Hello
My name is Carla. I’m a Rehabilitation Counsellor and Yoga & Inner Work Facilitator, a wife, a daughter and a friend, and a participant in the Auroville adventure. I am blessed that my deepest inner compass orients me towards the aspiration, the seeking, discovering and practicing of Integral Yoga. I am inspired to support and encourage others as they connect with and deepen into their own journey of inner exploration and self-discovery.
Discover who I am & what inspires my work:
I am a qualified Allied Health Professional and a committed practitioner and facilitator of yoga and ‘inner work’. I provide coaching, training, plans and programs that:
- take an authentically heart-connected, whole-of-person approach,
- are client-centred, self-directed, empathic and empowering,
- foster sustainable change through active, experiential, evidence-informed and discovery-based methods that will help you explore, make meaning, assimilate and translate your experiences into profound and lasting transformation.
I am a dedicated practitioner of Ashtanga & Hatha Yoga, pranayama (breath practices), Yogic, Mindfulness & non-dual Tantra meditation techniques, and general movement & mobility practices.
I share from my own experience of transformative growth and healing. Much of the comprehensive toolbox of techniques and practices I draw on, I have explored and worked with myself. My approach is an integrative, holistic frame that is evidence-informed from both science and traditional (often categorised as Western vs Eastern) models of human care, psychology, health and development, with studies in the fundamentals of anatomy and nutrition and training in conflict resolution, communication and negotiation skills.
One beautiful project I currently serve in is Thamarai, a non-government community-based project of Auroville, where as Health & Wellbeing Coordinator, I design and implement Health & Wellbeing Education, Holistic Development and Experiential & Embodied Learning Programs for local women, youth & children in semi-rural Tamil Nadu, India.
This includes: yoga & movement sessions; nutrition education and practical learning programs; individualised support needs assessments and planning; family wellbeing consultations;
facilitator development programs; Integrated Learning programs for children; and collaboration with paediatric and general medical teams and other local therapists.
Previously worked in injury recovery and workplace rehabilitation case management, claims and hardship case management, vocational assessment and planning, and vocational habilitation and support services for children and young adults living with disability/ special needs.
As a resident of Auroville - a place of unending education - I am an avid, non-stop learner and action-based researcher. I work with integrity, with my heart-mind grounded in compassion, and in accordance with the Australian Rehabilitation Counselling Code of Ethics & other relevant professional codes (eg, Aus. Health Coaches Scope of Practice Guidelines) & am accomplished in all of the Core Competencies of my profession.
I am both a Mystic and a Scientist; guided by intuition and intrinsic ‘knowing’ as well as phenomenological and empirical evidence. My approach has been shaped by my own personal experiences and journey of intuitive unfolding and transformation. It is not based on false dichotomies, but is truly integrative and holistic, and understands the path towards inner discovery and integrality is unique to each person I work with.
My personal sadhana (daily practice) is the Integral Yoga (of Sri Aurobindo). It is a yoga of work, knowledge and love; to be realised and progressed through our embodied, earthly existence. This philosophy views the human being as consisting of multiple planes/ dimensions that are integrally interconnected, with the innermost core being that spirit or soul (psychic) that is our individual essence of the divine consciousness. For our deepest inner selves to be known and free, much work is often needed to harmonise the outer layers of the physical body, the vital and the mind with the inner planes and higher consciousness of our truest Being.
In this way, I will work with you through an integral lens, considering all the layers of your unique being, and the interrelationships and influences amongst them - and especially to incorporate strategies to work on shifting, quieting, and aligning those challenging surface layers that interface between our deepest inner Self and the outer material world.
Further understanding through Sri Aurobindo’s own words:
“For the contact of the human and individual consciousness with the Divine is the very essence of
Yoga…the contact may take place at any point of the complex and intricately organised consciousness
which we call our personality. It may be effected in the physical through the body; in the vital through
the… state and the experiences of our nervous being; through the mentality, whether by means of the
emotional heart, the active will or the understanding mind… And according to the point of contact…
will be the type of the Yoga that we practise”. 1
“An integral and synthetic Yoga… while it embraces the knowledge received from the past, it seeks to organise it anew for the present and the future. An absolute liberty of experience and of the restatement of knowledge in new terms and new combinations… Seeking to embrace all life in itself, it is in the position… of a path-finder hewing his way through a virgin forest”. 2
“By this Yoga, we not only seek the Infinite, but we call upon the Infinite to unfold (it)self in human life. Therefore… our Yoga must provide for… A free adaptability in the manner and the type of the individual’s acceptance of the Universal and Transcendent into himself… the perfection of the Integral Yoga will come when each man is able to follow his own path of yoga, pursuing the the development of his own nature in its upsurging towards that which transcends the nature.” 3
1 Sri Aurobindo, The Synthesis of Yoga, pp. 32-33
2 Ibid, pp. 56-57
3 Ibid, p.57
Certifications & Training:
Master of Rehabilitation Counselling
(The Dean's Scholar)
University of Sydney; Rehabilitation Counsellors are Allied Health Professionals and specialist counsellors who understand the impact of disability, physical and mental health conditions and social disadvantage on people's lives, and especially the importance that work, education and meaningful participation plays in achieving inclusion, independence and self-esteem in the community.5
BA (Psychology)
University of Wollongong; the study of the science behind human behaviour, the human mind, its functions and interactions at individual and societal levels, and provides theory and practical methods for understanding our thoughts, feelings, sense of ourselves, our behaviours and growth; with the aim to improve psychological health for people across a diversity of social and cultural contexts.
Yoga Teacher Training (Hatha, Ashtanga) & Yogic studies (Tantra, Classical)
A depth of theoretical, scriptural, historical and contextual learning, in addition to extensive experience, practice and training in embodied, experiential inner exploration practices.
Consciousness-based Counselling (Integral Psychotherapy)
Currently completing: Namah Integral Health & Sri Aurobindo Society; A year-long certificate & vocational course, conducted by Dr. Soumitra Basu (psychiatrist & co-author of the book ‘Consciousness-Based Psychology: Sri Aurobindo’s Vision of Yoga, Health and Transpersonal Growth’), lays down the broad lines of clinical practice within the context of Integral Yoga Psychology. At each level of consciousness, remedial measures are discussed and proposed, providing the deepest possible immersion into the necessity and practice of Integral Psychotherapy through Consciousness-Based Counselling (CBC).
Graduate studies in International Health
Curtin University; including international health & primary health care, STIs & HIV-International perspectives, and maternal & child health in developing countries.
Studies in Integral Yoga and Integral Psychology
Including the Sva-Parichayam course with the Indian Psychology Institute (IPI); Introduction to Integral Psychology and a learning journey of consciousness-based processes and growth in self-knowledge - covering “topics like cognition and modes of knowing, self and personality, yoga-based research methodologies, processes of change, relationships, professional work involving application of psychological processes (education, therapy, etc.)... The central focus is on increasing self-knowledge and developing consciousness-based psychological skills that help both in one’s personal growth and work”.6
5 Australian Society of Rehabilitation Counsellors Ltd. (ASORC) Competencies for Rehabilitation Counsellors Fifth Edition 2020