About Caroline

Caroline Westling

Educator in Philosophy, Yoga & Meditation

With 20 years of experience teaching yoga, philosophy, and meditation, Caroline Westling is a well-recognized and beloved teacher. She has taught and trained future yoga teachers in many countries. In her home country of Sweden, Caroline has served as a specialized guest teacher in various teacher trainings, given public lectures and taught yoga in schools, prisons and senior centers.

Caroline is known for her authenticity, the structure of classes, always having a clear reason why she teaches sequences in a particular way, and for her keen ability to teach students individually while in a group and understand their unique needs. With an eye for reading and understanding energy and bodies, Caroline adjusts her teaching according to the students’ needs, making the practice uniquely suited for each student. She uses that approach for the asana teaching as well as students’ internal practice. She is genuinely curious about people and their thoughts, and the discussions she leads regarding yoga, philosophy and life are based on each student’s understanding.

Caroline’s yoga path began when she was a young girl with a deep interest in philosophy and the meaning of life. She was strongly influenced by her grandmother who shared the same interests and practiced yoga during Caroline’s youth. With her grandmother as an example, Caroline started practicing Hatha Yoga and maintained an individual practice for many years. She completed her first two-year teacher training in the Ashtanga yoga tradition, where she met her first Indian teacher, Sashikala Ananth, a student of Krishimacharya.

Caroline studied with Sashikala Ananth in Sweden and India. Caroline studied with several other teachers, many of whom were Iyengar teachers, and Iyengar is a tradition that strongly influences Caroline’s teaching today. However, it was in her teacher training at Yoga Works in 2006 that Caroline fell in love with sequencing and supportive alignment.

From there, Caroline went on to practice and study with Maty Ezraty, the founder of Yoga Works, who became her teacher and mentor. Caroline continued to study with Maty every year until her passing. Caroline’s early interest in philosophy is an integral part of her teaching. She has delved deeply into the study of Indian and yogic philosophy in India and Sweden, as well as Western philosophy, the history of philosophy, political and social philosophy and ethics at Linkoping’s University in Sweden.

Career Highlights

Caroline has put a lot of time and effort into her own education so that she can best serve her students. Some of her career and training highlights include:

2004 At twenty-five Caroline began teaching yoga in hotels and spas. This was, in part, because she was the restaurant manager for two hotels in Sweden.
2006 Caroline opened her own yoga studio in 2006 in Västervik, Sweden. She ran the studio for six years until her family expanded to three children.
2006 Caroline started teaching yoga and hold lectures about health and living a balanced life in Swedish prisons. She did this for several years until the Swedish prison system started their own yoga program.
2006 Caroline also held lectures and taught yoga in Swedish schools, hospitals and senior centers.
2007 Caroline co-created and taught a 260-hour teacher training that was conducted in Sweden, Norway, Denmark and India for several years.
2007 Caroline began offering retreats at her home on Lake Hjorten, Sweden.
2012 Caroline launched YogaMakes, an online yoga education program designed to offer yoga to all regardless of location or circumstances. This was initiated cooperation with others and currently runs on her platform, carolinewestling.com.
2013 YogaMakes a Difference Free Education in Yoga was launched and took place first time in Stockholm. Later it was taught in Barcelona, Berlin and Amsterdam.
2013 Caroline started teaching in Yogayama´s 200- and 300-Hour Teacher Training in Stockholm.
2017 Caroline became Head of Yoga at Yogayama, Sweden’s largest Yoga school. Caroline was responsible for all yoga content and teachers, Yogayama’s studios, the franchise chain and education programs.
2017 Caroline develops and is responsible for the asana portion of the Yogayama 200- and 300-Hour Teacher Trainings, as well as mentoring the teacher trainers. Together with Sara Granström Powiecki, she still runs the well-reputed program.

Caroline currently spends her time and energy on retreats, group mentoring and online course development for yoga teachers. She focuses largely on philosophy, sequencing, and teaching teachers how to develop themselves, their practice, their teaching skills, and how to understand asana and individual needs of students, as well as philosophy and sequencing.

Testimonials

Caroline is an outstanding experienced yoga teacher. She teaches to practice yoga in a structured and neat way, step by step: what to do, in what order and why. She transmits the passion of being pedagogical. She prepares herself very well, she observes the students carefully and she is constantly reflecting upon her own work. She’s got an exceptionally quick understanding of the poses taken by students, especially concerning the energetic distribution in the bodies. Her yoga sequences are inventive and clever. At the core of her transmission resides the safety of the practice and the alignment with respect to each student’s possibilities. Humbly and generously, she shares her deep and broad knowledge, both regarding the physical practice and the spiritual and philosophical practice. She inspires her students to deepen their yoga practice in all directions. Her teaching reaches way beyond the yoga mat.

CÈCILE B.L.

Caroline is one of my absolute favourite teachers. She has a great ability to set my body up for specific asanas. With props and fantastic guiding, she makes advanced positions more available. It’s like she is communicating with my body instead of me and my head. In addition to her great understanding of energy in poses, she is so well rooted in the
tradition and philosophy of yoga that I can really rest in her space and feel safe.

NENNE A

I met Caroline through my teacher training at Yogayama. She is an inspiration and an amazing teacher. Caroline has taught me a lot, both about teaching myself, but also about my own path and yoga practice. Her knowledge and passion for sharing the yoga path is inspiring. She shares her knowledge generously.

CHRISTINA KB

I love Caroline’s yoga teachings. She has very well-structured classes with beautiful sequences. I like in particular her restorative classes and her foundation classes with props. Her classes are clear, with easy to follow instructions. She emphasizes a safe practice with precise alignment and a beautiful connection to the breath. Caroline teaches from the heart with a deep understanding from her own experience, always with compassion and some humor.

FRANZISKA S

Caroline has an ability to make a person feel seen even in a large group. She is clear in her instructions and assistance. There is also a sense of security to be able to practice with Caroline, who places great importance on doing poses safely and leaves nothing to chance!

Ellinor L.

When I started practicing with Caroline things started to fall into place. She helps me by truly seeing me and my struggles. She does not give you shortcuts and the answers—she makes you find them yourself. She is there to support you on your way without hesitation, and with patience because Caroline knows it´s my practice and my pace that will put me on my path. She helps you find the tools to find your own strengths, both in your asana practice and also in your philosophy practice.

Anika FB

Caroline is a very enthusiastic and well-prepared instructor. You have no doubt about her passion for yoga – it’s her life. She is a technically skilled instructor, she’s has “an eye on each finger” – in her class you feel that you are seen. Her gift is that she has the ability to always make you feel safe and well taken care of.

MONA D

Their message is clear, solid and truthful. The Asana practice is safe, they know bodies by just looking at them and they help you to go further from where you are today.

BELÉN A