Meet the team
Our team of highly trained teachers offer alignment based yoga classes, designed to empower the student to have their own relationship with their yoga. Check out our class timetable to find out when they are teaching. Our teachers are all First Aid Certified and Registered with Yoga NZ and REPS.
Rebecca Harford
Owner & Teacher
I’m the person that thought I would never belong in a Yoga class.Too stiff.
Too uncoordinated.
Certainly not cool enough.
And definitely not ‘woo, woo’.
And then I met some amazing teachers that helped guide me to find a place of deeper physical and mental awareness. I realised that I didn’t have to touch my toes, have a ‘quiet Zenlike mind’ nor did I have to feel uncomfortable and out of place. I could find all of the incredible benefits of Yoga (you know the list I’m sure!) by being guided through a process of awareness to connection. So here I am still teaching 20yrs later, still learning and still living my dream of being able to support people to finding their pathway to being connected within themselves and in our wider society.
Jeremy Harford
Owner & Behind the scenes
I’m Jeremy, or Jed for short. My life began to revolve around yoga in 2017 when I joined my wife Rebecca in what became our family business - Adapted Yoga and Pilates, which she had started in 2013 when our daughter Sophie was born. We became guardians of Grassroots during the Covid lockdown of 2021. I wasn’t from a yoga, or health background, in fact nowhere near it. I came from a management career in Transport / Logistics and Manufacturing, but helping people and problem solving is a big passion. I enjoy the outdoors, loving both the mountains and the ocean. I love giving our children new experiences, and showing them the great country that is NZ. I do enjoy sports, even playing my first game of rugby since I was 11 this year in a Golden Oldies team. What I love about my change in career path is the impact our classes have on the lives of our students, we get to watch some wonderful transformations as we follow students' progress throughout their yoga journey. Living in Woodend with Rebecca and our 2 school kids, you may not always see me in studio, but I will always be in the background both talking to you, and following your journey.
Mary Goulter
YOGA TEACHER
"I love yoga!" Mary stumbled upon yoga while living in San Francisco, where she went to do a Masters in Anthropology and Social Transformation. Under the guidance of her first teacher, Sean Haleen, the practice very quickly and organically became an integral part of her life. Since then, Mary has studied with incredibly kind and intelligent teachers, both in San Francisco (where completed her 200-hour teacher training), and here at her Christchurch yoga home of Grassroots, where she has been teaching since 2016. "I aim to teach yoga asana and philosophy in my classes in a safe and understandable way, to provide space and clear instruction for people to do this work with ease. I look forward to supporting your yoga practice".
NATALIIA KRUPKA
Yoga TEACHER
Nataliia (Natasha) took her first yoga class in 2007 and since then yoga has become a vital part of her life. Practice provided the means of recovery from spinal issues and maintenance of her health and well-being. She started to deepen her yoga studies in 2011 with Christina Vassiliadou at the Inner Science Center in Limassol, and spent several years exploring different yoga traditions, attending workshops, seminars and courses led by internationally reknown teachers. She started teaching in 2012, and after moving to New Zealand, Natasha carried out her 200-hour teacher training with Katie Lane at Grassroots. She has completed the Registered Prenatal Yoga Teacher and Prenatal Vinyasa Yoga Instructor certification course, which has enriched her yoga-teaching repertoire with beautiful and fulfilling Prenatal and Postnatal Vinyasa Yoga.
LUCY DOLAN
Yoga TEACHER
"Primarily yoga for me is about connection, bringing more awareness back into how we inhabit and move within our own bodies, learning to trust the wisdom of the heart and belly alongside the intelligence of the mind. We can deepen and support our experience of 'being' human, and influence how we relate to our earth and our society as a whole." Practising yoga since her teenage years, it was Katie Lane, who introduced Lucy to a deeper, more holistic and, more profound yoga, around 10 years ago. Lucy completed her 200 HR RYT teacher training with Katie in 2017. Her hope is to teach students an understanding of, and appreciation for alignment; and to facilitate a deepening connection with their breath that may support them and guide them through their practise. "I believe we are all unique, interpreting and expressing our own 'individualness' and I feel that yoga can inspire and assist us in our own individual ways".
Jesse Burns
Yoga TEACHER
After dabbling in yoga for a few years, Jesse fell into a regular practice in 2008 as a postgraduate student looking to stretch her stiff body and ease her overloaded mind. What was once a weekly reprieve from the computer quickly became an integral part of her life, and her earliest teachers inspired her to complete her RYT-200 certification in 2013. She sought to deepen her knowledge through additional study with Jason Crandell, Noah Mazé, Desirée Rumbaugh, and Ross Rayburn, and completed her RYT-500 certification with Tiffany Cruikshank and Yoga Medicine in 2020. Jesse approaches her own practice with curiosity, and aims to offer opportunities for exploration, growth, and release in her classes. She incorporates elements of mindful alignment, connects movement with breath, creates a balance of action and surrender, and aspires to help you feel good!
