Hi! I'm Aileen, your Mad Yogi!

Aileen David | Mad Yogi
a few seconds ago
4 min read

Updated: 3 days ago

I'd like to first welcome you again to my website and thank you for dropping in on this page to learn a bit more about me. I wanted the website itself to be all about helping you, so I decided to make a blog of my "about" section instead.

Here's my yoga journey...the short version!

I've always been interested in yoga but never got to study and practice until I found out I was pregnant back in 2002. It started off as a prenatal exercise and quickly became a passion.

I started learning everything I could but had doubts because, I didn't have the "yoga body" and all the arm balances and inversions felt so intimidating. Plus, I was busy with other aspects of life, mainly in my corporate career, and wondered how I could fit this new passion in my limited every-day living.

But I still wanted to become a teacher and realised my yoga passion revolved around these principles:

How to attain maximum benefit while keeping the body safe in its alignment, muscle engagement and joint articulation;
How to take the challenges I encountered on the mat, off the mat and into my head space;
That I could be who I was physically and still be an effective, engaged and mindful yoga practitioner;
How to fit yoga into my busy life; and
How can I help others who are in the same body, heart and head space as I was do the same.

A few years on, I still believe in these ideals and they have influenced my sequencing system and style of teaching.

Backgrounds and all that!

Here's my Yoga Teacher Training.

Level 2 Yoga Australia Registered Teacher
500Hrs Advanced Diploma in Yoga Teaching with Australian Yoga Academy
120Hrs Masters of Yoga with Australian Yoga Academy
Certificates in Pranayama, Ayurvedic Healing, Vinyasa Teaching and Meditation.

I also have the following in continuing professional development:

80Hrs non-contact Core Strength Vinyasa Yoga© Training with Sadie Nardini with 20 -hour Certificates in
- Evolution Teacher Training
- Revolution Yoga Anatomy Teacher Training
- Total Transformation Yoga Teacher Training
- The Journey Teacher Training

...in addition to 15Hrs non-contact Yoga Shred© Training, also with Sadie Nardini

I also have 75Hrs Level 1 YogAlign® Teacher Training with Michaelle Edwards and currently close to 200 hours in various workshops and teacher training.

(edit: 06/05/2025)

My teaching focus - deconstructing and demystifying yoga

I believe in deconstructing and demystifying yoga. This means what you'll get from my classes are practical instructions, clear language and relatable implementations of poses and flows. You will get modifications to the poses and are encouraged to choose your options.

Even in an in-studio class, I would always say that while we, as the human species, are all the same, we are also all unique. A variation of a pose for one person may be unattainable for another for a number of reasons. This is why I always encourage you to choose your pose.

My instructions for the physical class is also reflected in my blogs and videos. I aim to demystify and ground yoga philosophies and thinking in mindsets or mind-shifts that make them relatable in our modern life.

I even talk about enlightenment as something we can experience and live everyday.

Here's how: Like I said, I will always give you options, and for clarity, we start with beginner poses, then I will progress to intermediate and advance poses. All the while encouraging you to have an honest conversation with yourself and choose.

Recently, I was asked by a new student if I do "beginners" yoga too.

I gently said that I do, I gave beginner poses. By choosing the more difficult options and strugling with them...well, that's on them.

Because here's the thing - while my yoga classes are very phisical, meditation and pranayama are present from the beginning. When one observes their choices, hone their awareness, choose what's appropriate and match the breath with the movement.

The body is just a vehicle to clearing the mind and calming the emotions; and in those moments of stillness, we are in bliss.

Lastly...belief-neutral?

I truely believe that yoga is for everybody and this means that it is also for those who are not spiritual, or want their spirituality separate from their yoga practice, or maybe you are still looking for your own spirituality and what that means to you.

My definition and experience of spirituality is entirely unconnected to any religion, organised beliefe or traditional belief. It is that ineffable sensation one feel when looking at something beautiful, at something wonderful and amazing that limiting its experience to words is truely imposible.

This is my spirituality - The beauty of nature, big and small, is spiritual. Listening to clasical music is spiritual. Looking at Van Gogh's "Starry Night" is spiritual. Watching a movie whose themes touch me deeply is spiritual. Having a laugh with my family is especially spiritual.

In my yoga teaching, I ground the views on the lessons and philosophies of yoga in practical and relatable terms. This helps you tap into your mental and emotional self-care by helping you tune into your deeper self & what you value without the shade of beliefs you may not share.

During our classes, you will frequently hear me encourage you to choose your pose. This isn't just about the physical; this is an invitation for you to drop what assumptions and preconceptions you may have regarding a pose or a flow (vinyasa). This is also a version of my belief-neutral philosophy of teaching as it frees you to find your own verion of a pose, your peace in the pose to REDISCOVER YOURSELF.