusing on the physical level to retreating deeply within and finding a universe of deep stillness and peace. All you need to do is give it a try, follow the yogic path, be kind, gentle to yourself, honouring the needs of your body and see what adventure unfolds!

Personal Yoga Experience and Qualifications:

• I have been a student of yoga for almost 20 years;
• I have been teaching for nearly 10 years;
• I have had the great honour to share yoga with children as young as 2 right up to adulthood. I have taught yoga in primary and secondary schools, with businesses and children and adults with Special Needs;
• I am committed to continuous professional development and attend post graduate yoga courses on a yearly basis;
• I have completed a two year Dru Yoga Sound and Mantra course, gained in 2010;
• I have a four year Dru Yoga Teacher Training qualification, gained in 2008;
• I have completed two modules to teach Dru Yoga Dance, gained in 2008 and 2011;
• I have a YogiYou certificate to teach yoga to kids and teens, gained in 2007;
• I am on the Professional Register of Dru Yoga Teachers and MRDY qualified (the Dru Yoga School are registered with Yoga Alliance and Independent Yoga Network, therefore providing a very high level of yoga teacher training).

Experience of working with adults:

• I teach adult evening classes, modules and workshops on a regular basis;
• In 2009 and 2011 I ran a corporate yoga session for HSBC as part of their team building;
• In 2009 and 2010 I ran yoga sessions for the staff at Abbeydale Grange Secondary School;
• From July 2009 to April 2010 I ran an evening yoga class for adults with learning difficulties and special needs at Mencap;
• From 2008 to 2010 I ran an intermittent yoga group for women who were recovering from domestic abuse;
• During 2008 I ran a morning yoga session for the Welfare to Work Directorate. Its purpose was to show how yoga can be used at the workstation, to minimise stress and increase emotional well-being;
• In 2006 I taught yoga workshops during the half term break to the Chinese Community;
• In 2005 I taught lunch time yoga to the Asian Women’s Community at St Mary’s House.

Experience of working with young adults and teens:

• In January 2012 I taught yoga to Handsworth Grange Secondary School;
• From 2006 to 2011 I worked in partnership with Abbeydale Grange Secondary School delivering yoga across the curriculum. Over the years I worked with teenagers with Special Educational Needs and English as a Second Language. I also taught yoga dance and presented to Y11s the effects of stress and how yoga can help;
• Since 2008 I have been teaching yoga with a small group of teenagers at Bents Green Secondary School;
• In 2010 I delivered yoga to King Edwards, King Ecgberts and High Storrs Secondary Schools;
• In 2008 and 2010 I worked with Pitsmoor Youth Housing Association where I taught yoga to young adults recovering from alcoholism and drug addiction;
• In 2009 I delivered yoga to Hinde House Secondary Phase as part of a motivational day.

Experience of working with children:

• Since 2007 I have been running a Saturday morning kids yoga club
• Since 2006 I have been running afterschool clubs in the following primary schools: Carterknowle Junior School, Hunters Bar Junior School and Sharrow Primary School;
• Since 2008 I have been employed by a Montessori to teach yoga to 2 to 4 year olds;
• From September to October 2011 I delivered yoga to Nether Edge Primary School;
• Over the years I have taken and continue to take yoga into a number of rainbow, brownies, girl guides and scout groups;
• During Healthy Schools week in 2009 I delivered a day of yoga to Aston Fence Junior and Infants;
• In 2008 I delivered a day of yoga to Limpsfield Junior School;
• From 2007 to 2009 I delivered yoga to Malin Bridge Primary School;
• In 2006 I taught yoga workshops to children of the Chinese Community.

I would like to share yoga with you because, simply, it has helped me so much in my own life. Yes, it has helped me with all the health benefits that people always praise yoga for. But on a much deeper, wisdom/intuitive level it has helped me to cultivate peace, gratitude, forgiveness, compassion and understanding not only for others but for myself too (which I found was harder than cultivating it for others!). And it continues to help me to cultivate these and many more qualities and areas of myself. I think that the world needs quite a lot of all these qualities. I believe that by developing these qualities within ourselves that the world then becomes a reflection of us.

I am no different than you. I have an inner dialogue that can be quite troublesome at times and very unsupportive. I have not sussed everything out just because I have been practicing yoga for so long. All I am saying is that it has helped me greatly to the extent that most of the time I can control that inner dialogue rather than it controlling me. I have tried and continue to try to make yoga my nature.

Power to the Peaceful,
Jo