Heather's approach to teaching yoga is traditional, with insights gained from her education and life experiences. She began teaching yoga in South Korea where she worked as an English teacher for 2 years. While in India Heather continues to teach English to school children. With 15 years of teaching experience, Heather has brought yoga to community centers, hospitals, nursing homes, the corporate world and education. She has also been an active volunteer by teaching yoga to seniors and the disabled. In 1997, Heather founded the school and developed the programs based on a vision to teach yoga in smaller classes and as a progressive series. From 1997 to 1999, Heather worked in a Toronto Rehabilitation Centre teaching yoga as part of a rehabilitation plan for injuries with a medical doctor and physiotherapist. In 2005, Heather completed her post-graduate work on yoga in the educational system. Her field research was an ethnographic study, which extended over a 2-year period in Mysore, India. Her thesis work entitled Yoga as a Curriculum Subject: The Teaching and Learning of Yoga in a South Indian School has been the focus of lectures and future research for graduate students, teachers and educators. As a guest speaker, she has shared her work in interactive seminars both in Ontario Universities and private schools. She is a member of the IAYT (International Association of Yoga Therapists) and OCT (Ontario College of Teachers). Prior to yoga, Heather had started a promising acting and modelling career. Feeling estranged from the world of actors and models, Heather changed the direction of her life by moving to South Korea. While living in Korea she travelled alone to China, Japan, Hong Kong, The Philippines and throughout Korea, as well as to Hawaii. More recently, Heather produced her first DVD on the advanced practice of back bending. She is currently working on other DVDs including a book sharing her insights, knowledge and experiences from the practice. |
|
Certifications |
|
| (2005) AtmaVikasa Second Series, Mysore, South India (2002) AtmaVikasa Primary Series, Mysore, South India (1999) Sivananda Sadhana Intensive, Ney-yar Dam, South India (1997) Sivananda Advanced Teacher Training, Val Morin, Quebec, Canada (1997) Sivananda Teacher Training, Grass Valley, California, United States |
|
Lectures & Presentations |
|
(2009) Greenwood College, Toronto, Ontario |
|
Study & Training |
|
AtmaVikasa Center of Yogic Sciences, Mysore, South India |
|
Teaching |
|
The Yoga Conference 2006, Toronto Metro Convention Centre |
|
Born in Toronto, Heather's background in yoga started with no prior training and a casual class at the age of 22. Today, she is part of a select group of people who have been certified in AtmaVikasa yoga, a classical system of hatha-yoga. Heather is the first Western practitioner to be certified in both the primary and secondary series of AtmaVikasa.
After having completed several yoga programs at ashrams in the United States and Canada, she made her first trip to India; a journey that would become an annual pilgrimage for 2-3 month durations. Starting with Sivananda-yoga, her practice evolved to Ashtanga-yoga and back bending. In 2000, Heather studied under