MEET OUR TEACHERS
ERIC DOORNEKAMP
Eric is Director–Founder and Spiritual Leader of the Lotus Yoga Centre (1971). He first developed an interest in yoga as a nine year old boy. He was taught by his Uncle Jelmer Postma in The Netherlands, and in 1959 Eric immigrated to New Zealand where he attended yoga classes with Terrence Hawkins at the Wellington Yoga Group from 1960 – 1967. Next he studied Rishi Culture Ashtanga Yoga with Dr. Swami Gitananda at Ananda Ashram, Pondicherry, India, from 1968 – 1969.
Eric is an Honorary Member of the International Yoga Academy of Australasia and a Life Member of the International Yoga Teachers Association of New Zealand. He was awarded a Ph. D. in Yoga by the Worldwide Vishwa Unnyayam Samsad, India. He is a Member of the International Centre for Yoga Education and Research, India.
Yoga therapist and facilitator of Classic Yoga, a comprehensive four year course, Eric has fifty years experience as a yoga teacher and forty-five years as an alternative health practitioner. He is a certified Taichi Qigong instructor with twenty five years experience. He is the author of several books on yoga and health, and contributes regularly to various yoga magazines.
CATHRYN DOORNEKAMP
Cathryn came to be associated with the Lotus Yoga Centre in 1996. When travelling to Peru on a spiritual pilgrimage she met her spiritual partner Eric Doornekamp.
Resident teacher of 20 years, Cathryn cannot imagine life without yoga or taichi qigong. Having come from a corporate background and the stress of a high pressured job, she recognises the need for creating a healthy balanced lifestyle, sharing what she loves to do most, enriching the quality of people’s lives through her passion of yoga and taichi qigong.
In addition to teaching 7 weekly yoga classes and a weekly taichi qigong class, Cathryn facilitates regular one-day Body, Mind and Soul retreats at the Centre on Sundays.
While Cathryn teaches beginners and general to more advanced yoga classes, she specializes in teaching yoga for pregnancy and yoga for the elderly. She is also available to tailor-make one on one personalised yoga programs for home practice.
Cathryn holds diplomas with the Integral Yoga Academy of Australasia and the International Yoga Teachers Association NZ. In recent years, she has attended two ten-day intensive retreats at Ananda Ashram in Pondicherry, South India. She has also participated in various three-day intensive retreats with world-reknown yoga expert, Yogacharya Dr. Ananda Balayogi Bhavanani, held in Australia and New Zealand.