
Alice Allen
Alice is passionate about the positive effects movement has on body and mind, and its ability to help us connect more deeply with ourselves and others.
She first tasted yoga over a decade ago and more recently discovered a love for improvisational contemporary dance. Alice’s experience of yoga as a powerful anchor and resting place in times of stress has been transformational and she is grateful to the teachers who facilitate this growth.
In the spirit of learning and sharing, she completed her 200 hour TTC at the Yoga Alliance accredited Himalaya Yoga Valley Centre in Goa, directed by Yogacharya Lalit Kumar. Alice leads an Ashtanga inspired class, with a focus on breath and inner alignment.

Brian Yates
Physical exercise and helping the community has been a key element of Brian’s life from a kid. Brian is a great advocate of exercise for both physical and mental health.
Brian is a registered cardio tennis coach with TA and is an avid cyclist and trains either on the bike or in the gym daily. Brian also assists with Mood Active’s risk management processes.

Cameron Wilson
Cam Wilson is Co-Founder of Mood Active (2013) and a Tennis Australia certified coach. He has decades of personal experience using exercise as therapy for depression and anxiety. Cam‘s classes feature his own music mixes - plenty of disco, pop, soul, and good old Aussie rock’n’roll!

Caroline Friend
Caroline spent 22 years running a business while raising her family. She attempted to manage the stresses of daily life with a regular fitness regime, but it wasn’t until she attended a yoga class that she experienced an emotional release unlike anything she had known before, and so her yoga journey began.
Having discovered deep transformation and positive change that yoga brought within her life, and becoming a dedicated practitioner of yoga and mindfulness (introduced through MBSR), Caroline was keen to expand her knowledge and completed over 500 hours of training including 350 hours of training at Sukha Mukha with Idit Hefer and Katie Menastis. She has also trained with Jasmine Tarkeshi, Donna Farhi, Ari Levaneal and Marianne Edwards and will forever be a dedicated student of yoga. Caroline also regularly attends silent retreats in the insight tradition to deepen her personal mindfulness practice.
Through breath and movement uniting the mind and body, Caroline is passionate about sharing the possibilities for self-discovery, connectedness and freedom that yoga offers.

Cathy Lloyd-Prowse
Cathy is an accredited personal trainer, group fitness instructor and coach. For the past 13 years Cathy owned and ran her own fitness business, Mums the Word Fitness.
In this role she helped many mums with post-natal depression by providing fun varied outdoor training sessions.
She was very proud of the Mums the word fitness community she created, bringing likeminded people together and brings this experience to Mood Active.
Cathy knows firsthand how being active lifts your mood. Exercise helped her after her she gave birth to her son.

Juliette Lay
Juliette is a certified fitness instructor and stretch therapy teacher and an accredited gymnastic coach. She’s been active since she was young and has trained in dance, aerial acrobatics circus and gymnastics.
Juliette is passionate about promoting holistic health and fitness and has seen the power of exercise to improve mental health, as well as creating balanced bodies that are strong, mobile and flexible. Juliette has lived experience with depression and anxiety and feels grateful for the support and help she received form the community, whilst on her healing journey. Volunteering as a personal Trainer with Mood Active is Juliette’s way of giving back.

Khalil Saab
Owner of Tszyu boxing club and Killa boxing equipment, I have about 20 years of boxing experience, competed at the highest level and trained some world champions such as Billy Dib, Tim Tszyu and Sakio Bika.
I run boxing programs and private sessions at the boxing club, I have studied and been involved in fitness for the last 10 years specializing in strength and conditioning.

Naomi Blair
Naomi has been active her whole life, participating in physical culture, gymnastics, athletics, yoga, altitude training and weight lifting. She recently qualified as a Personal Trainer from the Australian Institute of Fitness. Upon discovering Mood Active whilst doing research for an assignment, Naomi knew she had to get involved with Mood Active as it aligns with her values so well.
Naomi loves the sense of achievement physical activity can bring and has personally used exercise as treatment for anxiety. She wishes to share this coping strategy with others and motivate people to discover just how they good they can feel.

Tania Curley
Tania has been with Mood Active since 2013 working as a volunteer Events and Marketing Manager and then Funding and Sponsorship Manager.
Tania is now the General Manager of Mood Active. Tania holds a Masters in Coaching Psychology, Masters in Strategy HRM, a BA in Tourism Management, and a Cert III in Fitness.
Tania is also a leadership facilitator and coach.

Cathy Sparkes
Cathy (aka Sparkles) had ‘done Yoga’ on and off for a number of years but became a dedicated practitioner at the end of 2016 resulting in completing her teacher training in 2019. She loves the practice of Yoga as a perfect blend of physical, mental and spiritual disciplines. Coming to the mat brings a deep sense of joy, calm and presence. Sparkles teaching style is interactive, offering both intense Vinyasa flows, that will challenge the participant to step into the fire and cleanse their body and mind; and a slow, mindful flow, that maintains a sense of challenge while focusing on postures to centre and ground. The philosophy of Yoga practice, meditation and mantra are areas of ongoing study and interest for Sparkles and she weaves these themes throughout her classes. She brings her love and dedication to ongoing practice to each class in the hope of igniting a love of Yoga for her students on their own Yoga pathway.

Jon Rohde
Jon has been involved with Mood Active since 2013, having regularly attended Cardio Tennis classes run by Cameron Wilson.
He found Mood Active ‘ticked all the boxes’ for his own management of depression.
Exercising in a small group, learning a skill or technique, from a coach with lived experience, really worked for him.
He found participating in his own recovery empowering and has continued to support and promote the Mood Active philosophy and community through fundraising events & sponsorship sourcing.
Jon has witnessed the growth of Mood Active class offerings and variety and now aims to run fun, physical cardio tennis classes of his own
He has completed a Community Coaching Course and is a current member of TA as a Trainee Coach

Jade
Jade initially turned to yoga as a way to switch off from her busy life and hasn’t looked back since. She loves that yoga is a low impact form of exercise which will still stretch and strengthen the body.
Jade has been teaching yoga at Mood Active since July 2019 and also assists with Mood Active’s marketing and writes exercise posts for the blog.

Emily
Emily loves being physically active and it’s a daily ritual for her, whether it’s walking her dog, hitting the gym or practising yoga.
Since her first yoga class in 2005 she fell passionately in love with it as a philosophy and a way of life. Emily is a fun, enthusiastic teacher who cares deeply about her students. She believes yoga is a pathway to better mental health and physical well-being and takes great joy in sharing the practice.
Qualifications: The Yoga Institute 500 hour, BodyMindLife 200 hour, Mother Nurture 50 hour Pre-Natal, Registered with Yoga Australia

Siobhan
Siobhan has a Cert. III in fitness and has worked in gyms for many years, experiencing firsthand the important role exercise plays in managing mental health and building self-confidence. To her, volunteering with MoodActive is an opportunity to share her enthusiasm for active living, and to help build a connected, supportive community for those suffering with mental health.

Glenn
Fitness, exercise and helping others are passions for Glenn - and assorted him in improving not only his physical health but his mental well-being. His focus is to impart his excitement and love for fitness on to others.
Glenn is a qualified Personal Trainer through the Australian Institute of Fitness and accredited Level 1 Boxing trainer through Punchfit. If Glenn isn’t training or throwing punches into a bag, he is out running or at the beach having a swim.

Ella
Ella is a certified barre instructor (STOTT Total Barre), with a background in classical ballet. She enjoys barre as a form of mindful movement, stretching and strengthening both the mind and muscles! She motivates her clients to celebrate their bodies’ capabilities, through fun sequences and controlled movement, always ending the class with a relaxing stretch.
Ella’s interest in exercise spans wider than barre alone - she is no stranger to the tennis court, hockey pitch or doing laps of Centennial Park on foot or bike! She loves how each form of exercise benefits another.

Simon
Following various long stays in India and other Himalayan countries, Simon has shifted his yoga’ skills from his semi-professional gymnast background to a stronger focus on traditional knowledge, working on the body, mind and spirit at the same time.
His teachings have an emphasis on a holistic approach of yoga, with classes combining asana with pranayama and concentration techniques. His quest to promote well-being through mind control is supported by his current psychology and energy healing studies.

Brooke
Brooke teaches vinyasa and yin yoga weekly at Connect the Dots. She came to yoga as a form of exercise, but soon found asana offered a sense of safety and wholeness in her body. Brooke turned to yoga as a refuge for anxiety, depression and trauma as she faced an incredibly dark period in her life. She undertook a 200hr Yoga Teacher Training with Janine Leagh in September 2018, and found this experience to be radically transformative. Brooke views yoga as an embodied philosophy and a way of life, a path she hopes to share with students in both a raw and playful way.

Brent
Always been involved in sport or some form of exercise from an early age.
This foundation has lead me to continued learning with regards to the many positive physical & mental effects of moving & physical activity.
I enjoy passing this on to others. I see my role as one that helps change peoples state for the better - mood, energy and function!

Jan (Johan)
Jan’s classes have only one goal: to deepen your understanding of yourself and feeling better about it. With over 15 years of experience as yoga teacher and holistic health coach Jan can say with certainty that a deeper understanding of your life, your health and your wellbeing makes a world of difference. Jan’s personal journey towards yoga was to help him mentally feel better and deal with worry and anxiety. Having been exposed with depression and mantas stress from a very young age he can relate to the effects of it and how to support this. His yoga classes are not only physical. They incorporate tools and methods from Buddhist, Daoist, somatics, yoga and life’s philosophies and practices. He loves singing and often sings for you at the end of the class.

Jessica Manifold
Origionally from Ireland, Jessica moved to Australia in 2012 to enjoy the great outdoors, without the rain! She’s practiced yoga for over 10 years and completed her teacher training in 2016. Jessica continued her yoga journey in 2019 by completing her Yin Yoga training with Mel McLaughin.
Jessica teaches Hatha slow flow yoga, a slow and mindful vinyasa style class, mixed with relaxing yin poses to really stretch out the body and relax the mind.
In addition to yoga, Jessica enjoys an active lifestyle, making time each day to walk, cycle or run - she’s working towards her first triathlon next year!