The Open Mind Space is for the student, the teacher, the soul searcher.
A place to connect with a conscious community and grow into your full potential.
We offer yoga, meditation, movement classes, events and personal healing. Our intention for The O.M. Space is to approach self-development, wellness and spirituality with an open mind, making its tools and concepts, simple, approachable and accessible to all.
We could say the sky is the limit… but it’s really not. Together, let’s look to the edges of the Universe and beyond.
Our teachers and practitioners are all on their own journey of growth, and are here to hold space and welcome you to explore inner and outer worlds.
Click through the links below to meet our people, view the timetable, and read more about how The Open Mind Space came to be.
Our Manifesto
No matter your age, gender, income, world view, beliefs, what you wear, who you love, where you live, why you’ve come… The Open Mind Space is here for you. Whether you’re not quite sure about the whole ‘woo-woo’ side of things, or you wholeheartedly accept the existence of unicorns and dragons (they are both totes real), you are welcome here. Let’s experience, share, connect, learn and grow together.
Our wish for the Open Mind Space:
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To create a safe environment that is free from judgement, welcoming everyone (or everything!)
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To support each other through learning, teaching and sharing
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To understand that everyone is equal, and each human adds value to the space
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To create a shift in the wider community, by uplifting the individual
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To support the growth of conscious community, in Newcastle and beyond.
Video content created by One Stop Productions.
Our teachers are passionate about sharing and learning.
They bring their own unique life experiences to their teachings and are here to ensure you have a safe and supportive environment for your open-minded explorations.
Murray Smith
Teacher/Co-founder
Coming from a background in construction with a passion for surfing, Murray totally understands the need to maintain a healthy body. On a deeper level and through his own life experiences, he also knows how important it is to maintain mental wellness.
Murray is extremely passionate about men’s mental wellness, connecting people to nature, aiding people in rediscovering their true selves, and cultivating a safe environment in which people can continue to build a healthy relationship with their mind, body, and spirit. He builds smart programs and classes tailored to achieve long-term benefits.
Renée Wilkinson
Teacher/Co-founder
Renée has been working in areas of complementary therapy and healing for more than ten years. In 2014, yoga became Renée’s go-to moving through PTSD. It helped her re-connect her mind and body, and she is now honoured to share and create a similar experience for you.
Renée combines her yoga studies with her intuition and insights to deliver classes that go beyond the purely physical experience.
Renée is also a Kinesiologist and Energy Healer, offering sessions in our upstairs treatment rooms. Find out more about her Kinesiology practice here.
Renee is now taking 1:1 bookings each Monday. Click here to book.
Our People
Cat Mead
Yoga Teacher & Studio Manager
Cat began teaching yoga in 2015 at a time when she was looking for change and a deeper experience with life. Since her first real introduction to yoga in 2013, she has spent much time testing and trying different styles of yoga, and has since found that her love and strength is in the simplicity of it. But you still might find her at a hot, sweaty heated class too.
Yin Yoga is Cat's favourite, to both practice and teach, and after a few years of finding her feet with her teaching style, she has decided to focus on yin while still getting creative with flow.
Cat's other strengths lie in her ability to organise, be creative, make music and support people in their growth. In her role as studio manager she gets to do all of this and call it 'work'. Check out her yin stuff here.
Stella Umeh
Yoga Teacher
Stella has been a committed yoga practitioner for more than 15 years and loves to share her love for the practice teaching classes & workshops all over the world to anyone who has a thirst to live a life of breath and elevated fluidity.
As the most prolific gymnast in Canadian history, Stella championed the stage with several stints at the Commonwealth Games, World Championships, and a trip to Barcelona, Spain for the 1992 Olympic Games. Stella wrapped up her International career with an all-time honoured college career and UCLA as a ten time All-American and NCAA Champion leading her to her 2012 UCLA Athletic Hall of Fame induction.
Stella recently wrapped up a 13-year love affair with Cirque Du Soleil where she became the only female artist to master virtually every single female role in the touring show Varekai. Taking her from being a key participant in the creation of the show to mastering the role as the lead female clown understudy. Stella's knowledge was not limited to on-stage performance. She held the positions of choreography assistant and artist integration supervisor.
Stella is truly a consummate “Jack of all Trades,” and it is precisely this label that prompted her to start her own company and wellness brand: The Ivory Elephant Group.
Jacqui Black
Yoga Teacher
Jacqui comes from an extensive and classically trained dance background and as a result has a strong awareness of body conditioning and expressive movement.
Jacqui’s yoga journey commenced in 2009 when she first discovered Bikram yoga and the benefits of Asana. After some time living abroad, Jacqui returned to Australia on a deeper quest of self healing and yoga therapy. This is when she did her initial teacher training and devoted her life to giving and sharing the practice of yoga.
Jacqui has a love for deep stretching and relaxing Yin practices, however her passion for teaching is in dynamic Vinyasa flows, where she draws inspiration from a range of different movement techniques and other various styles of yoga.
She has travelled globally, teaching and practicing yoga, within a variety of cultures.
Now she brings an attitude of self-discovery, self-love, challenge, fun and consciousness to her teachings.
Tara South
Yoga Teacher
Yoga is not what I do, it's my lifestyle. It’s my medicine, my rituals, my guidance, my coming home. My passion is to share it with the world.
Through my 20 years of discipline to the art of yoga, and my more recent trauma therapy background, I have deepened, discovered and expanded. This is my path and it is ever-evolving. It's what I share with you on and off the mat. It's the REAL DEAL! To simply observe and let the truth unravel, allowing us to build and deepen connections
You will be challenged in your own practice whether you are new to yoga or an experienced yogi, you can enjoy a beautiful vinyasa flow practice delivered with lightness and a sense of humor or guided through a deeply nourishing yin journey as you uncover and discover all of the parts to yourself. As well as teaching all levels of Yoga, I am proof that living healthily means living happily – even a little crazily!
Tara-Lee Bagnall
Yoga Teacher
Tara, the founder of Ohm Wellness, started her yoga journey more than 11 years ago. At the time, she was a busy single mother of her three beautiful children.
Her life came to a rapid halt when she found herself hospitalized requiring heart surgery. Quite a big shock! Life delivered her the experience that caused her to really pause and examine the path she was on, for her and her children. It was made quite clear to her that she needed to start to really take care of herself.
She had always wanted to try yoga, but had never found the time. Now was the time!
She found her local community yoga and simply committed to a weekly class. The benefits mentally were amazing. She continued just with a weekly class for years and then after a break when she had her fourth child with her husband, she finally returned and was ready for more.
Tara completed her initial training with Karl Jaross, the founder of Yoga Body Works in Newcastle. Training in Yin & Yang Yoga, following the lineage of Baron Baptiste’s Power Yoga and Paul Grilley’s Yin Yoga.
Tara is also constantly absorbing and learning from mentors such as Eckhart Tolle, Thich Nat Hahn and Dr Joe Dispenza.
Her personal practice is ever-evolving, adding much richness and personal experience to her teachings.
Kai Fahrig
Yoga Teacher
Kai has been practicing yoga for several years and has
explored various types over this time. Kai says that practicing yoga
gives him a deep present feeling in his body and he likes to
classify it as a moving meditation that makes it easy to
stop thinking and start feeling.
“After practice I feel energized and relaxed, overall, more balanced within and that helps me to tackle the daily life challenges with more ease.
Over the last 2 years I felt like that I would love to share
this tool with others, so I started to teach yoga to friends
or at events. Now I have completed my formal 200hr YTT
to be able to expand sharing this beautiful tool of yoga
with the world around me."
Jess Bosman
Yoga Teacher
Jess began experiencing the power of breath and embodied movement from a young age, having been taught by her mother to ‘meditate’ by candlelight and 'stretch' before bed.
Jess began to consciously develop a Vinyasa Yoga practice in her teenage years during a period of disembodiment, pain and grief. Eleven years on, after dabbling in different styles and lineages of Yoga, she continues to find solace, connection and awareness through a strong Vinyasa Flow practice. Patanjali's Yoga Sutras are her guiding principles for life and she finds great joy in interweaving yogic philosophy with modern neuroscience – a credit to her clinical background in mental health Occupational Therapy.
Jess brings a dynamic energy to her classes with a focus on fluidity, creative sequencing and stoking the fire within. Her passion for a trauma-sensitive practice allows her to hold a safe space for collective growth and transformation.
Find out more about Jess and what she offers here.
Marco Schmutz
Yoga Teacher
I have been practicing yoga for over 10 years. It has been a journey of self exploration through connecting inwards during these deep practices and avenues of spiritual, mental, emotional and physical development.
Delving into this pathway has been an incredible experience of self awakening.
With every practice, I continue to explore the ever unfolding layers of meeting myself.
My background as a professional Chef has supported the development of a conscious mind-body connection.
Through yoga, self connection is found within conscious movements. This conscious movement gives 'flow' a unique meaning to your life - a solid base to grow into the new you.
My teachings go beyond postures, offering self study to allow for shifts in consciousness ultimately leading to expansion and growth.
Change is inevitable, and with every shift a new obstacle appears. Through yoga we develop the necessary skills to overcome challenge and embrace change for the blessing it is for us on a personal level.
We cannot become who we want or need to be by remaining who we are.
There will never be a better time to begin this lifelong exploration than now.
Find out more about Marco and what he offers here.
