Instructors
Rene Johnson realized in retrospect that yoga has been an influential part of her life for a very long time. Coming from a family where yoga, holistic and metaphysical thinking was not the norm it has been an interesting integration. Rene loves the diversity of yoga and it’s effects.. It changes feelings of melancholy to contentment. It offers a clear mind, and a healthy energized body. The synthesis of her eclectic accumulation of life experiences has brought her to the place she is now. She is the proud owner of Shanti Yoga, with the opportunity to do what she loves; teach yoga.
As a teacher she challenges students to see who they are, and to show them how to emerge more fully into themselves by being more aware of each moment, each movement and each breath. “There are so many things that I still want to learn, and my list continues to grow. I love sharing what I learn with others. Yoga for me is an integration of my life. I have had some very profound changes in my journey, which have greatly effected my quality of life. For this I am grateful! . Through laughter, sweat and sometimes tears, we learn and grow together.”
Cole Williston calls Edmonton home and has been instructing Yoga for over 7 years. His teachers training was in Chakra Yoga and his style of guidance reflects aspects of Iyengar, Hatha, Vinyasa and Pranayama. Cole is passionate about building community and creating evolutionary group experiences. He also organizes yoga adventures through his company PLANit Adventure. www.planitadventure.com www.captaincole.blogspot.com
Kat Boehm was introduced to the practice of yoga via meditation. Sitting her first 10-day retreat her body ached, her mind unruly and questioning her decision to sit a silent meditation retreat, thankfully a yoga instructor was leading daily classes! Moving the body and breathing deeply allowed ease, space and surrender to transform the doubt, agitation and stagnant energy.
She was hooked and began practicing instantly. Kat obtained her first yoga Teacher Certificate in India and then followed up with the Yoga Association of Alberta. Most recently she completed her Pilates Matwork Certificate. With her diversity of practice, travel, and Buddhist retreats Kat offers classes filled with ease, laughter, knowledge and release.
Tori Lunden's foundation for her yoga practice is the belief that yoga, like most things in life, shouldn’t be taken too seriously. With this in mind, Tori’s teaching style is light-hearted and eclectic. Her classes invite students to challenge themselves with humour and compassion, and to find their own practice through awareness of body, breath and mind.
Tori began practicing yoga in 2003. Since then she’s had the privilege of learning from a variety of teachers in Canada and in India. She completed her teacher training in Rishikesh, India through the World Conscious Yoga Family, as well she has completed her YogaWorks teacher training.
Jenika Watson Seeking the divine in the commonplace, I believe in taking yoga off the mat and into life! Honouring every body’s expression of yoga; I teach to deepen the wisdom of the mind - body - spirit connection. Drawing on philosophy, nature and human experiences, I offer variety and authenticity to encourage all to open to their own truth manifested in their experience of yoga. Classes are usually structured around a theme with carefully placed postures and transitions; a flowing style ranging from strong and energetic to quiet and reflective.
I am a certified YogaWorks instructor, continually deepening my commitment to yoga through personal practice, wide ranging workshops and the wisdom of fellow teachers.
Bird believes that Yoga is a practise, and that practise is the perfection. Her classes are always something different and she creates a safe, peaceful space for her students to explore their own personal practice. She is amazed at the balance and peace that yoga has brought into her own body/mind and loves to share her knowledge and benefits of yoga with everyone she meets!
Bird first came to yoga in 2000 and was surprised at the immediate healing benefits. Her teaching style of Hatha Yoga focuses more attention on proper alignment in yoga postures. She is a certified yoga teacher with YogaWorks and feels that her struggles with back injury has allowed for a unique insight as an instructor.
Kate Christie, Although I was introduced to yoga in my late teens, it wasn’t until a few years later that an instructor’s love and passion for yoga encouraged me to give it another try. That first class inspired me to start my yogic journey, which has led me to where I am today.
My practice includes Ashtanga as well as other styles, such as Hatha and Moksha. Over the past four years I have found yoga seeping into my everyday life, whether on the mat or sitting in my car at a red light. Yoga has offered me great peace and understanding with which to go through life.
As well as being instructor-certified through Yoga Works, I also draw on my nursing, EMT and First-Aid education. My aim is to make classes fun and safe, fostering a positive environment where students can truly embrace yoga as their own practice.
As I was once inspired, I hope to help my students find the same inspiration, joy and serenity that yoga has brought me.
Jana Derges Jana's yogic training began long before ever stepping foot on a yoga mat. Growing up in Saskatchewan with little more than her imagination to keep her company, Jana's fascination with the physical and the ethereal flourished as she spent many years silently watching the river moving through her backyard reshaping the land, while pelicans, beavers, deer, turtles and the like stopped by to share their wisdom.
Jana remains constantly anchored in the practice of studentship continuously under the guidance of her gifted teachers, Ally Bogard and John Friend. Being Edmonton's first Anusara-Inspired teacher, her journey into the Anusara tradition was fueled by a need to heal a broken back after a fun day of snowboarding ended with a stretcher ride off the mountain. Her steady meditation practice helps her to remain equanimous at the center of all life's undulations. She swears the greatest way to integrate the teachings of yoga is to work in the laboratory of your own body and heart.
Jana's biggest teacher however remains to be the human experiences itself, for as she embraces each and every moment more fully, every second becomes an opportunity for growth and to love more freely."It feels like I started teaching yoga life times ago. Nothing in my life has flowed so smoothly, like I've simply remembered my passion. I am a soul who is playful, honest and real. I truly want to help the world be happy! It's my belief that people are designed to love, smile and move. Let's get grounded in reverence, yet playfully expansive!"
If you are interested in reading more about Jana, please check out her blog: www.janasyogaspot.blogspot.com
Blaire Houghton has in recent years been practising and teaching under the guidance of her teacher Swami Vivekananda Saraswati.
She has taught in India, London and Southeast Asia. Inspired by the esoteric principles of yoga, the teachings of Hidraya (yoga and meditation premised upon the teachings of Ramana Maharishi), Blaire remains in constant wonderment and awe of the yogic system and its vast and far reaching possibilities.
Chris McBain I have travelled far and wide searching for, what I now realize, was my own inner worth.
I looked in churches and temples. In relationships. In jobs. In food. In travel - always grasping for some inner-meaning. Buddhists would call this "the hungry ghost" forever searching for what would satisfy or feed but always starving for more.
It wasn't until I stepped on the Yoga Mat in 2006 that I began to truly find myself. Everything I had been searching for was within me; like Dorothy in the Wizard of Oz I realized that the power was inside me all along. That's why I say "there's no place like OM" because it is in Yoga that finally found what I could call home: total physical health, mental clarity and a deep sense of meaning.
I received my Yoga Teacher Diploma from the Canadian College of Massage and Wellness and am a 200 HR Registered Yoga Teacher with the Yoga Alliance; I also hold the Second Level in the Mastery of the Usui System of Natural Healing. I am CPR & Frist Aid certified through St. John's Ambulance.
My passion is for social justice, global healing, yoga, laughter, and a glass of fine wine!