What we stand for
Our mission is to bring soul to the people. Our one-of-a-kind instructors guide members through an inspirational, meditative fitness experience designed to benefit the body, mind and soul. Whether it’s through yoga, massage or dance. Our members say it’s life-changing!
We laugh, we stretch, we grow, we learn, and we do it together. Moving your body and working your mind charges your soul and becomes the best part of your day. Through this shared experience, we develop an unshakable bond with one another. Friendships are made. Relationships are built. We share a soul experience.
Our members come to us from all backgrounds, levels of fitness, ability and experience. Kindred is for everyone. Our community is calling your name, so come on in and take a mat. We are Kindred.
Our Teachers
CO-FOUNDER
Chai
Kindred Studio Co-Founder
Evolve Festival Co-Director
E RYT 500, YACEP, Dip Therapeutic Massage
Chaitanya vividly remembers the first full moon of 1995. He was mid-way through a six-month pilgrimage in Poona, India. Chai was already dedicated to a daily practice, meditating up to 10 hours a day, but it wasn’t until that night, as the moonlight dripped through the banyan trees, that something switched inside, and life was never the same again. Pilgrimages to India from the UK continued for the next six years. This included driving from India to the UK.
In 2000, he moved back to New Zealand to help his father and teacher set up the Maitreya Meditation Centre in the Marlborough Sounds. His initial physical yoga experience was one of the most painful experiences of his life due to his extremely tight and stiff body. By no means did he have an instant falling in love with the yoga experience. That was until he discovered Ashtanga Vinyasa Yoga. He loved the combination of strength work which he was naturally good at, with his martial arts background and the challenge of stretching.
In 2001 he moved back to Auckland, working as a Reiki Master while completing a Diploma in Therapeutic Massage. He then set up three Massage clinics in Christchurch 2003-06, before moving back to the Maitreya Meditation Centre as the co-manager with his wife, Bex. They later moved to Nelson, where they also run the annual Evolve Festival.
Chai undertook a 200 hour yoga teacher training at Hot Yoga Nelson in 2008. He completed an additional 300 hour of teacher training at Purna Yoga Byron Bay in 2015 and various shorter specialist courses.
Chaitanya is a special guest teacher on many Yoga Teacher Training around NZ. He specialises in applied anatomy (the anatomy of movement). The thousands of yoga teaching and study hours, alongside the 16+ years as a therapeutic/sports massage therapist, have built a broad and experiential knowledge base, which Chai loves to share. The main styles he teaches are Vinyasa Flow, Yin, Hatha and Meditation.
CO-FOUNDER
Bex
Kindred Studio Co-Founder
Evolve Festival Co-Director
White Belt Nia teacher, RYT 200.
Rebecca ('Bex') Deva was born to dance. "It fills me with loads of energy and helps me feel connected to the source," she explains.
Born in the cathedral city of Exeter in southwest England in 1980, Bex’s life had revolved around personal growth since she was a teenager when she also discovered African drumming and dance at the age of 15 – and she has been passionate about music and movement ever since.
Since 19, Bex has managed to integrate her passions – for exploration and discovery, nutrition, permaculture and natural parenting – with business savvy. For the past two decades, she has made her livelihood doing things she loves.
Bex went along to her first Nia class in Christchurch in 2006 and fell in love with the sensory-based movement practice that draws from the martial, dance and healing arts. She completed the inaugural New Zealand White Belt Nia teacher-training program in 2008 and has since gone on to train as a Green and Blue Belt and recently completed the 52 Moves training.
In 2017, Bex completed her 200-hour Yoga Teacher Training at Kindred.
HATHA YOGA
Jane
RYT 200, qualified Sivananda Hatha Yoga Instructor. Specialty in pregnancy and preschool yoga.
Jane started to practice yoga in 2002 in Toronto, Canada and fell in love with her practice while living in Bangalore, India, in 2008. She attended classes every day and decided to stay in India longer and experience a yogic lifestyle at an Ashram in Madurai, where she met Swami Govindananda.
Jane completed her TTC in Almora, Northern India, in 2011 with Swami Govindananda. Jane is a qualified Sivananda Hatha Yoga Instructor, but her specialty and passions lie in pregnancy and preschool yoga.
Jane taught Sivananda, Pregnancy and Yin yoga at the Life Centre for three years, where she first met Chai and Bex. She has also been teaching Preschool yoga for the last four years at Stoke Montessori School.
Jane joined the Kindred Studio team in 2016, where she teaches Hatha Flow in an enjoyable, playful, yet powerful way.
BLISS YOGA
Julie Wiseman
Meditation and yoga have been the cornerstone of my life, giving me invaluable tools to navigate the joys and challenges of raising my six children. In the chaos of a bustling household, these practices offered me moments of serenity and self-reflection, allowing me to be a more patient and present parent. With my offspring all grown, I am now able to delve deeper into my passion. And with many years experience in many different types of yoga, coupled with Teacher Trainings, it is my heartfelt mission to guide and inspire others in this ancient practice to understand the mind/body connection and all its powers.
I can also be found swimming in the Ocean, climbing hills, tramping with friends and travelling. I love the outdoors and to be amongst nature and spending time with friends and family. When all said and done, the anchor of my life remains my family whose love and support continue to illuminate my journey.
FLOW YOGA
Trudy Smith
RYT 200
Nelson local Trudy loves to embrace our community and all it has to offer. She says "I have always had a love for yoga and the benefits it brings to oneself.
I have been practicing various types of yoga for the past 20 years on and off. My background…. I was a passionate and professional dancer at the age of 18yrs, which took me travelling to Australia and around Europe. After starting a family, I later become a businesswoman in early childhood education where I built and managed my own childcare centre for 8yrs.
Now I am actively following my yoga lifestyle dream. I have always loved to be active, cared about wellbeing and enjoy surrounding myself in nature at any opportunity. I am married with two wonderful boys and our family love to take adventures such as bike trips, fishing and camping. Boys are busy, and so is life, therefore yoga is my sanctuary where I can take the time to just BREATHE and calm my mind!"
HATHA YOGA, SOUND HEALING & GUIDED BREATHWORK
Samantha
Yoga has been a part of Samantha's life for over 15 years now. Completing her first yoga teacher training in the south of France with Patrick Loubert, she has continued her yoga studies and teaching around the world; in France, Spain, Bali, New Zealand & Italy. Samantha has studied Vinyasa, Ashtanga, Aerial, Restorative and Yin Yoga as well as sound bowl healing practices.
When you attend Samantha’s yoga class, you can expect a combination of creative sequencing, a spirit of playfulness and a dose of inspiration to help you deepen your yoga practice. Samantha’s mission is to help you thrive by nurturing your body, mind and soul with yoga so that you step off the mat feeling refreshed, nourished and balanced.
CANDLELIT YIN
Debbie
RYT 200, 100hr Yin
Debbie’s love of Yoga and movement began when she was 15 years old, introduced to this beautiful practice by her mother. Debbie is naturally more aligned with the slower, nurturing practices and specializes in Hatha Flow, Yin and Restorative.
She began her teacher training journey back in 2014 with Santosha Yoga Institute and in 2018 with Shanti Atma Yoga studying Yin and has since continued her studies with Restorative and Trauma-informed Yoga. Debbie also has a Dance background, mainly teaching and performing Middle Eastern Dance and other movement modalities. She has a deep passion for Yoga and the benefits of this transformational practice—connection of the body, breath and mind and developing that more profound relationship to ourselves.
She enjoys that sacred time with her Whanau, her husband and two children and has a love of the outdoors, camping and music. Passionate about community well-being, she works in the health sector as a Healthy Lifestyle facilitator.
HATHA YOGA
Sam
RYT 200
Sam has been teaching in some capacity for over 20 years, having taught adults scuba diving and English and children’s swimming and drama. Sam is also a primary school teacher. Sam discovered yoga in the late 1990s but only became passionate about yoga when she started attending Bikram hot yoga in Wellington in 2005. The discipline and strength and sweat required were what attracted her.
Since then she has replaced this passion with a love for Vinyasa flow style yoga. Sam has been a regular at Kindred for the last few years and in 2018 she completed her 200-hour yoga teacher training at Kindred.
Her teaching style is inspired by all the teachers she has had the privilege to practice with. She loves to create flows that challenge people to find their “edge” and she hopes that her classes will leave you feeling more connected to your body.
HATHA YOGA
Christine
RYT 200
An avid runner, Christine began practising yoga to help with training for her first marathon. At the time she didn’t expect yoga to become such an important part of her life! She began to experience how yoga provides peace of mind and creates a healthy, dynamic and strong body. After practicing Anusara Yoga for 7 years she did the Anusara®Yoga teacher training in 2016, and has been teaching since as part of her never-ending yoga journey.
Her love of yoga, music, dancing and exercising have enabled her to create fun and challenging classes. She feels fortunate to do what she loves, and loves what she does! Austrian in origin, and having travelled widely, Christine is fluent in German, English, Dutch and French.
NIA
Lisa
Nia White Belt Teacher
Lisa brings an enormous amount of experience, wisdom and personal inner exploration to her classes. Her most recent profession was in the Healing Arts for 25 years, counselling in self-development and transformational healing therapies, particularly the breath. She is also a professional Astrologer with 40 years of experience and an artist.
She intends to encourage, support and inspire others to free up and let go of body, mind and spirit through dance and movement. Lisa believes that ageing can be no barrier to experience positive growth and healing. She aims to help others let go through fun and spontaneity, thereby creating more health, wholeness and aliveness as we age. Nia Dance is a wonderful tool for all of the above and more.
Lisa is originally from Scotland but has travelled extensively and lived in Canada, Europe, and Australia. She is now settled in Cable Bay, Nelson.
HATHA FLOW
Elena Hill
RYT200
Elena is an E-RYT200hr teacher and accredited personal trainer who has spent the last two decades learning and teaching movement. She teaches in a variety of spaces across Nelson-Tasman, and offers supportive and spacious practices tailored to her students. Expect a nourishing and well balanced approach to your practice.
SHIFT YOGA
Sekita-Ra
RYT200
Kia Ora, I'm Sekita-Ra. I first came to yoga as a child (approx age eight) when travelling on a ship I came across some woman doing yoga asanas/poses (sun salutations) on the aft deck at sunrise. I asked if they'd teach me, and they did. One told me that she felt that so long as she could find a space to do yoga, she felt at home. Practising and sharing yoga shifts my space, nourishes my being and reminds me to come home to my body, my breath and the present moment. I also love; being in the sea, a river or lake, learning, people, our fantastic planet and my wee family's checky black cat. Sekita completed her teacher training at Kindred in 2022.
