OUR TEACHERS
ROBYN HITCHBORN
FOUNDER
PILATES & YOGA NIDRA TEACHER
I didn’t discover the true magic and beauty of movement and meditation until I was in my mid-twenties. These things were never an important aspect in my home growing up and as a result, I know first hand the significance of passing on healthy lifestyle choices to our next generation and the consequences to our physical and mental health when these healthy lifestyle habits are absent.
As an adult, I love being active but this wasn’t always the case. I hated team sport at school because I wasn’t ‘sporty’ and I had the sense that I just disappointed my ballet teacher with having too much bum and boobs and not enough grace and coordination. This insidious culture is also present in the Pilates and Yoga industry where a lot of time is wasted standing in so-called ‘perfect posture’ and not enough time spent just moving, flowing, and building strength.
After my twins were born I was 25 and felt about 95, pregnancy and labour and lugging a couple of babies around on an already weak frame had taken its toll, this is when I discovered Pilates and Yoga. A commitment to a regular practice saw purpose, power and strength restored and for the first time in my life I started to feel truly tuned in to my own physical and mental potential.
Since studying to become a Pilates instructor, I have seen countless benefits for so many different populations including increased strength, flexibility, coordination, balance, mental wellbeing and resilience, injury recovery and pain reduction.
In 2014 I studied with Studio Pilates in Australia and in 2017 Polestar Pilates in New Zealand. I established Love & Core in September 2016 in Martinborough. I completed my Advanced Reformer training with Peak Pilates in 2018 and enjoy working one on one with individuals on this versatile piece of equipment. Recently I’ve completed a Yoga Nidra and Restorative Yoga teacher training and am looking forward to sharing this soothing and restful practice with the community, particularly to counter the effects of stress.
Aside from my enduring love of Pilates and Yoga I am passionate about running trails, time with my family, eating well, time in nature, connecting with the people that bring me joy- as well as dancing around the living room with far too much enthusiasm to a good tune.
ELLY OTTY
YOGA TEACHER
Yoga has been a part of my life for as long as I can remember but I first attended classes in 1992 practicing Iyengar Yoga. I loved how these classes made me feel and immediately enjoyed the benefits of feeling more relaxed and confident. In 1997 I attended my first Astanga Vinyasa yoga class and it felt like coming home. I fell in love with this beautiful traditional practice and continue to discover new depths and subtitles to this practice even after more than 20 years. I have been lucky to be taught by some wonderful teachers over the years and have traveled to Mysore, India to practice with Sharath Jois and Saraswathi Rangaswamy.
In 2003 I attended a teacher training course with David Swenson in Dublin and later, after moving to New Zealand in 2006, I completed a six-month teacher training with Mike Berghan at Te Aro Astanga Yoga in Wellington.
I find teaching fun and inspiring. I love passing on this beautiful practice and seeing the many positive effects it has on people’s lives as they develop and commit to a regular practice of yoga.
HELEN HICKSON
YOGA TEACHER
REGISTERED WITH YOGA ALLIANCE
I started practicing yoga in 2005, while working as a massage & neuromuscular therapist. This background has informed my yoga practice and I can employ the anatomy and physiology knowledge to yoga. I have continued to practice yoga over the years and I enjoy the challenge it sets me mentally and physically.
While a stay-at-home mum I started doing a little yoga with my children, which inspired me to train as a children's yoga teacher. I am certified with Rainbow Kids Yoga, Cosmic Kids Yoga and I completed a training programme in Yoga for Schools with Seedling Yoga. In May 2019 I completed a 200 hour Hatha Vinyasa teacher training with Nico Luce Yoga and I began to teach adults.
I'm very interested in how yoga affects mental health, and how beneficial it is for children and adults alike. Taking time to slow and lengthen your breath is so simple but so effective in reducing stress and anxiety. Yoga connects breath, body and mind and allows you to be present in the moment. Connecting breath to movement has huge benefits for health, including better circulation, increased flexibility & strength, lowered blood pressure & improved energy and vitality. My goal is for students to realise their potential physically & emotionally. I enjoy helping a student explore an asana and understand how it can feel and evolve in their body. However alignment and physicality is not all yoga is. Yoga leads us to find an inner spark, some stillness and peace beyond the physical journey. Yoga is an exploration of our true selves.
There is so much to learn about this ancient practice and I have so much gratitude for its presence in my life and being able to share my knowledge of it with others.
Kim Hewson
PILATES TEACHER
Kim, lovingly known as Foghorn, has been in the Pilates game for blinking ages and she has been proudly part of the Love & Core team for the best part of 5 years.
You’ll see Kim, if you don’t hear her first, enthusiastically floating around the Love & Core studio, on Tuesdays and Wednesdays, guiding public and private mat, reformer and circuit Pilates classes, stopwatch in hand, ever eager to extend our clients’ endurance by a few more seconds.
Her favourite part of the job- seeing someone accomplish an exercise they didn’t believe they could, then seeing how that powers them along to fulfil more of their movement potential.
When she’s not hard at work, getting our clients moving, building strength, mobility and confidence, she’s probably out playing footy with her local team, The Gems, or watching footy or thinking about footy or taking kids to footy games.
ODETTE ROWE
YOGA TEACHER
Odette Rowe is a Kundalini, perinatal and children’s yoga teacher and a qualified homeopath. She has taught yoga in the UK, Australia and New Zealand for the past 19 years.
She has not the slightest interest in tricky poses in spandex and is instead passionate about people discovering enjoyment and ease as they move their body without pain or anxiety. She aims to help all to cherish themselves, just as they are so they can be healthy, happy and live out their life purpose.
She encourages people to see that all their actions and interactions with others has a ripple effect. Changing the world ultimately starts with the dialogue you have with yourself on a daily basis and this quiet revolution starts on your meditation cushion.
Odette runs classes, workshops and gatherings in topics varying from pelvic health, sleep therapy, learning how to breathe fully, women's hormonal heath, and wild wonder wanders.
ADRI SHAW
YOGA TEACHER
My interest with yoga began at age 18 after getting a book from the library about Ashtanga yoga.
Whilst at university I practiced twice weekly with my teacher Tri Yuga from the Harikrishna centre in Wellington until unfortunately, he moved away. He introduced the foundations of yoga alignment, connecting breath to movement and the benefit of meditation. I then bounced around trying all sorts of different styles of yoga and yoga studios in Wellington which ended in my taking a break from yoga for a few years as I struggled with mental and physical illnesses.
Fortunately, I got back to regular practice when I met my next teacher, Bridgette. We practiced in the old band rotunda in Wellington and later in her apartment lounge. Bridgette was trained in India and she supported me to challenge my beliefs about what my body and mind could and could not do. I kept practicing with her until I moved to Martinborough in 2013.
I stopped practicing yoga for quite a while and had a really hard time getting back into it after I had my son in 2015. I had two major surgeries on my feet due to a mechanical orthopedic fault and couldn’t walk for 2 months. The recovery between surgeries was lengthy and hard work. I struggled with walking, balancing and my knees and joints were always hurting. I’m not exaggerating when I say that I was in constant, physical and mental, pain and discomfort.
After 2020's lockdown I realised I needed to reassess my approach to my physical and mental wellbeing. I had been flirting with the idea of training as a yoga instructor and spoke to our lovely friend and teacher Elly Ottie to ask her opinion. She suggested that I understand my own practice and process before embarking on a journey of teaching others. So, from the start of 2021 I started yoga from scratch.
I undertook yoga with Lesley Fightmaster and did a 90 day yoga program. Just exploring yoga again as if for the first time. I continued to practice and try out different styles like Hatha and Yin Yoga for the rest of the year but found myself continually drawn to the simplicity and clarity of Ashtanga yoga. I practiced yoga for 355 days that first year and 340 days the following year. I also started practicing with Elly every other week on Sundays and kept up my practice and self study ever since then.
My yoga philosophy at its core is practicing Abhyasa and Vairagya (perseverance and detachment) which I try to carry out in my daily life as well as my asana practice. Trying my best but letting go of the results. Results will come but by letting go of my expectations of my rate of progress or improvement allows for me to be present and just observe myself as I am today. As I struggle with complex trauma and all the challenges that come with that, practicing yoga regularly helps me focus on my breathing and my body without judgement or disappointment. The more I practice the deeper I can reflect on my healing journey.