Written Testimonials

I have attended yoga and meditation classes with Shanti for the last 12 months, and it has proven to be extremely beneficial.
Held in a relaxed, no pressure environment, the classes provide some ‘time out’ from the craziness of everyday life.
Shanti is full of life and extremely supportive towards all who attend, taking into account her students’ individual needs.
I highly recommend Shanti’s classes to people from all walks of life and I will be continuing to attend throughout 2018

Shanti has a beautiful , peaceful nature. The environment she has created at Awakenings Yoga Studio makes you feel very peaceful and calm as soon as you enter.
When I first came to see Shanti for meditation practice, I had such a busy mind. After learning some breathing techniques, Within a couple of classes, I managed to calm my mind! Shanti’s teachings have actually relieved a lot of stress for me throughout my day to day life.
I actually love coming to Awakenings Yoga Studio just to experience the environment, soft lighting, salt lamps and peaceful music. Shanti’s nature and lovely personality creates the warmth in the environment that makes it a great space for everybody to enjoy, so come on down, it’s a great place to BE !

What prompted you to join New Earth Sanctuary meditation course?
I Googled Inner Peace when I was not in a good place and I found Shanti and chatted to her over the phone. My first experience of meeting her, she welcomed me into her home and she listened to me and how I was feeling. She explained how meditation could help me. That’s when I decided to learn meditation.
What are the benefits you received from the meditation course?
Shanti taught me breathing techniques, which I wasn’t very good at the time. My whole body would shake and I wasn’t able to stay still, but that was my starting point. When I continued to practice the full yogic breath, I started to stop shaking and started to respond to life a lot better.
When I left class , I would feel like a different person! For someone like me who suffers from anxiety, after meditation, I walk out with a clear chest, feeling calm and happy. All the problems that I thought I had, dissolved. I sleep well, I come home happy to my husband and loving to my children. Meditation has really helped me In all different aspects and for the rest of the week. When I feel like things are getting too much, I just remember my breathing and relax again.
Please describe Shanti’s teaching skills.
I like the way that Shanti is a very calming person, but also very down to earth, is human. We can have a joke, but she still teaches me everything I need to know. She is serious about what she teaches, but is still also very fun and interactive with her students. Its just good just to be here.
I always come back to Awakenings. I have tried different meditation places, but I believe that Shanti does what she does because she loves it. It’s a big part of who she is and I don’t think it’s a business to her, I think its her life.
Three words to describe Shanti.
Shanti is passionate, welcoming and loving.
Please describe New Earth Sanctuary.
The yoga studio is warm and inviting. As soon as you go in you feel as if you have entered a bubble. Even though its only around the corner from your home, you feel like you enter a bubble and its just so peaceful. Actually since meeting Shanti, I ended up getting rid of 50% of all the stuff in my home and put them on the nature strip, “free to good home”, and ended up buying salt lamps and extending my Buddha collection. Now my home is a bit of a mirror version of this studio, except my home has toys around. I brought a bit of New Earth Sanctuary back to my home.
Why would you recommend New Earth Sanctuary meditation course to others?
Well I do recommend people, even though I don’t attend as often as I used to. I recommend people to just go and see Shanti. I will give you her number, just go down thee and see her. I recommend Shanti because she saved me. If I hadn’t come to New Earth Sanctuary, I don’t know where I would be. I want other people to come along, because when I find something that helps me, I want to pass it on to others.

What prompted you to start yoga with Shanti?
I came to yoga because I felt like something was missing in my life and I wanted to calm myself in a relaxed environment and I heard that yoga could assist and that’s why I was drawn to see Shanti. I have done yoga before but the teacher didn’t resonate with me and I also felt that it was due to the head space I was in at the time. I feel the time is right now and I love the gentle style that Shanti uses.
What benefits have you received from the practice at Awakenings Yoga Studio?
I really look forward to the class every week and if I don’t do it, I really miss it and feel out of whack because I don’t feel grounded. I feel yoga gives me the grounding that I need in my life because I do a lot of personal coaching for others, so I find its really good to ground myself.
Please describe Awakenings Yoga Studio.
The environment is very comfortable because the studio is in her home. The classes are a small size, 6 to 8 people, so its very intimate. Shanti is very personable and it’s a very relaxed environment.
I was googling yoga studios and that’s how I came across Awakenings and I gave Shanti a call and it just felt right and I haven’t looked back.
I always tell my friends, after yoga I feel I’ve had a 2 hour massage. I’m so relaxed and in such a good head space. It grounds me and makes me feel relaxed and its just time out for me because I’m always doing a lot for others, its really good to have some time out just for me.
Please describe Shanti’s teaching skills.
Shanti is very welcoming and very friendly and yet extremely knowledgeable. She’s had many years of experience and that where I feel she is really helping me to understand yoga, but in a very simple way. She has taught me that yoga doesn’t have to be strenuous , it can simply be about breathing and you can use these techniques, as well as the stretching and the other forms that we do in our everyday life. I have learnt strategies to calm myself which I use to calm myself during the day. If I have a pain in my body, I now know how to manage it. Shanti teaches in a simple way so everyone in class has an opportunity to go at their own pace. If we are all at different levels, that’s ok, because you just go with where you are at the time.
Please describe how you feel after yoga with Shanti.
After Shanti’s classes I feel at peace, contentment and a connection with the Divine, which is really important to me.

I have had the pleasure of seeing Shanti for astrology consultations (and eating her delicious chocolate), for the past 2 years. Basically, I had an horrific accident a few years ago and it turned my world up side down. I do believe bad/good things happen for a reason and I wanted to know what was going on.
Shanti helped me work my way through my personal blocks and after 2 years I feel I am back on track! I am enjoying my job, I am looking after and giving myself time which is something I haven’t done in the past.
So I am on my own road now but I know I can contact Shanti at any time if needed and I am grateful for that.

What prompted you to join yoga with Shanti?
I have epilepsy and I wanted to learn how to calm myself and have more control of my body. Medical wise, I didn’t want to take so many prescription drugs. I wanted to learn techniques that I could use in that precise moment I needed help. I received a pamphlet in my letterbox and I thought if I don’t try, I’ll never know, so I gave it a go and Shanti changed my life, she’s amazing.
What are the benefits you have received from yoga with Shanti?
The breathing techniques that Shanti taught have prevented full blown seizures from occurring and this self control has been fantastic!
When you are with Shanti, she makes you feel calm and makes you feel at home. I like it that she doesn’t make you do crazy postures and she never makes you do things you cant do. No matter what, you know its going to be peaceful and relaxing. If I feel I need to rest, I can just lay there and enjoy a laugh with the other ladies.
What do you like about Shanti’s teaching skills?
Shanti is a wonderful person in my life, if I never came to Awakenings, I would have regretted it. She is like my personal guardian angel and she seems to be around whenever I need her. She’s like that mother you need, or that best friend. Its like she has a calling, she seems to sense when something is not quite right. I don’t know whether its her nursing experience, some people have this gift and Shanti has it and you can feel it by the way she speaks to you. She doesn’t preach to you, yet she gives you all her attention and listens. I feel that’s how every teacher should be. There is no-one like her. What I get from Shanti is something in life, you rarely receive. Especially when you have epilepsy like me, being put on lots of medication, you can get all that, but with doing this type of yoga, I have been able to get my life back and that’s priceless!
Shanti has been able to give me back my life and so as a thankyou present, I gave her a rose quartz, tree of life necklace, to thank her for the five years of teaching me and understanding all the things that have gone on with me and my medical condition. When I haven’t been able to go to go to class, she just understood that things were not going well, but she was still there for me.
Three words to describe Shanti.
Shanti is beautiful, lovely and unconditionally loving. There is no-one like her!
Please describe Awakenings Yoga Studio.
The studio is very welcoming, its like your ideal home. Its not in an isolated place, a hall or in a business park. It just makes you feel like you’re going home. The yoga studio is beautiful, nothing too high tech and its wonderful.