How BILBY Started

Laurin Vassella
Sep 30
3 min read

Did you know that Bend It Like Buddha is 10 years old?!

Home Studio vs. The Killara Studio

Photos as always by the amazing Paul Fro.

The Beginning

I started BILBY in 2015 after working in surrounding studios. Scott decided to turn our single car garage into a yoga home practice space for me as I was clocking up 24 classes a week and needed a space to design them. Thankfully he is super handy and likes to build stuff.

This led to students asking for more classes and me bringing them home to my practice space. With time, it grew to classes running regularly + workshops + private lessons. I stopped working anywhere else and focused on BILBY.

At the same time yoga teacher trainees started coming in and I helped them through their course. They were such amazing people that I was desperate to give them work so they could share their gifts. You will know some of these beautiful souls - Sarah, Maryanne & Mandy to name a few!

The Start of Killara

As time went on and Covid-19 hit, my teaching took a turn to focus on yoga and immunity. I knew this magical system had so many answers to immunity. Over 2 years of research, I developed a whole system around this to support people through that tricky time. You will find a lot of these videos in the video library.

As this grew popular and the BILBY community continued to expand - so did the demand at the home studio. So, Scott and I decided it was time to branch out.

The Killara doors opened in 2021. Scott, me and the kids spent weeks painting, building shelfs, replacing walls and the whole works. By the time we were ready to open Covid-19 struck again with another lockdown. Thank goodness! We were all exhausted with the renovations that going back to zoom was no biggie as all the students were used to it anyway.

Here are a few snapshots of the beginning. And yes, I rode my skateboard as much as humanly possible during the renos.

When we opened up fully we were ready to go. As were the amazing teachers that showed up and came to work with me.

The Evolution

Having survived Covid-19 we thrived onward and upward. There were two main reasons that drove me - giving teachers a supportive and safe place to work (sadly that isn't the case everywhere) and creating community.

When we first started looking at spaces Scott kept pushing for bigger and bigger. I stuck to my guns that smaller is better. Smaller is more intimate and everyone feels looked after. No one is lost in the crowd and community is built from that.

Due to the talented teachers that have found their way to me, I was able to back off a bit and use my 12,000 teaching hours to certify as a Level 3 Teacher (joining the elite in Australia) and create a Yoga Foundations and Teacher Training Program. And what a program! It was what I envisioned and more. These teachers are next level and the world needs them.

There were a lot of laughs along the way!

What's Next?

You tell me. The sky is the limit. Let us keep building and growing together. In a world that can feel chaotic and overwhelming, yoga is the calm in the storm. It not only settles your nervous system but it helps regulate it.

The more you practice, the more you soak in these benefits.