Brand Ambassadors
We are truly blessed to have some of the most talented, kind + influential yoga + fitness instructors in the world as part of our Supported Soul team.
Roxane Marti
Website: www.roxaneyoga.com
Instagram: @roxy_the_traveling_yogi
Facebook page: Yoga Around The World
Yeva Glover
Yeva Glover brings her diverse background into her offerings as a yoga teacher: being raised in the wilderness, dancing professionally in NYC, intensive studies into many modalities of yoga, and, now, being a mother of two. Yeva has taught yoga for 8 years, teaching adults, teens, & children, in studios & schools, as well as leading local and international yoga workshops and retreats. Trained in NYC and Vancouver, Yeva is a RYT-500 certified Vinyasa, Yin, Pre-natal and Kids’ yoga instructor.
Website: www.yogayeva.com
Risto Duggan
Risto has been teaching yoga since 2007.
A former multi-sport athlete, actor, and dancer. He started his yoga journey on his 40th birthday, and has never looked back.
The years of competitive sports had taken quite a toll on his body, but his yoga practice has kept him very active.
He credits his training to Eoin Finn, Dustin Fruson, Ryan Leier, Geoff Mackenzie, Slava Goloubov, Natalie Rousseau, Christine Price-Clarke, and Jolene Bayda.
Risto teaches Rocket Yoga, Power, and Yin. His brand RAD Yoga Gear produces specialized shorts for arm balancing and handcrafted yoga bags.
He also hosts local and international RAD Yoga Surf Retreats.
His Rocket classes are quite an experience! Funky music, challenging, extremely supportive, and fun.
Instagram: ristoduggan
Facebook: Risto Duggan
Twitter: @ristodugganyoga
Website: www.ristoduggan.com
Kiana Ng
Gymnastics coach turned international yoga teacher, Kiana’s passion is being able to lead you through practices that empower your body, mind, and soul to help grow your physical and spiritual journey. Kiana is now an E-RYT 200-hour level yoga teacher with 8+ years of experience working with the human body and 5+ years teaching yoga and meditation. If you’re motivated by challenge and growth or love detailed, alignment-focused instruction with a mix of hand-balancing, her classes are for you. You can find all of her offerings at kianang.com or follow her on instagram @kiana_ng for daily inspiration!
Mikaela Millington
Kelly Kristy
Yoga, for me, is all about having fun and focusing on self. I first started a dedicated yoga practice in 2012 when I needed a change from the weight room. Years of lifting heavy weights and lengthy cardio sessions had my body seeking a different type of workout. I loved the athleticism and playfulness of yoga. Vinyasa Yoga hooked me and has my heart!
I'm an ERYT-500, an experienced registered yoga teacher with 500+ hours of training and 3000+ hours of hands-on experience.
Aside from the yoga, I have a degree in Kinesiology and played collegiate golf which gave me a strong understanding of the human body and mental focus.
Marcus Tong
Marcus Tong’s yoga journey began out of pure curiosity when he stepped into his first yoga class in 2007 and he has not looked back ever since. There was an instant connection that he made with himself the second his feet touched the mat for the very first time. Prior to this class, Marcus had been searching in the external world for answers, but yoga had shown him to look internally. He found that when you are able to silence the distractions surrounding you and focus in on your self then you can truly experience your natural state of truth.
Marcus truly believes that yoga is a gateway to living a more peaceful life. He believes the value of practicing yoga is seen when you can fully embrace vulnerability and open your mind to the possibility of transformation, even when it may get challenging and uncomfortable. In his classes you can expect an alignment-based practice that is dynamic and empowering. Marcus provides a safe and welcoming space to explore deeper into your inner-self in order to unlock your limitless potential.
Website: www.marcustongyoga.com
Social media: @marcustongyoga
Brandee Leigh Johnston
I am a yoga teacher and mentor, a women's coach and the Co-Founder of KENZA YOGA, on Gili Air Island in Bali.
I'm a BC girl at heart but after spending years traveling in Nicaragua, Peru, and Turkey, I just was not feeling the pull to go back to Canada. I ended up going to Bali to teach yoga and decided to make it her new home.
I took my first yoga class at the age of 21 and was in pretty rough shape on this particular day. This class challenged me to the max, on all levels. It took everything out of me not to walk out.
It eventually became easier. I became stronger and more graceful in my movement and in how I carried myself. I saw positive qualities in myself I had never seen before. I was blown away that I could sustain class and hold challenges postures with ease. This brought me a sense of joy, connection, and feeling of belonging.
Diana Battung
Diana was born and raised in California but found her true self here in BC. On her path of self discovery, her journey into teaching yoga began and she can't imagine life any other way. Diana wouldn't be standing here today without the love and support of those who truly believed this was where she was meant to be.
Nathalie Saunderson
Nathalie Saunderson's extensive background teaching yoga has combined to offer once in a lifetime 10 Day Yoga Retreats around the world. She created Rising Sages to take people on an experience of themselves through travel and yoga that deeply nourishes and restores. She believes and abides by the power of meditation and practice, and teaches students to reconnect and own their bodies and experiences. These Retreats hold space to travel deep within, immersed in surrounding beauty and return to creating life through fresh eyes, deeply inspired.
Alai Mai
I discovered yoga and began a full time practice at the age of 18. After practicing for 5 years, I lived in an ashram in Varanasi, India where I met my teacher, practiced and studied daily. I have now been practicing for 14 years and teaching for 7.
I studied Holistic Nutrition at the Institute for Holistic Nutrition in Toronto where I took a particular interest in macrobiotic nutrition, Ayurveda, herbalism, and the use of supplements to treat acute ailments in the body.
My education includes an Honors Bachelors of Social Work at York University in Toronto and a Masters of Social Work at the University of Toronto where I specialized in a collaborative Mental Health, and Clinical Counselling for Addictions Program.
I specialized in studying psychotherapeutic methods such as cognitive behavioural therapy, dialectical cognitive behavioral therapy, transpersonal therapy and analytical psychology. I use an integrative approach that combines the above approaches with empowerment, person centered and strength based practice. When or if the need arises I will also use motivational interviewing and mindful practice approaches.
I bring with me practice experience as a clinical counsellor and program coordinator at a Health Center in downtown Toronto and clinical counsellor and Case Manager at a women’s inpatient/outpatient drug treatment facility.
Ashley Belluz
When Ashley is not busy trying to figure out this whole motherhood thing, you’ll catch her teaching yoga, recording her podcast KILTER&MINT or sipping vino (sometimes all at the same time, no shame). She’s a sucker for Arnold Schwarzenegger films, succulents and froufrou hand lotion. In her twenties, she wanted to become a VPD officer, however was a bit of a rebel in her youth so that didn’t quite pan out. Now her highlight reel includes teaching yoga to women in prison and in fact this was the real reason why she became an instructor in the first place.
Trained in vinyasa and meditation, her passion lies in Feelosophy and making yoga and supportive touch accessible to all.
Collaboration over competition.She is where she is today because of other yoga instructors/fitness professionals earnestly sharing their wisdom, business knowledge and mistakes for her to learn from. Yoga instructors in Vancouver are like the stock brokers of New York… one on every corner. You shine by showing up completely and wholly as yourself (which for her is injecting humour with juicy hands on touch. Who doesn’t love a good fart joke).
Dolly Reno
My journey into yoga and becoming a teacher started when I was a little over 18 years old.
I was fleeing from a very abusive relationship and with the help and support of my family I made my way from Toronto to Vancouver and this city has been home ever since. I was scared but not alone, my father (who was already living here) was of course aware of my past, my anxieties, my distrust, my self-loathing tendencies and he did his best to support me in my healing journey. Beyond getting me set up with some counselling, he encouraged me to come try out a yoga class with him, lightly suggesting that it might help me to reclaim myself, my body, my feelings. He made it this really safe and beautiful experience and from there we just kept going. At first I didn’t have it in me to go alone but eventually that changed and I’ll never forget the day I really embraced my own practice, the ability to spend quality time with myself. Yoga was truly a saving grace for me, it was therapeutic. It was something I could do when I needed to quiet my mind or stop my fidgeting hands, it helped me to re-build my self-confidence and self-love and it reconnected me with my body. Yoga offered me community, friendships, thoughtful conversations, varied perspectives and interactions - all things I craved and wasn't even aware of it until I began my practice.
Over the past 10 years I have done and continue to do so much growing and there are so many beautiful life lines that I've been so fortunate to have had the sense or the guidance to grab onto them while I was finding my feet.
And now, here I am, healthy and happy and proud to be able to share this beautiful, vulnerable, ‘break you wide open and put you back together’ practice. My past is my inspiration for teaching and practicing yoga and I do my best to channel it thoughtfully and responsibly. My own life experience has taught me that we just need to get to our mats and ultimately I just want my students to show up, with or without their shit. I truly believe the healing only begins when we come as we are.
Kelsey Ellis
Since 2011, I have helped over 500 people improve their quality of life through both physical exercise, nutrition and practicing self-compassion and self-care. Seeing my clients shed tears of joy when they have completed one of my health program is by far the most rewarding part of my career and I strive to continually make their experiences better and exceed their expectations. I believe that all of the struggles I have experienced in my life were not only moments for growth but that they were necessary. I am thankful everyday for them. They have shaped who I am, and I am so deeply passionate about helping other people discover their greatness. These learning moments that shift us into our most authentic self usually reside in the darkest moments in our life and I am here to help you bring them to light.
Rhaya Lynn
A Canadian holistic therapist and yoga teacher based out of Bali, Indonesia.
Rhaya supports and empowers clients with mental health and/or addiction-related concerns, having completed a Master of Occupational Therapy and Bachelor of Kinesiology at the University of British Columbia. She has further trainings in counselling and hypnotherapy, and is a certified yoga teacher with specializations in trauma-sensitive and children’s yoga. Rhaya also offers yoga, pranayama, and meditation as a supplement to talk-based therapy for at-risk populations.
Rhaya teaches public and private classes in Bali, offers workshops and retreats globally, and is in the grass roots stages of creating a YTT for clinicians. She therapeutically supports clients in 1:1 settings as well as through group workshops.
Whilst not supporting others along their journey, you’ll find Rhaya practicing yoga, dancing, running, seeking out the best organic vegan restaurants, reading or listening to Ram Dass, discussing environmental sustainability practices, and enjoying heaps of dark chocolate!
Find out more at https://www.rhayalynn.com/
Salina Buchan
Hello, I’m Salina.
I am a wife, mother, doula, yoga teacher and lover of all things sweet!
I am passionate about making connections…uniting the mind, the body and the breath. Yoga stole my heart and we are now beyond ‘the point of no return’. Yoga is therapy, it is gratitude, love, family, and connection.
I’ve been practicing yoga for over a decade and, after the birth of my daughter, decided to pursue my passion for teaching it. I received my 200 hours Yoga Teacher Training certification in September 2012 and completed my 80 hours Prenatal Yoga Teacher Training while pregnant with my son in 2013. Most recently, I received my Rainbow Kids Yoga Training certificate in hopes of bringing yoga to the kiddos in my life in a fun and interactive way.
I greatly enjoy getting to know my students and look forward to meeting you one day soon.
I walked into the studio 7 years ago . No one knew me. No one knew my story. What I had been through. The shame and secrets I carried. The heaviness I carried and uncertainty within myself was my new normal. Yet when I was really quiet I could hear the little girl, the vibrant playful inner child saying the life I was living wasn’t aligned.
I came to yoga for the first time in the hopes to lose some weight and get toned for summer. What happened was so much more. It brought me back to me.
Hot yoga. 90 minutes in a hot room, staring into my eyes. For so long I ignored my inner voice. I chained and tamed my soul and numbed my self out from all the shame. I craved to be loved but didn’t love myself. I was exhausted and tired.
The hot room became a dear friend that held me just as I was. I could show up exactly as I was. I began to see the truth. I would stare into the mirror, in the room, in the quiet i didn’t want to leave - I could no longer run or hide.
The continuous flow and breath and movement, sweat, tears and laughter opened me to presence. I started to really hear, and was able to listen. Truthfully I was a little scared to lose the life I knew. But something in me knew that I had to keep going.
I chose a path of digging deep. Digging inward, into all that stuff that gets pushed away. I dug passed the excuses and through it all found myself. That little girl, that was excited about life was there, and ready to shine!
I began to heal. I started to love the person that was inside. I was hooked.
From there I had a calling to go to yoga teacher training. After 6 months of practicing at the studio I saw a poster for an upcoming training - so I applied! I had to learn more, I needed to learn more! In training, more layers were pulled back. I built the deepest relationship to myself. I gained tools and insight that completely transformed my experience.
My life shifted from doing yoga to living yoga.
My yoga practice became a daily exploration not only on the mat but off the mat through all aspects of my life.
I will forever hold gratitude for that first yoga class to bring me where I am today.
Emily Kane
@EmilyKaneYoga is a yogi (E-RYT 500 & BKin), adventure seeker, and nature lover who calls Whistler, B.C. home. Outside of teaching, she is passionate about snowboarding, hiking, plant-based cooking, reading, writing, and more. She is also a conscious entrepreneur who founded @YogacaraWhistler and @JuiceNationOrganicCafe. Emily is blessed to share her adventures with the people she cares about and feels honored to have many inspiring souls in her life. Learn more about Emily at emilykaneyoga.com.
Laura Strauts
My journey in exploring a love for movement started in Riga Choreography School (Latvia), after graduating I worked with the Latvian National Ballet company where I had chance to dance classical and contemporary repertoire. I studied Jazeps Vitols at the Latvian Academy of Music in dance choreography and teaching department, meanwhile gaining experience as an instructor. Later on I took the opportunity to work in Italy, UAE and continued studies in National Dance Academy in Rome. Interest in yoga started through a search for the tools to calm the inner turbulence of my mind that sometimes expressed itself as anxiety.
In my early twenties I was diagnosed with serious lung inflammation, and I had to struggle through a long treatment and recovery, several years later I still experienced burning pain in my lungs. Yogic breathing exercises and meditation helped restore my physical and mental health, unburdening me of the external and internal afflictions that impact most people on a day to day basis hindering them from their true potential. This is why I teach yoga, to help others realise their latent ability to help themselves, so they may thrive and be happy.
Building on my own physical stamina I became a passionate runner and fitness enthusiast which I implement in my classes balancing it with stretching, flexibility and a solid foundation of pranayamic breath work. As a yoga, dance teacher and personal trainer I have experience working with beginners as well as skilled athletes, which gives me the ability to adapt my classes to the needs of every individual person, to help guide them to a balanced understanding of the capabilities of their minds and bodies.
"If you want to overcome the whole world, overcome yourself" - Dostoevsky
www.laurastrautsyoga.com
Anna Oldfield
As a yoga teacher and a nature lover, my hope is to help guide you through breath to a deeper inner awareness.
Anna has been practicing yoga for over two decades and has been teaching since 2009. During that time she has taught public classes at Yyoga, facilitated workshops, hosted local/international retreats and been a Lululemon Ambassador.
Most recently Anna completed her 300hr Vinyasa training with Clara Roberts-Oss. Throughout the years she has trained and practiced with a wide range of local and international teachers. As a student Anna has deep gratitude for all of her teachers including Patrick Creelman, Ana Forest, Kristin Campbell, Baron Baptiste to name a few.
She currently teaches flow/vinyasa public yoga classes at Yyoga, Yoga Generation, Move Studio and Loam Yoga. Anna is also trained to teach Hot, Restorative, Power and Hatha Yoga.
When not teaching, she can be found working as a graphic designer, traveling with her husband and 2 step kids and hiking the local mountains.
Liv Hilde
After her heart spoke to her in a dream 10 years ago demanding that she move from its wisdom, Liv Hilde began her journey into yoga. Today, she teaches a playful, powerful class with ever-changing choreography and challenge. Using her heart-centered perspective and encouraging nature, Hilde inspires her students to move from a place of loving empowerment. In each class, she demonstrates that to move and breathe deeply is truly an act of loving; to align is to courageously stand in the light and transmute it's brilliance. Before she found yoga, Liv Hilde was living in the stratosphere of her upper chakras, however, her heart yearned for deep roots and unity. When she first stepped foot on the mat, she knew she had found her peace - there was nothing more powerful, potent, and pure than experiencing all parts of the body by moving the breath of awareness through every cell and layer. She had found the home and grounding her heart desired - it was just a matter of trusting her instinct.
Liv Hilde truly believes in every single movement and every single breath is a chance to create more exquisite space and live more fully. Through drawing inwards we can tap into our highest source, shine more brightly, and inspire others to rise. For Hilde, yoga practice is an evolution and she encourages her students to step into their light while enjoying the beauty along the way. Inspirations: Authenticity, wisdom, laughter, love, passion, creation, rainy mornings, starry skies, Chilean literature, social action, intelligent speculation, philosophy, farmer's markets and biodiversity, intuition and destined coalescences, the duplicity of light and the abundance of space and time, dance, music, flight, bioluminescent beings and creatures that can thrive anywhere, calmness in the face of tumult, kindness, compassion for all beings, my beautiful daughter Emma Rose, my love Shamus, my mom.