ROMA BLAIR ONE WILD FEMININE WOMAN. MUM AND DAD BOTH LEARNED FROM HER.

 Roma Winsome Blair (1923–2013), later known as Swami Nirmalananda, was a pioneering Australian yoga teacher, model, dancer, and author who is widely celebrated as the "Mother of Yoga" in Australia. She was the country's first female swami and became a household name during the 1960s and 1970s by introducing yoga to the general public through television, shopping centre demonstrations, and newspaper columns. [1, 2, 3, 4]

Early Life and Modelling Career

• Birth: Born on 28 July 1923 near Coonamble, New South Wales, on Wailwan land.
• Childhood: Raised in a family that valued grooming and etiquette, she dealt with undiagnosed dyslexia during her school years.
• Modelling: Entered a beauty contest at age 12, which launched a successful and highly lucrative career as a photographic model.
• First Marriage: Married Dutch businessman, boxer, and dancer Leo Ossendryver at age 17. [1, 2]

World War II Imprisonment

• Relocation: Moved to Java, Indonesia, with her husband to expand his family's carpet business, briefly living a luxurious colonial lifestyle.
• Capture: Following the Japanese invasion during World War II, she was captured and held in a Japanese prisoner of war camp for three and a half years.
• Survival: Presumed dead by the outside world, she suffered from dysentery and extreme malnutrition. She gave birth to her son on a table inside the camp without medical assistance and was forced back into field labour the very next day. [1, 2, 3, 4, 5]

Discovery of Yoga

• Post-War: Released in 1945, she returned to Sydney and later moved to South Africa, where she resumed modelling.
• Health Crisis: Years of wartime trauma left her plagued by nightmares, severe anxiety, and physical illness.
• The Turning Point: On the advice of a Chinese medicine doctor, she attended her first yoga class in South Africa, which she credited with completely healing her body and mind. [1, 2, 3]

Bringing Yoga to Australia

• The School: Returned to Sydney in 1957 and opened the Roma Blair School of Yoga on Pitt Street in 1962. (where mum and Jean Foskett attended 1967/68, with me in the yoga creche)
• The Roma Blair School of Yoga (originally established as Roma Blair's Yoga Club in 1956) was a groundbreaking institution founded in Sydney by Roma Blair, who is widely celebrated as the "Mother of Yoga" in Australia. 
  The school played a pivotal role in shifting public perception, transforming yoga from an obscure, mystical practice into an accepted, mainstream lifestyle choice for health and well-being across the country. [1, 2, 3, 4, 6]
  History and Impact
  • Founding: Roma Blair opened her first physical studio on Pitt Street, Sydney. By 1962, it was operating prominently as the Roma Blair School of Yoga.
  • Mainstream Success: A charismatic former model, dancer, and media personality, Blair demystified the practice by demonstrating yoga in shopping malls, supermarkets, and major news columns.
  • Television & Media: She hosted the wildly popular Channel Nine national television segment "Relaxing with Roma" (later expanded into "Wake Up and Live"), which ran for 14 years and brought yoga directly into thousands of Australian living rooms.
  • Expansion: Over subsequent decades, Blair expanded her footprint by opening and running additional yoga schools in Queensland, specifically across locations like Miami and Southport on the Gold Coast. [1, 2, 3, 5, 6]
  Establishing Industry Standards (IYTA) [1]
  Recognising that early Australian yoga schools suffered from fractured philosophies and inconsistent teaching methods, Blair sought to unify and modernise the practice. In 1967, she spearheaded the creation of the International Yoga Teachers Association (IYTA). The association established official professional teacher training programs, accreditation guidelines, and code-of-conduct ethics that paved the way for modern yoga education globally. [1, 2, 4, 5]
  The Founder’s Legacy
• Mainstream Advocacy: To demystify yoga, she used her modelling connections to secure media coverage. She demonstrated poses on television shows (like the Don Lane Show), in supermarkets, and in shopping malls. (like Roselands, our local mall that mum went to 1968ish)
• First Female Swami: Travelled to India at age 43 where she was initiated by Swami Satyananda. She was bestowed the name Swami Nirmalananda, meaning "pure bliss".
• The IYTA: Founded the International Yoga Teachers Association (IYTA) in Australia in 1967, establishing a lasting community and training framework for future yoga instructors. [1, 2, 3] 
• Roma also frequented "The Menzies" a bastion of Sydney Hotel Maleness and misogyny in the 1960's and 70's.  Dad, who's office was next door to The Menzies at Wynyard Station, was impressed when a feisty female told the drunken bully boys to "fuck this shit" when she was sleazed on and disrepected by old school masculinity. 
• Dad, a pilot in WW2, got to know Roma, mostly because of her interesting and harrowing war time experiences, which she freely shared to a select group of people.
• Dad had NO IDEA that Roma was now a Sydney yoga teacher because she didn't talk much about her current self,  nor that mum attended Roma's yoga studio over in Pitt Street. I slowly joined my own dots when dad started telling me more "POW war stories" whilst we were out fishing.
• Dad (who was only 2 years younger than Roma) was impressed by what Roma had endured in the torture of war. 
• This feisty lady he knew about from The Menzies told bullies to STFU and made dad laugh as they didn't know what to do with such a directly assertive woman. 
• Roma was mostly at The Menzies with her second (or was it third?) husband, who was also a CBD businessman just like dad. 
• Roma died in November 2013, whilst I was completing my YTT with YOGACO at Bilongil Beach. John and Rachel, my then teachers, also knew Roma. 
• Autobiography: Co-authored her life story, titled Roma: From Prison to Paradise, published in 2004 with Rachel Seyers and Karin Cox.
• Active Aging: Remained a passionate health advocate and fitness icon well into her later years, famously performing the splits at her 80th birthday celebration.
• Death: Passed away on 6 November 2013 at the age of 90 at John Flynn Private Hospital on the Gold Coast, Queensland. [1, 2, 3, 4]

Roma Blair survived World War II by enduring a Japanese prisoner of war camp in Java, giving birth to her son without medical aid, and using meditation to withstand horrific conditions. [1, 2]

Her remarkable journey transformed her from a glamorous young model into Australia’s first female yoga swami and a pioneering television personality. [1]

The Luxury of Pre-War Java

In the late 1930s, after a successful early career as a photographic model in Australia, 17-year-old Roma married a Dutch businessman named Leo Ossendryver. The couple relocated to Java, Indonesia, to expand a family Persian carpet business. They lived a highly privileged, colonial lifestyle, surrounded by domestic servants where Roma "barely had to lift a finger". [1]

Captivity and Survival

This world completely collapsed in 1942 when the Japanese military occupied Java. Roma was separated from her husband and interned in a prisoner of war camp while pregnant. [1, 2]

• Solitary Birth: Roma gave birth to her son, Arnold, inside the camp without doctors, medication, or medical assistance.
• Forced Labour: To keep herself and her infant alive, she worked grueling, "tormenting" hours in the muddy paddy fields.
• Starvation: She raised her baby primarily on food scraps, facing extreme malnourishment.
• The Mental Shift: Instead of letting the psychological horrors break her, Roma used the captivity to learn extreme mindfulness. She discovered how to remain entirely "present" in the moment, a mental defense mechanism that kept her sane. [1, 2]

The Aftermath and Healing

When the war ended in 1945, Roma was liberated and reunited with her husband. Though they moved to South Africa to restart their lives, her body and mind carried deep scars. She suffered from debilitating stomach pains caused by severe malnourishment, as well as chronic nightmares and trauma. [1]

Looking for a cure for her physical and emotional pain, Roma discovered Yoga and Meditation. The practice completely healed her, prompting her to dedicate the rest of her life to sharing it with others. [1]

From Prison to Paradise

Roma returned to Australia and broke major cultural boundaries in the 1960s and 1970s. She became a household name by hosting the country's very first televised yoga show, opening up wellness to thousands of everyday Australians. Named a yoga swami, she authored the autobiography Roma: From Prison to Paradise. Roma passed away peacefully in 2013 on the Gold Coast at the age of 90. [1, 2]

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• How she introduced yoga to mainstream Australian television
• Her work as a deportment teacher alongside June Dally-Watkins
• The specific mindfulness techniques she credited with saving her life [1, 2, 3, 4]