Namaste and welcome to Byron Yoga Centre.

Byron Yoga Centre was established in 1988 by John Ogilvie and is one of the longest running yoga schools in Australia. Located directly opposite Belongil Beach in Byron Bay, the Centre offers daily general yoga classes of diverse styles as well as workshops, annual yoga and health retreats in Vietnam, and Australia’s first fully-accredited, 200 and 500 hour Yoga Alliance teacher training courses.

Byron Yoga Centre maintains a strong holistic philosophy to yoga that mirrors the essence of its birthplace. The Centre provides a wealth of experience for anyone considering yoga teacher training or simply wishing to advance their existing practice.

Our style and approach - Purna Yoga

Yoga is a lot about giving and receiving. It has been proposed that we only keep what we have by giving it away, which is one of the main motivations for teaching and training others to teach.

The yoga taught at Byron Yoga Centre we call Purna, a Sanskrit word meaning 'complete', 'integrated' or 'full'. We seek to integrate all 8 limbs (Ashtanga) of yoga the way it was originally taught, more than 3000 years ago in India. Yoga asanas, or postures, are just one of these limbs. The other limbs are equally important, including meditation, pranayama breath control, and the personal and social code of ethics, the yamas and niyamas.

The practice of yoga is intended to be joyful and to lighten the heart and mind by calming and energising. We encourage students at all levels to build flexibility, strength and stamina of body, mind and spirit. Yoga philosophies, such as ahimsa (non violence), are threaded throughout our classes. This helps bring about a deeper understanding of the key yogic values including diet and lifestyle aspirations. Many Byron Yoga Centre teacher trainees discover, as a consequence, that yoga becomes for them a way of life.

“The name of the Lord is like the Sun, dispelling all darkness. The moon if full when it faces the sun. The individual soul experiences fullness (purnata) when it faces the Lord. If the shadow of the earth comes between the full moon and sun there is an eclipse. If the feeling of ‘I’ and ‘mine’ casts its shadow upon the experience of fullness, all efforts of the sadhaka to gain peace are futile.”
- B K S Iyengar, Light on Yoga.