Kanuka Yoga Space.

Kanuka is the studio that takes accessibility seriously. A marina-side room at West Harbour, Hobsonville, founded by Raquel Chavez-Nguyen and Stu Larsen in 2018, with wheelchair access genuinely built in, an ACC-funded trauma-sensitive yoga programme for women with sensitive claims, a weekly koha class at Birkenhead Library, and a 4.9-star ClassPass rating across more than a thousand ratings. The marketing word “neighbourly” gets used a lot here. It is justified.

The owners

Raquel Chavez-Nguyen (also publicly listed as Raquel Minh) holds a psychology degree and more than five hundred hours of trauma-informed yoga training. She founded Kanuka in 2018 while still working a corporate business-development role — the studio was built around the idea of a community space for “all types of bodies.” She also delivers the ACC trauma-sensitive programme as a facilitator. Her partner Stu Larsen is studio manager, a two-hundred-hour RYT since 2019, and the lead for the studio’s sound bath classes.

The Hobsonville space

7/17 Clearwater Cove, West Harbour Marina, in Hobsonville — bright and airy with an industrial-bohemian feel, marina view, genuinely accessible. Wheelchair accessibility is confirmed both in the studio’s own “accessible and inclusive” statement and on ClassPass. The studio moved here from an earlier Hobsonville Road location and the marina setting is now part of the brand.

The Birkenhead class

A single weekly class — Tuesdays at 6 pm, a sixty-minute Slow Flow at Birkenhead Library, run on a koha (pay-what-you-can) basis. This is community outreach, not a second studio. It is one of the few genuinely accessible yoga options on the lower North Shore.

The classes

A broad, intentionally inclusive menu:

• Power Flow — vigorous vinyasa
• Slow Flow — accessible, grounded
• Yin Yang — combined
• Yin + Sound — Yin with a sound bath layered through
• Yogalates — vinyasa-influenced flow with mat-pilates core and strength
• Ashtanga — taught by Edward, repeatedly described in reviews as transformative
• Restore — blends restorative, yin and yoga nidra
• Prenatal — led by Carol (certified, with an Insight Yoga and Chinese medicine background), a five-week series at $120
• Mums + Bubs — postnatal with babies welcome
• Trauma-Sensitive — invitation-based, choice-led, with options always offered; grounded in Raquel’s 500-hour training
• On-demand library — Slow Flow and Power Flow playlists, first month free

The ACC trauma-sensitive programme

This is what makes Kanuka genuinely different. The studio holds an ACC contract under the Sensitive Claims programme since 2023, delivered in partnership with Grief Centre and South Coast Psychology.

• Eligibility: women with an accepted ACC sensitive claim, working with a Lead Provider, who pass a 15- to 20-minute suitability video consult
• Format: ten one-on-one SCSGT sessions plus one group triage, over an eight-week course
• Schedule: in-studio Tuesdays 10 am at Kanuka; also Auckland CBD and online options
• Cohorts: four cohorts run in 2026
• Cost: fully funded by ACC for eligible participants

There is no other Auckland yoga studio I have found that runs a contracted programme of this kind.

Pricing

• Drop-in: $22
• 10-class pass: $220 (no expiry stated)
• Intro Offer: 20 per cent off any regular pass (10-pack drops to $176, $17.60 per class)
• Birkenhead Library class: koha — pay what you can
• ACC trauma-sensitive: fully funded
• Prenatal: $120 for the 5-week series
• On-demand library: first month free; ongoing monthly price not publicly listed
• Monthly memberships and concession rates are not transparent on the public site — call ahead

On ClassPass at 4.9 stars across more than one thousand ratings — a small but genuine refute of older listings that said Kanuka was not on ClassPass.

What people say

The recurring phrases in ClassPass and community reviews: neighbourly, welcoming and friendly, earthy, honest and giving space, transformative (specifically about Edward’s Ashtanga), warm instructors, modifications offered as a matter of course. The studio is publicly listed as woman-owned, Hispanic / Latinx-owned, LGBTQ-friendly and wheelchair-accessible — all four labels are unusual to find together in Auckland yoga.

Honest criticisms

What recurs in Google and ClassPass reviews. The studio is hard to find on a first visit; it’s tucked at the back of the West Harbour Marina complex in a corner unit, and reviewers regularly ask the studio to improve signage. Only three dedicated parking spots are reliable during weekday business hours; the rest of the marina car park opens up after 5 pm and on weekends. The weekly schedule is thinner than CBD studios. The koha class at Birkenhead Library is once a week (Tuesday 6 pm) and fills fast. The ACC trauma-sensitive stream is referral-only via Grief Centre or South Coast Psychology, which is appropriate clinically but confuses first-time enquirers. No hot room.

Practical

Roadside parking along Clearwater Cove and Reflection Drive, plus a marina park-and-ride opposite the studio. The Belaire West Harbour ferry runs from Hobsonville Marina to downtown, taking thirty to thirty-five minutes on weekdays — a genuinely civilised way to come in from town. Buses 112, 114 and 120 service Hobsonville Point. Auckland’s rail network does not reach Hobsonville.

Who it’s for

West Auckland and lower North Shore locals. Parents (prenatal, mums-and-bubs). People with injuries or accessibility needs — this is one of very few studios with verifiable wheelchair access. ACC sensitive-claims clients, where Kanuka may be the only studio in the city running this programme to scale. Anyone who would prefer a community-led suburban studio over a high-volume CBD chain.

It is less the right room for central-city office workers wanting a six-p.m. fix without the drive; anyone wanting a hot studio; or anyone wanting the polish and density of Kenkō Studios or Sala Studio.

Contact

• Hobsonville: 7/17 Clearwater Cove, West Harbour Marina, Hobsonville 0618
• Birkenhead class: Birkenhead Library, Tuesday 6 pm
• Phone: +64 27 652 6852 (027 6 KANUKA)
• Email: hello@kanukayoga.co.nz
• Website: kanukayoga.co.nz
• ClassPass: yes