Team Members Archive - Page 6 of 7

Laurie

Laurie was one of those who was unwillingly dragged to a class back in 1988, and Anne Pitman was her first teacher. She loved yoga from the start, though the journey to embracing the practice fully was bumpy, to say the least. Over time, yoga has become one of the most potent tools to help her navigate through life. Some of the things she loves most about yoga is that there is no end point and that the “perfect” asana is the one you can do with how your body feels at the time. It doesn’t have to look good to feel right. Under the guidance of many skilled teachers and following her own unending curiosity, Laurie’s practice continues to unfold and evolve. She started to teach almost as soon as she returned from completing her first 200 hour teacher training at the Kripalu Yoga Centre, in 2005. Yoga opens doors and pathways for awareness, expression and acceptance. Laurie’s mission is to...

Laura

Laura is a warm and welcoming 200 hour experienced yoga teacher. Although her sequences combine functional movements, traditional hatha postures and movements borrowed from other modalities, she is a firm believer that yoga is for every BODY and will ensure that all bodies feel respected and welcomed in her classes. Students can expect to flow slowly, with intention and move in both traditional and novel ways. Laura’s personal yoga is equal parts Yang and Yin; a strong physical practice accompanied by a deep reverence for meditation and mindfulness. This can be felt in her classes as she strives to honour the true essence of Yoga by integrating breathwork, mindfulness and meditation into her sequences. Laura believes that to be a good teacher you must also be a perpetual student. With this in mind she is committed to frequently pursuing opportunities that further her yoga education: Advanced Vinyasa Sequencing, Yin Yoga, Meditation, Yoga Detour Method, Honouring Yoga’s Roots, Advanced Anatomy, Biomechanics for...

Kim

Kim is a 200 hour certified yoga teacher and visual artist with a strong desire to unleash the creativity within her students. Believing that yoga and art are intrinsically linked, Kim crafts creative sequences that are both nourishing and challenging, through which she encourages students to travel inward and find their personal flow state. Kim’s use of heartfelt language and humour, allows students of all walks an opportunity for deeper self-reflection, and reintroduces a sense of play in each of her classes. Motivated to embolden students to trust in their own power, Kim serves her classes with compassion, and familiar kindness. Following her training at PranaShanti Yoga Centre, Kim continues to attend workshops and trainings, including Advanced Anatomy, Teacher with Therapy Balls and Advanced Yin. Roll out your mat in Kim’s class to roll into a deliberate and reflective experience....

Kethy

Kethy (she/her) is a Cameroonian/Canadian 200-hr Certified Yoga Teacher with a background in Ashtanga and Vinyasa Hatha Yoga. The styles of yoga classes she leads include Yin, Yang Yin, Power, Flow and Gentle Flow yoga. With an emphasis on mindfulness, a yoga practice with Kethy is one that nurtures kindness and compassion of self and others. Expect to incorporate sequences to warm up the body, as well as slower paced movements focusing on the breath, balance, alignment, flexibility and strength. Kethy is the co-founder of the BIPOC Yogis of Ottawa project (www.bipocyogisottawa.ca ) — a not-for-profit community-driven initiative engaged in raising awareness of the stories of yogis who identify as Black, Indigenous or Persons of Colour (BIPoC) within the National Capital Region; one of the project’s main objective is to raise funds for Yoga Teacher Training (YTT) scholarships to support BIPoC yogis who aspire to become yoga teachers. Her favourite mantra: "I am well. I am whole. I am worthy. I am enough." See...

Melissa

Melissa began practicing yoga in 2004 and fell in love with it immediately. Amazed at all the benefits yoga offers, she became passionate about sharing it with others. She is a registered Yoga Therapist, Instructor and Continuing Education Provider. With her diverse trainings, she specializes in proper breathing and posture, pelvic floor health, core function, pain care management, plus prenatal and postnatal health & recovery. She leads workshops on topics such as Pelvic Health, Pain Care, Proper Core Function, Menopause and Partner Yoga as well as Prenatal & Postnatal Yoga Trainings. Check out our upcoming events for her next offering! Melissa provides a supportive and welcoming environment for all and promotes self-love, body positivity, and freedom of expression in every class, empowering students to embrace their own journey. She offers modifications for all levels and abilities and loves when someone discovers their “ahhhh moment”! As a trauma-informed practitioner trained in somatics and stress cycles, Melissa creates holistic practices rooted in compassion and mindfulness. She encourages people to find their...

Michael

Om Sri Hanumate Namaha Anjaneya, Michael Hutkins teaches traditional Hatha Yoga and meditation classes to students of all ages and abilities. With his foundation of classical Hatha Yoga, classes incorporate Pranayama (Breathing exercises), Sun Salutations or other warm ups, Asanas (Steady postures) and a deep guided relaxation. He adds gentleness, challenges and humour, to help students along their path. Classes can be made accessible to all students. Training at several Sivananda ashrams in Canada, USA and India has allowed Michael to live with his teachers and be fully immersed in the yoga experience. His training covers a wide scope of yoga, from philosophy and Bhagavad Gita courses to chanting and devotion ceremonies to the physical postures, breathing exercises, and meditation. As well as enjoying family life, Michael is also a Certified Yoga Therapist....

Monique

Monique values her yoga practice as an ongoing journey of becoming more self-aware and lighthearted. Over 25 years of practice, she has come to deeply appreciate the choices she has to live with integrity, to be of service in society, and to live as part of, and not separate from, Nature. As a yoga teacher, Monique offers a space to pause, digest, and integrate. Feeling our body experience is prioritised over thinking about our body experience. Monique’s classes are breath-filled, grounding, and calming. She offers a space where students feel safe to be themselves and enjoy their practice. Monique is passionate about finding ways to bring her yoga studies and practice into her engagement with conflict transformation work in all its many forms. She enjoys giving workshops where practitioners can explore their self-awareness and other skills to strengthen their services and teachings. Monique is a certificed Yoga Therapist, C-IAYT. She is an RYT 500, E-RYT200, YACEP registered yoga teacher with Yoga Alliance. Monique...

Chantal

Chantal is a Yoga Alliance-certified 500 hour therapeutic yoga teacher who understands yoga as a practice in awareness of and acceptance of our selves. She offers nourishing, trauma-informed classes that invite students to cultivate self-compassion while releasing tension and balancing the nervous system. Her systems-based teachings draw on elements of several yoga lineages learned from practice and from over 900 hours of teacher trainings around the world, as well as on principles of ecopsychology (fostering a connection to the earth), and have a strong focus on nurturing the nervous system. Chantal has led Yoga for Sleep, Restorative and Reiki, and Yoga Nidra workshops and supported students in healing from PTSD, anxiety, insomnia, and sciatica in Canada and internationally. She has taught in hospital, school, home and studio settings as well as virtually and in person. Chantal has also written for Yoga International, Elephant Journal, and other publications about how to apply tools and bring lessons learned through yoga into practice in everyday life....

Philippe

Philippe, an E-RYT 200 Yoga Teacher, has been teaching in the Ottawa-Gatineau region since 2012. He has logged in over 9000 hours of teaching Power, Flow, Yin, Meditation and Yoga Philosophy. On top of taking various trainings such as trauma sensitivity, advanced Pranayama, advanced anatomy, Yoga therapeutics, Yoga Core Tune-up, and Vipassana, Philippe’s daily studies and practice include the Yoga Sutras, an intense movement regiment, meditation and mantra. His philosophy is simple; be aware of what is actually happening, accept it and move forward intelligently. This process required discipline, focus, the ability for self-honesty and the courage to follow one’s intrinsic values. Philippe’s classes will challenge you to do your best while giving lots of options for all levels of practice. Expect some core strengthening and maybe a few optional arm balances or inversions....

Sarah

Sarah is a registered yoga teacher (RYT-200) who is passionate about movement and athletic disciplines. She had been competing at national level in point sparring karate and had to stop everything when she incurred her traumatic brain injury. Yoga and meditation helped her to transform her life and enabled her recovery. Sarah believes in continuous education; she has taken additional training in advanced anatomy and advanced power training. Her approach is to create space for her students to explore their relationship with themselves on the physical, mental and spiritual level; as a balanced method to enable continuous growth of our ever-evolving best selves. She challenges her students to meet their physical edge with friendliness and compassion, and invites her students to practice listening to their bodies and their breath....