Meet Our Team
A Journey from Italy to discover the world and ourselves took us to New Zealand, the place where we met.
Our shared love for art, nature and yoga brought us together.
Our passions and interests combined, allowed us to create new ideas and transform them into reality.
Our shared love for art, nature and yoga brought us together.
Our passions and interests combined, allowed us to create new ideas and transform them into reality.
Ilenia Di Nicola (Dinny)
DINNY DESIGN
Artist, Graphic Designer, Yoga Teacher, Intentional Peer Support After graduating as a Graphic Designer and Photographer in Italy, Dinny reached over 10 years of experience working as a full-time professional Graphic Designer in both employment and freelancing. She has created national and international projects, as well as all the advertising campaigns for important festivals such as New Zealand’s International Yoga Festival and Voices of Sacred Earth Festival for two consecutive years, 2019 and 2020.
Since she was little, art has always been an essential part of her life along her journey. This powerful tool is her natural vocation, for this very reason she continued her personal and professional development and dove her knowledge towards different artistic and wellbeing disciplines particularly focused in Self-Healing and Self-Exploration. She deepened her knowledge in the native art world and achieved Kāwai Raupapa Certificate in Māori and Indigenous Art. Exploring core beliefs, dreams and purpose. She is currently studying for the Manaaki Tāngata Certificate in Bicultural Social Services. On her journey to personal growth, she got in contact with Yoga and decided to dive deeper into this discipline, and finally gained her Yoga Teacher Training Certificate. On her path of learning, discoveries and personal achievements, her life purpose is to get closer to Self-Love by practicing conscious communication towards herself and others motivated by Nonviolent Communication and Intentional Peer Support; to Self-Awareness by keeping herself engaged in the present moment, admiring and respecting the world around her inspired by Trauma Sensitive Yoga; and to Self-Care by her ongoing commitment to herself with Mindfulness practices such as Yoga and Meditation. Her wide skill set and experiences gave her the ability to turn her career into an enjoyable and executive environment. “After working in an office environment for several years, I decided to step out of my own comfort zone and begin to travel. This journey gave me the inspiration to follow my dreams fearlessly, take on new daily challenges, discover the world, and gently adapt to different environments. My traveling experience opened my heart and mind to discover new cultures through new connections, and to create several worldwide families formed by strong worldwide friendships cultivated between Australia and Aotearoa, New Zealand. It has been so far an extraordinary opportunity to explore myself amid the discomfort and to appreciate humanity in all its colors, stories, traditions and innovations.” 
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Giulia Mattioli
RAWHITI SELFLOVE
Energy Healer, Meditation Facilitator Cacao Ambassador Giulia's spiritual journey started after moving from Italy to Scotland, where she started to get closer to yoga and its principals. After taking part in a 3 days shamanic retreat, she decided to follow her intuition and start travelling. To develop a deeper understanding of this discipline, she gained her 200hrs YTT in the South of India. This amazing experience taught her to live in harmony with herself and her surroundings and how important it is to share this knowledge with everyone.
This journey took her to discover New Zealand, where she started teaching Yoga in some retreat centers in the North and South Islands. This amazing land gave her the great opportunity to share her knowledge and wisdom in different festivals, such as Voice of Sacred Earth Festival, New Zealand’s International Yoga Festival and NZ Spirit. She is a reliable and respectful person, able to build a strong and trustworthy relationship with all kinds of people. “Every single challenge in my life brought me to be the person I am today. Thanks to the practice of Yoga I have the opportunity to connect with myself, my intuition and deal with personal family conditions, self-esteem, and my well-being. I've always had an inclination to supporting people. I have assisted children with physical and learning disabilities, I have supported teenagers and adults going through difficult personal choices and life challenges guiding them to reach their full potential. Thanks to all those experiences, I have developed strong and solid caring competencies as well as interpersonal skills.” 
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What they say about us
Making our mum proud.
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Think Beyond Your Genes
BRUCE LIPTON'S NEWSLETTER Bruce H. Lipton, PhD - Recommends Here at Art Yoga we strongly believe that our project, based on an artistic and meditational path, is a therapeutic and inspirational means providing joy and a sense of purpose for everyone. Through self-exploration and creativity, art allows individuals to express their feelings and overcome personal challenges. |
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Our Auckland
MEDITATIVE ART FOR EVERYONE You can be forgiven for not already knowing about Art Yoga, but there are two passionate Italians bringing this form of meditative art to the local community. Dinny and Giulia are the creators of Art Yoga which was recently awarded an Ōrākei Local Board Community Grant for use towards sharing their vision and unique methods of connecting body, mind and soul in a creative way. |
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Grandparents Raising Grandchildren Trust NZ
PANUI NEWSLETTER Art & Tea Seniors — Feedback from Participants “I want to express my gratitude to Grandparents Raising Grandchildren, for making available to me this wonderful opportunity to attend Art & Tea. It has provided me with such great "me time" - much needed in my role as caregiver to a six year old child. The gift of an hour and a half a week to myself has proved so valuable to my mental health and general wellbeing.” |
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Interview with Art Yoga
ONDAZZURRA ITALIAN RADIO SHOW IN NEW ZEALAND Art Yoga, a therapeutic and inspirational path with meditative and artistic bases. These are individual and group courses, which aim to increase harmony with oneself, awareness of the present and of one's inner world. Art Yoga guides participants with non-verbal explorations of creativity to express their feelings, accept the emotions that emerge, accept themselves, develop their creative voice and their balance of emotional well-being. The future project is to bring Art Yoga to schools to enhance the educational value of the combination of art and mindfulness. |
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Art Yoga
WHAKATAU MAI - THE WELLBEING SESSIONS We recently received this amazing feedback from Claire, a Year 3/4 teacher who brought her entire class to one of our Creative Playground sessions (available nationwide during school holidays and/or any time an area is placed into Level 3 or 4). "My students have been asking every day when we will be seeing ‘the screen people’ again. They really loved it, some of my higher needs students were so engaged, which is a dream for teachers! Honestly, rural schools need these connections. Students and whanau can’t access these kinds of resources. Facilitators won’t travel this far, and if they can, schools can’t afford them." This feedback really got us thinking about how important it is for our rural communities to have access to wellbeing services, and how the Whakatau Mai sessions have made it easier for smaller communities to find connection and reduce isolation, simply by being able to join an online wellbeing session. |
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Guided Meditation
WHAKATAU MAI - THE WELLBEING SESSIONS "The meditation was so powerful, I felt the energy connected to my body and the earth." "Such a simple yet refreshing session. learning lots and enjoying it more as the weeks go by." "I loved this session, especially the chanting of every chakra." Some of last week's feedback from our popular Guided Meditation session. Join our session host, Rawhiti Selflove, as she takes you on an energising journey through each chakra in each session. Strengthen the qualities of all the chakras to allow yourself to feel more in connection with your feelings and emotions, and free your energy to allow it to flow, just as it should. |
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Top Picks For Artweek Auckland 2020
VERVE MAGAZINE What an honor being picked by Verve Magazine as one of the TOP PICKS for Artweek Auckland Artweek Auckland returns for its tenth year, celebrating everything that is art. Auckland will be bursting with exhibitions, events, installations and activations – from walking tours, live music, street art, painting, photography and sculpture, there’s truly something for every art lover. We’ve put together a list of our top events from across the city that you shouldn’t miss. |
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Whakatau Mai: The Wellbeing Sessions
TE ORA AUAHA Creative Wellbeing Alliance Aotearoa Italian sisters, Giulia and Dinny, facilitate the popular Art Yoga sessions for Whakatau Mai, an ongoing series of online wellbeing sessions delivered by Changing Minds as part of the government’s COVID-19 Response Package. “These Art Yoga sessions offer an opportunity to safely express emotions we may feel we should hide – we are all in the same boat at the same time, but some of us are doing it tougher than others.” |
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A journey to...
OMEOMUNDI As a doctor I know how important it is to try to dissolve one's tensions, try to forget the problems and things that distress us for a while and find harmony. Coloring without thinking too much. Let yourself be carried away by instinct, imagination, fantasy. It is already a fantasy !!!! And when is it that we use it as adults. Always locked in work projects, paperwork, bills, keyboards, computers and cell phones. When we find a moment to find in ourselves that desire to "do nothing", those moments in which, transported only by the imagination, we color splendid drawings. Wow, what magical moments we unfortunately deprive ourselves of. That's why I share with you this coloring book that two girls who now live in New Zealand made! |
