Laurie Campbell

(Director of Breathe Yoga Teacher Training Program)

Laurie began her study of Ashtanga yoga in 1999. Her introduction to yoga was through a wise friend who thought it might be helpful to her while coping with her mother’s passing. That friend was right. Being an avid runner Laurie appreciated the physicality of the practice and the profound calming effects it had on her mind. Before long Laurie had established a strong daily practice under the gifted guidance of Ron Reid.

Throughout the years Laurie has continued to dedicate herself to the practice of learning. She has completed numerous workshops and teacher-training programs including; The Downward Dog Teacher Training, the Chuck Miller and Maty Ezraty Teacher Training Intensive and a Teacher Training Intensive with Richard Freeman. Laurie continues to travel and self-study to expand her knowledge of the many styles and aspects of yoga.  Wisdom in this practice is infinite; physically, mentally, emotionally and spiritually.  Laurie considers herself blessed to have found this path and continues to be grateful for every step

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.

Tracey Currie

Tracey is a certified yoga teacher having taught full time for five years and has maintained a personal yoga practice for the past nine years. She brings to her practise and work a keen awareness of the body, its mechanics and the mind-body-breath connection that has been developed through years of training in figure skating and theatre performance.

Tracey is also certified in the Lotus Palm method of Thai Yoga Massage. Tracey has recently become a student of tai chi chuan and vipassana meditation.

Michael DeCorte

Michael has a long history of being very physically active.  He was an avid bodybuilder for many years, as well as a marathon runner.  Michael has studied dance and in 2002 was certified as a personal trainer. Upon finding his first yoga class, Michael realised that he had tapped into something both physical and spiritual. Having found ashtanga yoga, his strict workout regime in the gym was replaced by a daily Ashtanga practice.  In 2008, he was certified as a yoga teacher through the Downward Dog Yoga Centre.  In addition to hs pirmary teachers Ron Reid and Diane Bruni, Michael has also studied with renowned teachers Chuck Miller, Maty Exraty, Seane Corn among others.  Michael believes that in yoga he has found his true passion and is committed to making it an ever-evolving life long practice. 

Christine Felstead

Christine Felstead has over 20 years experience as a marathon and other common road race distances.  She has 12 years of yoga experience and 6 years as a yoga instructor focusing primarily on runners and endurance athletes.

Her work with runners teaches them to incorporate yoga as an effective means of cross training.  She has taught hundreds of runners how to incorporate yoga into their weekly fitness regimen, helping them overcome general tightness, nagging injuries and reducing risk of injury. Most of her  students have gone on to meet personal racing goals.  Christine and her Yoga for Runners program has been featured in several articles:  Runners World Magazine (March 2006), YogaLife (May 2006) , Yoga Fit (Feb 2007) and iRun (May 2008).  

Recently she launched her DVD:  Christine Felstead's Yoga for Runners(tm):  The Essentials.  Visit: www.yogaforrunners.com

Leslie Kriekle

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

Since 1999, Leslie has practiced under the guidance of Ron reid and Dian Bruni at Downward Dog Yoga Centre. She completed her full teacher certification, and a shorter teacher training intensive with Chuck Miller and Maty Exraty 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 McWilliams

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.

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

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."

JP Tamblyn

In the Bhagavad-Gita, it is said that an individual who has practiced yoga in a past life is reborn into a family where meditation is practiced. (Chapter 6 : Line 42)
I had the good fortune to be born (or reborn) into such a family and have been quite happy to pick up where I left off last time around! My path has been blessed with kind, generous and exceptional teachers and I feel eternally grateful for the opportunity to do my part in passing along the gift of yoga to others. In my years of teaching I've brought yoga to senior citizens and high school students, corporate number crunchers and west coast surfers and all types of people in between.

There is no one whose quality of life could not be greatly benefited through the practice of yoga, and no one for whom the practice of yoga is inaccessible.
Peace, Love and Happiness to all !
Namaste