Ashtanga Mysore Programme

Tamara is a dancer who has been practicing yoga since 1998, and she has practiced with her current teachers Petri Raisanen and Juha Javainanen for over a decade. She regularly assists and teaches with them internationally. She is trained in Finnish energy healing and has permission from Petri to give treatments. She is also trained in experiential anatomy and uses this knowledge to sense the systemic tensions in the body, when she is assisting, making the assisting highly responsive, sensitive and individual to each student.



As a dance teacher and contact improvisation teacher, she has a deep understanding of how to support, touch and help alignment, relaxation and ease of movement through touch and tactile knowledge.

Ashtanga • Restorative • Mysore Practice • Subtle Body Work
Teaching since 2001

About Tamara

Tamara is an Ashtanga yoga teacher, dancer, and researcher, whose lifelong commitment to embodied movement is at the heart of her teaching. She was introduced to the Ashtanga method in 2001, and it became a central part of her practice when she discovered its powerful capacity for healing and transformation after a back injury.

A Yoga Elder and teacher trainer with Yoga Teachers Together, Tamara has studied extensively with renowned teachers including Petri Räisänen and Juha Javanainen, with whom she regularly assists and teaches internationally. She has also trained in Finnish Energy Healing with Petri, weaving this subtle energetic understanding into her assisting work and one-to-one sessions.

Her broader practice is influenced by teachers such as Sharath Jois, David Swenson, Eddie Stern, and Monica Gauci, and by her study of Buddhism in the Tibetan tradition. This unique background allows Tamara to approach teaching through the lens of compassion, presence, and awareness of the subtle body.

Tamara holds a PhD in Dance, a Master of Fine Art in Choreography, and a Postgraduate Certificate in Higher Education. She is a Senior Fellow of the Higher Education Academy, and continues to research the relationship between somatic practice, creativity, and well-being.

Her teaching style is open, inclusive, and individualised, supporting each student in developing their own embodied intelligence and agency through traditional practice.