POSITIVELY guiding a path for positive energy within the surfing culture and the Phillip Island community is Dominique Salerno – sharing the art of yoga at the Phillip Island Boardriders Club (PIBC).
As an authentic and passionate educator in the industry for the past 24 years, Dominique has supported her students to practice the technique of yoga and paniyaram – the colloquial term for breathwork - and was approached by PIBC president Hannah Eisen to bring this technique safely and ‘functionally speaking for surfing’ into their inclusive environment.
Dominique has now been teaching at the clubrooms for over 12 months and said, “I'm really interested in serving whoever's in front of me. I don’t come to class married with a class plan. I wait to see who turns up to our casual ongoing sessions, because we welcome a very mixed demographic,” said Dominique.
“Sometimes we have children as young as 13, as well as the ‘OG’ board riders in their mid-70’s, so in each session I am catering for a very broad range, so my modus operandi is to meet each person where they are, and I teach to that.”
All the sessions at PIBC are open, casual, and ongoing. The club are very fortunate to have a large, beautiful space so there is no need to take bookings – Dominique welcomes anyone to join, as she believes that ‘yoga is a tool for navigating our lives and developing our human potential.’
The beginning of Dominique’s journey started with a qualification in counselling - sharing that she happened to find a training that just spoke to her at the time for her own reasons.
“I didn't undertake that training with a view to using it. It was just for me, but as it happens, it layers on nicely with everything else that I do today.”
On the island Dominique works as a yoga therapist, (in public classes at PIBC) and in individual yoga therapy sessions – or smaller group settings which is where the counselling and her study of Ayurveda (the medicinal branch of yoga) meet.
“This means that we can bring that toolkit together in a way that again serves whoever's in front of me. Some people I work with just want to learn breath work, some are after nutritional and lifestyle advice; whilst others are after the physical practice.”
With a background of owning and operating The Australian Yoga Academy – a premier teacher training institute in Melbourne and teaching foundational training. Dominique now lives on Phillip Island and for the past three years has concentrated on refining an instructor’s ability to teach the breathwork components of the yoga practice, as well as general teachers mentoring, ‘because many people make a gradual progression into full time teaching, and it is important to guide their practice.’
“Yoga has been around for thousands of years, but over the past decade many more people for various reasons are taking responsibility for their health – whether that be their physical, mental, or emotional wellbeing, and I have been pleasantly surprised that at least 40 per cent of the class participants at the group session at PIBC are over the age of 35 – which demographically is very unique,” said Dominique.
The shift that Dominique has seen in teaching on Phillip Island is that the surfing community already have a beautiful connection to their physical, mental, and spiritual health, “and the way that yoga has really galvanized that community and brought those different age groups together, is really something to behold.”
PIBC sessions are held on the following days in 2024:
Monday: 6pm - 7pm
Wednesday: 6pm - 7pm
Thursday: 9.30am - 10.45am
Friday: 6am - 7am
Or for individual sessions or mentoring visit Yoga with Dominique | Dominique Salerno Yoga