About
Rodolfo Villanueva
Yoga teacher, Auckland. I offer personalised yoga for individuals and tailored programmes for groups—in person, and shaped around the people in the room.
Approach
Plain yoga, taught carefully.
Sessions are built from four simple materials: accessible movement, rest, attention and gentle awareness of breathing. Nothing acrobatic, nothing performative and nothing that requires a particular body, fitness level or background.
I teach the same way in every setting—with clear options, unhurried pacing and standing permission to pause, observe or stop. People learn best when nothing is demanded of them, so nothing is.
The people I work with vary widely—in age, circumstance and what brings them to a mat. I plan for that variety rather than assume it away: every session has more than one way to take part, and taking part is always a choice.
I don't use hands-on adjustments, forceful breathing practices, hyperventilation or breath retention, in any setting.
Experience
Teaching in demanding settings.
For more than fifteen years I have worked with people from trauma backgrounds and in high-pressure environments. That includes teaching yoga in high- and maximum-security prisons in Aotearoa New Zealand.
I mention this not as a story, but as evidence of context: those environments require predictable structure, genuine choice, careful professional judgement and full respect for the host organisation's operating requirements. That discipline carries into every session I teach—in a private studio just as much as in a structured setting.
Background
Qualifications and training.
Formal qualification
Bachelor of Arts (Honours) in Psychology, First Class.
Yoga and movement training
- Trauma-informed yoga
- Mindfulness-based stress reduction
- Yoga nidra
- Yin yoga
- Vinyasa yoga
- Hatha yoga
- Embodied intelligence
- Somatics
- Nervous system
- Functional anatomy
Group work
- Group facilitation
- Group dynamics
Training shapes how sessions are designed—it doesn't change what they are. What I offer is yoga, within the scope published below, not therapy or treatment of any kind.
Scope of practice
What I do—and what I don't.
I provide in-person, non-clinical yoga for individuals and groups. Sessions may include accessible movement, rest, attention and gentle awareness of breathing. I work with young people under 18 only through a commissioning organisation, or with a parent or guardian's written consent and a responsible adult present. I do not provide counselling, psychotherapy, diagnosis, trauma treatment, medical care, injury rehabilitation or crisis support. Participants may change, pause, observe or stop a practice at any time. When someone needs support outside my role, I will suggest an appropriately qualified service.
Practice boundaries
- Young people under 18 only through a commissioning organisation, or with a parent or guardian's consent and a responsible adult present
- No hands-on adjustments
- No forceful breathing, hyperventilation or breath retention
- In person across Auckland—selected private studios and organisation-provided venues; no home visits, no online sessions
- Group programmes always run with a named staff member from the commissioning organisation present
Questions are welcome.
If you're unsure whether what I offer fits, ask—that's exactly what an enquiry is for.