Laurie Campbell
(Director of Breathe Yoga Teacher Training Program)

Laurie has been teaching yoga for over 10 years and has been with Breathe Yoga Studio for 6 of those years. As a student, she counts many great teachers as having a profound impact on her growth: Chuck Miller, Richard Freeman and Tamara Faith Berger all inspired and informed her teaching. She credits her success as a teacher to her own teacher Ron Reid and is very thankful that she had the honor of studying with him. While studying she practiced and later taught traditional ashtanga yoga right up to advanced series B, today she teaches a mixed style of vinyasa yoga.

She endeavours to honor her roots in ashtanga yoga but weaves in her love of movement and sequencing. Her wish is to communicate that the essence of this practice is not felt solely on your mat as your body opens but the rewards of this practice are felt deeply in the heart when our minds begin to open. As a senior teacher Laurie has been named the Director of Yoga Teacher Training at Breathe Yoga, leads international retreats and teaches at international conferences.

Sonja Adrianovska

Sonja has been around yoga since childhood. As a child she wanted to be a circus acrobat and studied various dance and movement techniques, as well as yoga (Sivananda) She went on to have three children and obtained an M.A. in Middle Eastern Studies before developing a serious yoga practice and following this path to become a Yoga and Pilates teacher in 2006. Spirituality has been fundamental to Sonja’s approach to life, and yoga asanas are to her the most direct physical path toward a meditative state of being. Sonja loves teaching yoga because it is creative and immediate, and she considers her students to be her most inspiring teachers.

Josh Babier

Josh has been practicing different styles of yoga and meditation since 1982. He has studied in India, New York and Toronto. He received his first teaching certificate in 1996 in the Sivananda style in South India. Since 1998 he has been studying a practice rooted in (but not limited to) the Ashtanga Vinyasa style and in 2000, completed Downward Dog's first teacher training program. Josh has taught all over Toronto and in the last couple of years has given teacher training programs in Bolivia and Peru, where he was living.

Meghan Bruni

As an active teenager, Meghan was drawn to yoga to balance out her energetic lifestyle. After pursuing the yogic path for over a decade, Meghan completed a 300 hr teacher training program through the Downward Dog Yoga Centre in Toronto. Meghan incorporates her knowledge of contemporary dance, Feldenkrais method, vinyasa flow yoga, and Ashtanga yoga into her classes to create invigorating and inspiring classes. By providing students with a platform to create a self-practice in line with their specific needs, Meghan takes care to help ensure that every student feels amazing both during and after their practice.

Tracey Currie

Tracey's first yoga experience was to a video during a high school gym class. Years later, she was reintroduced to the practise at the right time in her life. She has now practiced regularly for 15 years and has been teaching in the City of Toronto for over 10 years. She feels very blessed to have been a part of the Breathe teaching team since the doors opened in 2001. Tracey completed the inaugural 350 hour Teacher Training program with Kathryn Beet and Marla (Meenakshi) Joy at the Yoga Space in Toronto. She has since gone on to complete studies with Hart Lazer, Darby, John Friend, Todd Norian and Anne Green, Janice Clarfield, Dharma Mittra, and Mark Finch

Tracey is also a Teacher and senior Practitioner of Thai Yoga Massage. These teachings, historically derived from the combination of yogic tradition and Buddhism, are a constant source of inspiration for Tracey. Her approach and teaching style have been greatly influenced by one guiding principle of this work—the spirit of metta (unconditional loving-kindness or compassion). As she has worked to cultivate this principle into her own life, it has also enabled her to guide, communicate and connect with many students over the years.

Christine Felstead
(Senior Instructor and member of the Breathe Yoga Teacher Training Faculty)

Primarily motivated by her desire to improve her slumping posture, Christine started her yoga journey in 1996, with one class a week. After a few years she discovered the ashtanga practice which soon led her to replace her running shoes and corporate career with a yoga mat. As an instructor, Christine pioneered the development of Yoga for Runners and today is the leading authority on the practice of yoga for runners. She also teaches regular yoga classes that integrate alignment principles with fun and challenging vinyasa sequences. While Christine embraces the Eight Limbs of Yoga, she is keenly interested in the anti-aging effects of yoga—that is, using yoga to maintain a strong and supple body and mind.

Christine is a graduate of Downward Dog Yoga Centre's Teacher Training and has continued studying with amazing teachers: Richard Freeman, Chuck Miller, Maty Ezraty, Nicki Doane among others. She also continues a regular practice in the Iyengar tradition under Mahyar Raz.

Leslie Kriekle

Leslie was invited into yoga by a friend in need of a guinea pig Ashtanga student. A very happy guinea pig, Leslie has been exploring yoga ever since.

Since 1999, Leslie has practiced under the guidance of Ron Reid and Diane Bruni at Downward Dog Yoga Centre. She completed her full teacher certification, and a shorter teacher training intensive with Chuck Miller and Maty Ezraty in 2007. In her yoga classes, Leslie endeavours to create a safe and healthy atmosphere where students can challenge, nurture and better understand themselves through the practice of yoga.

Karen McWilliam

Karen feels blessed to have been awakened to a philosophy and practice that is in keeping with her life's passion and work—birthing and supporting birthing women and their families. Karen has practiced yoga for over 12 years and has been taching for over 5. Her formal training began at YogaSpace in 2006 with an emphasis in classic Hatha (Patricia White), Vinyasa (Kathryn Beet), Restorative yoga (Hali Schwartz) and Prenatal/Postnatal (Sasha Padron). Karen's philosophy around childbirth and her work as a birth doula is integrated into her prenatal yoga classes. In Karen's classes, the focus is on preparation for labour, birth and parenthood; breathwork, visualisation, stretching, stregthening and some vigour is combined with journeying inside to become familiar with one's source of power. She believes that a woman's body knows how to birth. Her aim is to guide women towards an awakening of that innate knowledge and empower them to approach childbirth with confidence, courage and joy.

Svitlana Nalywayko

Svitlana began her yoga journey in 1999 after returning to Canada after a 5 year overseas contract came to an end. Studying with various teachers within the city of Toronto, her passion for yoga grewquickly and steadily and she decided to dedicate herself fully to yoga by opening Breathe Yoga Studio. Since then, she has continued her yoga studies with senior teachers Dharma Mitra, Richard Freeman, David Swenson as well as with the gifted and highly experienced senior local teachers that she has brought to Breathe Yoga Studio's staff. She has also completed a number of teacher training programs in India, Toronto and New York.  Svitlana is exceptionally proud and grateful for the staff at Breathe Yoga who have helped her create the beautiful community of committed yoga students that has evolved at Breathe Yoga over the years.

Andrea Peloso

At the age of fifteen, Andrea tried her first yoga class. She was immediately drawn to the practice. This joyful and inquisitive beginning grew to an appreciation for the inner peace, happiness, and calm that a mindful yoga practice can bring through all of life's challenges.

Andrea now teaches yoga in Toronto, Ontario. She trains teachers in Restorative Yoga as part of the Downward Dog Yoga teacher training program.  There she also teaches Restorative and Ashtanga Yoga. Andrea assists Judith Hanson Lasater at in the United States and Canada. In addition she has completed her Advanced Certification in Restorative Yoga. Andrea has taught and trained teachers in Tokyo, Japan. She also teaches Prenatal and Kids yoga.

She is also blessed to have studied with Chuck Miller and Maty Ezraty, Ron Reid, Diane Bruni and Marla Joy, David Robson, and Matthew Remski in Ayurveda and with many other teachers such as Matthew Sweeney, Ramanand Patel, and Lauren Peterson.

Susan Richardson
(Senior Instructor and member of the Breathe Yoga Teacher Training Faculty)

Susan first started exploring yoga in 1988, and has been practicing devotedly since 1996. She has studied with renowned teachers Geeta Iyengar, Manouso Manos, Marlene Mawhinney, and Mahyar Raz, and is certified through the Iyengar Association of Canada. Susan brings to her teaching a deep fascination with the science of anatomy, and the philosophy of classical yoga and Buddhism. She has more than 20 years experience in Buddha Dharma, and continues to work with Toni Packer and Tsultrim Allione.

Susan is passionately involved with the practice of yoga as an exploration of the inner world through inquiry and observation. She aims to help students experience yoga and meditation as a way of developing presence, clarity and wholeness.

"Yoga has been the strand that has tied the many aspects of my life together. Awareness of mind and body offers a freedom to open our selves up to the world around us and to experience it with clarity."

Sheldon Shannon

Sheldon was a competitive gymnast in his youth and today is an avid cyclist. Four years ago, he found himself drawn to yoga when he started practicing Hatha. For Sheldon, this naturally lead to ashtanga yoga. He received full teacher training certification at Downward Dog Yoga Centre under the tutelage and guidance of Ron Reid and Diane Bruni. Sheldon continues his ashtanga journey with a daily mysore practice. As a teacher, Sheldon ensures a positive and safe environment which is always filled with fun and laughter.