Belinda – Madhu – Be Puri
Most of us have known her by her yoga family name Madhu, while to her immediate family and friends from earlier years she is Belinda, but Be is the name that brings it all together, the name she now chooses. Be is a horse lover, ballroom dancing champion, hairdresser and makeup artist, choreographer, mother of four and yoga teacher. Hers is a story of how life experiences, courage and determination, deep reflection and continuous learning in the face of terrible trauma and personal struggles, informs her everyday life and teaching.
Be says ‘personal study and yoga is what has saved me throughout adult life from anxiety, self doubts and unhelpful thoughts. Through yoga I learnt to come back home to my body, to move, breathe and get curious.’ It is a wisdom she practices as well as teaches. Community is one of the important elements to Be’s yoga practice and through years of teaching in and around St Leonards this community has grown. Finding a place to establish a studio was already proving to be quite difficult, then ‘COVID came and completely knocked my socks off.’ Not to be deterred, it lead to further study, becoming a life-coach and creating a successful online studio called Rise and Shine.
Born Belinda Reid in Cobram, Be was young when her parents separated which lead to a move with her hairdresser mother to south east Melbourne. There, she got to spend a lot of time with her Nan while weekends were spent riding horses and school holidays meant time with her father and with her horse-training uncle and his family in Cobram.
At the age of ten Be started ballroom dancing and by fifteen she was an Australian Ballroom Champion. She describes it as a pivotal time in her life. ‘Even though I was an anxious child with a turbulent childhood, I found something special, I felt centered and I was good at it.’
At sixteen Be and her horse Tammy, went to live with her uncle and his family in Cobram, completing her final year of school at Cobram High. That year; school, riding horses and being with her five cousins ‘was a very happy year.’
Returning to Melbourne her mother decided she would become a hairdresser, and as it turns out she was quite good at it. Hairdressing, teaching ballroom dancing and a job in lighting at the Chevron led to a friend inviting her to Canberra to do choreography for a show. The show lasted three months, then, by chance she met up with an old teacher from Cobram High who was running a modeling agency and asked her to do hair for photo shoots. This led to a hair and makeup job in Canberra lasting three years. ‘I loved Canberra; it brought with it a sense of autonomy, of being able to make my own decisions, though it was still hard and anxiety was never far away.’
She also met her husband- to- be Mark in Canberra. Their first child was born in Canberra and not long after, they moved to Sydney. Despite what looked like the ‘perfect life’ she says ‘it was difficult being a mum and nothing worked to diminish the lifelong struggle with anxiety and depression until yoga.’ One day stuck in traffic she noticed a sign about the Yoga in Daily Life Ashram. Mark suggested she take a look, and at the age of thirty she did, fell in love with it and became a life-long devotee. Ashram founder, Swami Maheshwarananda gave her the name Madhu meaning sweet / honey.
Following the birth of their second child in Sydney, they moved to Melbourne. Two more children later, and the family of six were happily ensconced in their local community in the Dandenong Ranges. It wasn’t long however before the anxiety returned which prompted a return to the practices of yoga. Through the Richmond Yoga in Daily Life Ashram, Be undertook a two year teacher training course. Then tragedy stuck. Mark was diagnosed with cancer and began a harrowing course of chemotherapy. She says the local and yoga community enabled her to keep going. Mark died not long after the training was completed.
The children were then aged six to seventeen. Suddenly a single mother facing enormous challenges and fears, Be says ‘again yoga helped me to work with those fears and challenges’. Be and the children came to the Bellarine in 2014. She undertook further yoga teacher training and began teaching classes in St Leonards and Indented Head, as well as beach yoga during summer holidays. She currently teaches yoga at the Lifestyle Villages across the Bellarine and Geelong. She also leads weekend retreats and has compiled a twelve month online learning program called Rise and Shine, which she recorded over last year and is currently working on a nine week program focused on ‘decompressing’; relieving stress and a busy mind and connecting to self and others.
Two years ago, her partner Kelvin, asked if she wanted to build a house with him in St Leonards. She says she’s ‘found her place in St Leonards,’ and we might add, a community.
Humans in St Leonards 