Yonnie Fung
Hi!
With so many offerings around, it can be hard to find a good fit.
I’ll be upfront so you can make informed choices.
What I do
Movement should support us physically, mentally and emotionally. I want to get away from the idea that looking after our bodies needs to be another chore or more work, or painful or anything to be endured. I believe movement should be interesting, pleasurable, maybe even fun.
I’m guided by a love of poetry and the natural world. I offer classes that draw from yoga, natural movement, yoga therapy, trauma theory, attachment theory, neuroscience, somatics, human rights and social work.
What to expect
I’ve experienced life on the margins and understand how it feels to be excluded. I set out to create an atmosphere where everyone can feel included and valued regardless of colour, culture, identity, expression, size or ability.
Movement spaces can be places where certain bodies are subtly or overtly shamed. There’ll be none of that.
There’s no touching without consent. Ever.
I won’t assume you can’t because your hair is grey. My hair is grey too.
You want to do handstands? Great! You want to lie down? Also great! Neither is better, stronger, more advanced than the other.
I value the rigours of science. I trust public health experts. I also value enduring healing practices handed to us by our ancestors and other ways of knowing and being.
I’d love for our time together to be collaborative. I’m no authority figure. I don’t claim to be a healer either. I’ll offer what I have in my toolkit and guide you towards what you need to feel well and whole. When I don’t know, I’ll tell you so. We should all be suspicious of anyone that has all the answers.
My experience
Training and experience matter to me when I’m looking for professionals in other fields, so I’ll be clear about my own.
I founded Yoga with Yonnie, an award winning yoga and movement space in Beijing in 2011, dedicated to small classes, non-commercialism, integrity and cultivating real human connections. I have more than a decade of guiding people of all shapes, cultures, ages, sizes and abilities in private and small group settings.
Outside of the classroom, I have advocated for introducing yoga therapy into medical contexts and had a close working relationship with the physiotherapy team at Beijing’s Raffles Medical, integrating yoga practices to patients recovering from injuries and chronic pain.
I pioneered trauma sensitive yoga classes in Beijing where I held classes for complex trauma survivors. I have led walking meditation and nature retreats in rural China and eastern Iceland.
Training
Yoga teaching and training is unregulated. Anyone can call themselves a yoga teacher. The industry standard is 200hrs of training but that’s unregulated too.
Transparency matters to me. My training includes:
Three years collaborating with the physiotherapy department at Raffles International Hospital Beijing, led by Head of Physiotherapy Sheilagh Anderson.
Graduate Diploma, Yoga Therapy, Vaidyayogasala with Dr Natesan Chandrasekaran in Chennai, India (2 years, including multiple periods assisting him during patient consultations)
300hrs Trauma Center, Trauma Sensitive Yoga, Center for Trauma and Embodiment, Brookline, Massachusetts
500hrs in Ashtanga Yoga, Brahmani Yoga, Goa, India
200hrs Yoga Therapy, Krishnamacharya Healing and Yoga Foundation, Chennai, India
Anatomy and physiology, Yoga Synergy (16 weeks), Sydney, Australia
MovNat certified trainer L1, Shanghai, China
I have also learned from world renowned teachers of the Ashtanga lineage. In recent years, it has come to light that Patthabi Jois, the guru of this lineage systematically abused many of his students in plain sight. While a small handful of teachers spoke up against this abuse, many chose to stay quiet and in doing so, enabled the abuse to continue. Out of solidarity with abuse survivors and a commitment to social justice, I want to be transparent about this history. Silence hurts survivors.
My approach as a facilitator is also influenced by fields outside of yoga and movement. I have a Bachelor of Laws, majoring in human rights law, and a Bachelor of Arts in Political Science from the Australian National University, and have practiced law internationally. I am currently studying a master’s degree in social work at Griffith University, Queensland, with the goal of combining the worlds of yoga, movement and social justice.
33 Ways in which we unintentionally harm students
“Teaching Inclusive, Safe and Ethical Yoga”: Part One and Part Two.
Yonnie appeared on Shannon Crow’s “The Connected Yoga Teacher” podcast in December 2019.
Yonnie was a presenter at the 2019 Movement is Life National Caucus, a medical conference held in November 2019 in the Washington, DC area. Her presentation on trauma sensitive yoga was called “Healing through past hurts”.
Yoga with Yonnie won awards in Beijing in 2016 and 2017.
In 2018, Yonnie offered Beijing’s first yoga therapy classes for women who had survived childhood abuse and trauma.