Our Amazing Team
We have an amazing team of teachers. All of our yoga teachers have studied in the TAYS method but each brings in their own personality, experience, education and background. You can scan the list below to find out more about each of us. If you find a teacher that you would like to study with, you can view that teacher's schedule at the bottom of their biography.
Amy Marshall
I love dance & the freedom of movement and that's why I love Zumba Fitness®. It's one of those rare opportunities in life where we can experience pure, nonjudgmental uninhibited movement, freedom, joy & fun! I started Zumba Fitness® in 2004 with Beto's DVDs and immediately fell in love. In 2008 I started taking group classes and knew that one day I would be teaching a class of my own. Dancing is my passion. I have over 15 years experience including: Ballroom, Belly, African and Swing dance. The classes I teach will incorporate elements of my dance background as well as focus on the importance of our breath. I hope to see you at one of my early morning classes starting in April! Come and wake up with a shake up!! Amy teaches Wednesday mornings at 7:45am and Thursday evenings at 8:30pm.
Cameron Graves
I took my first yoga class over 25 years ago in a high school gym class. I loved it immediately. For years I fit it in with my love of distance running. Upon moving to Halifax in 1994 my connection with yoga was renewed thanks to a city full of great instructors. In 2002, with the birth of my second child, yoga became my sole avenue to sanity. Due to injury, I was no longer able to run distance. Since then my passion for yoga has grown exponentially as with my desire to share it with others. I have since been certified in Les Mills BodyFlow, and TAYS 200hr teacher training. I have been teaching since 2006 and I am currently pursuing my 500hr professional training through TAYS and LIVE LOVE TEACH. Some of the most profound and valuable experiences have come from specific training; that is Yoga Life Coaching with Deborah Williamson, Yoga Massage with Leslie Hunter and Mike Munro, and Spirituality with Philip Urso.
What I absolutely love about yoga is that it demonstrates the most profound lessons so simply through body and breath. It teaches how to listen to the innate intelligence of the body. As a result, it promotes healthy energy flow and sustained overall health and well-being. The process of tuning in and getting present has so much to offer, physically, mentally and spiritually. It has the power to help one connect to his/her own personal sense of joy, patience, creativity, and ultimately, authentic passion.
I also work enthusiastically and happily as a professional artist and full time mom and wife.
Advice I have come to live by: "Never settle, but be good with what is unchangeable." (Charles P. Graves, my dad) and "True inspiration only strikes when you show up everyday to do the work." (Alex Livingston, my painting professor at NSCAD)
Cameron Subs for us at TAYS. Please look for her in upcoming classes.
Claire Leger
Claire loves to move, breathe, and flow! A graduate of TAYS 200-hour yoga teacher training, Claire teaches a flowing vinyasa practice infused with joy, fun, and a deep curiosity about all that it means to be human. She combines her love of yoga with her passions for music and movement, incorporating music into her classes whenever possible. She specializes in teaching yoga to singers and performers, and has worked as a yoga and movement clinician with provincial and national choral ensembles. Claire subs for us at TAYS. Please look for her in upcoming classes.
Eileen Reardon
We are lucky to have Eileen substitute classes for us at TAYS. Eileen Reardon is a certified yoga teacher and leadership coach. She earned her 200 hour certification and is currently completing her 500 hour training with Therapeutic Approach. Eileen is also Co-Founder of Fire Inside Leadership, an organization devoted to developing leaders. In supporting leaders to realize their full potential, she discovered a real need for self care and a desire to reconnect body, mind and spirit as a means of reaching that full potential. Yoga is an ideal complement to her extensive leadership coaching training and enables her to deepen and broaden her support for her clients. Eileen believes passionately in the inherent capacity in each of us to lead in any moment and from any position in the systems we serve. And she believes in the power of yoga to develop our health, balance and presence to do so. Eileen subs for us at TAYS. Please look for her in upcoming classes.
Helen Fong
Helen is an award-winning Certified Hatha Yoga Teacher who calls Halifax her home. She has been instructing yoga classes since 2006 and is involved in the Halifax and Atlantic community with leadership roles in the Yoga Atlantic Conference 2009, the Yoga Atlantic Committee, the inaugural Thyroid Cancer Skills for Healing Retreat Weekend, being a guest speaker at the 2010 Optimyz Live Health, Fitness and Lifestyle show as well as appearing on Eastlink TV's 'The Path of Yoga' television series. Helen teaches the following styles of yoga: Vinyasa Flow, Mom & Baby, Power Yoga, Prenatal, and Yin. Helen teaches Hatha Basics on Monday evenings at 7:00pm and Sundays at 6:00pm; Helen also teaches a Sunday evening Yin class at 7:30pm.
Hillary Nette
Hillary is a RMT, CYI and Certified Doula. She has been practicing yoga for over a decade and teaching since 2004. She is a certified hatha vinyasa and pregnancy yoga instructor. A deep interest in healing practices and physical expression of the body led her to find yoga. Hillary's personal experience with injuries and her work as a registered massage therapist give her teaching a focus on safety and alignment to support a strong and sustainable practice. Her knowledge of the human body and its many interconnected layers adds a unique dimension to her teaching. In Hillary's classes you will learn to cultivate a keen awareness of your breath, practice mindfulness, and experience the joy of being in your body. Join her for hatha vinyasa yoga from basics to advanced. And if you are expecting, come to pregnancy yoga where her knowledge from working as a birth doula will help you prepare your body and mind for birth. Hillary teaches Pregnancy Yoga Tuesdays at 5:30pm, a Hatha Basics Wednesdays at 7:00pm and Hatha Vinyasana Fridays at 5:30pm.
Jenny MacDougall
Jenny has been practicing yoga and meditation for a decade, and received her 200 hour hatha yoga certification from TAYS in 2007. Jenny's extensive journey throughout India in 2010/11 brought many 'gifts' – among them a deep conviction of yoga's transformative power. She believes that the connection of mind, body, and spirit can initiate deep healing on all levels (whether or not we are cognisant of it), as well as a sense of our life's 'higher' purpose.A class with Jenny will include a series of basic and creative postures, instruction that ensures safe, aligned movement, and intentional breathing. In summer 2012, Jenny had the opportunity to practice consistently with Toronto teacher, Michael Stone, which enhanced her knowledge of asana. Currently, Jenny is working on her 500 hour hatha yoga certification through the Himalayan Institute in Pennsylvania, where she actively studies under Shari Friedrichsen, Sandra Anderson, and Rolf Sovic. Jenny subs for us at TAYS. Please look for her in upcoming classes.
Jolene d'Entremont
Jolene can see your inner light and goodness simply by her presence. She trusts and believes passionately in the equanimity that exists between the energies of Yin and Yang. Her teachings spread from vinyasa, post/prenatal and yin yoga. She often travels with her very popular yoga birth workshop, intensive vinyasa yoga teacher training and yin yoga immersion. Jolene is a E-RYT 500 certified, TAYS YTT faculty member while she continues her trainings with Live Love Teach™. Jolene is currently one of two Canadians certified as a Yoga Body Bootcamp™ basic trainer (a yoga class like none other!) As a life coach and mother of three, she has a special gift in helping women through all stages of motherhood. Jolene teaches Power Hour classes Tuesday and Thursday mornings at 11:00am, advanced power Saturday mornings at 9:30am and Pregnancy Yoga Saturday mornings at 11:00am. Jolene, one of our senior teachers, is also one of our Yoga Teacher Training faculty at the 500 hour and at the 200 hour level.
Kerry Lynn MacSwain
Kerry was first introduced to yoga while studying psychology at university. As she began to practice regularly, she noticed a sense of balance and clarity start to spread to other areas of her life. Kerry brings to her classes, a light-hearted nature, a passion for psychology and healing, and a desire to guide people in finding a sense of balance, peace, joy, and overall well-being in their lives. She strongly believes people can play a large part in their own path to wellness. Kerry has also enjoyed working with youth and youth volunteer programs in the past, and recently completed her Level 2 Radiant Child Yoga Teacher Training. She is excited to begin sharing yoga with young people as they take on the various experiences and challenges they encounter while growing up. Kerry teaches a parents and tots class on Wednesday mornings at 11:00am.
Leanne Whiting
Leanne is an E-RYT (Experienced - Registered Yoga Teacher) who began integrating yoga into her life 8 years ago while living in Hong Kong. Yoga became a means to heal a physical injury, and a tool to quiet her mind while living in the fast paced city. Leanne is dedicated to the Anusara tradition of Hatha Yoga, and AcroYoga (Flying Yoga). She combines the art of healing through yoga in a playful and mindful approach. She teaches Flying Yoga as a therapeutic tool to help harmonize and balance the relationship of stability and trust, giving and receiving through the ability to connect. Leanne teaches 6:15am on Tuesday and Thursday mornings, 11:00 am Monday morning Power Hour and Thursday evenings 7:00pm Hatha Aligned.
Leslie Hunter
Leslie, Certified Vinyasa Yoga 1000hour and Yoga Life Coach, teaches yoga to students and trains yoga teachers from a place of Love. As a senior teacher and teacher trainer at TAYS, Leslie leads exhilarating and unscripted Vinyasa Yoga classes that are challenging, heart pumping and "ah-ha! Inspiring". Leslie incorporates Buddhist philosophy, mindfulness practice and unadulterated joy into every class. Whether you are attending a yoga class or a life coaching session with Leslie, you leave feeling a new sense of awareness, focus and inspiration. Leslie teaches Wednesday 5:30pm Advanced Power class and on Fridays she teaches 9:30am Power Basics and she co-teaches a "Double-Dose" Power hour with Tomomi at 12:15pm. Leslie, one of our senior teachers, is also one of our Yoga Teacher Training faculty at the 500 hour and at the 200 hour level.
Maureen Nowlan
A lifelong yoga practitioner, Maureen began teaching at TAYS during the first Yoga Teacher training in 1991 and has been at teaching yoga at TAYS ever since. Her most recent trainings have been for people with cancer, Yin yoga and designing sequences. Her inspiration for teaching is rooted in her longstanding meditation and yoga practices and through her students over the years. Maureen also takes annual trips to Kripalu Yoga Institute in Massachusetts for ongoing direction and ideas. Currently she is conducting a 10 year descriptive research study. She is examining "How a yoga teacher's practice informs his/her teaching?". She is obtaining information through interviews with Yoga teachers and Yoga students. Maureen teaches in Bedford in addition to a Tuesday morning, 9:30am, Gentle yoga at TAYS and a 6 year contract with the Justice Dept. For the last several years she has been teaching in the chemotherapy unit of the VG. Maureen is an avid gardener, sometimes poet and she also weaves.
Maxine Jeffrey
Maxine, co-owner of Therapeutic Approach Yoga Studio has been teaching yoga since 1997. She is a Certified Interdisciplinary Yoga Instructor at the Professional level (500+ hours). Maxine has degrees in Kinesiology and Occupational Therapy (honors). She has continued to be recognized by Halifax's The Coast readers in "The Best Yoga Instructor" category since 1999. She enjoys studying different styles of yoga and incorporates these various influences into her classes. She has yoga articles in Active Canadian magazine and has been interviewed as a yoga expert for Chatelaine, Flare (Health Fix), Good Times and Reader's Digest's new magazine "Good Health". Maxine, along with her business partner Mike, have been teaching students to become yoga teachers since 2001. Maxine loves teaching yoga. Her enthusiasm and passion is apparent with each class that she offers. Maxine, the studio manager, teaches hatha Basics on Monday at 9:30am, Tuesdays at 12:15pm, Wednesdays at 12:15pm, Thursdays at 9:30am and Fridays at 11:00am; she also teaches Hatha Vinyasa clases Mondays at 12:15pm, Wednesdays at 9:30am and Thursdays at 12:15pm. Maxine is our most senior teacher and is the co-director of our 200 hour and 500 hour Yoga Teacher Training programs.
Mike Munro
Michael Munro Co-owner of TAYS has been offering yoga since 1998. He is a Certified Interdisciplinary Yoga Instructor at the Professional level (500 hours) and he is a licensed and practicing physiotherapist. His yoga studies, which started in 1993, involve Iyengar, Interdisciplinary, and Ashtanga. He strives to incorporate yoga, physiotherapy background and meditation knowledge to promote a balanced approach to active wellness. Mike offers Physiotherapy through our Health Center, teaches a Gentle Yoga class Thursday afternoons at 1:45pm and Mike is the co-director of our 200 hour and 500 hour Yoga Teacher Training programs.
Sandy Lund
Sandy is thrilled to be back teaching at TAYS where she began her own personal yoga journey in 2001. She will never forget the lightness and joy she felt as she walked out onto Quinpool Road after receiving her first yoga class. With the intention of understanding this ancient discipline and mindful living, Sandy graduated in 2009 with her 200hr certification in Ashtanga tradition and went on to find her passion in Restorative Yoga and Divine Sleep Yoga Nidra. She loves the accessibility of these practices and their healing, transformative power. “Research shows that the relaxation experienced during a regular practice over several months generalizes to the rest of the day. This is extraordinary! This means that the more we practice yoga nidra or restorative yoga the deeper the relaxation response and the more it becomes the ground of who we are in our everyday life.”
A former educator of 10 years, actor, dancer and strong advocate for the voice of young people, Sandy feels at home holding sacred space for her yoga students. Sandy teaches a weekly Deep Restorative Yoga class Wednesday afternoons at 1:45pm. She also teaches, one a month, a Friday evening Yoga Nidra class (7:15pm) and a Saturday afternoon Deep Restorative yoga class (3:00pm).
Sara Lamb
Sara completed her 200 hour Yoga Teacher Training through Therapeutic Approach Yoga Studio. A yoga practitioner since 2000, Sara is passionate about helping people discover for themselves the joys and benefits of yoga. Sara is a psychotherapist whose practice includes families, children and couples. Her work as a therapist is founded in the belief that each person has the ability to find their own unique path to emotional well-being and happier relationships. Always looking for ways to help people realize the changes they long for, Sara is likely to recommend yoga, or include elements breath, mindfulness and body awareness into her therapeutic work. Sara teaches a Saturday afternoon Hatha Basics class at 12:30pm.
Tomomi Kojima
Tomomi Kojima is a graduate of TAYS YTT 200 hour and 500 hour programs, she is a LIVE LOVE TEACH Affiliate teacher as well as a Certified Yoga Life CoachTM. Tomomi loves and lives for the moments of change, shifts and possibilities that are characteristic of Vinyasa practice. Her passion in this tradition was born out of her own practice to find her inner rhythm, strength and clarity. She keeps her classes "real" and fun to connect the daily life off the mat and practice on the mat. Tomomi teaches Hatha Vinyasa on Mondays at 5:30pm, Power Basics on Tuesday evenings at 7:00pm and Thursdays at 5:30pm and she co-teaches a "Double-Dose" Power hour with Leslie at 12:15pm. Tomomi is also one of our Yoga Teacher Training faculty at the 500 hour and at the 200 hour levels.
