Meet the Teacher: Elissa Jordan

Today's episode of "Five Questions" features yoga teacher Elissa Jordan, her favourite things and Canadian spelling. Elissa teaches Power Yoga Elements (Mondays at 5.30 pm) and Power Yoga Dynamics (Thursdays at 5.30 pm).

1. What is your favourite thing about yoga?

Without yoga I live at the polar ends of life's spectrum: too much/too little, too fast/too slow, too high/too low. Yoga brings me right to where I need to be.

2. What is your favourite yoga pose?

At the moment? Supported supta bhadda konasana. Aka bound angle pose on a bolster.

3. What is your favourite thing to teach?

Attitude. For example: don't take yourself or your yoga too seriously. Laugh a little. Especially when you fall down, especially when it's not going the way you think it should.

4. What is your favourite posture to teach?

Down dog. NO, no, forward bends. Which, technically - down dog is a forward bend. So, right - forward bends, final answer.

5. What is your favourite thing to do other than practice and teach yoga?

Cycle. Or read (anything I can get my hands on), write (not as much as I should), watch movies (from rom-coms to the NZFF, but nothing scary), travel (over 40 countries so far), run (a few 1/2 marathons), walk (long walks, like the Heaphy track or Abel Tasman and the like), drink tea (lots of tea), drink wine (mostly New Zealand wine), bake cookies and cakes (they turn out well so long as I follow the recipe), write for my wine blog (read it at www.wineylittlebitch.com), cycle some more (all about the cycling), eat out in Wellington's amazing restaurant scene (om nom nom), watch LOLs with my love (and eat chocolate). Oh, and cycle.

Meet the Teacher: Alanna Krause

Welcome to the first in our series of Meet the Teacher blogs. We have quite a few new Yoga and Movement teachers joining us at Healium, and we figured you should know about them! You'll find Alanna Krause teaching Power Yoga Dynamics on Thursday evenings. Here's Alanna in her own words.

1. What is your favorite thing about yoga?

I love that moment when you try something a bit challenging and fail or fall over, but you catch someone's eye and just laugh about it together. It's that feeling of being on a yoga journey with everyone in the room, supporting each other.

2. What is your favorite yoga pose?

My favorite pose is headstand because it taught me that it's not about how strong my body is, but how strong my mind is.

3. What is your favorite thing to teach?

I like to teach approachable aspects of the philosophy behind yoga by relating it back to everyday life, and encouraging positive thinking.

4. What is your favorite posture to teach?

My favorite postures to teach are the ones which seem simple at first but keep getting more interesting the more you work with them, such as staff pose and downward dog.

5. What is your favorite thing to do other than practice and teach yoga?

When I'm not on the yoga mat, I'm passionate about my work in social enterprise and volunteering.