Directors and Faculty

Amy’s life purpose has been to change the way people view mental and physical health by educating them about the inter-relationship between Yoga, Psychology and Public Health.  Amy earned a Ph.D. in Educational Psychology and her B.A. and M.A. in Health Promotion.

Amy has studied Yoga and Yoga Therapy in India, Europe and the United States.  During the past 25 years, Amy studied extensively in the T. Krishnamacharya Tradition.  On numerous extended trips, she studied at the Krishnamacharya Yoga Mandiram (KYM) in Chennai, India.

2018-2020 Amy served as the President of the Board of Directors to the International Association of Yoga Therapists (IAYT). Prior to this, Amy had served on the Board of Directors as Secretary for IAYT for 4 years.  Additionally, she helped to develop and define standards for Ayurvedic Yoga Therapists in the National Ayurvedic Medical Association (NAMA).

Amy has also conducted many yoga research studies at California State University, San Bernardino, where she has been an active Professor of Kinesiology for 21 years.  

Coming Soon.

Erin Byron is a Registered Psychotherapist, Yoga  Therapist, Author, and Speaker with 30 years in field of trauma recovery. Erin has  a graduate degree in Yoga Therapy and co-founded one of the first internationally accredited yoga therapist training programs. She has been leading retreats and  trainings for twenty years, well-known for her in-depth yet humorous delivery and  ability to navigate difficult topics with humour, agility and simplicity. 

Erin's sincere and engaging presentations leave participants with inspiring new  perspectives and tools they can begin using immediately to create a more  productive, playful, compassionate world for themselves and others. Erin has  presented at the world's top conferences in her field, including SYTAR, Sedona  Yoga Festival, and MISTY. 

Erin has appeared in Yoga Journal, Huff Post, and numerous other books and  articles on mental health and whole person wellbeing. She is the author of Yoga for  the Creative Soul and previous co-authorships include Yoga Therapy for Arthritis, Yoga Therapy for Stress & Anxiety, Llewllyn's Complete Book of Mindful Living,  and Yoga Therapy: Theory & Practice. Watch for her newest book, Complete  Recovery from Trauma.

Erin's 20+ years as a yoga and meditation educator/trainer and expressive arts  therapist brings audiences an uplifting dynamism and creativity. Erin shines  laughter, experiential learning, and care upon her lectures as she connects people  to the joy of what is possible in business and life.  Find Erin online at www.ErinByron.com and on YouTube.

Evan Soroka, C-IAYT, E-RYT 500, YACEP, is a yoga therapist and educator with over 20 years of experience. She is the founder of Soroka Yoga Therapy in Aspen, CO, and the ID Method™, an integrative yoga therapy program for people living with diabetes. Evan first discovered yoga at 16 as a way to manage the stress of living with type 1 diabetes. Over time, her personal practice grew into a career. Today she possesses some of the highest credentials and experience in the field. Evan's mission is to make yoga accessible to everyone who can benefit from it – regardless of age, ability, or health.

Evan is a certified Viniyoga™ therapist, yoga nidra teacher, and an initiate of the Sri Vidya tantric meditation lineage of the Himalayas. Her profound understanding of the structural mechanics, breathing sciences, Ayurvedic medicine, and deeper realms of spiritual practice make Evan an expert in the field. Evan's critically acclaimed book, Yoga Therapy for Diabetes, was published by Singing Dragon in 2021. She is a featured yoga therapist on Yoga International and a contributor to Yoga Journal and Yoga Therapy Today.

Katherine is a therapist, teacher, consultant, yogi, dog-owner, nature-lover, life-long student of traditional wisdom, and a passionate social justice advocate. She believes that we, as human beings, are beautifully complex and perfectly imperfect. She is fascinated with the human mind, body, and spirit and have dedicated my life and career to learning the application of therapeutic tools that can bring us wholeheartedness in the wake of everything, especially when the various parts of our being become disintegrated and we experience mental and emotional suffering. 

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She has a Master’s degree in Counselling Psychology from the Adler School of Professional Psychology in Vancouver, B.C. and is a Registered Psychotherapist (RP) with the College of Registered Psychotherapists of Ontario (CRPO), a Certified Canadian Counsellor (CCC) with the Canadian Counselling and Psychotherapy Association (CCPA), and Certified Yoga Therapist and lifelong student in the Krishnamacharya Tradition of Yoga. But all those certifications mean little, for my education has primarily come through relationship with others and the experience of fumbling through attempts at understanding how to follow my heart and connect to myself and what’s around me. As a clinical associate of the Glebe Institute and the clinical supervisor of a Youth Mental Health Treatment Centre, she's blessed to be immersed in plenty of opportunities for continuous growth and learning.

Kimberly has worked as a yoga therapist since 2012 and actives applies client centred yoga therapy practices. Continuing education is important to Kimberly who, as is a life learner, participates in conferences and trainings to follow new research and medical conditions and to continue to explore the texts and concepts of yoga.

She has experience with pain syndromes, functional rehabilitation and challenges arising from trauma, injury, illness, surgery and treatment. Her experience extends to working with individuals experiencing TBI, neurological issues, nervous system dysregulation, pain, anxiety, depression, feelings of stress and PTSD. She has worked to help people cope with serious health challenges arising from illness like cancer, or accidents resulting in neurological issues.

Leila Stuart BA, LLB, C-IAYT is an international experiential anatomy and yoga therapy teacher, online educator and conference presenter. She co-authored Pathways to a Centered Body: Gentle Yoga Therapy for Core Stability, Healing Back Pain and Moving with Ease with Donna Farhi in 2017. She is also a Registered Massage Therapist specializing in neuromuscular and craniosacral therapy and has practiced and taught yoga for over 40 years. In her dedicated yoga therapy studio near Vancouver, BC, she attracts students with a degree of pain or disability not generally addressed in regular yoga classes. 

As a teacher of teachers, Leila developed and taught an innovative Yoga Therapist training for 14 years. The course combined experiential anatomy, somatic repatterning and embodiment of the deeper teachings of yoga as pathways to self-healing. She now teaches this comprehensive body of work internationally. Leila’s work draws from various movement disciplines including Yoga, Embodied Practice, Sensory Awareness, Body Mind Centering and Feldenkrais.

As a teacher, Leila guides students to cultivate an embodied experience of their own anatomy through interoceptive awareness and somatic inquiry. By developing a felt-sense of their living anatomy and accessing inherent body wisdom, students become active participants in their own healing process. The physical body then becomes the doorway to transformation and living from the deepest self. With a deep love and intuitive knowledge of experiential anatomy, Leila specializes in translating academic information into somatic awareness and life-changing experience.

​​Lisa is a certified yoga therapist, a yoga and meditation teacher, and a retired psychotherapist. She works with all kinds of people, especially those who are living with chronic conditions, including cancer, fibromyalgia, chronic pain, neuromuscular and immune disorders, traumatic brain injuries, and mental health issues. Lisa helps people develop therapeutic movement and meditation practices that contribute to their healing and well-being. Her work includes somatics, nervous system regulation, depatterning, and accessible, functional movement and meditation practices.

Dr. Marlysa Sullivan is a physiotherapist and yoga therapist with over 15 years of experience. Marlysa balances clinical research and practice with education, speaking and writing.  She is the Physical Therapy Coordinator of the Empowered Veterans Program at the VA. She trains physical therapists as well as offers the mindful movement component integrating therapeutic pain education, mindfulness, acceptance and commitment therapeutic principles with movement practices. She is an Assistant Professor in Yoga Therapy and Integrative Health Sciences at Maryland University of Integrative Health and holds an adjunct position at Emory University, where she teaches the integration of yoga and mindfulness into physical therapy practice in the DPT program.

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She is the author of Understanding Yoga Therapy: Applied Philosophy and Science for Well-being and co-editor of Yoga and Science in Pain Care: Treating the Person in Pain, as well as several peer-reviewed articles.

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Marlysa has been involved in the professionalization of the field of yoga therapy through the educational standards committee of IAYT, which helped to define the competencies for the field, and in characterizing the yoga therapy workforce through her research. She is also part of the Global Consortium of Yoga Therapy focusing on international collaboration and development of the field.

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I have been practicing meditation and yoga since 1996, learning from teachers from the Tibetan Buddhist, Kripalu, Ashtanga, and Iyengar streams. Along the way I’ve trained as a yoga therapist and an Ayurvedic consultant, and maintained a private practice in Toronto from 2007 to 2015. From 2008 through 2012 I co-directed Yoga Festival Toronto and Yoga Community Toronto, non-profit activist organizations dedicated to promoting open dialogue and accessibility. During that same period I studied jyotiśhāstra in a small oral-culture setting at the Vidya Institute in Toronto. I currently facilitate programming for yoga trainings internationally, focusing on yoga philosophy, culture, and the social psychology of healthy communities. In all subject areas, I encourage students to explore how yoga practice can resist the psychic and material dominance of neoliberalism, and the quickening pace of environmental destruction.

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I’m the author of eight books of poetry, fiction, and non-fiction. Of Threads of Yoga: a remix of Patanjali’s Sutras with commentary and reverie, scholar Mark Singleton writes: “I don’t know of any reading of the yoga sutras as wildly creative, as impassioned and as earnest as this. it engages Patanjali and the reader in an urgent, electrified conversation that weaves philosophy, symbolist poetry, psychoanalysis and cultural history. There’s a kind of delight and freshness in this book that is very rare in writing on yoga, and especially rare in writing on the yoga sutras. This is a Patanjali for postmoderns, less a translation than a startlingly relevant report on our current condition, through the prism of this ancient text.”

My most recent book, Practice and All is Coming: Abuse, Cult Dynamics, and Healing in Yoga and Beyond is earning praise internationally as a groundbreaking resource for critical thinking and community health.

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I live in Toronto with my partner and our two sons.

Naomi is a certified teacher and practitioner of Body-Mind Centering® (BMC), and a certified Infant Movement Developmental Educator through the School for Body-Mind Centering. She is a registered Somatic Movement Educator and Therapist through the International Somatic Movement and Education Association. (ISMETA) She has maintained an ongoing private practice, seeing clients since 1995. She teaches classes and workshops in creative process, movement arts, peer practices and Body-Mind Centering®. She is the founder of “Sparrow Somatics,” which hosts workshops and offers training and certification in Somatic Movement Therapy through ISMETA. Naomi is a pioneer in the fields of somatic education and therapy. She brings to her practice and teaching a unique ability to articulate subtle embodied principles. With a passion for cultivating egalitarian relationships, she nurtures the competency and authority inherent in each of her students and clients through their direct embodiment of somatic principles.

Neil is an Associate Professor of South Asian Philosophy and Religious Thought, and the Director of Religious Studies at the University of Alberta; where he teaches in both the Philosophy Department and Religious Studies Program. He received his PhD in Asian Cultures and Languages from the University of Texas at Austin where he specialized in Sanskrit and Indian philosophy, and an MA in East-West Psychology from the California Institute of Integral Studies. Dalal’s interests explore philosophy of mind, metaphysics, contemplative psychologies, and meditation practices found in classical South Asian Yoga systems. He grounds this research in classical Sanskrit texts and commentaries as well as their living traditions. He is the co-director of Gurukulam (The Orchard/Sony Pictures), a sensory-ethnographic study of a contemporary Advaita Vedānta community, co-editor of Asian Perspectives on Animal Ethics (Routledge Press), and has published articles in venues such as the Journal of the American Academy of Religion, Journal of Indian Philosophy, and Journal of Hindu Studies. Dalal is also a teacher within the traditional lineage of Śaṅkarācārya’s Advaita Vedānta. He spent several years living a monastic lifestyle in India while studying under the direct guidance of the renowned Advaita Vedāntin, Swami Dayananda Saraswati, who gave him permission to teach in 2002.

Neil is a physical therapist, a Clinical Assistant Professor at the University British Columbia, and a certified yoga therapist.

An engaging educator and compassionate clinician, Neil is able to make the complex understandable, willing to share his knowledge and expertise in pain care, and always ready to learn more. He is also an aspiring writer.

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Although he is a clinician whose most important teachers are the patients he serves, Neil is a self-professed research geek, involved in and staying up-to-date on studies of nonpharmacological pain care, including yoga. He’s inspired by the courage of people in pain, especially when they engage in yoga techniques that surely sound woo-woo compared to biomedicine, and by the hearts of yoga therapists who hold space for those overwhelmed by pain and suffering. Neil enjoys road cycling, traveling with his wife in their camper van, being outside, cooking, and reading fiction.

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Rachel Krentzman is a physical therapist and certified yoga therapist.  She is the author of two books, Yoga for a Happy Back: A Teacher’s Guide to Spinal Health through Yoga Therapy and Scoliosis, Yoga Therapy and The Art of Letting. A graduate of McGill University, Rachel completed her 2000-hour teacher training with Aadil Palkhivala at the College of Purna Yoga and has studied intensively with Judith Hanson Lasater and Aman Keays.  Rachel has been integrating yoga into her physical therapy practice for over 20 years and  is the co-founder of Wisdom-Body Yoga Therapy – the first 800 hour Yoga Therapy training program in the Middle East.  She is on the accreditation committee for IAYT (the International Association of Yoga Therapists) and is passionate about integrating yoga into the healthcare system.  Rachel offers online trainings for yoga professionals and the general public on Yoga for Spinal Health and Scoliosis.  For more information visit: https://happy-back-yoga.teachable.com

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Rachelle is a writer, workshop presenter, communication coach and relationship “whisperer” specializing in conflict resolution and breakthrough conversations. Her unique approach to language, relationship dynamics and conflict through the lenses of cultural anthropology, spirituality, Nonviolent Communication (certified 2002), mythology, poetry, storytelling, deep ecology and social activism consistently produces powerful results for individuals and audiences wishing to experience the positive benefits of transformational dialogue. Visit her website: www.rachellelamb.com

Shawnee is the Founder of Asanas for Autism and Special Needs and the Founder/Director of Yoga Therapy for Youth Certification Program. Shawnee has worked with children and adults with autism/autistic children and adults, and individuals with diverse needs for over 20 years.Shawnee works with private clients of all abilities to facilitate health and healing. Her goal is to bring the experience of yoga and somatic practices to all individuals no matter their differences or challenges. She wrote a published a book, Asanas for Autism and Special Needs – Yoga to Help Children with Their Emotions, Self-Regulation and Body Awareness and is the creator of the C.A.L.M.M Yoga Toolkit.

She has a Yoga School through Yoga Alliance in order to train others in yoga approaches to support children and adults with diverse needs and backgrounds and travels globally to share her teachings. Shawnee is dedicated to helping support youth and adults in developing strategies to cope with stress in order to live happier, healthier more peaceful lives.​

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Shawnee has led  several workshops at major conferences both in the US and Internationally; including MISTY (Montreal International Symposium for Yoga Therapy) and IAYT (International Association of Yoga Therapists) SYTAR Conference on Yoga for Sensory Processing and Self-Regulation for children with ASD, BOOST Conference (Best Out of School Time) on Yoga for Children with Special Needs , Yoga and Mindfulness for Youth and Yoga to Reduce Stress and Increase Relaxation for Educators. TRUST Conference (Teens Understanding and Reflecting Stigma Together) on Learning to Breath, Yoga and Mindfulness for Teens, including teens struggling with mental illness and UCSD Bridging the Hearts and Minds of Youth Conference on Yoga and Mindfulness for Sensory Integration and Self-Regulation.​

Shelly Prosko, PT, C-IAYT, PCAYT, is a Canadian physiotherapist, yoga therapist, author, speaker and educator dedicated to empowering individuals to create and sustain meaningful lives by teaching and advocating for the integration of yoga into modern healthcare. She is a respected pioneer of PhysioYoga, a combination of physiotherapy and yoga.

Shelly guest lectures at medical colleges, teaches at yoga therapy schools and yoga teacher trainings, speaks internationally at yoga therapy and medical conferences, contributes to yoga academic research and offers continuing education courses for yoga and healthcare professionals on topics surrounding chronic pain, pelvic health, compassion and professional burnout. Her courses are highly sought after and have been well received by many physiotherapists, yoga professionals and other healthcare providers.

She is a Pain Care Aware Lead Trainer and has authored book chapters in several rehabilitation textbooks and is co-editor and co-author of the textbook Yoga and Science in Pain Care: Treating the Person in Pain. She is also known for her TEDx talk: Pushing Boundaries in Physiotherapy.

Shelly is a University of Saskatchewan graduate and has extensive training in numerous specialty areas with over 24 years of experience integrating yoga therapy into rehabilitation and wellness care. She emphasizes the immense value gained from clinical experience and learning from her patients, the professionals she teaches and the colleagues with which she collaborates. She considers herself a lifelong student, truth seeker and change maker. She maintains a clinical practice in Sylvan Lake, Alberta, Canada and provides online mentorship to professionals who are interested in pursuing this integrative path.

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Dr. Staffan Elgelid is an Associate Professor of Physical Therapy at Nazareth College in Rochester NY. He is a Certified Feldenkrais Practitioner as well as Yoga Therapist. His Yoga approach is influenced by his Feldenkrais Training. His main focus with clients is to build a nervous system that is robust enough to allow the clients to learn new activities, enhance present activities, and continue to live active, enjoyable lives no matter their age or situation. Staffan teaches in Yoga Therapy programs, conducts workshops nationally and internationally, and sees clients in his private practice. Staffan is the co-author of “Yoga for Stress and Anxiety” and “Yoga Therapy, A Personalized Approach for Your Active Lifestyle”.  Staffan has also produced several DVDs on a variety of topics including core training and Yoga for sports. Staffan is a member of the IAYT Advisory Board and a Board member of the Yoga Alliance.

Theo Wildcroft, PhD is a teacher, trainer, writer and scholar working for a more sustainable relationship between our many selves, the communities that hold us, and the world that nourishes us. Her research considers the democratization of yoga post-lineage, and the many different ways yoga communities are responding to concerns about safety in practice. She is at the forefront of the movement for trauma sensitivity, diversity and inclusion, an honorary lifetime member of the BWY, and registered with both the IYN (RYT500) and Yoga Alliance (E-RYT® 500, YACEP®). She’s also an Associate Lecturer at the Open University, UK, Coordinator of the SOAS Centre of Yoga Studies, and guest lecturer at a number of other universities. An accomplished writer with two decades of experience in group facilitation, she not only delivers compelling lectures and inspiring writing, but holds careful and thoughtful spaces for groups and individuals to deepen their knowledge, share experiences and acquire new skills. Her monograph Post-lineage yoga: from guru to #metoo is out now.

Uma met yoga in 1969, at the age of four, and fell in love. She’s been practicing ever since, and teaching yoga since 1994.A yoga therapist with special expertise in yoga therapy for women’s health, Uma is a mother of three, and has written four books on yoga for women, including the massive Yoni Shakti and two books on Yoga Nidra, including Nidra Shakti, An Illustrated Encyclopaedia of Yoga Nidra.

Uma works internationally, sharing yoga retreats, trainings and empowerments that support the natural arising of prana shakti: the power of life. She trains specialist teachers in Total Yoga Nidra and Yoni Shakti Well Woman Yoga Therapy for menstrual and menopausal health, pregnancy, birth, and postnatal recovery. Uma is certified as a Yoga Therapist by the International Association of Yoga Therapy (link). Her diplomas in Yoga Therapy are from the Yoga Biomedical Trust, and the late Mukunda Stiles (Structural and Ayervedic Yoga Therapy). Her initial yoga studies were with Iyengar and Satyananda yoga teachers and her continuing inspiration is the ‘Feminine Unfolding’ asana practice shared by Angela Farmer.

She is co-founder of the Yoga Nidra Network and has developed Total Yoga Nidra, Wild Nidra, Yoni Nidra and Nidra Shakti: radical creative and intuitive approaches to sharing yoga nidra.In 2005, Uma co-created the annual Santosa Living Yoga and Bhakti Camp. Uma’s passion as a writer and as a teacher is to transmit clarity of awareness, creativity and profound vitality. She identifies these teachings as “post-lineage” yoga, rooted in yoga tantra and drawing on a variety of yogic traditions to share deeply nourishing and enlivening practices appropriate for contemporary life. Her practice and teaching respects the cyclical powers of the living earth, and

honours human life cycles as spiritual initiations (including menarche, conscious menstruation, menopause, birth and postnatal recovery).

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