My yoga classes are welcoming and respectful to all people,
mindful and open about the deeper purpose of hatha yoga,
and straight from the heart.
You'll find current yoga class offerings in my class schedule.
Yoga & Me
In 1999, I was a sleep-deprived first-time mother, providing child care to a wild herd of toddlers, and I needed some time to simply be in my own skin. I had the good fortune to walk into a class run by the Iyengar Yoga society in Victoria, B.C. , at the local Y; this was before they had their own beautiful Iyengar Yoga Centre. I knew I needed to spend time in myself in order to be decent to others around me. But I had no idea that a conscientiously-taught, faithfully-offered yoga practice would bring such goodness to me right away. The focus, purposefulness, and soft but continuous awareness of that class were revolutionary for me. The experience of being fully present and absorbed - in one place, at one time, with nowhere else to go and nothing else to do - was transformative. Yoga has been in my life ever since. As an RYT 200 registered hatha yoga teacher, I've been teaching regular classes since the autumn of 2012.
Yoga & You
My approach to teaching yoga comes directly from the relief it has given me over the years. I want to pass it on.
My style:
I teach in a simple way that pays cross-cultural tribute to the awe-inspiring tradition of yoga, and the civilization it emerges from on the Indian subcontinent. This great culture and philosophy are not part of my own heritage. In my instruction I am open about this and share yogic teachings that are appropriate for me to bring forward. I prioritize students' mental, emotional, and physical well being, so meditation and breathing practice are as vital to every class as the shapes and movements we make with our bodies. I am informed every time we meet by the changing needs of the group and individuals within it: the tones of our nervous systems and our capacities to self-sense and self-regulate are my guides. While my classes often create a very slow “flow” of poses where we keep moving, as a group, from one pose to another, I weave in substantial instruction, explanation, modifications and options, pauses, and personal attention.
Classes I love to offer:
Gifts from yoga that I work to share... My teaching is an effort to re-create what I’ve been given by yoga:
My teaching history:
I’ve been holding classes since 2012. I enjoy learning as a teacher and a permanent student. Yoga has given me a taste for the liberating, and potentially expansive, experience of knowing that I just don’t know. Know what I mean? When we’re in a position of being certain only that we’re uncertain, we’re in a very truthful place. For me, yoga is that. As yoga practice absorbs my body and my mind, it releases me from fixed ideas, expectation, and dead-ends... because I don’t know what’s coming next, and I don’t know how it will be. I only know this sensation, this movement, the next breath.
I teach a lot in a community centre setting, often in drop-in classes. In this space, everyone is welcome and each class contains a broad range of students: the young (babies and up) to elders, the super-strong and the injured, the tight and the rubber-bandy, the experienced and the brand-new to yoga. With all these divergent needs and different people every class, we find wonderful ways to practice yoga together. It really never fails.
My style:
I teach in a simple way that pays cross-cultural tribute to the awe-inspiring tradition of yoga, and the civilization it emerges from on the Indian subcontinent. This great culture and philosophy are not part of my own heritage. In my instruction I am open about this and share yogic teachings that are appropriate for me to bring forward. I prioritize students' mental, emotional, and physical well being, so meditation and breathing practice are as vital to every class as the shapes and movements we make with our bodies. I am informed every time we meet by the changing needs of the group and individuals within it: the tones of our nervous systems and our capacities to self-sense and self-regulate are my guides. While my classes often create a very slow “flow” of poses where we keep moving, as a group, from one pose to another, I weave in substantial instruction, explanation, modifications and options, pauses, and personal attention.
Classes I love to offer:
- yoga & meditation (integrated meditation pauses within the journey of poses)
- restorative yoga
- therapeutic yoga for those with injury/illness
- yoga for children and youth
- yoga for parents with babes-in-arms
Gifts from yoga that I work to share... My teaching is an effort to re-create what I’ve been given by yoga:
- the healing balm of calm, meditative presence and one-pointed focus. The experience of being at one with my body, breath and surroundings offered me a new experience of awareness and ease.
- compassion, encouragement and physical and spiritual strengthening to take on my life’s journey in my body with my injuries, limitations, and history.
- ways to connect and play with others, like my children, family, friends, and the communities that grow in many yoga classes and centres.
- bodily healing and easing of physical pain.
- insights and intuitive flashes of seeing and knowing things about my life and relationships, right in the middle of the muddle while on the mat.
- gratitude and humility while participating in and teaching yoga during the most challenging times in my life. At those times doing yoga together with others has felt like entering the eye of a great storm: I don’t forget my life or dissociate from what’s real, but I am offered a gentle, quiet way to be with it all - from a place of concentration, meditation, and the kindness of the poses to my body.
My teaching history:
I’ve been holding classes since 2012. I enjoy learning as a teacher and a permanent student. Yoga has given me a taste for the liberating, and potentially expansive, experience of knowing that I just don’t know. Know what I mean? When we’re in a position of being certain only that we’re uncertain, we’re in a very truthful place. For me, yoga is that. As yoga practice absorbs my body and my mind, it releases me from fixed ideas, expectation, and dead-ends... because I don’t know what’s coming next, and I don’t know how it will be. I only know this sensation, this movement, the next breath.
I teach a lot in a community centre setting, often in drop-in classes. In this space, everyone is welcome and each class contains a broad range of students: the young (babies and up) to elders, the super-strong and the injured, the tight and the rubber-bandy, the experienced and the brand-new to yoga. With all these divergent needs and different people every class, we find wonderful ways to practice yoga together. It really never fails.