Justin Trudeau’s yoga guru Sarah Routhier joins Rachael Coopes in Bondi

You probably recognise Rachael Coopes from the likes of McLeod’s Daughters and Play School but now this darling of Aussie TV is teaching public yoga classes in Sydney. Find out how you can downward dog with a famous actor.

It wasn’t long after she’d relocated to sunny Bondi that Canada’s Sarah Routhier got a call that one of her former yoga students had hit the headlines.

“I taught Justin Trudeau before he became Prime Minister,” Ms Routhier said.

“His wife is a yoga teacher too so I can’t take all the credit.

“But my mum called me as soon as he got elected. She likes to think I’m part of why he got in.”

Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau along with his wife Sophie Gregoire in India. / AFP PHOTO / NARINDER NANU

Ms Routhier is part of an elite crew of four instructors at BodyMindLife Bondi who are responsible for running the popular 200 Hour Yoga Teacher Training program which is taken by aspiring teachers and those who simply want to take their yoga to the next level.

The four women also host public classes each week for their devotees.

Sarah Routhier in the Body Mind Life Yoga Studio in Bondi Beach, Sydney, Australia. Picture: NCA NewsWire / Gaye Gerard

The classes are regularly packed and eager students are known to gather outside the Hall Street studio for up to 45 minutes before they even start.

The secret? The women believe in combining the best of the Ashtanga philosophy, which focuses on flow, with the key elements of Iyengar which centres around alignment.

Also in the posse is a face you’re probably more familiar seeing on the silver screen.

McLeod’s Daughters and Play School star Rachael Coopes has been devoted to yoga for more than two decades and teaching it for the past 12 years.

Vicki Smart, Noelle Connolly, Rachael Coopes and Sarah Routhier are Bondi’s yoga dream team. Picture: NCA NewsWire / Gaye Gerard

The Darling Point resident said she turned to yoga in the early days of her acting career but never dreamed she’d become a teacher.

“I found the philosophy helped calm down my crazy brain,” she said.

“But I wasn’t going to be a yoga teacher – I was going to be a famous actor living in LA.

“I used to religiously spend two hours a day on the mat. Things have changed though – that’s not something I do now as a single mother of an eight year old.”

Yoga is still a central part of Ms Coopes’ life and she now leads three public classes a week.

“I’m a parent, I write, I’m still filming Play School so for me three classes is what I can do and give everything I’ve got to it each time,” she said.

Noelle Connolly leads the yoga program. Picture: NCA NewsWire / Gaye Gerard

Philadelphia native and now Bondi resident Noelle Connolly heads up the program at BodyMindLife.

Ms Connolly was trained in Santa Monica by the late Maty Ezraty, widely credited as the mother of the modern yoga movement, whose teachings are revered worldwide.

With investment bankers and pro surfers among her pupils, Ms Connolly said the eastern suburbs takes its yoga seriously.

“In Bondi there are a lot of type A personalities,” she said.

“I’ll come here to the 6am class and they’ll all be there waiting for me outside in the dark.

“And they’re quite vocal about what they like and what they don’t. They’re not shy to email those preferences.”

Rounding off the quartet is London recruitment consultant turned yoga teacher Vicki Smart who hasn’t looked back since moving to Surry Hills.

Did somebody say namaste? Picture: NCA NewsWire / Gaye Gerard

Ms Smart is one of only a handful of Yoga Medicine® Therapeutic Specialists in Australia.

With a background in CrossFit, Ms Smart is the teacher most often gravitated to by male students and those who have been advised to take up yoga for medical reasons.

“People will come to me and say ‘my doctor told me to do yoga’ or their girlfriend who practices will bring them along,” Ms Smart said.

“This is a bit of a generalisation, but I find the men don’t want it to be fluffy. They just want me to tell them exactly what to do and how to do it.”

The next 200 hour course will kick off in July.