Our Team - theyogacollective

Expert Instructors

Meet our Team

Mandy Hewlett

Mandy is the founder of The Yoga Collective and has been teaching yoga in Cape town since 2014.

She began her teaching career at The Wellness Connection (where she completed her first yoga teacher trainings) and moved on to teach at a few studios in and around Cape Town, before finally making the move to bring a more commercial studio space to Hout Bay.

Mandy enjoys being outdoors and connecting with nature whilst pursuing physical exercise, but Yoga is her true passion. Mandy has various qualifications under her belt including 500hrs of vinyasa yoga, yin yoga, aerial yoga and Budokon Yoga.

She teaches fun, strong vinyasa style yoga with an emphasis on listening to one’s body and finding what works for you.

Maya PRATT

Maya is the founder and owner of Unraveled Yoga and has been teaching yoga since 2009 when she completed her first teacher training course in New York City. These days Maya can be found teaching her unique style of flow around Cape Town where she runs teacher trainings and leads classes at selected studios.

Carla Collins

My love affair with yoga has lasted nearly 2 decades and it has helped me navigate the many twists and turns of life. This multifaceted practice has so much to offer, a deeper connection with our breath, ourselves, each other and the world around us. These are tools for existence, tools for resilience. I aim to teach breath focused, inquisitive classes, encouraging exploration, to move comfortably and confidently. Moving with awareness. I love slow and focused classes and my training in Yin and Trauma informed much of what I teach. For me Yoga is a practice of wellness, feeling well, breathing well and being well.

Beverley Slauck

Bev grew up practicing yoga with her grandmother which was a key factor in making the decision to start teaching herself She has completed her 500 hour advanced training with Catherine Wilkinson and teaches strong and creative vinyasa flow, power vinyasa and hot 26

“I believe Yoga is the practice of discipline. Through this discipline our mind and body find synchronicity, our reality shifts and we are able to discover our true selves What we learn on our mats we take into our daily lives, and I believe makes us better at living positive lives I look forward to seeing you on your mat”.

LINDA GREEN

Linda can be found teaching Yogalates, Pilates and vinyasa classes at our studio and others around Cape Town. Yogalates is her own creation, a beautiful fusion of Pilates exercises that combines yoga postures and breathing techniques of Yoga and Pilates. It’s a brilliant way to mobilise your body while strengthening your core.

“To move is to be free and the joy that teaching has given me has been a true gift. It started with dancing, evolved into teaching ballet, contemporary, Pilates and Yoga at various studios and, over the years I studied, practiced and drew from as many sources of movement knowledge as I could. I opened my own studio in Pretoria in 2007, built experience and opened a second in 2014, before making a change and moving to Cape Town”

Lisa Kruger

Lisa has worked in the fitness industry for over 20 years, as a pilates instructor, group and personal trainer. But her whole view of fitness and wellness shifted when she rediscovered yoga. Completing her yoga teacher training in 2019 Lisa teaches vinyasa, hot 26 and yin.

She loves the inclusivity of yoga. And is passionate about sharing her love of the practice both physically and emotionally.

Andrew Parker

Andrew’s yoga journey started in 2012 which became a consistent practice in 2014 and an integral part of his life. Andrew completed his 200-hour Teacher Training in 2020 during lockdown and is currently doing his 300-hour Teacher Training.

Andrew first started practicing for the physical benefits of yoga, but soon found that the mental benefits far outweighed the physical. He loves how the yoga practice gives him an opportunity to disconnect from the busy, outside world and constant mind chatter; and reconnect with his body and breath, even if it is just for an hour.

Andrew teaches flowing vinyasa and power yoga with the primary focus being the breath. His classes are strong yet balanced and are accessible to all.

“Yoga saved my life and I’d like to return the favour”

Kelly Scholtz

There is no other form of exercise that feels as good, or that provides the full range of experience that yoga does for me. It can be deeply nurturing and calming, but it’s also there for fun and a challenge when I’m up for it. In between, I use it as a routine and meditative form of physical conditioning. Yoga is really what you make of it. I was lucky to complete my 500hr advanced teacher training with Catherine Wilkinson in 2017 and now try to practice and teach whenever I can while I continue to learn.

I’m a registered dietitian, consulting chef and mom. Yoga helps me to keep the balance. I love the overall physical skill and the mental focus that develops the more I practice and I really enjoy sharing that when I teach.

MAREE MERKOVIC

Maree teachers soulful, heart centered yoga. Her classes are harmonious and mood-elevating, with just the right amount of challenge.

Expect smooth, seamless sequences designed to open, steady and strengthen your body and mind, with clear cues and mindful intention to guide you to deeper levels of your practice.

BUSI QOBO

Meet Busi. Everyone knows her as “Ma Busi”. Busi is hard of hearing, the result of TB medication taken years ago, she wears hearing aids, but still needs to lip read, she cannot hear much yet she still teaches because “this work is important, and people need it”.

Busi is the real deal, she has learnt and studied and lived the practice of yoga for many years. She lived in the Sivananda ashram in Trivandrum, Kerala for a year and travelled throughout the country, studying and practicing yoga daily.

On her return home, Busi moved into the Ananda Katur ashram in Rondebosch where she lived, learned and taught Sivananda yoga. Busi has subsequently spent years working across Cape Town teaching yoga from Phiiippi to Hout Bay. She teaches in church halls, community spaces, tiny rooms, creches and field and lives on a SASA grant. She does this for the love of yoga, spreading the joy, she does it with pure intention.