Contributors
Violet Pasztor, Founder and CEO, Canadian Yoga Alliance
Heidi Joffe
Heidi Joffe (M.Ed.,A.T.) lives in West Vancouver with her two children and two Norwich terriers. With a background as a drama teacher, a yoga instructor, art therapist and textile artist, she investigates the wonder and boundless potential of our perceptions and manifestations.
Lauren Hutchings
Lauren’s first experience with yoga was an intro class at Yoga Passage, a local studio in Calgary. For the first time, she felt the connection between her body and her breath, and instantly felt at ease. From that point on, she continued to crave that feeling and began to attend multiple practices each week. In 2012, she went on to complete a 200 hr. teacher training and, since then, has also completed a Yoga Nidra Certification with Tanis Fishman and level one of the Critical Alignment Therapy training with Gert Van Leeuwan.
Amidst it all, she was also fortunate enough to spend a year living in New Zealand where she lived for 2 months in a Satyananda Ashram. During each practice, she is amazed at how much she learns about her own practice, herself and her reactions to others. She can see and feel how practitioners start to trust the beat of their hearts, and move to the sound of their own breath, as they transform and let go. The mat is not only about the tangible posture and breath but also the energy that is created and released. She is forever grateful for the many teachers she has had along the way, who have taught her to soften into the hard spots and to recognize her own light. Yoga has truly changed Lauren’s life and it is her deepest intention to pay this beautiful gift forward. [email protected] Instagram: laur_hutchings Daniel Kotsos
Kosta Daniel Kotsos, is a professional athlete and trainer, holistic nutritionist, yoga and culinary teacher. He has spent the last 7 years helping people chase and achieve their goals in health and fitness. He loves what he does because it was this path, in health and fitness, that saved him from a self-destructive lifestyle that had just about consumed him.
He shares his skills with others in the hope that they will enrich, and even save, the lives of people who want to better themselves through health and fitness. [email protected] Jason Loutitt
Jason is an elite ultra marathoner, personal trainer, Pilates instructor, yoga teacher, poet and artist. During his development as an ultra runner, Jason was supported by various Vancouver and Sea to Sky yoga studios and credits many benefits and achievements
to combining both activities to become an overall better athlete. Having been 2nd in the BMO Vancouver Marathon and a Silver Medalist at a world ultra trail running championship, Jason embraces a bright day with an ultimate aim of cherishing the process as much as reflection on any achievement. Currently, he is substitute teaching yoga at Yyoga and Ron Zalko fitness but is soon on his way to France to volunteer teach yoga for the summer. Erica Beehler
Erica is registered with Canadian Yoga Alliance and received her teaching certification in Nicaragua. She specializes in Ashtanga, Vinyasa and Kriya yoga. She's always willing to try any new healthy foods, dabble in the latest fitness craze, and have adventures by wandering off the beaten path. Erica is the author of the website www.freshtodeathnutrition.com. A nutritionist, yoga instructor, flexitarian, novice farmer, traveller and Pilates enthusiast, she is a Canadian currently living in Australia.
Perri van Rossem
Throughout her life Perri has been a dedicated student of both the body and mind. As an athletic child, she followed her passion for physical activity into dance and worked as a personal trainer and an aerobics instructor. Her educational pursuits were, and continue to be, in the area of philosophy. In 1990, YOGA found Perri. It became immediately obvious that yoga naturally blended Perri’s passion for a healthy, vital body with her pursuit of understanding the nature of reality, life and the mind.
Perri instantly began a committed personal yoga practice and an in depth study of the yogic teachings. She has studied with many of North America’s greatest teachers. Her expansive study, practice and teaching eventually lead her to the home of the teacher of many of the world’s greatest masters, Krishnamacharya’s Mandarim, in Chennai India. Her initial teacher training was with the Yoga Institute of Houston, where attention to anatomical knowledge and structural alignment were heavily emphasized. Perri believes that a clear understanding of and instruction in alignment are integral to a good yoga asana class. However, Perri also enjoys the Vinyasa style of practice and integrates this in a unique and creative fashion. In her teaching, she emphasizes the fundamentals of good body alignment, breath awareness and mental focus. Perri’s passion for sharing the deep wisdom of the ancient philosophy of yoga takes her classes beyond the physical practice alone. She considers yoga to be a practical philosophy that offers tools to assist us on our everyday lives. To think of yoga as only exercise for the body is underestimating and limiting yoga’s overall potential. Perri imbues her classes with a blend of physical, mental and spiritual teachings. Perri van Rossem, E-RYT500+ Owner, Living Yoga Studios Kingston, Ontario www.livingstudios.ca 613.453.8811 Beatrix Montanile CYA-RYT 500 GOLD
Studio Director: The Flying Yogi
Beatrix has been transforming people's lives, one spine at a time, since first introducing Suspension Yoga™ to Canada in 2010. A yoga practitioner for over 30 years, she received her extensive training from extraordinary yoga masters in India and holds certification in Ashtanga Yoga, Yoga Therapy, Thai Yoga Massage, Ayurvedic Massage and is a licensed Natural Health Practitioner. It was during one of her regular sojourns to India that she was introduced to the remarkable benefits derived from inverting in a suspended fashion with the assistance of ropes. Having been a chronic back-pain sufferer for most of her life, she was enormously impressed by how pain-free she was after having suspended only a few times! She continued to experiment with her newly learned method of performing suspended yoga and developed her own brand of suspension equipment. To her amazement, she has discovered literally hundreds of ways that the YogiGym® Suspension Sling can be used to assist in the advancement of yoga postures. In 2010, she made the decision to offer the first Suspension Yoga™ group classes in Canada and in September 2011 The Flying Yogi was born! She now devotes her time to sharing her experience and training other instructors, in Toronto and abroad, on how to effectively teach this revolutionary methodology in their own studios and classes. [email protected] www.theflyingyogi.ca |
Joanne Preece, Editor
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David Wegenast
David has been practicing yoga for 40 years. He first took teacher training with Yogi Vishvketu in 2004, then with Shiva Rea and other prominent teachers. He was certified in Pilates mat work in 2009. From 2005 to 2015 David taught many classes of various styles in Ottawa, but more recently has reduced his teaching practice.
Vicki Bashista
Vicki first came to the mat 10 years ago with a group of friends who were looking for an alternative to traditional workouts. She immediately fell in love with the non-competitive and inward nature of the practice. Since then, yoga and Pilates have become central to her life, always changing, evolving and constantly bringing challenges and growth. Vicki encourages and guides others to listen to their bodies and to find self-acceptance through the links between the body, mind and spirit.
She holds certifications in yoga, Pilates, reflexology, Reiki, crystal healing and hot stone massage. She looks forward to sharing with students the joy and harmony that yoga, Pilates and bodywork can bring. A caring, patient teacher, Vicki offers classes in a safe, nurturing environment aiming to reduce stress and anxiety and increase physical and mental well-being. Vicki considers herself a student of yoga and Pilates as well as a teacher. She continues to seek new inspiration by attending courses and workshops. Vicki offers classes and workshops for yoga, Pilates and bodywork in a variety of settings: private, small groups, small businesses, independent / public schools. She teaches Hatha, Hatha Flow, Yogilates, Relaxation Yoga, Pilates and Yin, and she specializes in children’s yoga and meditation. Sanjana Yoga and Wellness 250-882-2325 https://www.facebook.com/SanjanaYogaAndWellness Gopala Amir Yaffa
Gopala has been connecting people through yoga for over 22 years now. His unique style of interactive social yoga has won the hearts of thousands of people all around the world.
Gopala have trained over 12,000 yoga teachers through his Rainbow Kids Yoga, Rainbow Partner & Community Yoga and 200/300 hour Yoga Specialty Teacher Trainings. Gopala is passionate about creating beautiful shapes while doing group yoga together in a circle, and is always endeavoring to create new ways to bring people closer together in body, mind and spirit through yoga. www.rainbowyogatraining.com [email protected] Samantha Howick
Avidya in a Gentle Light
Samantha was born in Montreal and now lives in Lebanon. She holds yoga workshops and classes internationally. She began practicing yoga and meditation in her late teens and has been teaching since 2000. She is an avid practitioner who respects the core technique of the Krisnamarcharya lineage.
Her study is one rooted deeply in traditional yogic teachings while being true to many streams of influence, which have deepened her experience of yoga. Tantra, Kundalini, Bhakti, Tao Shiatsu and Shamanic healing arts—many gurus of the past and present shine light along her path. A student of both Eastern and Western philosophy, she incorporates various traditions into her classes while always being true to traditional wisdom. From the scriptures to the yoga mat, Samantha’s creativity and sense of joy can be seen reflected in her training and teaching. A mother of four young children, the candles of awareness, balance, harmony, intuition, acceptance and freedom light her journey… In her teaching she strongly relies on her own practice, intuition, philosophy and spirituality as influences. She intuitively fuses her knowledge of the past to innovatively and spontaneously illuminate her present. Alongside yoga, she holds a B.F.A. in Fine Arts, from France, and works as a painter and sculptor. This artistic ability is part of what makes her workshops and classes unique. She is an innovator. Her works such as Chakra Cleanse, Yoga Nidra, Tibetan Tantra, Gong Bath are some of her many ideas which are being widely used and adapted for their healing and transformative abilities. She is a co-founder of One Yoga Academy (formerly Shiva Shakti Yoga Academy), a comprehensive yoga teacher training program, providing internationally recognized certification—the first of its kind in Lebanon. Training is available in Montreal, U.K. & Lebanon. Nicky Sehra
Kulvinder Nicky Sehra is a graduate of History & Corporate Communications and Public Relations in London, Ontario. Nicky is a modern day spiritual woman who enjoys the simple pleasures of life and being in the company of her family and friends. She loves to teach yoga, travel and to inspire and empower humanity through her writings. Her aim is to leave everyone she meets with a sparkle of kindness, peace and love!
Yogacharya Dr. Binod Baral
Dr. Binod is a medical doctor with M.D. and Ph.D. degrees. After being trained in Hatha yoga by swami Shree Krishna Shaharsha Buddhe of Bombay, in his early student period, he achieved the highest level of spirituality. While in Europe, he was invited by Dr. Narayan Dutta Shrimali (https://nikhileshwaranand.wordpress.com/tag/swami-nikhileshwaranand-ji-maharaj)
to his Ashram in Pitampura, Delhi. In 1997, he was blessed by Shrimaliji with Shaktipaat and much other secret Tantric knowledge. Yogacharya Dr. Binod has attained success— so called "Siddhi"in 2 pairs of Sadhanas and is the only disciple of Shrimaliji to represent Swami Nikhileshwaranand Ji Maharaj in North America at the present time. In his “Healing Yoga” teaching, Yogacharya Dr. Binod applies the secret knowledge of Kriya Yoga, Pranayamas, Mudras, Meditation and Tantra to strengthen the overall power of the body to resist infection. Some of his major successes are in the control and treatment of migraine, diabetes, high blood pressure, anxiety, anger control and enlightenment. When asked how it is possible for him to help people, he says, " I use complex methods combined from different parts of Esotericism. Simply speaking, a ball with cosmic energy is formed from the space and is directed to the sick organ, mentally, through the various breathing techniques (Pryanayamas) and yogic poses”. |