About Monica Garner

Monica Garner is a yoga teacher, educator, writer, and lived experience advocate whose work sits at the intersection of therapeutic yoga, compassionate care, and weight stigma awareness. 

She is the founder of True Yoga and has taught across a wide range of settings including wellness centres, local studios, private one-to-one sessions, corporate wellbeing programs, and community-based classes. Monica has also worked extensively within yoga education in Australia, teaching and mentoring over 200 yoga teacher trainees through VET-level Certificate IV and Diploma yoga teacher training programs. 

Her teaching approach integrates gentle and therapeutic yoga practices, mindfulness, breathwork, nervous system support, and the relational aspects of teaching. She is particularly interested in creating spaces where people feel safe, supported, and genuinely cared for within their practice. 

Alongside her teaching, Monica has contributed to research and advocacy exploring the role of yoga teachers as allies in obesity care and weight stigma reduction. This work has been presented at both national and international scientific conferences, including the UK Congress on Obesity in Scotland and the Australian and New Zealand Obesity Society (ANZOS) conference in 2025. She has also contributed to academic commentary alongside established obesity researchers examining the impact of weight stigma in healthcare and wellbeing settings. 

Monica’s training includes over 500 hours of formal yoga teacher training and specialised study, alongside extensive continuing education, mentorship, and many years of professional teaching experience. Her studies have been under both Canadian teachers and Australian teachers - Yoga Studio College of Canada (Valery Petrich), YogaMaya (Debby Sereda), Yinspiration (Jo Phee & Joe Barnett), Adore Yoga (Nikola Ellis), Mother Nurture Yoga (Caroline Bagga) and Core Body Therapy (Chris O'Brien)