Gemma O’ Rourke

Medicine Woman ~ Artist ~Yoga Teacher ~ Life Coach

founder of YOGA OCEAN

Yoga ~ Yin, Slow Flow, Gentle Yoga, Vinyasa, Restorative, Kundalini, Yoga for Trauma, Anxiety & Depression, Body Dysmorphia & Eating Disorder, Yoga for Stress Release

Healing ~ Shamanic Healing, Quantum Healing Hypnotherapy Technique ~ QHHT, Theta Healing, Crystal Healing, Reiki, Intuitive Movement, Sound

Breathwork ~ Nervous System Regulation, Breath Retraining ~ for Sleep Apnoea, Snoring, Asthma, Shamanic Breath. Conscious Connected Breath. Breathwork for Sports Performance & Cold Water Immersion

Life Coaching ~ Holistic Counselling & Spiritual Guidance, Meditation, Esoteric Wisdoms Teachings

Intuitive Readings ~ Tarot, Numerology

YOGA OCEAN will meet you where you are. At the gentle stream, where toes dip into unexplored emotion or subconscious thought patterns, where energy may swirl and ripple as physical expression begins or deepens, and spiritual exploration expands. All is witnessed with love, compassion, and appreciation for unique and individual journeys.

As you float and drift with a peaceful heart or when you feel lost and searching with anxiety and confusion, we offer safe anchorage. As you stretch mentally, physically and emotionally, perhaps discovering unresolved issues or feeling the serenity cultivated over many years of Yoga practise. Quieting into stillness, we become aware enough to hear the sacred drum of the heart, we stay steady with self-compassion and gentle non-judgement.

We create space for a deep dive into shadow, honour and celebrate individuality, share your joy and achievements, holding space for you to find the sparkling brilliance that is the Elixir you are here to share with others.

Your community, Your space.

SOLSTICE SENSATIONS

A Celebration of Life, Community and the Cosmic Cycles that guide and nourish our flow through the Winter Season in the Southern Hemisphere.

We honour Midwinter as a time to gather our energy in close, communing together around the Hearth Heart of the home, with fires ablaze for physical warmth, but also to invoke the consciousness that will bring us into Deep Contemplation about our passage in this, the Year of the Fire Horse, Numerological Number ONE.

3 Hours of Sacred Silliness! $66

$55 concession

We will dance and move and flow with drums and night sky spirit, we will feel our way with Breath and sustain with Cacao, Bliss Balls and the warmth of each other’s Heart Glow.

Simple lanterns with paper, sand, and tea candles will hold our aspirations, intentions, and dreams for a future we create by Being completely present in the Now.

Bookings via Humanitix : https://humanitix.com/solstice-sensations

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Commencing Friday May 29th 7 - 8 pm for 5 Weeks.

‍ ‍$235 Inclusive OR $50/session OR Concession $220 ‍

Bookings; Contact Gemma 0417 598 797

An opportunity to learn the healthiest, life-affirming, well-being-enhancing way to Breathe.

Our contemporary lifestyle and environmental factors have slowly eroded the natural human ‘Art of Breathing’. In the last century, our breathing rate has increased and is at times almost double the rate at which optimal gas exchange and lung function are supported.

This Course will help you unlearn habitual mouth breathing and slow your breathing rate, enhancing tolerance to Carbon Dioxide, a widely misunderstood yet essential component of natural gas exchange and oxygenation of tissues.

We will learn practical exercises and strategies to return to Nasal Breathing and slower, lower, deeper breathing… breathing ‘less’ to experience ‘more’.

These methods have been shown through primary research to correct the issues that lead to snoring, sleep apnoea, blocked nose, post-nasal drip, wheezing and asthma symptoms, halitosis, insomnia, anxiety and tension

This Course provides a progressive framework for retraining breathing mechanics, increasing carbon dioxide tolerance, and restoring nervous system balance. Drawing on modern science, functional breathing methods, and experiential stress adaptation practises, participants learn to embody efficient, resilient breathing in daily life and under challenge.

Breath Retraining Courses commenced on 29th May for 5 weeks & will wrap up at the end of June

Next 5 Week Course will begin in August

Yin Yoga

is a relatively new modality in the Yoga world, even though the long, slow shape holding is described in Ancient yogic texts. It is contemporary from the 1990s in terms of its presentation as a set of 3-5 minute poses in reclined, prone, and seated postures accessingt the connective tissue, offering myofascial release, musculoskeletal health, and energy restorative benefits.

Suitable for Beginners and Experienced Yogis, the gentle, appropriate pressure applied through Yin shapes, mindfulness, breath, and stillness enhances our capacity to move out of the busy Beta brainwave through the Alpha meditative state into the Theta experience of somnambulism… not sleeping but in the pre-dream space.

Monday 10:00 - 11.15 am

Wednesday 5.30 - 6.40 pm

Slow Flow

Vinyasa style with breath, mindfulness, and meditation in a rhythmic flow. We learn Yoga practises and philosophies in a light-hearted way that encompasses other wisdom-based spirituality.

Suitable for those who have done some yoga before.

Post Beginner to Intermediate Level

Monday 5.40 - 6.50 pm

Thursday 9.00 - 10.15 am

LIVING WELL PROGRAM

&

‘Rejuvenate’

YOGA OCEAN is delighted to be involved with the 'Living Well ' program run by the Devonport City Council.

It has been a wonderful opportunity to Hold Space for anyone seeking tranquillity within the 75minutes of our session, but also to learn ways to de-stress and regulate the nervous system daily

Yoga Ocean is not included in the Winter Program for 2026, so please stay tuned for updates toward Spring.

Meanwhile, ‘Rejuvenate ’ offers the same beautiful opportunity to regulate the nervous system in gentle yoga-inspired ways

Space for Hire for Massage, Breathwork and Energy Healing Modalities.

$45 for the first hour, then

$30/hr for Individual client sessions

Space for Hire for Events, Workshops and Yoga

Hire of Space: First hour $45, then

$30/hr up to 4hrs

Discount @ 5hrs: $150, 6hrs $175,

7hrs: $200 AND 8hrs: $230

One of our beautiful participants preparing for Slow Flow at Yoga Ocean.

He brings the Resort feel to our space.

Thank you, beautiful Dave, for permission to highlight with your image how much fun we have here.

heal to create_create to heal

Gemma is a Medicine Woman drawing strength & wisdom from Celtic & Palawa ancestry. She honours the Shamanic traditions of both and coheses ancient tradition with contemporary wisdom and science.

Her focus in assisting others is in revealing practical strategies to enhance well-being and vitality in MInd, Body & Spirit.

Experienced in Shamanic Practises, Quantum Healing Hypnotherapy, Yoga, Fitness, Breathwork, Theta Healing, Contrast Therapy, Spiritual Counselling, Reiki, Tarot Card Reading, Numerology, and Intuitive Guidance, she offers personalised combinations of these modalities specific to your needs. Her intention is to assist you in the embodiment of your true nature as an eternal soul choosing a human experience. Through Somatic and Sensory Practises, supporting the release of old habits and distractions that prevent us from feeling. The ability to feel our discomfort/pain/old wounding and to know that they can become our Sacred Scars, holding the energy and opportunity not just to learn and grow but to flourish.

She understands that finding the impetus to clear karmic debris, negative loop thinking and emotional baggage are essential components to Healing and has invested in treatments, modalities, teachers, and guides who have supported her journey as she now offers to others.

Gemma revels in facilitating sessions, workshops, and retreats that offer Healing, Spiritual Guidance, Life Coaching, and Yoga Instruction to individuals, small and large groups.

Bookings via

ph: 0417 598 797

email: yogaocean@proton.me

Facebook: Gemma O’Rourke

Facebook Page: Yoga Ocean

Instagram: yogaoceanlove

I am a former General and Critical Care Nurse with 30 years of experience, specialising in Intensive Care, Medical Cardiology and Cardiothoracic Surgery. I also worked in Community Nursing, with Children and in Emergency Care. I am a Fitness Professional and after leaving the fitness industry for several years to focus on Yoga, Spirituality and Natural Healing, I found great joy recently in renewing my teaching skills at Healthy Horizons Gym, offering Stretch & Release, Active Living, and Core Classes. How wonderful to be utilising this knowledge and skill set again! I also trained in interior decorating and loved working for individuals and businesses, creating beautiful light-filled spaces in which to work, rest, and play. It has been a delight to decorate the space at Murray St, East Devonport, to express the Ocean's freshness, cleansing, and rejuvenating qualities for our work together at Yoga Ocean.

Holistic Wellbeing

My training and focus on evidence-based alternative healing modalities that are non-medical, and non-invasive evolved as I witnessed the benefits of them in my own life. On a healing journey from anxiety and depression, an eating disorder and Leaky Gut, I found powerful allies in Hypnotherapy, Breathwork, Theta Healing, Meditation, Imagery & Visualisation. Along with detoxing strategies & optimal nutrition to enhance the vibrational frequency of the Body-Mind-Spirit Complex, I learned self-regulation through mindfulness & nervous system toning practises. With stillness, gentle somatic movement and, when appropriate, stronger invigorating exercise I found my wellbeing groove. Shamanic practise with nature bathing, bare-foot earthing, sungazing (requires guidance) and elemental immersion not just enhanced but revolutionised the allopathic reductionist model in which I had been trained.

On a purely physical level, with multiple sport’s related injuries from Sailing, Endurance Training, and Triathlon, I found the same methods working, rejuvenating my body with increasing wellness, strength and flexibility as I matured biologically. In 2013, at the peak crisis point of my healing journey, I remained undiagnosed with symptoms that I realised were evidence of Leaky Gut Syndrome. Within 3 months of self-diagnosis after a year of failing health, weight loss, muscle wasting and insomnia I had reclaimed my Gut Biome and ability to function cognitively, emotionally, and physically with a heightened spiritual understanding of why things happen in our lives. Further training enhanced my appreciation of how trauma becomes embedded in the tissues, and how challenges and growth through these Dark Night Passages take us on a Hero/Heroine’s journey of recovery, Spirit Reclamation, and Soul Expansion. We find the unique ‘elixir’ that will assist and support others on their journey.


Supporting your Journey to Wellness

Cultivating a powerful peaceful heart, allowing stillness, enhancing intuitive gnosis through all of the clairs, ( sentience, cognizance, voyance, audience) bearing witness to hear the language of the Cosmos and the constant beautiful messages and synchronicities that guide and provide everything I need brings me to this place of Trust and Equanimity. I am in Service for others, and growth through joy rather than pain is my Gift to the World. Allow me to support you as you…

Remember Who You Are, healing in Body, Mind, and Spirit to realise your innate talents and creative genius.

I hold space for you to Remember What is Sacred

Discover and move into your Life Purpose, finding your ‘Dharma’ and the Elixir that is your Unique Gift to the World.

I assist you through mental, emotional, physical and spiritual blocks, identifying self-sabotage, subconscious beliefs, unconscious programming and dysfunctional archetypes that may not be just from this lifetime.

Dream on, Beautiful You. It is never too late, you can Heal. You can create whatever you Desire.

Imagine and Dream It First. Feel the joy of its Truth in your Heart and whole body. Live magically by seeing it everywhere.


Heal to Create ~ Create to Heal

Individual sessions are $111/hr with Concession $99/hr for Students, Pensioner, and Unemployed

Offerings

  • Life Coaching & Counselling

    Practical support and guidance to navigate Life, Love, Health, Career, Relationships and Spirituality through a multidimensional lens.

    In this rapidly accelerating consciousness shift, I offer simple strategies to reclaim, regenerate, rejuvenate, thrive and live in High Vibrational States regardless of what is occurring externally.

    Supporting the discovery of your Unique Talents and Gifts that will propel you into expanded consciousness and the experience of synchro-destiny and amplified abundance flow.

    REALISE _ Your Potential and discover the Innate Gifts you are here to bring to the world. Find the unconscious programming and subconscious blockages that hinder your progress. Learn to Identify, Process/Feel, Integrate/Forgive and Release. Learn to Be responsive rather than reactive and how to Cultivate the Powerful Peaceful Heart that allows your True Essence to Shine

  • Healing...Multiple Modalities

    Quantum Healing Hypnotherapy Technique

    Shamanic Somatic & Theta Healing

    Nature Immersion & Cold Water Plunge

    Drumming Journey & Breathwork

    Tarot, Numerology, Intuitive Oracle

    Crystal Healing and Reiki

    Yoga & Intuitive Flow Dance

    KNOW _ your true Divine Nature. Remember who you are. Call Soul fragments and a dissociative Spirit back into the body. Learn practical strategies to detox, clear your energy fields, release generational trauma held in the tissues, recalibrate energy centres, and stay anchored to Mother Earth. Learn methods to move out of the mind and into the Body as Your Unique Self, embodied. Able to build, grow, and sustain without unconscious repetition of old stagnant patterns that have become the default program in a neurochemical and body reaction looping cycle.

  • Breathwork

    Supporting you in Sacred Space, individual or group sessions to explore the ‘Breath of Life’ allowing the body to remember how to be an Instrument of Consciousness to enhance the Vital Life Force within and around your Sacred Vessel.

    Initial training in Bali with Andrea Paige, Introduction to Holotropic Breathwork 2016, Advanced Pranayama with Subtle Yoga 2019, Breathwork for Emotional Release Masterclass 2023 & Cold Water Immersion Breathwork with Apnea Survival training 2025. Currently studying with Breathless Expeditions into 2026.

    A truly remarkable process that can be utilised to calm the nervous system, creating safety & support in Parasympathetic Toning. Also to upregulate and release strong emotions, inducing bodily responses that very often also bring us to that point of Peak Experience … the still point, from which everything can be ‘sorted’ with a falling away of stagnant, restrictive energy.

    INHALE _ Prana, Qi, Ki, Life Force, Soul Force With gentle coaching and energetic guidance, allow your body through the Art of Breath to be your trusted ally and consciousness expansion vehicle. Leaning into the challenge to be very present for yourself and experience the slight discomfort of Breath retraining to go beyond the usual, the known, the expected.

  • Elemental Immersion

    Sacred Earthing in the way of The Ancestors through immersion in Salt Mother and Earth Mother. Cold water Plunge, Earthing bare feet and burrowing into the land, sea, and air …Tune in and align with the Schumann Resonance _ the Heart Beat of Gaia, and the electromagnetic fields of all sentient beings, the Telluric and Energetic Ley Lines, Rainbow Serpent and Dragon Spirals that interlace our planet.

    Feel the gentle power of Smoking and Ochre ceremony calling in the Elements and the Directions, your Ancestral Lineage and Healing Spiritual Team. Ritual detox and cleansing of energy fields, body mind, and spirit to feel the deep nurturance and support of Country and the Cosmos. Healing for physical, mental, and emotional wounding.

    SURRENDER _ to the Earth and the Divine in You. Allow Gaia, the Cosmic Mother to embrace and cradle your Body with the most exquisite compassion. Enhance the exchange of positive ions which act as free radicals (like oxidative rust) in the body to negative ions (antioxidant) Feel yourself surrendering to the truth of your own Divine Nature. Remember who you are

  • Yoga

    The ancient practise of combining movement and postures (Asanas) with breath (Pranayam) reducing distraction (Pratyahara) becoming mindful with focus and intention (Dharana) was designed originally to prepare Body, Mind, and Spirit to be in Meditative states (Dhyana) for lengthy periods in an endeavor to achieve Samadhi… Enlightenment.

    It is a practise not a perfection and we can all aspire to … Enlightenment having wonderful fun on the way with… Yoga. My yoga journey commenced when the grueling training for Triathlon and recurrent injury in Sailing inspired me to seek the feel-good hormones they provide in a way that would not stress my body.

    Yogafit 2015 training focused essentially on Yoga for gym settings. 2016 short course in Bali at the Yoga Barn focused on Detox. in 2022 Vinyasa Flow with Lauren Morey of Yogaspace Training in the 200-hour Teacher Training Course. 2024 Yin Yoga with Santosha online training and 2025, Yoga for Trauma, Anxiety, Depression and Body Image with Sarah Ball.

    DREAM _ It is never too late for anything. Imagine. I am thrilled to be able to train my body, mind, and spirit in the richly inspiring and challenging opportunities available through the Ancient Yogic traditions and philosophies inspired by the Vedas and Upanishads. They complement and amplify the spiritual Wisdoms of Celtic & Druidic Shamanism, Indigenous Gnosis to Christ Consciousness teachings, Buddhist philosophy, and Sufi Mysticism. It is all connected.

  • Art Exploration Painting

    Providing the space and materials to explore your innate creativity with watercolour, or acrylic paints. No experience is required just a curiosity for artistic expression and intention to release doubt and self-sabotage.

    Allow me to assist in recognising and clearing the blockages to Creativity, allowing self-expression and self-revelation to assist Healing in an infinite feedback loop that generates more creative flow. Play with colour, form and texture in a way that feels good for you. Research reveals that any kind of reward system for art and play stymies creativity. Allow exploration with a sense of wonder and curiosity.

    Workshops at YOga Ocean planned for 2025. Watch this space for details.

    EXPERIMENT _ Allowing self-expression, releasing feelings of lack of inspiration and fears that others might not like what you do! The very old meme of ‘not good enough’ is a universal human experience. It takes practise to notice the harsh inner critic voice experience how liberating it is to explore with childlike curiosity, to let go of things needing to be perfect and the fear of failure. What do you desire to express and how much fun could you have exploring?

ballawinne_ red ochre

The rich mineral oxides in this rock formation imbue it with a vibrancy of colour and potent energy

The main components are hematite, an anhydrous iron oxide with silica and clay. Aboriginal people across Australia value ochre highly. It has been traded over long distances for thousands of generations. Our old People used it daily as body adornment, for weatherproofing with animal fats, to paint rock markings, and in ritual, ceremony, and celebration the Aboriginal Tasmanian people of lutruwita/trouwunna understood the vibrational frequency of these crystalline formations. By living and being in tune with Country, the cycles of nature, the seasons, and the cosmologic shifts. They knew intuitively that Ballawinne (red ochre) represented the neeminah coccah mennena … life-giving ‘blood of Mother Earth’.

In European culture, Hematite is derived from the Greek word ‘hema’ which means blood and it is this mineral that holds the capacity for an electromagnetic charge. The convex shapes of large grinding stones reveal the work of women in the tribes who ground the ochres to a powder to mix with water, spittle, or the blood of an animal into a paste. It was and still is women’s sacred business. Our Ancestors knew innately what contemporary science reveals. The grinding of the heme component causes chelation of the minerals, enhancing its magnetic potential. Applied all over the body it amplifies sensitivity to the environment and all sentient beings enabling greater attunement with Country. They also understand that the rich seams running through the landscape mirrored their circulatory system and are reflected in the Celestial realms as radiant striations of Light Consciousness in the Cosmos.

 

Community Projects and Volunteering ~ TARKIND

This amazing day at the royal Botanical Gardens in Winter of 2022 evolved from a brilliant concept of Emily Samuels-Ballantyne to raise awareness of our beautiful takayna/Tarkine wilderness region in Trouwunner/Tasmania also known as Lutruwita.

A magical day of Acknowledgement of Country, honouring our Original Custodians, the Mouheneener of nipaluna, with Storytelling near the plantation of trees and shrubs that are from this region. We walked over to the gathering area undercover and were captivated by the fabulous images of creatures from takayna presented so expertly by Scientist David as he shared the challenges specific to this North East region but so relevant for many other places in our beautiful Island and around the world.

Focusing on our children, the leaders and shapers of our future we invited everyone to paint on canvas any image that had been inspired by our learning activities and we also created a communal piece to celebrate Reconciliation Week.

Gratitude and Love for this experience. May there be many more.