Itta Roussos

Itta has four decades of experience guiding people on their personal healing journeys. An elder in experience and in years, she can offer guidance with trauma, anxiety, depression, pregnancy and birth.

Itta’s journey as a yoga therapist began in 1982 when she started teaching yoga and meditation to anti-apartheid activists. Due to the nature of the anti-apartheid struggle, using yoga as a form of therapy was a necessary tool to aid healing from torture, long periods of solitary confinement in prison, and living in hiding. These lived experiences caused symptoms of trauma, depression, anxiety and physical illness. The experience gained during these years has resulted in a lifelong interest in using yoga to heal mental and physical imbalances.

Itta’s role as yoga therapist and teacher includes a lifelong engagement with pregnancy and birthing, being a doula for 38 years. Itta has guided women in how to prepare their bodies for conception, through pregnancy and beyond the weaning years.

In 1999 Itta grandfathered as a Level 1 Kundalini Yoga teacher and went on to achieve Level 2 and Level 3 status in 2004 and 2017 respectively. Itta is a lead yoga teacher trainer and mentoring lead and founded AKYTTSA (African Kundalini Yoga Teacher Training of Southern Africa) for the purpose of training yoga teachers of colour.

During the 90’s Itta began to research the use of yoga as a form of therapy to aid in HIV/AIDS symptoms. She worked with pregnant women who had been diagnosed as HIV+ in antenatal public health and primary care settings. This led her to complete her Research Masters in Psychology (University of Witwatersrand), where she conducted a study on the intersection between pregnancy, PTSD, and yoga therapy.

Itta has founded Sat Sangat School for Yoga Therapy which is a member school of IAYT and is currently running an online yoga therapy training.