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Meet the Team
Meet our team of Yoga, Meditation, Travel & Photography experts - guiding you on unforgettable adventures
Namastayz Founder, Yoga & MeditationTeacher
Tour Curator & Lead Tour Guide
BEC ANDERSON
A life long traveller and dedicted yogi, Bec decided to combine her 2 passions into one and create a yoga retreat business. With extensive studies in physical and philosophical yoga Bec loves to share her passion for yoga both on and off the mat. Bec is also an initiated Vedic meditation teacher guaranteeing a a full yoga experience whilst on adventure. Bec has taught thousands of yoga classes to people of all abilities and all walks of life, lived and travelled around the world, and managed her own studios in Australia for about 10 years. Bec immerses herself in Hindu and Buddhist teachings when she has any free time. "I feel humbled to share my knowledge and passions with you, and look forward to sharing our next yoga adventure together".
Photogaphic Tour Guide India
Photographer and Tour Curator
MANOJ
Meet Manaj our photographic and cultural tour guide in India. Manoj has over 15 years of experience, specialising in spiritual and tribal photography across India.
Manoj has grown up in India and currently lives in the city of Varanasi where he leads photography tours that take you right into the heart of the locals and their culture and spiritual practices.
A life long yogi, manoj completed his yoga training in Rishikesh India. Manoj has an intimate connection with Hindu people and their practices, he is a funny, laid back and highly experienced tour guide -
"I look forward to sharing my expertise and love for photography, and offering unique insights into India's spiritual energy to others".
Business partner in Sri Lanka
our tour guide and fix it man
DILSHAN
Dilshan comes from a small village in Sri Lanka. I met Dilsh on a rekkie to Sri Lanka to plan the first retreat. I called a random transport company to grab a car & driver for the 2 weeks and was met at the airport by Dilshan.
He was just the friendliest and most easy going guy, and had so many ideas and options to add into my plans, and over the two weeks our friendship grew.
I asked Dilshan to be my driver for the first Sri Lanka retreat and he said he would step up and be guide and employ his own driver - and with that his new career was born! Dilsh has been driving tours through Sri Lanka for many years and knows exactly where to go and when. I value his expertise so much we are now business partners in Sri Lanka.
Tour Guide and Curator Nepal, Bhutan & Tibet
Adventurer & Fun Guy
KRISHNA
Krishna is our tour curator and guide for Nepal & Bhutan adventures. Krishna comes from the town of Pokhara in Nepal and now lives in Kathmandu. Krish has been a tour guide in Nepal for 7 years and now operates his own adventure tour company for hiking and sightseeing. Krish has a masters in English philosophy (he loves a good chat) and has been teaching English in schools in Kathmandu for 15 years. Nothing is too much trouble for Krish, he loves adventure, loves sharing his country with travellers, and he is always up for safe fun and lots of laughs. "There is simply nothing I enjoy more than sharing my beautiful country and culture with you, travel is not a journey across places it is a journey into the depths of your own soul".
Tour Guide and Curator Mongolia
Big Smiler and Adventurer
LUNA
Luna is our beloved tour guide and curator in Mongolia. Luna has one of the biggest hearts you could ever find and simply gives THE best cuddles. Luna is a local and international tour guide and has been showing travellers her magical country for many years. Luna has 2 children and is the best at making you feel at home, nurtured and safe. Luna knows everything about her country and has many folk tales to share.
Travelling Mongolia with Luna is guaranteed to be fun and adventurous, delicious, and always safe.
Together with her hubby Opa Luna shows us the most treasured and secret places Mongolia has to share.
Luna is simply the best of the BEST!
Namastayz grew out of a love of all things travel, adventure, yoga, and self discovery. Out of a deep burning passion to grow spiritually and dive into the rich tapestry of ancient cultures and how they are lived and experienced today. It grew out my excitement to share decades of travel experience, and years of running a yoga studio; teaching countless spiritual seekers the art of yoga and meditation on and off the mat. I have tailor made Namastayz retreats into boutique, spiritually grounded adventures, that offer just the right amount of culture, ritual, adventure, R & R, yoga and meditation.
What makes us stand out from other yoga retreats is our adventurous spirit - journeying into mystical destinations, wandering countries, exploring cities, hiking mountains, and bathing in nature. We choose destinations that you have always wanted to visit, yet going alone feels a little daunting. We choose places imbued with spirit and culture, so you leave feeling inspired, in awe, and in LOVE with life.
What makes us stand out from other adventure retreats is our underpinning of spiritual connection - offerings of yoga & meditation practices, temple and monastery visits, rituals and ceremonies, and the sharing of ancient yogic wisdoms - the philosophy, psychology, and cosmology.
Namastayz offers retreats & adventures for "spiritualists", or Bhaktas, for those that yearn for spirit & soul. For those that seek beyond the material & scientific world into the realm of the heart, consciousness, the Bhagwan, the eternal Divine.
For me, retreating is a wonderful opportunity to connect with layers of self that may hide in the busy-ness of everyday life. Not only are we retreating to lands imbued with spiritual energy, we are reconnecting with the eternal 'home' deep within us. We are making space for BE-ing, for moments to unfold with time. For the silence and clarity needed for our truth to untangle itself from the clutter of playing the many roles & faces life demands. Going on retreat is a necessary pause in the flow of life - an opportunity to fill your cup, drink a little from the elixir of life and nourish the the very meaning of who you are.
Join us - combine the joy of yoga with your love for travel and adventure. Browse our upcoming retreats. Allow us to guide you, and share years of combined experience, to create you an authentic, safe, inspiring and unforgettable yoga travel adventure that will have you overflowing with everything you need xxx
The Practices
Joining a Namastayz yoga retreat is your invitation to explore both your internal world and the mystical world around you. Each retreat is curated to journey you to places you long for, & to re-unite you with your senses, and your somatic and energetic body. When we leave our everyday environment behind and wake up in new, inspiring, and mesmerising places, our inner landscapes enliven with curiosity & our bodies vibrate with the flow of life force - prana. Harvesting these subtle energies by embodying ancient wisdom practices opens the doorway to the transformative fire of surrender, the empowering process of opening authentically into the SELF (the unconscious and conscious) and the rich textures of BE-ing.
Yogic teachings tell us that the entire cosmos resides inside us, that the body is a a vessel for transformative and sacred practices that reveal the creative play of consciousness inside us. At the heart of this consciousness is love.
Every Namastayz yoga retreat is grounded with gentle daily yoga practices including asana, meditation, pranayama, mantra, mudra, yantra, poetry, myth & story, & philosophical teachings. You can expect to spend 2-3 hours per day in Tantric, Vedic, & or Buddhist practices. No matter what your yoga experience you are welcome to join, and of course all practices are discretionary.
The Lineage
Over a history of thousands of years the practices of yoga have changed and evolved, influenced by different cultures, sages and gurus, wars & politics. Traditions & teachings have merged and morphed to meet the needs of the people "yoking" them to a gracious sense of self, mother earth, & the Divine. The origins of ancient yogic wisdom, the Vedas, marked the beginning of many sacred writings including the Buddhist Tripitaka, Canons, Sutras & Tantras, The Upanishads, The Bhagavad Gita, the Puranas, The Yoga Sutras of Patanjali, The Shiva Sutras of Vasugupta, and The Vijnana Bhairava Tantra. These many scriptures illuminate the diversity of yoga and emanate the mysticism, myth, and teachings of yoga practices that manifest as embodied wisdom, both on and off the yoga mat.
My style of teaching draws from this giant cup of sacred nectar and I humbly honour the teachers who have trained & guided me, including Gregor Maehle and Monica Gauci (ashtanga vinyasa yoga), Peter Masters (Okido yoga), Bikram Choudhury & Jimmy Barkan (Bikram yoga), Paul Grilley (Yin yoga), Octavio Silvado (tantric hatha yoga), Duncan Peak (flow yoga), Fabio Andrico (Tibetan Buddhist Yantra yoga), Richard Miller (IREST yoga nidra), Lorin Roche (Instinctive Meditation), Tom Knowles & Tom Cronin (Vedic meditation), Nataraj Chaitanya (Trika Shaivism), Tova Olsson (tantric philosophy), Dr Robert Svoboda (yogic philosophy), & Vamadeva Shastri (Ayurvedic Healing & Vedic Counselling).
I also bestow gratitude to my teacher's lineage including K. Patthabi Jois, Maharishi Mahesh Yogi, Krishnamacharya, Bishnu Gosh, & Swami Lakshmanjoo.
The Yoga
During a Namastayz adventure retreat you will enjoy a cup full of yoga and meditation every day. Most days this will include a gentle asana based practice - hatha , Tibetan Buddhist, or yin yoga, meditation - Vedic based, Buddhist, IREST or guided, and doses of ancient myth and story, mantra & mudra, ritual & ceremony, relevant philosophy talks, or visits to spiritual places -natural landscapes, ancient places, temples, monasteries, and sites imbued with spiritual energy and meaning. Your daily practices will reflect the theme or destination we are exploring. They are curated as a sacred passage into the home of your body, as timeless wisdom to nurture personal growth, & as holding spaces that invite you to embody a lived sense spirituality
As facilitator and guide I aim to offer you moments for personal growth & authentic connection with SELF & others. You will receive opportunities to awaken to your body's language, release habitual pattens of movement & BE-ing, unravel old patterns of contraction and holding, and experience your body and breath as pathways to unitive consciousness. We will explore the the vast array of states of consciousness that arise when we move through each day and begin to delve into the yogic states of consciousness we experience when we practice with authenticity, sincerity, grace and love.
The Meditation
Meditation has been a joyful influence in my life for over a decade. It has been my portal into the cosmos & the oceanic bliss of consciousness. Meditation has gifted me peace of mind, clarity of thought, emotional intuition, physical sensitivity, spiritual insight, energetic awareness and most of all TIME. Research reveals that meditation 'gives us time', it allows us to experience each moment more fully, to spend less time ruminating and catastrophising and more time being where we are - fully.
I have studied the art of meditation with Blue Throat Yoga (Canada), Loran Roche (USA), Tom Cronin (Australia), Tom Knowles (USA), and many of my teachers along the way.
As I am an initiated Vedic meditation teacher from the Maharishi Mahesh Yogi lineage, on your retreat you will learn the essence of a Vedic meditation practice (the art of deep seated stress release) and also experience a diverse variety of authentic meditation, mindfulness and contemplation practices, as I do not believe there is always a one fits all approach to a successful meditation practice (one you are simply willing to actually do every day!).
We will aim to practice 2 x 20 minute sessions of meditation per day so by the end of your adventure you will have established for yourself a regular meditation practice. All meditation practices on retreat are discretional.
The Facilitator
I have been a full time yoga teacher for over 10 years. I have owned my own yoga shalas -The Yoga Hut, The Yoga Hive SouthSide, NorthSide & Central, for 8 years. I have also been the trauma yoga teacher at a specialised women's trauma hospital since it opened mid 2022. I have taught group classes, school yoga, one on ones, sports groups, corporate classes, and people with disabilities, and still see myself as a constant leaner and student of yoga & life.
My background includes-
a Bachelor Degree in Health Science - Nutrition and Naturopathy, over a 1000 hours of accredited yoga teacher training including Okido Yoga, ashtanga yoga, Bikram yoga, vinyasa yoga, and yin yoga. I also have advanced diplomas in counselling & art therapy. You are in safe and experienced hands when you retreat with me.
Yoga shala owner and head teacher
International yoga retreat facilitator
Trauma yoga teacher
Vedic meditation teacher
Transpersonal counsellor and art therapist
Ayurvedic wellness coach
Words from Wanderers
I have been on multiple retreats with Bec and they have all been personally transformative, fostering a deep sense of connection & spiritual growth. Through my journeys with Bec I have felt consistently safe, supported and inspired. Her thoughtful approach weaves together diverse yoga and meditation practices, creating a rich tapestry of experiences. The retreats have provided invaluable opportunities to connect with like-minded people. Bec has meticulous attention to detail and care for each persons wellbeing - Lucy Pickford
This was my first retreat with Becci and I was a bit out of practice with yoga. i felt so motivated & challenged to level up my practice, the variety of yoga was fantastic and a good opportunity to try different practices. The food was beautiful and nourishing, I felt safe and blessed to be part of this experience. Jess McEwan
I keep coming back to Becci's retreats. Becci has shown me so many wonderful and inspiring places that I would never see on my own. Namastayz yoga retreats are the ideal travel journey to inspire spiritual awakening, rejuvenate health, and simply make you very happy!! Nothing is too much traouble for Becci - she is the embodiment of all things yoga - Robyn Cartwright
My trip to Nepal and Bhutan last October–November was truly incredible. Becci had organised the entire itinerary so thoughtfully — it was perfectly balanced with full days of activities, delicious meals three times a day, and some slower days where we could rest and really take everything in.
Becci is incredibly thorough and deeply knowledgeable in both her yoga teachings and Vajrayana Buddhism, which added so much depth and meaning to the experience. We were able to explore many different parts of Nepal, which I loved as it’s such a diverse and fascinating place. Bhutan was absolutely stunning, and hiking up to Tiger’s Nest was a huge highlight of the trip. Becci and I even chose to do the hike barefoot, which allowed us to really absorb the energy of such a sacred place — an experience I’ll never forget.
I also had the best time connecting with the other women on the retreat. It was such a special, supportive group, and I came home feeling inspired, grounded, and already excited to book my next retreat with Becci.
Highly recommend - Grace Thompson
"Becci’s retreats are an amazing blend of culture, adventure and spiritualism with a daily offering of yoga practice. Becci creates a safe and welcoming space for all levels of experience, both as a traveller and a yogi.
This is my second retreat and both were completely unique and filled with many memorable moments. Becci has an incredible capacity to build an harmonious group energy and ensure that everyone has a fabulous time. The accomodation and meals were amazing. looking forward to our next adventure together" - Jodie Molinia
"The Spirit of Sri Lanka retreat was amazing. Becci fostered a safe and harmonious group environment, everyone got along really well and was open to all the trip had to offer. The places we stayed and all activities we did were brilliant, the yoga and meditation amazing, the whole trip was so peaceful, relaxing and that little bit challenging. Highly recommend!" - Joanne Harle
" I went on a Namastayz retreat & it was an amazing spiritual, cultural, enriching experience. Nourishing for heart, soul, & body, and shared with an amazing group of like minded humans" - Sally Spriggs
Spirit of Sri Lanka was my third retrteat with Bec. What an incredible adventure and spiritual yoga experineces with fanatastic people. Beautifal yoga twicw daily for all levels including those new to yoga. The hotels and food have been exceptional. Bec personally visits each place to curate the most incredible trips" - Kazzie
"The spirit of Sri Lanka tour with Becci was amazing. I went as a solo traveller and the group was friendly and accepting, and Becci always checked in to see if I was going ok. the accommodation and food was high quality and the tour allowed me to see lots of the country. I would definitely come bak to Sri Lanka with Becci again" - Cara Dobinson
Not just a retreat, it's traveling yoga! Very well organised small group yoga retreats. Well thought out yoga and meditation classes with some self development workshops. 2 classes a day, morning class energetic and afternoon/evening class more restorative. Fully immersed in the local cultures and traditions, traveling from the sea to the mountains to the lakes, enjoying temple visits, puja and festivals with hiking and swimming. All inclusive food of a high standard along with the accommodation, clean and comfortable rooms, welcoming and friendly staff. Wonderful leader in Bec, good group dynamics with a chance to get to know each other better and to make new friends - Andrea Jones
