Teachers
About us
We first met in Berlin, where Tom taught his daily Mysore program, with Julia assisting him for the last 2. In 2024, we decided to take a temporary break from daily teaching to spend some time focusing on our own practices and work towards a sustainable way to teach in the future. Until then, we will be visiting some of our teachers, including regular trips to London to practice with Hamish and Louise at Ashtanga Yoga London.
Tom Austin
I started practicing Ashtanga Yoga daily in 2007. My main teachers were Denise Christian, John Scott and Matthew Vollmer. I’ve also practiced with Sharath and ran a Mysore program in Berlin for many years, where I taught daily. Currently I’m practicing with my wife at home and from time to time with Hamish and Louise at AYL.
In 2011 I started practicing regularly with Matthew and Carla Vollmer in Brazil and then later in Berlin. My experience with them influenced my practice and teachings the most. Their dedication and grounded approach has had a lasting effect on me.
I was fortunate enough to practice with all of my teachers in small groups and get to know them all on a personal level. John and I practiced together before he taught his classes: he would adjust me, explain the adjustment and then I would adjust him in the same way. I also completed a teacher training with John and Lucy Scott, giving me many helpful insights about teaching.
Teaching and practicing daily has given me an internal strength, which has and continues to profoundly change the way I see and interact with the world. I would like to share this strength with others, giving as many people as I can the support to look into themselves and see life from a new perspective.
I have taught Ashtanga Yoga internationally since 2014, Including in the UK, Germany, Spain, Italy and Brazil. It continues to be important to me to practice and teach in a way that respects a lineage, so that the knowledge and experiences of yoga are maintained and passed on through the generations.
Julia Austin
I found my home in Ashtanga yoga when I attended my first Mysore class with Tom in 2018. I originally started practicing yoga in 2010, initially drawn to Kundalini Yoga as a counterbalance to my life as an athlete and professional health coach. After exploring different styles and a few years of consistent Jivamukti Yoga practice, I finally stepped into the Mysore room and quickly felt that this was the practice that truly works for me.
The clarity, structure and transformative depth of the Ashtanga method immediately resonated with me. From the beginning, I established a consistent daily practice that has remained a central part of my life ever since. After three years of dedicated practice, I began assisting Tom in the Mysore room daily.
This intimate experience of the teaching process has shaped the way I aim to hold the space: attentive, respectful, steady and supportive of each student's individual path within the framework of the tradition.
My approach to teaching is grounded in daily personal practice. For me, practice is a place of quiet transformation, offering new perspectives. It is a tool for turning inward, cultivating focus, steadiness, awareness, reflection and connection to my natural stability and being. A practice that keeps me grounded in myself and supports living with authenticity.
I aim to support students in developing a sustainable consistent practice, with curiosity, openness and respect for where they are each day. Supporting others on their individual paths, discovering what the practice has to offer for everyone, is an opportunity I greatly appreciate and rejoice in.
As a student, I regularly travel to London to study with Hamish Hendry and Louise Newton, and continue to deepen my understanding by practicing with other senior teachers whenever possible. Recently, I’ve had the opportunity to study with Iain Grysak and Allen Enrique.
At present, living in a rural area, I maintain a daily home practice — most days sharing the space with Tom and supporting each other as needed. Alongside to Ashtanga, I have been following the Vipassana meditation tradition since 2015 and offer holistic Ayurvedic nutrition consultations.
