Enlightened Events

Annette Loudon

Annette Loudon
BA, Dip. Ed.

Annette Loudon has been teaching yoga for over 15 years. She has produced a ground-breaking DVD on “Yoga for Women after Treatment for Breast Cancer”. Annette is writing a book called “Yoga for Women having or who have had treatment for breast cancer”. She is a member of YTAA, IAYT and IYTA. She has graduate and post-grad qualifications in Education and Management, as well as being highly qualified in Yoga, Pilates, Massage and Fitness.

Annette is a member of the YTAA (Yoga Teachers’ Association of Australia), IAYT (International Association of Yoga Therapists), the Yoga Bio-medical trust Great Britain, and is an associate member of Satyananda Yoga Teachers’ Association and IYTA Australia. She has had fellowships to study in Japan, England and Indonesia. Annette also holds qualifications and accreditation in Pilates, Massage and Personal Training. She is currently undertaking a Masters degree in “Yoga and Lymphoedema” through the University of Tasmania.

Annette says that, in 1998, she realised that a quarter of her female yoga students were having or had completed treatment for breast cancer. “I began what has become a long journey of research and practical enquiry into the benefits of yoga for this group of women. I researched the nature of breast cancer and its physical and emotional effects on a woman and her family and life, while remembering that every woman is unique, and needs a practice suited to her – which is the very basis of yoga.”

Her experience in teaching yoga to these women, led to an invitation to teach yoga as part of the breast cancer recovery course run by the Encore program YWCANSW. She has also been involved with self-help groups of women in both Sydney and rural Australia. Many of Annette’s students have lymphoedema as a result of surgery and this led to her studying lymphatic drainage and applying its principles to teaching.

Annette was first introduced to yoga in 1975, when living in a remote village in Bali. Mornings commenced with postures, meditation and chanting. The family also undertook Seva yoga, the ‘yoga of giving’, by working with poorer villagers on crop production.

“My principle in yoga has always been summed up in the words of Krishnamacharya: “If you can breathe, you can do yoga”, which led to my travelling to England in 1994 to complete my yoga teacher-training with ‘Yoga for Health’. This organisation specialised in teaching yoga to people with ill health, especially those with Multiple Sclerosis.”

“My first teaching in England was to street kids in Sheffield, who really benefited from the Satyananda Yoga Nidra relaxation practice. For some it was the deepest rest they had ever experienced. Some of had been expelled from many schools and yet became peaceful and happy kids while doing yoga.”

In fact, Annette, a Satyananda initiate, has continued to be inspired by many of the teachings and principles of Satyananda yoga. She has also studied under many other teachers in Australia and abroad.

Her classes have catered for a wide range of ability and experience, and she has always had a strong focus on individual attention. She has also specialised in teaching people with various types of special needs, either within her classes or as specialist classes. These have included people with MS, people in wheelchairs, the profoundly deaf, intellectually disabled youth, people on probation, disabled athletes, the NSW cerebral palsy soccer team, people with back pain and people with many other illnesses.

Annette has also been a head teacher and manager in Adult Literacy and English for Speakers of Other Languages, for which she holds graduate and post-graduate qualifications. She continues to mark assignments in these areas for distance education students.

Annette has worked holistically with physiotherapists, chiropractors and osteopaths with a focus on rehabilitation. She has written over 20 publications and speaks fluent Indonesian.

Having spent the past two years doing karma yoga in central Australia, Annette is currently teaching yoga and Pilates in Hobart, including to women having treatment for breast cancer.  She is also completing her Masters degree by research into the effects of yoga on women with secondary arm lymphoedema from breast cancer treatment through the University of Tasmania.

Annette is a warm and compassionate yoga teacher and therapist. She has extensive knowledge of the practices of yoga, as well as, a deep understanding of anatomy and physiology. Her extensive work with work with breast cancer has provided great comfort and relief for her many students.

Annette has a long list of qualifications to her name. They include a BA, Dip. Ed., Grad Cert TESOL, Grad Cert Leadership and Management, Dip. Fitness, Dip. Exercise Science, Cert Yoga, Cert Rem. Yoga,Cert. Yoga Therapy (AIYT), Cert. Yoga Therapy (Ryoho Yoga), Cert. IV Fitness Leader, Personal Trainer, Workplace Assessor, Cert. Pilates, Cert. IV Remedial Massage, Lymphatic Drainage.