Our Team
Loraine Rushton
EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR
Loraine is one of the world’s leading authorities on yoga and yoga therapy for children and teens. As the Founder and Director of Zenergy Yoga, her ability to deliver impactful yoga solutions is based on over 25 years of experience and over 20,000 hours of teaching 1,000’s of kids and teens of all ages. She has taught 1,000’s of yoga teachers, school teachers, parents, care-givers and professionals who work with children how to teach yoga in a way that is educational, meaningful and fun. She has used yoga therapy to impact people with a wide range of issues from Autism, ADHD, Asthma, Diabetes, Scoliosis, Bad Backs, Digestive Issues, Weight Management, Blood Pressure, all the way through to pancreatic cancer and leukemia. As an active advocate for the benefits of yoga for children and teens, she has authored over 35 published articles, was featured in the documentary Yoga For Change, and served on the board of International Yoga Teacher’s Association and the Australasian Association of Yoga Therapists. As the Chairperson of the Kids Yoga Committee for the Board of Yoga Australia, Loraine authored the standards for children’s yoga. She was named the Australian Yoga Professional of the Year for 2022.
Lou Markstrom
VP & TREASURER
As the Director and CEO of Results Group International, Lou brings over 25 years of business and organisational experience to the team. Over the last 25 years, he has worked with over 50,000 individuals in a wide variety of organisations to improve capabilities and increase performance. He specialises in designing, developing and delivering programs that create long lasting and impactful results and his company was recognised as one of the top 10 Organisational Development companies in APAC region. Lou will also bring to bear over 40 years of experience as a martial arts instructor to the mission of The Yoga Solution. He is a graduate of the Stern School of Business at NYU and his not for profit experience includes various roles as an alumni of NYU including having been VP of the Alumni Board of Directors for the Stern School and member of the NYU alumni council. Lou also served as the NY State Director for the Association of Collegiate Entrepreneurs (501c3). For his achievements, Lou has been inducted in 5 Halls of Fame (NYU Entrepreneurship Hall of Fame, Stern School of Business Hall of Fame, Association of Collegiate Entrepreneurs Hall of Fame, Action Martial Arts Magazine Hall of Fame and American Federation of Martial Arts Hall of Fame).
Dr. Adele Vincent
SECRETARY
Dr. Adele Vincent holds a PHD in Neurscience from the University of Tasmania. She has a unique and extensive background that combines being a Neuroscientist, researcher and lecturer with that of being a yoga and meditation teacher. As a Neuroscientist, she was an NHMRC Research Fellow with the Menzies Institute for Medical Research and also for the Life Sciences Institute for the University of British Columbia. As a yoga teacher and yoga therapist, she is co-author of the Children’s Yoga Therapy book, Butterfies Be Gone and the founder of Move Yoga Therapy. Adele has been a member of Yoga Australia, The International Yoga Teacher’s Association, The Society for Neuroscience and The Australian Neuroscience Society.
Sarah Platt-Finger
Sarah Platt-Finger is the Director of Yoga at Chopra Global and the personal Yoga Teacher to Dr. Deepak Chopra. He has called her “an extraordinary teacher of yoga that called enormously to my well-being!” She is the co-founder of Ishta Yoga, LLC. Her newly released book, Living in the Light, which she has co-authored with Dr. Deepak Chopra, is currently rated the #1 bestselling Yoga book on Amazon. Sarah received her 500-hour Yoga certification in the ISHTA lineage in 2004 and was initiated as a Yoga Master by her husband, Kavi Yogiraj Alan Finger, in 2013. Since then, Sarah has made it her life’s purpose to share the authentic teachings of yoga worldwide. She helped develop one of the most renowned Yoga Teacher Training programs in New York City that expanded internationally to London, Sweden, Germany, Japan, and Australia. Sarah believes that the practice of yoga on the mat is a reflection of the reality we create off the mat, and that a deeper awareness of our physical, mental, and emotional patterns can bring us closer to the essence of our being. She was a founding member and served on the Board of the Exhale to Inhale foundation bringing the benefits of yoga to Trauma victims.
Dr Suma Syamkumar
Suma Syamkumar is a fellow with the Royal Australian College of Physicians. She is dual trained as a Paediatrician and a Paediatric Emergency Medicine Physician. Suma has wide experience in Paediatrics in both Australia and overseas and currently works at The Children’s Hospital at Westmead in Sydney as a Paediatric Emergency Physician. Suma began her Paediatric career in India before moving to Australia in 2010. Suma is passionate about children’s mental health and is proud to be a member of the board of Yoga Solutions.
Matt Tonkin
Matt Tonkin is a highly respected and experienced teacher and Assistant Principal at Fisher Road School (FRS). Fisher Road School is a leader in special education, providing quality education for students from preschool to Year 12, with mild to severe intellectual disabilities. Always keen to learn & very curious, innovation in special education has been at the heart of Matt’s teaching philosophy for over fifteen years. Matt uses the 8 key strategies from the “What works best framework” to guide his work and decisions, leading in a highly visible and proactive way, promoting a positive learning culture to enhance student outcomes, wellbeing and engagement. He has launched innovative initiatives such as the TEACCH autism program and Fisher Road Zones of Regulation. He holds a Bachelor of Teaching/Arts with Honour and is an accredited verbal and safety intervention instructor. Matt worked extensively with Loraine in delivering a yoga therapy program at the Fisher Road School for low functioning and non-verbal austistic students at the school which yielded amazing results. This success of this program was the inspiration for creating The Yoga Solution.
