Susan has been practicing yoga her whole life. Her love of asana practice blossomed in her twenties as she finished her business degree at Simon Fraser University. Susan’s passion for movement and her quest for self-inquiry fueled her desire to open Unity Yoga in the summer of 2006. As a socially conscious Entrepreneur, her vision is to provide an inclusive space for healing and connection where everyone has a name and voice.

Exploring many styles of yoga on her journey, Susan has been influenced by a variety of excellent teachers and traditions. She received her initial 200 hour training at Vancouver’s Flow Yoga in 2006, and continues to learn and expand her practice through study, workshops and hands-on experience. Her classes are a fusion of the flowing grace of Ashtanga Vinyasa, the alignment principles of Anusara, the gentle pace of Hatha yoga, and the wisdom of traditional yoga philosophy. Susan enjoys working with students at every level of practice, and strives to make yoga accessible to those who need it most.

Susan has a special interest in the esoteric and is a student of Flying star Feng Shui and Qi Gong. She offers Time and Cosmic Flow Analysis Readings in Four Pillars (Bazhai) Chinese Astrology and Tarot, and enjoys delving into the deep philosophies of the East.

Kyira is the Executive Director of Yoga Outreach. She has been teaching yoga in Vancouver since 1999 and is presently in training with Noah Levine to become an authorized meditation teacher in the Theravaden Buddhist lineage of Ajahn Chah.

As a yoga teacher and certified yoga therapist, Kyira shares the knowledge and insight from her decades of personal practice and her studies of yoga, Buddhism, Sanskrit and Ayurveda. By blending this with an understanding of contemporary science and an irreverent sense of humour she leads classes which are grounded equally in ancient teachings, modern understanding and present moment awareness. She aspires to offer the tools, techniques and opportunities for students to experience safety, freedom and truth for themselves.

Momoko Suzuki Powles has been teaching yoga for 28 years — 11 years in Japan and 17 years in Canada. She was one of the first graduates of Prana Yoga College in Vancouver, and has studied Zen-mediation and oriental medicine in Japan. She teaches yoga in English and Japanese and has published five DVD publications in Japan, most recently “One Pose Yoga” in 2008.

While her approach is deeply spiritual and traditional, she believes yoga has no boundaries of age, gender or physical ability. Momoko’s classes are gentle, inclusive, and focus on breath and enjoyment, while relaxing and soothing the body and mind.

Lou, originally from the UK, moved to Vancouver in Feb 2007. She has been practicing yoga for over 9 years and as a mother of two, knows how important the family unit is and how difficult it can be to get a balance of things. She uses creative lesson plans to help kids build body awareness, parents to bond with their kids and moms to relax and build friendships.

“I want to create an environment that will nurture the spirit in every child. One that will allow children the space to explore, develop their true characters in a fun and creative way, while affirming their worthiness. I want to enable children to gain the abilities to help them achieve a healthy and happy mind, body and soul as well a conscious heart, now and for the future.”

Lou is a Registered Yoga Teacher (RYT) and studied at Prana College of Yoga in Vancouver and Thailand. She also trained with the YogaKids Teacher Programme for an extensive 310-hour children’s specialty, and is a Certified Infant Massage Instructor and prenatal yoga teacher.

The seed of Little Tree Yoga was born to provide a nurturing environment and creative classes for the whole family.

Melissa is a local dancer and musician who was originally drawn to yoga for its fluid movement, rhythm in breath and the calming effect of this combination. Melissa’s favorite yoga classes are those where she is encouraged to never stop exploring her movement; where “held” postures become “dynamic” flow. She adds elements to her class that encourage returning to the breath while grounding in easeful, flowing sequences.

Shelley has been a devoted yoga practitioner for 9 years. She is a Registered Yoga Teacher (RYT) and a certified Anusara-Inspired instructor. Anusara Yoga is a unique blend of universal principles approached from a sophisticated biomechanical understanding of the human form and practiced within the traditional Tantric context of Kashmir Shaivism. Shelley’s teaching is informed by her ruthless practice of self-observation, intentional vulnerability and her own ongoing studentship.

She is grateful for the mentorship she has received from John Friend, Christina Sell, Karen Claffey and Jaye Martin. Shelley believes it is essential to draw strength from one’s teachers as well as one’s own purposeful intention in order to practice the sacred bondage of yoga. In doing so, one infuses the body with the necessary fuel to navigate the path of transformation with insight and a sense of humor.

Shelley’s inspired and challenging teaching style confronts her students with the collision of the immanent and transcendent. She guides her students to a place where joy, passion, honesty and insight emerge spontaneously, where resting in the exertion of asana brings forth the innate wisdom of the body into the luminous glare of uncompromised reality.

Reno Muenz is a dynamic, inspirational yoga teacher who brings his energy, humour and philosophy to every one of his yoga classes. Since the first time he opened the pages of Bhagavan Das’ It’s Here Now Are You?, he knew there was something radical about the practice of yoga. His love for music has a major influence on his teaching style and adds to the uplifting message he brings to his classes. As a DJ for much of his life, he brings this connection to sound and intertwines it with his knowledge of yoga as a physical as well as devotional practice. In university he majored in Religious Studies with a focus on Buddhist and Hindu traditions and brings his knowledge and faith in both to his practice and to his classes. “Yoga has completely changed the way I interact with life on this planet. It is my prayer, my exercise, my diet,the way I interact with others, it is everything. It has made me stronger and more compassionate. It has filled my heart with loving kindness and reminded me of the Oneness of All.” Reno offers a challenging vinyasa practice with all the juicy bits of bhakti and spiritual practice. His love for the planet and all living things are a major part of his offering as an instructor. “To see all Living Beings as Divine, that is my one True Goal as a Yogi, that to me is Liberation.”

A peer-led community of freaks, geeks, queers, rebels, outcasts, stream-enterers and their friends, who meditate together in the Buddhist tradition.

"A Sangha is a community of resistance, resisting the speed, violence and unwholesome ways of living that are prevalent in our society. Mindfulness is to protect ourselves and others. A good Sangha will lead us in the direction of harmony and awareness. The substance of the practice is most important. The forms can be adapted."

~ Thich Nhat Hahn

Cyndi was trained in the classical Hatha style with Shakti Mhi and Prana Yoga College in Jan 2008. While relatively new to teaching yoga, she has been a Recreation Therapist for 15 years and now combines a strong background in teaching various leisure and recreation skills with her love of yoga. During class she emphasizes safety and using the breath to work with and beyond our limitations. She has an irreverent sense of humour which often weaves its way into her classes. In trying not to succumb to the pressure of the Western mind to provide a kick-asana work-out, Cyndi strives to respect the spiritual traditions of practice. She wants to provide a class that feels like a nice cup of tea, a warm hug and your favourite pair of slippers on a cold rainy winter day. Hopefully you will leave her classes feeling both relaxed and energized at the same time.

"Let the beauty we love be what we do. There are hundreds of ways to kneel and kiss the ground" -- Rumi

Brenna Coupland is a certified hatha, prenatal and kids yoga instructor. She grew up in Winnipeg where she practiced dance for 8 years, and also completed a diploma program in Culinary Arts and Design. She was first introduced to yoga through her Baba at a small church class at the age of 12 (at which time she thought ‘Yoga’ was a country!) From there, her affinity for the practice took off. She moved to Vancouver in 2007 and completed various yoga trainings and workshops, including prenatal and children’s yoga. Her classes are gentle but joyous, with focus on exploration and curiosity. She is currently studying to become a Registered Holistic Nutritionist at the CSNN. She feels thrilled to be a part of the incredibly loving and generous yoga community in Vancouver, and looks forward to helping students rediscover their bodies, breath and bliss! Sat nam!

Tomas Hicks has fallen in love with the Yogic path over the last four years ~ peace, joy, harmony and mystery have become abundant in my life. My goal is to share the gift of Yoga with those seeking true Peace and Harmony in their lives, a willingness to be brave, stop swimming against the tide, and go with the flow of life and love. If you are willing to surrender to Peace and breath fully, lets do Yoga together! Sat Namaste

Several years ago, Sara Jade found yoga to be the perfect compliment and companion to her gypsy lifestyle. Traveling with a job requiring her to be out of the country for months at a time, yoga became a joyful, comforting and committed part of her life. Enamored with only requiring a mat and space for her body to fit in, it was indeed love at first breath.

After 3 years of self study and practice, Sara Jade began teachers training in 2004. She has since continued her thirst for knowledge through workshops and practice with a number of amazing teachers including Kelly Colleen, Jason Hagenmeister and Lauren Hanna.

SJ's classes are uplifting and energetic, drawing from a number of styles guided by the flow of breath. Encouraging safe, artful movements, a focus on alignment and self inquiry is ever present in her classes.

Melissa graduated from Prana Yoga Teacher College and is a certified Hatha & Prenatal Yoga Teacher. Her classes incorporate breath and movement to encourage mind and body awareness. After experiencing the benefits of Prenatal Yoga with her natural water birth at home, she is inspired to empower other pregnant women to trust their body's intuition.

A professional ballet dancer for 15 years and practicing yoga since 1997; Melissa has danced with the National Ballet of Canada, Dance Theatre of Harlem, Ballet BC, as well as many companies in New York. She discovered her regular yoga practice helped strengthen both her body & mind for a career as a ballet dancer. www.melissarodrigues.com

Sarah believes that health and happiness is accessible to everyone and everyBODY if only they begin to move more, stretch more and smile more. Sarah’s dynamic classes, integrating mind, body, and breath, explore postures that leave students feeling strong, properly aligned, centered and balanced. Sarah encourages her students to use their creativity in class and consciously pay attention to the intrinsic pleasures of movement.

Sarah first fell in love with the physical form of yoga (asana) primarily as a complementary practice to her dance training. Her practice was dramatically deepened when she discovered the multiple limbs of yoga in 2005 while living at the Salt Spring Centre of Yoga. It was then that Sarah began to see yoga as a way of life and not just a physical practice. In 2008 Sarah finished her degree in Contemporary Dance at SFU and completed her 200 hour Yoga Teacher Training at the Salt Spring Centre of Yoga.

Dedicated to living in gratitude with an open heart. This journey has centered on learning acceptance, to bring love and wholeness to life both on and off the mat.

I encountered this practice while completing my degree in Music therapy, coping with stress related mysterious aches and illnesses. Quite quickly, I realized that breath, movement and sound and the yoga union between them are pieces to the puzzle, keys to unlocking many of the questions and mysteries that exist within life, within myself and this universe.

An ecelectic, wholistic teacher am I! Many flavours of Hatha have graced my path so far: Vinyasa, Anusara, and yoga Nidra are a few that appear in classes I teach most regularly. In March 2008 I completed a 500 hour teacher training in Rishikesh , India with yogi Vishveketu, in ‘Akunda’ and ‘Hatha Raj’ yoga styles. I teach as a part of a few YTTs and have facilitated 200 hour yoga teacher trainings with Himalaya Yoga Valley in India as well as Trinity, Gaiatri Yoga and Lion's Breath here in Canada .

Playing with sound has become my passion: singing, leading sound circles, kirtan and accessing the power of nada yoga, the yoga of mantra and sound healing. As an accredited Music Therapist, I work with all kinds of people: children, elderly, people in mental health, individuals who are seeking healing etc…

Lisa has been an explorer of life for as long as she can remember. Yoga, and particularly Ashtanga yoga, has been her path for jumping into this exploration of body, mind, spirit, relationship, and consciousness since 1998, and it is an exploration that she is passionate about sharing with others. Having studied with many Ashtanga teachers around the world, including Sri K. Pattabhi Jois and his grandson Sharath, she more recently has been inspired by the transformative potential awakened through the Big Mind and Zen practices as taught by Genpo Roshi and Diane Musho Hamilton Sensei.

Lisa has been teaching in the Ashtanga tradition since 2001 at many studios, including City Yoga and Ashtanga Yoga Vancouver. Her involvement in social change work in Canada, Nigeria and other corners of the world is her practice of bringing yoga off the mat to nudge those shifts in not only us as individuals, but us as the collective ‘we’. She is inspired to share yoga as the practice of waking up to our own true nature through the dark and the light, and as the practice of being fully present to reality as it is with grace, humility, love and humour. She is deeply grateful for all of the teachers in her life, inside and out, human and other.

Danielle Hoogenboom is the founder of Love Light Yoga and praises the art of yoga as the origins of her physical healing and the source of her spiritual activism. She is certified in Hatha, Yin and Prenatal Yoga. Danielle strives to share the beauty of Yin Yoga that guides us towards restoring the balance in your own lives through personal awareness and devotion to inner freedom from our habits and repetitive nature of our holding patterns. Learning to approach our bodies and minds creatively, passionately and mindfully is our greatest challenge but offers the deepest truths that reconnect to our spirits.

“My teaching is a creative expression of my life and artistic practice. I offer a fusion of studies and experiences to support people in finding their radiance: to create space that allows your love light to shine bright. Yoga is love in action and a powerful tool for personal and global change”

Danielle leads classes, workshops and woman's circles in Vancouver and continues to exhibit her artwork locally and internationally. She has recently completed Off the Mat Into the World's Yoga, Action and Purpose Leadership Training and and is taking part in their Global Seva Challenge for South Africa with a fund raising goal of $20,000 to support HIV/AIDS work.

Justin Love (Chân Pháp Bi), a former Buddhist monk ordained by Thich Nhat Hanh, has been practicing for 15 years in the Tibetan, Zen and Theravadin Buddhist traditions. Justin has helped lead meditation retreats internationally with the Plum Village Sangha, and on Denman Island at the Dharma Fellowship Hermitage. Justin has a unique ability of connecting with people’s experience and offering personal guidance in the practice.

This course is designed for people to develop a firm meditation practice and to integrate the principles of meditation into everyday life. Starting with our natural curiosity and loving-kindness for ourselves, we will learn to infuse our body, thoughts and emotions with awareness and develop a clear, settled mind that can penetrate into our true nature.

Appropriate for people with any level of meditation experience. Classes are accompanied by instructions for daily practice, discussion, and opportunities to meet one-on-one with the instructor.

$55 for 6 classes, drop in $13

To register, phone 604-708-8369 or email Info@UnityYoga.ca.

Kelly Woods (Ravi Inder Kaur) is a KRI certified Kundalini Yoga teacher trained by Guru Raj Kaur Khalsa at Raj Yog Nivas in Vancouver and has been practicing various forms of yoga for the past 14 years. She is also an actress which lends a dynamic energy to her classes. As an ordained Shamanic Priestess and Magdalene Minister, she holds the transmission of Isis and Inanna. Within her classes, she helps to create a container of sacred space for healing, growth and awakening your highest potential.

Charlotte Herst completed her 200 hour yoga teacher training with the Vancouver School of Bodywork and Massage, and is continuing her training in the Anusara method. Her classes celebrate yoga, the community, and our planet! She encourages her students to explore the goodness within, and nurture contentment, strength and space in the body and mind. Her background is in theatre, music, and invertebrate biology, and she has an intimate knowledge of the bodily ailments inherent with clerical work. Charlotte sings with the Vancouver Cantata Singers, and believes that yoga and song can make the frowniest frowner into a happy, healthy duck!

Tat tvam asi! You are that. Because we're all stardust; our bodies pint-sized solar systems.

Through her teachings Megan focuses on an integration of poses and breath working to find balance and harmony in the body. With a strong draw to the eastern Chinese medicine traditions the classes often incorporate chi gong, core lines, breath work and a blend of asana to approach the subtle and physical body alike. Megan’s classes will challenge and calm the system while leaving you embodied with heart.

After seven years of personal yoga practice Megan decided to combine her love of teaching physical movement and her background as a national athlete and coach by obtaining her first teacher training certification in 2005. In 2007 she under took a two month long intensive program which engaged the daily aspects of yogic ashram life through which Megan obtained certifications in Yin yoga, Restorative yoga and meditation in the zen Buddhist tradition.

She now holds a RYT 500 designation and certifications in Pilates, Yin, Iyengar Hatha, Vinyasa, Restorative and pre-natal yoga.

Megan Currently studies internationally with Sarah and Ty powers as well as with many gifted teachers in Vancouver. When she’s not teaching Megan enjoys singing, painting, dancing and the good company of friends.

Elle is a curious cat. She is constantly seeking and investigating life at all angles and yoga has been an integral tool in her self-discovery. Her desire to share these tools and knowledge that come from a moving meditation was the fuel to leave a 10 year career in the fashion and film industry to become a yoga teacher.

Elle continually draws on inspiration from Buddhist teachings, meditation, daily life and the sheer joy of being present and in the body she was given. She enjoys bringing insight into her classes where each student can find a seed for their own growth and development emotionally, physically and spiritually.

Elle is a strong and dynamic teacher but yields a soft heart that recognizes each student’s individual needs.

Some of her adored teachers are Paul & Suzee Grilley, Sadie Nardini, Sarah Powers, Max Strom, Gurmukh Kaur Khalsa and Pema Chodron.

www.amritayoga.ca

Andrea St.Jules (also known as Jules or Nambir Kaur) has been practicing various styles of yoga for the past 9 years. She did her 200 hour Holistic Hatha (Akhanda) Yoga teacher training in Rishikesh, India with Yogi Vishvketu of the World Conscious Yoga Family, and her KRI Kundalini Yoga teacher training at Golden Bridge in Los Angeles with Gurmukh Kaur Khalsa.

Andrea experienced a deeply profound awakening when she discovered the ancient technology of Kundalini Yoga (as taught by Yogi Bhajan). She has now found her passion in guiding others to connect with their own divine essence, to heal themselves, and to realize their own highest potential through the transformational power of Kundalini yoga.

Within her classes, Andrea aims to inspire and encourage students to connect deeply with their hearts, and tune into their own inner teacher, or Guru. Her classes are challenging and uplifting, yet within the challenge create and offer space for stillness, gentle inquiry and joyful presence.

In 2006, Emily was inspired by her history of competitive figure skating & dance, to explore a new form of movement: yoga. Her journey began in LA, where she studied at various studios, including Bikrams Yoga College of India, and Brian Kest's Power Yoga. Since then, yoga has taken her to India to study Anusara Yoga, with Christina Sell, to practice amongst the locals in Thailand, and to Vancouver, to grow with local teachers and students.

After a debilitating ACL and meniscus tear, Emily discovered the healing side of yoga. She attributes the reattachment of her ACL ( a 5% chance of happening), to months of visualization, meditation, and asana.

In 2009, Emily completed the three Anusara Immersions, and went on to do her 200hr teacher training with Chris Chavez.

Emily draws from her many varied experiences, and takes the best from each to inspire and guide others in their journey! With a heart felt and authentic voice, Emily reminds her students that yoga lets you feel again, allowing for a deeper connection to this life!!!