Our Teaching Team
Meet Your Santosha Yoga Instructors
Our team of yoga professionals are without a doubt amongst the most experienced and qualified in the world. They boast extremely diverse backgrounds and all share one common passion: helping others achieve balance in their lives by finding inner peace and contentment so that they may see true beauty in the everyday, appreciate all life has to offer, and live life to the fullest.
Sunny Richards
Sunny is the founder and director of Santosha and holds a Yoga Alliance ERYT-500 accreditation. She has devoted her life to Santosha, which was born from a dream to create a sacred place for healing, transformation and to awaken the incredible potential of happiness. Sunny teaches and supports her student’s journey from the heart. She allows students to find their inner-truths and come to an understanding of their own body’s abilities and strengths through their connection to their breath. Sunny believes wholeheartedly in being a guiding light for others so that she may shine the way. She importantly believes that to guide others in yoga, one should live a life that is transparent for all to see. In essence, this is an ideal upheld by Patanjali, reflected in the Sutras and found in the first two paths on the eightfold path of yoga: the Yamas and Niyamas. Sunny states “If we cannot be it, we cannot teach it”. Sunny’s passion is to teach and share her knowledge. She dedicates herself to studying, learning, and practicing. She feels that self-practice is the key which allows the transference of what she learns from others to become her teachings. This combination of practice and study through dedication and devotion has assisted Sunny to gain deeper understanding of the art and science of yoga and to apply this appropriately in Asana, Pranayama, Mantra and Meditation for the different levels of students she has the privilege to share the teachings with. A strong strength of Sunny’s is the ability to present the teachings in an accessible way for her students. Her down-to-earth nature and belief that life should never be taken too seriously means that a sense of play and fun is the foundation of what she encourages in life, so that what we do is done with passion and honesty. As a result, Sunny’s teachings are lively and humorous. Sunny loves what she does, life and all it brings, her family and her friends, and she is so thankful for her teachers and for the opportunities that allowed her to create Santosha. Sunny welcomes you all with an open heart filled with love and smiles. She considers all who walk through Santosha’s doors as family and promises to be available to her students throughout her life, whenever needed.
who has joined us on a training over the last few years, will already know about the wonderful Thia! Thia is an integral part of the Santosha team in Bali, supporting our students and leading incredible kirtan sessions for our groups. Thia is an RYT-500 teacher and teaches on our Bali courses as well as offering student support and admin on our trainings.
Sebastian is a South American certified Yoga Instructor born in the Chilean Patagonia and trained in Northern India.
Megan is a 500-hour certified yoga instructor from eastern Pennsylvania, USA. She has been practicing yoga since her youth, and delved deeply into the study in University, inspired by the teachings of one of her professors, who was an Augustinian priest and yoga instructor. This foundation encouraged her to explore the inter-relatedness of various religions and philosophies and the ways in which they pertain to yoga.
Tracey began practicing Soloman Yogalates in 2000 and was amazed at the gradual improvement that a regular yoga practice focusing on functional movement patterns made to her overall health. She studied the Soloman Yogalates method in 2007 – 2008, and has been teaching weekly classes since then.
Andrea is a physiotherapist, yoga therapist and also a dedicated Ashtanga yoga practitioner.
Jamie is a New Zealand born yogi, with a passion for nutrition, heart-based meditation and authentic living.
Barbara has been practising Yoga Nidra herself for many years on a daily bases. She has conducted hundreds of classes and workshops on Yoga Nidra as well as many teacher training courses in Europe. Barbara is the author of a German bestselling book on Yoga Nidra as well as many CDs.
It was the stretching and strengthening component of a dynamic yoga practice that initially drew Tracy to yoga in 2003, but she soon found that the benefits were far-reaching, spreading into every aspect of life.
Darla is a California born physiotherapist who is certified as an instructor in yoga and pilates. Her passion is educating and promoting total wellness. While studying exercise & rehabilitative sciences at the University of Hawaii, Darla attended the required yoga course. It didn’t take long until she became addicted to yoga and the many benefits it provides. In addition to the physical benefits of improved strength and flexibility, she realized practicing yoga helped in other areas as well. Yoga provided her with the ability to focus and dramatically improved her sleep.
Sarah completed her first yoga teacher training (RYT-200) with Santosha in 2012 and since that time has experienced a powerful shift in her awareness, perspective and the way she lives her daily life. This experience inspired Sarah to continue her yoga studies and she has since completed a Diploma of Yoga (RYT-500) under Michael De Manicor.
As a Santosha RYT-200 (2011) and RYT-500 (2013) graduate, Jennie is honoured to be joining Santosha in an Administration and Student Support role. Having studied under Sunny and her team of dedicated teachers, Jennie knows first-hand the deeply transformative power of undertaking a teacher training through Santosha… and of being welcomed warmly into the Santosha family.
