Daraneli - Daraneli Yoga Studio, Cremorne Melbourne

Where it started

One room, twelve mats, no plan B

The first studio was a former upholstery workshop with the heating on a timer and a door that stuck in summer. We took it for six months to see whether anyone would come. Within eleven weeks the evening classes were full, so we took the lease for three years and paid for a new front door.

Nobody at the time was running a small-format vinyasa studio in Cremorne. The nearby options were big gyms with yoga timetabled alongside spin and pilates, or a hot yoga chain that ran forty people to a class. We wanted something in the middle: proper teaching, small numbers, no hard sell at the front desk.

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The original Cremorne Street studio frontage in the first year

2017 Doors opened

What we actually believe

Four ideas that shape every class

Not a values page with decorative words on it. These are the guiding principles that decide what gets taught, how big classes run and who gets hired.

Teaching beats performance

Our teachers explain and adjust. They are not on the mat demonstrating what their own body can do. If you leave a class without understanding something you did not arrive understanding, we have wasted your hour.

The teacher sees every mat

Fourteen mats is a hard ceiling. That number was chosen because it is the most people one teacher can genuinely observe, from the front row to the back corner, over a sixty minute class.

Repetition over novelty

We run the same sequences with the same cues for weeks at a time. Familiarity is how bodies learn. Nobody here is trying to surprise you with a new shape every Wednesday.

Honest pricing, honest exits

No joining fee, no contract, no cancellation call you have to sit through. Memberships pause for six weeks a year on request and cancel any time before your next payment date.

The studio today

What nine years of steady work looks like

42 Weekly classes

3 Practice rooms

9 Teachers on staff

11,400 Classes taught

Milestones

How the studio grew, year by year

2017
The studio opens as a single rented room on Cremorne Street. Twenty-three students in the first month, all through word of mouth.
2019
We take on the adjacent unit and open the middle room. The yin timetable starts on Mondays and Wednesdays with one teacher running both sessions.
2021
Showers and change cubicles get built after eighteen months of people changing in the hallway. The towel service starts the same week.

2023
The third room opens for small-group sessions and workshops. We start the six-week review chat for every new member and it becomes the pattern everyone now expects.
2025
Teacher training partnership with a Melbourne-based school begins. Two of our own teachers start mentoring new instructors from the studio floor.
Today
Forty-two classes a week, nine teachers, three rooms and a membership base that fills the timetable without ever going over fourteen mats.

The people teaching here

Nine teachers, all trained properly

Every teacher on staff holds a minimum 500-hour certification and has been practising for at least a decade. Four of them are also trained in rehab or physiotherapy-adjacent work, which matters more than people realise until they need it.

Co-founder

Mira Halvorsen

Opened the studio in 2017. Teaches most of the 6:15am vinyasa classes and still meets every new teacher before they join the roster.

Senior teacher

Tomas Ridley

Runs the Tuesday lunchtime and Sunday morning slots. Former physiotherapy assistant, so expect careful instructions for anything weight-bearing.

Yin and breath

Priya Anand

Leads the evening yin timetable. Trained in India and in Melbourne, specialises in slow practice and guided breathing for people who cannot switch off.

Studio manager

Jonah Whitfield

Handles the rosters, member enquiries and most of the six-week review chats. Teaches two vinyasa classes a week on Thursday and Friday mornings.

Our services

Two styles, taught in depth

We do not run a menu of ten class types. Both formats are taught by people who have spent years on them, and both keep to the fourteen-mat ceiling.

Students moving through a standing vinyasa sequence

Most booked

Vinyasa Flow Classes

Sixty and seventy-five minute sessions built around the breath. Standing sequences, transitions slowed down, and teachers who will actually tell you when your shoulders are not doing what you think they are.

$29 drop-in Learn more

Yin yoga student supported by a bolster in a forward fold

Evenings

Yin Yoga and Deep Stretch

Six or seven shapes held for three to five minutes each on the floor. The class people book when their lower back has been grumbling for months or when sleep has stopped arriving on time.

$34 single Learn more

The space

Three rooms built for the way people actually practise

The main front room of the studio in morning light — The front room, north-facing windows, morning classes

Middle room set up for a lunchtime class — The middle room, set up for the 12:30pm vinyasa slot

Small back room used for workshops and one-to-one sessions — The back room, kept small for workshops and one-to-one work

Shower and change area with lockers and towel shelf — Shower and change area, built in 2021, used every lunchtime

In their words

What long-term members say

Nine years of studios around Melbourne and this is the only one where the teacher has corrected my left shoulder without me asking. That alone is worth the membership.

Portrait of Claire, a long-term Daraneli member

Claire Beaumont Member since 2018

The six-week chat they do with every new member was the reason I stayed. Somebody actually asked whether the studio was still working for me. Nobody had ever done that.

Daniel Ngata Fortnightly member

I came for the yin classes after knee surgery. Priya adjusted every session for four months without me having to ask twice. That level of attention is unusual.

Nadia Petrakis Yin regular since 2019

Teacher breaking down a transition for a small group of students

How we run things

Why we still cap classes at fourteen

Every year we get asked the same question during peak months: could you not just add a few more mats and run fewer classes? The answer is no, and the reasoning has not changed since 2017.

One teacher can genuinely observe fourteen people
Props are always within reach, not rationed
Adjustments stay personal, never rushed
Nobody is practising on top of somebody else's towel

The moment you squeeze in a fifteenth mat, the teacher has to choose which row to skip. We would rather pay for a fourth room than make that choice.

See Pricing Contact the Studio

Common questions

What new visitors ask us

Two things, mostly. We cap classes at fourteen mats, and we keep the timetable narrow with two styles instead of running ten class types nobody has time to master. That combination means the person teaching you has the space and the experience to actually help.

Every teacher holds a minimum 500-hour certification and has at least ten years of personal practice behind them. Four of our teachers also have rehab or physiotherapy-adjacent training. Every teacher meets with a senior mentor once a month to review how their classes are running.

Yes. Casual drop-in pricing is designed for exactly that. Most people do two or three casual classes over a fortnight before deciding whether they want a membership or a class pass. There is no pressure at the front desk either way.

The front entrance and the main room have step-free access and an accessible bathroom on the same level. The middle and back rooms are reached by two steps. Let us know in advance and we will book you into the front room wherever the class allows.

We run seasonal deep-stretch workshops and occasional guest teacher sessions rather than a full teacher training program. The back room hosts small formats, usually six to ten people. Members get priority booking and often free entry on the shorter workshops.

Come and see

The first class is the easy part

Book any session in your first week and we will sort out the pricing questions afterwards. No pitch, no clipboard, no follow-up phone calls.

Book a First Class See Pricing

Daraneli Yoga Studio, Cremorne Melbourne