Yoga Centre Archives - Page 4 of 5

Anastasiya

Anastasiya is a member of the PranaShanti Education Faculty and holds E-RYT 500 and YACEP credentials through Yoga Alliance, qualifying her as an experienced teacher and Continuing Education Provider. She has taught in six 200-hour Yoga Teacher Trainings at PranaShanti, where she leads education in alignment, class structure, sequencing, and asana practice. Prior to joining the faculty, she taught and assisted in three intensive 200-hour Yoga Teacher Trainings and a 300-hour teacher training intensive at Vida Asana School of Yoga in Costa Rica. Her teaching is informed by the Ashtanga and Iyengar traditions, both rooted in the Krishnamacharya lineage. Her continuing education includes a 40-hour Ashtanga intensive with David Robson and Jelena Vesić of Ashtanga Yoga Toronto, advanced teaching and alignment studies with Alejandra Torres in Costa Rica, and intensive Ashtanga study in Mexico. Meditation is also an integral part of her practice, informed by Vipassana training. With over 1,500 teaching hours, Anastasiya has led workshops in advanced alignment, foundational asana, teaching...

Susan

Susan’s introduction to yoga began twenty years ago with weekly classes in the Chapel of the Mother House (a sacred space indeed!) at Mount Saint Vincent University, in beautiful Halifax, Nova Scotia. It was in this space that she discovered the positive and profound impact that yoga can have on one’s physical, mental, emotional, and spiritual health. Susan completed her 200-hour yoga teacher certification in 2009 (Atlantic Yoga Teacher Training). Shortly after finishing her training, she relocated to Ottawa with her family and began teaching from her small home studio. With a special interest in how yoga can help specific health conditions, she continued her studies and became a certified yoga therapist (C-IAYT) in 2020. Susan uses a light-hearted approach to create a sense of safety and ease in her classes, offering options and modifications as an invitation to students to honour their specific needs. She sees yoga as an amazing tool for physical, mental, and emotional transformation, health, and healing. Susan is...

Anathele

Anathèle’s yoga journey began in 2010 when she was looking for ways to cultivate greater balance and well-being in her life. What started as a physical practice soon became much more, offering tools for self-awareness, resilience, healing, and connection. Through the years, yoga has remained a steady source of support through both life’s joys and challenges. In 2019, Anathèle completed her 200-hour Hatha Yoga Teacher Training at PranaShanti Yoga Centre. Since then, she has continued her studies in Power Yoga, Yin Yoga, Restorative Yoga, Chair Yoga, Corporate Yoga, Trauma-Informed Yoga, and Stand-Up Paddleboard (SUP) Yoga, and has completed her 300-hour advanced teacher training. She is an Experienced Registered Yoga Teacher (E-RYT 200) and a Yoga Alliance Continuing Education Provider (YACEP). Anathèle is an occupational therapist, psychotherapist, and lifelong learner. Her professional work has deepened her appreciation for the connection between mind and body, and for the importance of creating spaces where people can feel supported, grounded, and empowered. She enjoys exploring the...

Debra

Debra has been practicing yoga regularly for over 15 years. She started with prenatal yoga classes during her first pregnancy and continued to explore various styles of yoga including Hatha, power, hot, yin, tune-up, yoga nidra, meditation and Kundalini. Debra completed 200hr Hatha yoga teacher training at PranaShanti in 2018 and is a registered yoga teacher(RYT) with Yoga Alliance. She enrolled in PranaShanti’s 300hr Hatha yoga teacher training the following year. She has completed training in chair yoga, hot yoga, meditation and Ayurveda. Debra is passionate about meditation and practices daily. It keeps her grounded and balances her busy family life with two active boys. She often incorporates meditation into her classes. Debra believes that yoga gives her the tools to embrace any challenges that life brings. She encourages her students to be guided intuitively and explore the practice of yoga at their own pace....

Maria

María embraces her yogic lifestyle every single day with an open and positive state of mind. She embarked onto the path of Yoga practice while searching for alternatives for herself. As a person originating from a tropical country, she fell in love with the hot rooms and the various yoga styles such as Hot Flow, Power, Kundalini, Yin and Bikram Yoga. Throughout her 18 year yoga journey she has arrived at the realization that each and every style of yoga ultimately leads us to a deep connection with our true self in order to live a harmonious, balanced and nourished life. María has also been a passionate Latin dancer which is a part of her cultural background. This led her to get involved in the world of dance fitness and its use of multicultural rhythms and styles, all of which she blends seamlessly into her Yoga dance classes. María’s teaching approach integrates her experience and knowledge from the vast spectrum of alternatives...

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 Center in 2005, and has since gone on to complete over 1500 hours of training across a...

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

Before finding her way to yoga, Kim began as a meditative child, eventually turning to physical postures in early adulthood to help overcome anxiety and become stronger in her body while experiencing the effects of endometriosis. Her personal practice has given her the space to observe her body without judgement and honed the capacity and confidence to become a better advocate for her physical healing. She became certified to teach Yoga through Pranashanti Yoga Centre in 2019, and was eager to begin her teaching journey. She has since taught over 1200 hours of classes, workshops, and trainings. Her classes seamlessly weave mobility techniques, simple biomechanics, mindfulness, and yoga philosophy while cultivating a space for play and curiosity with humour, and humility. As a member of the Pranashanti Yoga Education Centre’s faculty since 2023, Kim has taught in five 200HR Hatha yoga teacher trainings where she has led lectures and discussions in anatomy, yoga philosophy, methodology, posture clinics, and teaching authentically. Always approaching her...

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...

Melissa

Melissa Delaney is an Embodiment Coach, Registered Yoga Therapist, Yoga Instructor, Educator, Retreat Host, and Women’s Gathering Facilitator. Her work is devoted to helping people reconnect with themselves, their bodies, and one another—and to discover their spark so they can live with greater authenticity, connection, and soulfulness. With more than 17 years of experience studying and teaching yoga, Melissa brings a holistic and integrative approach to her work, weaving together the wisdom of yoga and tantric philosophy with the science of somatics, trauma-informed practice, and modern psychology. Her approach is compassionate, practical, and grounded in tools that can be brought into everyday life. Her extensive training includes Hatha Yoga, Yoga Therapy, Yin and Restorative Yoga, Prenatal & Postnatal Yoga, Pelvic health, Pain science, Core restore, Tantra philosophy, as well as trauma and emotional well-being. She recently studied ancestral healing and introductory Qigong energy healing Melissa offers weekly yoga classes, private Yoga Therapy and coaching sessions, and continuing education workshops exploring topics such as...