Melissa has been sharing yoga, meditation, and sound-based practices with children, teenagers, and adults for more than 16 years. Throughout her teaching journey, she has worked with a diverse range of people in many different settings including neighbourhood centres, yoga studios, schools, and retreats across Australia and overseas. She also teaches to a dedicated online community.

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Melissa’s classes are slow-paced and exploratory and encourage students to tune into their own experience with curiosity and care. Her children's classes embrace playfulness, creativity, and imagination while sharing practical skills that support emotional wellbeing, resilience, and self-awareness.

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Across all of her offerings, Melissa weaves together movement, meditation, pranayama (breath), and sound to create practices that are accessible, adaptable, and welcoming to people of all ages and experience levels. She believes that simple, consistent practices have the power to create meaningful change and open up space for insight and discovery.

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With an academic background in marine biology and anthropology, Melissa has a deep appreciation for the interconnections between people and the natural world. She is particularly interested in language, and the cultural origins and significance of contemplative practices, and in how these traditions can be meaningfully understood and applied in contemporary life. 

Melissa also studied classical music for more than a decade, nurturing a lifelong appreciation for the expressive and restorative qualities of sound. In recent years, sound has become an integral part of both her personal practice and teaching. Drawing on mantra, singing bowls, and other therapeutic instruments, she creates experiences that invite presence, self-inquiry, and deep restoration.

Outside of teaching, Melissa enjoys hiking, ocean swimming, and spending time on mountain trails. Her love of the outdoors, combined with a passion for contemplative practice, inspired her to co-found Bonté Retreats, creating opportunities for people to slow down and experience the sense of wonder that can arise when time in nature is woven together with practice.