Allison Berry

Teaching Certificates or Qualifications

Allison has an Advanced Diploma in Yoga Teaching (CAE, 2007) and completed Yoga Teacher Training with Donna Farhi in New Zealand in 2006. She has had the privilege to study with numerous local and international yogis, including A.G. and Indra Mohan, Dianne Long, Marcia Munroe, Donna Farhi, and more locally, Paul Wooden, Anahata Giri, and Leigh Blashki.

  • Adv Dip Yoga Teaching (CAE, Melbourne 2007)

  • Adv Teacher Training (Donna Farhi, New Zealand 2006)

  • Prenatal Yoga Teaching Cert (Janice Clarfield, Urban Yoga Canada)

  • Masters of Teaching (Primary, University of Melbourne, 2017)

  • INPPTM Practitioner (Institute for Neuro-Physiological Psychology, 2024)

  • Neurodevelopment Foundations Practitioners Course (Dr. Robert Melillo, 2024-25)

  • Member YTAA, IAYT, IICT

About Me

Allison Berry has been exploring yoga for 25 years and commenced teaching in 2007. Her approach is intuitive, drawing upon a curiosity for life and love and compassion for others. Allison experienced her first introduction to yoga at Gertrude Street Yoga and Healing Centre in Fitzroy in 1999, where she first met Paul Wooden. The profound effects of the practices of yoga and the enduring wisdom and guidance of Paul have allowed space for a more subtle line of inquiry and development of wisdom that Allison is passionate about sharing with others. Through yoga, Allison has discovered an essential approach to the challenges of daily life. Allison is committed to supporting others in finding the presence of body and mind and being open-hearted to embrace the myriad transformations and experiences of life. Allison is a primary-school educator and founder of PRIMAL Movement Therapy, a movement-based approach to treating neuro-motor immaturity when not in a studio.

Yoga Influences

Allison’s influences are founded upon her earliest experiences as a student and teacher at Gertrude Street Yoga and Healing Centre under the mentorship of both Paul Wooden and Anahata Giri. Donna Farhi has had a significant influence on Allison’s understanding and approach to teaching.

Teaching Style

Allison’s teaching style is as eclectic as her yoga experience and influences. Drawing upon the wisdom traditions and more subtle practices, Allison seeks to provide an authentic and holistic approach to teaching weaving in philosophy, asana, pranayama, and meditation with a core focus on the felt experience: being open and available for the intimacy of life. Allison’s developing understanding of neuroanatomy and physiology influences her teaching, providing opportunities for the students to gain greater insight and understanding of their physical and more subtle bodies.

Why do you practice yoga?

Allison can’t remember a time in her adult life when yoga hasn’t played a role, be it all-encompassing or more subtle. Allison regularly attends yoga retreats and intensives to reinvigorate her practice or to deepen a line of inquiry. Yoga is simply a part of who she is.

Why do you teach?

Allison has experience teaching yoga in various studios across Melbourne over the last 15+ years, from Gertrude Street in Fitzroy to Harvest Yoga in Kensington, to the One Heart studios across the inner North and more locally at the former North Yoga Studio in Brunswick. When the time feels right, Allison knows it is time to teach and share her wisdom, curiosity, and practice with those seeking the space and opportunity to unfold.

Favourite Asana?

Tadasana: so simple in its intention and form and yet often elusive. For Allison, tadasana provides clarity and insight into the immediate felt experience—it is always available and profoundly transformative in its ability to reconnect the body, heart, mind, and spirit.

Rebecca Pugh