Yoga

My yoga journey began when I was but a bored (but naturally curious) thirteen-year-old! I grew up in the inner city of Hamilton, Ontario’s famed North End. My parents were new to the country, worked long shifts, and could not afford to enroll (or taxi) me to extra-curricular activities. This minor detail did not stop me from begging to be put into dance lessons. I soon came to accept (with delight) that everything I wanted I could find in a book or by accident…

I cannot recall how I came about it, but one day, I discoved that there would be a series of free workshops at a local recreation centre – including one on yoga and another on accupressure points.

It was love at first savasana!

Being a huge book nerd, I spent most of my summers before I began working part-time in the library. I must have b-lined it straight from the workshops accross the street to the library to begin my (re)search. I read any and all books I could get my hands on about yoga and spent that whole summer following paragraphs of detailed diagrams and instructions on how to get into different yoga “poses” in front of the full length mirror hanging in the hall by the stairs of our humble backsplit home. Curiosity got the best of me while perusing the yoga manuals and let myself go down the proverbial rabbit-hole. I learned a bit about the philosophy, and took a particular interest in meditation techniques, experimenting with only the guidance of the many pages I explored.

In my later teen years and then in my twenties my yoga practice waxed and waned. Life had its ups and downs, I forgot much of what I had learned that summer. It was only after my son (my youngest) was born that I decided to look into practicing yoga again. I still couldn’t exactly afford the expensive studios, since I was not employed; but luckily one of my local studios offered an “energy exchange” where I did a few hours a week of cleaning and laundry in the studio in exchange for unlimited classes. I have always been blessed to have amazing instructors cross my path, and like many people, I tended to follow the ones that resonated with me. I loved how their classes were unique – one teacher always included life lessons, another would weave into her lessons some yogic philosophy or explanations of sanskrit terminology, others were able to connect the physical practice to the bigger life questions. I am still with this same studio, and have been – through their three location changes. It is where I completed my own yoga teacher training 14 years after starting as an “energy exchange” student.

I had dedicated a number of years to raising my children, and when I returned to my language teaching career, a fellow yogi and colleague who had volunteered to lead a yoga practice for students found out that that I had begun guiding a group of our colleagues through a Hatha practice in the wee hours of the morning. She approached me for help – her yoga “club” was busting at the seams and she could not possibly fit the number of pre-teens that had signed up for the extra-curricular into one room, nor could she add an extra day to the busy schedule. We split the class and found an extra space – that’s how teachers roll. I haven’t stopped since then! I continue to lead students and teachers through yoga classes during a built-in Wellness period at the amazing school I work at! I also offer two morning and one after school session for staff only, on a walk-in basis. I love sharing the gift of yoga with them and seeing their calm, smiling faces after a decent savasana.

More recently I have become interested in the affects of Yoga on wellbeing, in general. I have attended the Yoga for Mental Health Summit in 2022, and 2023 and look forward to one day completing a more in-depth training that will help me better serve my community. In the meantime I have added a 50hour Thai Yoga Massage training to my skills. This training has allowed me not only to delve deeper into my own practice and the philosopy, but it has also given me a better understanding of my students’ needs so that I can serve them more effectively.

I offer private, synchronous (live) online sessions and consultations,as well. Its a fun side-gig! You can check out my website: Unconditional Yoga and contact me to book any of these.