In Alphabetical Order:

Adele Worobey has been interested in yoga and spiritual exploration since a young age. Her interest has lead her to many styles and teachers of yoga, meditation and spiritual thought. In recent years, her yoga practice has brought great change in her life, inspiring her to share her experience with others. She completed the teacher’s training program at MokSana in the spring of 2005 and finds the honour of sharing the benefits of yoga with others a natural complement to practice as a counselor and her love of the outdoors.

 

 

Ann-Kathrin Martins has been studying yoga since childhood. In 2000 after the birth of her first son she consciously began to deepen her asana practice. Then in 2004 during her Masters Degree in Fine Arts in England she chose to follow her love of movement with an in-depth study of yoga and pilates as well as various dance disciplines. After moving to Victoria in 2006 Ann-Kathrin received her Yoga Teaching Certificate from MokSana Yoga Center. She is currently studying Vijnana Yoga under Elizabeth Peckham and teaching a variety of classes throughout Victoria. She is the mother of two, and holds a Bachelor and a Masters Degree in Fine and Applied Arts and a degree in Movement and Expression.

 

Clare Mullen began her yogic journey twelve years ago in the city of Toronto. She completed her Teacher Training at Moksana Yoga Centre in the winter of 2003 and has been teaching at the studio ever since. She continues to study and practise various aspects of yoga and meditation, including Vipassana. Her passion for teaching is rooted in her wonder at yoga’s ability to heal, nourish and inform our lives. She is inspired by her travels throughout Africa, Central America and Canada and draws on her B.A. in philosophy and a B. Ed in Elementary Education to further understand and celebrate life in general.

 

Crystal Star, a Registered Yoga Teacher (RYT) and graduate of the Moksana Teacher Training Program, is often seen in the sun-lit studio dearest to her heart. For the past 11 years she has been on an extensive journey of teaching and practicing at many different locations throughout Victoria. Amazing teachers and wonderful styles including Iyengar, Flow, Hatha, Chakra, Ashtanga and Kundalini have influenced her. Crystal’s teaching style focuses on compassion, self-awareness, safety in postures, having fun, and in creating a nurturing space where each unique being can explore their individual, personal connection to Body-Mind-Spirit. Bringing deep love and life experience to Integrative Medicine, she is also a Certified Counsellor, Registered Nurse, Mother, and Reiki Master/Teacher.

 

Darcy McKitrick first discovered her passion for yoga in 2003, while she was dancing professionally with Ballet British Columbia in Vancouver, BC. As a ballet dancer, she found yoga’s calming and healing benefits to be the perfect compliment to the rigorous training she was faced with every day. Upon completion of her dance career, she dedicated more of her time to yoga, and fell in love with Ashtanga in 2007. After a year of dedicated practice, backpacking through South America, and beginning her Commerce degree at the University of Victoria, Darcy completed her 250-hour teacher training at the Yoga Shala, in Victoria BC. She still finds yoga to be both an exhilarating thrill and a grounding balance in her busy life, and she is elated to have the opportunity to share her passion and pass on her understanding to others.

Giancarlo Rizzo had to come all the way from Italy to discover his true passion: yoga. He qualified as a yoga instructor at MokSana and teaches in many locations around Victoria. His background is in the field of body/mind education (Alexander Technique), where he has acquired an extensive experience in helping people get rid of excessive tension by improving their own proprioception and sensory awareness. Giancarlo has found this type of approach very complementary to the principles and the practice of yoga.

 

Grayson Harris (Manoonyo Bhikkhu) has been practicing Buddhist meditation for more than 20 years. His teachings are always relevant and fresh, focusing on bringing the vast benefits of Buddhist practice to others. He lives in Victoria with his wife and two children.

 

 

 

Ida Manly started practicing in 1996 and has practiced many different styles over the years and loves to travel in order to study yoga. Ida completed her 250-hr teacher training at Moksana Yoga Centre in the summer of 2006, and completed her 500-hr teacher training at the Kripalu Center in May 2009. She has been travelling to study with the founder of Anusara Yoga, John Friend, and his senior teachers since February 2008. Her teaching shares her love of alignment, fun and awareness. Ida is owner and director of the studio.

 

Jennifer Piercy, E-RYT500, invites students to explore patterns in the mindbody system from a place of curiosity and wonder. Creating a supportive atmosphere, her teaching encourages the student to connect with and express their concurrent uniqueness/oneness – through awareness, breath, movement, and stillness. Each class is infused with poetry, inspired readings, and the opportunity to welcome all aspects of one’s being. Jennifer began practicing Yoga in 2001 and found herself immediately fascinated by the interplay between ’sthira’ (steadiness, effort) and ’sukha’ (ease, softness) as they unfolded on her mat, and simultaneously her life ‘beyond the mat’. She was drawn to her first teacher training at Moksana in 2004. Since then she has been blessed to have undertaken advanced training with wonderful teachers such as Donna Farhi, Erich Schiffman, Richard Miller, Angela Farmer, and Sama Fabian. Jennifer is also a volunteer counsellor and finds the principles of Yoga naturally coalesce into her interest in transpersonal and eco-psychology.

Jenny Shaw has always found joy by expressing herself through movement. As a child she enjoyed gymnastics and ballet, but it wasn’t until her first yoga class that she realized what it felt like to be at home in her own body. Jenny has been avidly practicing yoga for over 5 years and is inspired by teachers from the Ashtanga and Anusara traditions. She certified as an instructor at MokSana Yoga Center where she currently teaches the Ashtanga Primary Series and Vinyasa Flow classes. Her classes emphasize alignment, movement with breath, and playful fun. Jenny is inspired by learning both on and off the mat; she is currently completing her Master of Arts Degree in Cultural Anthropology. She truly believes that we already know everything we need to know, we just need to rediscover it.

Jules Payne grew up backbending and balancing on her head during 8 years of childhood acrobatic classes. She qualified as a yoga instructor here at Moksana and teaches ashtanga, flow and hatha yoga. Jules’ classes combine a sense of fun and joy with an awareness of alignment and safety. Jules has had many inspirational teachers in the Ashtanga and Anusara (hatha) traditions. She currently studies Vinjana yoga with Elizabeth Peckham and is completing her Professional Yoga Therapist training with Integrative Yoga Therapy. Jules’ passion for yoga is complimented by 10 years of community–based work with charities in England and in Canada.

 

Laura Nipp was introduced to yoga during her studies in Kinesiology and Health Sciences. She instantly fell in love with the positive effects that yoga had on her body, mind and spirit. Addicted to the feelings of enhanced self-awareness, freedom and the physical transformations of her body, Laura began seriously practicing yoga. Laura’s teaching style includes elements from her background knowledge of kinesiology, personal training, skating and dance. She believes that through yoga, people can heal in many ways: emotionally, physically and mentally.

 

Leilani Evans was born and raised on a small island in the south pacific, Norfolk, and it inspires her every day with the memories of colour, the feeling of spaciousness and the connectedness with nature. Leilani’s ability to create a safe and fun environment allows her to guide her students in their return to a healthy body and mind. By recognizing your unique ebb and flow of breath, body and mind, students may become aware of the larger ebb and flow of life’s universal rhythm, everything unified and assisting in growth. She is intrigued with healing of any kind and is drawn to a natural, holistic approach. She thrives on being part of an environment that involved relaxing, rejuvenating and nourishing people.

 

Mary Jane Collins celebrates the communication that happens when we bring both breath and awareness into movement and stillness. Her teaching is gentle and nourishing. She welcomes the opportunity to explore with others – learning more about how we heal and how whole we already are. Mary Jane has led qigong classes for four years and took her yoga teacher training at MokSana in Fall 2004. She feels both called and blessed to practice and teach.

 

 

Megan Nolan began practicing yoga in 2000 upon recognizing its many amazing benefits and features. Initially drawn to it’s fluidity of movement, it was the calming, centering nature of yoga that has fostered her continued study. Serious study of yoga began under Kathy Edler (trained by B.K.S. Iyengar and Shri Pattabhi Jois) on Hawai’i and has continued at Moksana with the completion of the Teacher Training Program.

 

 

Megan Tomlinson grew up as a dancer and was initially drawn to the practice of yoga in 1999 as a physical forum for creation and expression through movement. She’s been continuously grateful for the answers that yoga has unlocked to many of the philosophical and spiritual questions she had been contemplating since childhood. In spring 2005, Megan completed the Teacher Training Program at MokSana and went on to complete her 500 hour certification with the South Okanagan Yoga Association. Her classes draw inspiration from Patanjali’s classical 8-limbed path towards yoga and she is guided by the lessons from her teachers, on the mat and in the school of life.

 

Melissa McLeod began her yoga journey as a student at MokSana in 2002. As a personal trainer, Melissa found that yoga complimented her strength training work. In 2005, Melissa realized that her love for yoga and passion for teaching could be combined and she enrolled in the teacher training program at MokSana. She encourages her students to slow down and listen to their bodies during their practice. She loves helping people discover what they are capable of, and how their body loves to move! Melissa specializes in teaching students how to engage their core correctly, using their deep abdominal muscles and pelvic floor muscles. She studies with Jules Payne and is influenced by her other teachers, Jennifer Piercy and Misha Butot. Melissa is honored to share the practice of yoga.

Michèle (Misha) Butot, RCSW, E-RYT 500, is a registered clinical social worker with over twenty years experience, and a specialization in women’s mental health and palliative care. Misha began teaching in 1998, subsequently studying and receiving advanced training in yoga nidra. Her practice is deeply influenced by the nondual traditions, and has as its primary goal an embodied recognition of the inherent wholeness and spaciousness of our True Self. Misha has been at MokSana Yoga since its inception. She teaches in the 250- and 500-hour teacher training programs, with a focus on yoga psychology & ethics, restorative & back health practices, nondual meditation & yoga nidra, and meeting pain, dying & death from a yogic perspective.

Norman Sim believes that Yoga is a methodology leading to fullness of Being. Consistent with that notion he believes that the – postures, breath, concentration and meditation – to be important parts of every class. He thinks that Yoga should move individuals toward a deeper sense of themselves. Norman is certified by the Yoga Alliance at the E-RYT500 level. He holds a Bachelor of Science in Nursing and currently works as a Registered Nurse in a hospital emergency department. Prior to nursing Norman worked as a Scientific Programmer/Analyst for the federal government; before that he practiced and taught Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM) . Before TCM Norman soldiered with Princess Patricia’s Canadian Light Infantry. He only seems serious.

Ocean Lum started practicing yoga 18 years ago. She began to practise earnestly in 1996 and has been teaching yoga since 2001. Although Ocean appreciates all styles of yoga, she is especially keen about Anusara, Kundalini, and Laughter Yoga. What she loves most about yoga (aside from everything) is its innate psycho-spiritual dimension. She has been practising Tibetan Buddhism since 2001 and finds it the most compelling model of reality rooted in compassion and wisdom. Ocean aspires to connact and teach from her own wellspring of inspiration. She hopes to inspire others to connect to their own source of wisdom and joy. At its highest level, her classes become an offering to the divine within and the divine without. Namaste.

Pam Nicholls teaches a variety of yoga styles all celebrating breath, fluidity and the recognition of the true self. Her yoga influences include travel to Bali for spirituality, fun with her children for heart-opening, and gardening for mindfulness. She works as a medical doctor and recognizes the healing power of love. She has been inspired by Tiffany Loney, Ana Forrest, Nischala Joy Devi and Sarah Powers.

 

 

Whit Hornsberger discovered yoga after tearing his ACL in his last year of a five-year career playing basketball for the University of Calgary. It was a devastating end to a successful career as one of the schools’ all time leading scorers and an end to his childhood dream of playing professionally. Unbeknownst to him at the time this disappointing turn of events were to open up a three-year global journey of yogic self-inquiry and introspection.
Whit’s travels eventually led him back to Costa Rica and the Nosara Yoga Institute, where he studied under the guidance of Don and Amba Stapleton. His teaching style is derived from his own self-inquiry, aiming to create an experiential learning environment within his classes. Through self-inquiry, practitioners awaken to the teacher that lies within us all, expanding consciousness through the body’s inner wisdom. Whit is also a certified Yoga Therapist and offers a style of yoga-inspired massage therapy known as Pranassage.

Winona Bailey completed her yoga teacher training in the Spring of 2007 at Moksana. She teaches several classes in and around Victoria, including Flow Style and Yoga4Strength. Growing up in Victoria and the surrounding islands allowed her to deeply connect to her love of nature, and cultivate the belief that each time you come to your mat, is a chance to connect to your true Self and the world around you. Winona’s intent is to create a safe, fun and organic experience of yoga, while providing tools to unite body, mind and spirit.