About Us
Since 1989, Port Douglas Yoga has been a place of connection, learning, and inspiration for both the local community and visitors from all over the world. For more than three decades, we have been honoured to guide people of all ages and walks of life on their yoga journey, creating a tradition of practice that blends timeless wisdom with heartfelt teaching.
Our classes are taught by a dedicated group of professionally trained teachers who bring not only skill and knowledge but also warmth, compassion, and genuine care. With many years of experience teaching regular classes in the region, our teachers create a supportive environment where students can feel comfortable, encouraged, and inspired—whether stepping onto the mat for the first time or deepening a long-established practice.
At the heart of what we offer is our Shala—a true yoga home. This welcoming space is designed for students of Traditional Yoga to come together, practice in harmony, and share the transformative experience of yoga. Within its walls, students are invited to breathe deeply, stretch mindfully, and discover the joy of inner stillness and balance.
We believe yoga is not only about postures, but also about cultivating awareness, peace, and joy in everyday life. Our approach is holistic and contemporary, yet firmly rooted in tradition. We encourage laughter, curiosity, and openness, allowing the practice to be both profound and playful.
Whether you are a beginner seeking guidance, an intermediate student looking to strengthen your foundation, or an advanced practitioner exploring new depths, we invite you to join us. Come and experience the beauty of practicing yoga in our tropical paradise, where the natural surroundings inspire calm, clarity, and renewal. Together, let’s practice, share, and grow—nurturing body, mind, and spirit in a safe and joyful environment.
“Yoga is the journey of the self, through the self, to the self.”
Bhagavad Gita
Meet the Team
Shirley Lloyds
India was my home for the first sixteen years of my life, and a country which my family has been associated with for many generations. So it was natural that I developed a keen interest and love for anything connected with the sub-continent. This, eventually, led me in to pursue the path of Raja Yoga, studying with a number of revered and well known Gurus and Teachers. Amongst these were Dr.Girin Mukherji, Ma Yogashakti Saraswati, Swami Yogeshwarananda, Swami Chinmayananda, Shri Vijayadev Yogendra and Verna Gilbert (IYTA).
I completed my IYTA Diploma Course in 1989. This was followed by their Refresher Course in 1996. I have been studying and teaching Yoga for 45 years in Fiji, Bangladesh, India, Hong Kong and Australia and have also taught on P&O Cruise ships, have organised several Seminars and a tours of South India and Rajasthan.
My personal journey over the years has brought me the greatest joy and satisfaction, allowing me to share the many benefits of Yoga with a great number of students from all walks of life and from many parts of the world.
Tricia Middel
Having left the UK to live in Australia in 1991, curiosity led me to join a hatha yoga class run by Shirley Lloyds. It was whilst in that class and under her inspired and committed tutelage over the ensuing years that I discovered many of the joys and truly life changing benefits that a committed yoga practice can bring.
When Shirley invited me to embark upon the I.Y.T.A. Teachers' Training Course in 2000, I embraced the challenge of learning and now as I continue my learning and my teaching, my hope is to help others to experience some of those truly life changing benefits. To help them to find the inner calmness and the increased awareness of their own state of being that I have enjoyed through my own practice. It is such a joy to see others develop and grow. I continue to learn so much from them.
As a bookkeeper by trade (in my "day" job), I find my yoga practice a wonderful source of dynamic energy, quiet strength and peace of mind. It is what gives us the balance we all so keenly need.
Lesley Johnston
Over 30 years ago my yoga teacher, Shirley Lloyds, introduced me to yoga and I discovered a place of peace and perfection within. A place of inner bliss that was there all the time! The trick is to find and recognise the bliss exists even when life is chaotic and full of stress. This revelation began me on my yoga journey which continues today.
I became a qualified yoga teacher in 2003 and hold teaching membership with IYTA and a Senior Teacher with Yoga Australia.
My classes are based on teachings from traditional Hatha Yoga and are a balanced mix of asana (physical postures), pranayama (breath control), relaxation, mantra and meditation. My aim is to make people feel better physically and mentally during and after class.
Yoga is for everyone and I love the remedial aspect of yoga which I attempt to include in my general classes with the primary emphasis on our breath, our conscious breath. Conscious breath is the key to our health. Our breath can connect us physically, mentally and spiritually bringing us to a place of peace & joy.
Noeline Clarke
From my first class, with a friend in Belfast, I knew the practice of Yoga was the medicine my ailing body and mind needed, Yet is was when I allowed myself to explore various teachers on my travels that I began to witness the true essence.
Yet, it is through my passion for the body and mind connection, that has therapeutically opened to the path I am on now; sharing it with others.
Classes are authentically creative with compassion-centered philosophy and thought provoking meditations, sharing experience in body and energy work. Offering students a place to explore their personal growth with the physical and spiritual self.
"A good traveler has no fixed plans and is not intent on arriving:" LAO TZU
330hr Meditation ,500hr Yoga as lifestyle Medicine , BIYOME
She continues her work in Therapeutic Massage and Reiki.
Schell Clancy
Trusting the decision to have yoga in my life has subtly yet profoundly opened and released not just my physical body but in turn my breath, mind and spirit. This is the living experience that yoga has enabled me to manifest and which rests at the centre of my practice, the classes I teach and my life. It is the realisation that matter – the human body – and energy are completely interconnected and provides the link between knowledge and spirit. A knowledge that all indigenous cultures are seeded from.
“The most beautiful and profound emotion we can experience is the sensation of the mystical….that which we cannot see, yet we feel.” – Albert Einstein
I continue to study the many fields of the power of Yoga and energy psychology.
Alana Grainger
Hi, I’m Alana. When I stepped into my first yoga class, I had no idea what I was getting myself into — yet somehow, it felt deeply familiar. Over the years, yoga has continued to reshape, refine, and realign me in ways I never expected.
While I’ve studied various styles, my heart now resides in the Yin space. I offer Yin Yoga as a gentle antidote to the fast-paced, high-energy demands of modern life. In choosing to slow down and soften, we begin to reconnect with the quieter parts of ourselves — the places where true healing and presence dwell .
Classes are designed to support your nervous system, nourish your inner world, and create space for deeper listening. Through long-held poses and moments of stillness, I offer gentle invitations to feel, reflect, and release — not just through the body, but through the subtle stories it holds.
Yin isn’t just a physical practice — it’s a return to the wisdom within. A space to breathe, receive, and simply be.
Kate Godfrey
Kate has been guiding Sound Healing sessions for the last 3 years around Port Douglas and Cairns. She will be at Port Douglas Yoga Shala every Friday night for a 1 hour Sound Healing from 7pm. After which you can float off to bed.
A beautiful way to finish the week.
Investment: $30 per class, or a 3 pass pack that (can be used over 2 months) brings it down to $25 a session.