We respectfully acknowledge that the work of Yoga Outreach takes place across the homelands of 203 distinct Indigenous nations and cultures; with over 30 different languages and close to 60 unique dialects spoken across those homelands. We honour the Elders for their stewardship of the places and people of these nations. Yoga Outreach’s staff work from home offices on the traditional, ancestral, and stolen lands of the Skwxwú7mesh (Squamish), Səl̓ílwətaʔ (Tsleil-Waututh), xʷməθkʷəy̓əm (Musqueam), sc̓əwaθenaɁɬ təməxʷ (Tsawwassen), S’ólh Téméxw (Stó:lō), sɛmiˈɑːmoʊ (Semiahmoo), sq̓əc̓iy̓aɁɬ təməxʷ (Katzie), Á,LEṈENEȻ ȽTE (W̱SÁNEĆ), and Kwantlen Nations.

We invite you to take a moment to reflect on whose land you are living and working on and if you don’t know, to research and reflect.

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Sarah Holmes de Castro
Facilitator

Sarah Holmes de Castro

MA, TCTSY-F, C-IAYT, YACEP
Yoga Outreach Core Training™, YOCP-200 Facilitator
Facilitator
She / Her

Sarah was born and raised in the UK where she lived until 2003, and now lives on the ancestral, traditional, and unceded Indigenous territories of the Lekwungen-speaking Coast Salish People. Embodiment has always been her jam, from early days in grad school exploring feminist collaborative art-making and the body, through til now. Her work formerly as the Director of Programs at Yoga Outreach, as a trauma-informed yoga therapist at Fine Balance Yoga, and as a facilitator and trainer in TCTSY (Trauma Center Trauma Sensitive Yoga) with the Center for Trauma & Embodiment is all about creating opportunities for people to discover and cultivate embodied resilience in a way that works for them. She’s a firm believer that any conversations about ‘self-care’ need to take place within a context of community care and with a focus on equity.

Sarah loves:
  • Bug-hunting & geocaching with her kids
  • Splashing/swimming/surfing in saltwater
  • Hot cups of tea on a cold day
  • Socializing & solitude, in equal measure
Sadie Bartram
Facilitator

Sadie Bartram

Yoga @ Work™ Facilitator
Facilitator
She / Her

Sadie Bartram is a dedicated, longtime student of yoga and has been teaching for over 21 years in a variety of different settings to people of all ages. Yoga is a very important part of her life and has supported her through the ups and downs of many transitions. Sadie gratefully welcomes the opportunity to teach and share with others the many benefits of this ancient practice.  She endevours to honour the authentic roots of yoga in her classes and all areas of her life. Currently, Sadie is deepening her practice through enrollment in the 500 Hour Arkaya Awareness Teacher Training. She has completed teaching certifications in Chakra Yoga, Children’s Yoga, Pre/Postnatal Yoga and Trauma-Informed Yoga.

Sadie respectfully acknowledges that she lives on the unceded traditional territory of the Quw’utsun people with her husband and two teenage sons. She is very grateful for this beautiful place that she calls home. Sadie works at the Cowichan Community Centre in Programs and Events and loves being part of creating events and programs for community members to connect to themselves and others in fun, healthy, meaningful ways.

Sadie loves:
  • growing food and medicinal herbs in her garden
  • spending time hiking in the forest and by the ocean
  • family game night
  • snowboarding
Yogacharini Maitreyi
Facilitator

Yogacharini Maitreyi

Embodiment & Social Justice Facilitator, YOCP-200 Facilitator
Facilitator
She / Her

Yogacharini Maitreyi is an international master teacher, practical mystic and founder of Arkaya Awareness Centre and Arkaya Foundation. For the last 23 years she has been dedicated to living an evolutionary life and sharing holistic life principles. You will experience lightness, restfulness and a deeper connection to self through her guidance.

Since 1997, she has been given titles : Yoga chemmal (expert), Yoga shiromani (gem), and Yoga acharini (guide), in India. She was one of the youngest to be invited on the Advisory Board of the World Yoga Council, in Europe, in 2007. She has shared the deeper dimensions of yoga, self management and sattvic tantra worldwide.

Maitreyi has trained over 60 corporations, spoken at many conferences and has over 100 published articles in India, Hong Kong, Sweden, Dubai , Srilanka. U.S and Canada. She was invited to share her wisdom at many international yoga, ayurveda and leadership summits. A compassionate holistic coach, her sessions include online energy assessments to guide one into one’s own innate balance.

Yogacharini loves:
  • Nature
  • Ayurvedic food
Mercedes Miller
Facilitator

Mercedes Miller

M.A., RCC
Facilitator
She / Her
Mercedes is a Dutch, queer, cisgender woman living on the unceded, ancestral, and occupied, territory of the Coast Salish peoples. Before any titles such as counsellor or yoga instructor, Mercedes is human, and loves connecting with people on a human to human level – especially with humour and laughter. She was introduced to yoga when she was going through a breakup, and the practice supported her in feeling internal and external strength, balance, and flow during a time that felt emotionally chaotic. Through her education in counselling psychology, she learned of the ways in which trauma impacts the body and pursued her 200 hour trauma-informed yoga teacher training with Yoga Outreach to explore more somatic ways to support folks healing and growth. She now volunteers with Yoga Outreach teaching yoga to women in recovery.
In her counselling practice Mercedes’ passion is holding space and supporting people through psychedelic-assisted therapy and she is excited to explore more ways in which the worlds of psychedelics, therapy, and yoga might come together.
Mercedes loves:
  • Hoop dancing with her hula hoop
  • Playing in the ocean
  • Snowboarding
  • Trying new things and activities – and laughing while failing at them
  • Playing cards with her parents
Laurel MacKay
Facilitator

Laurel MacKay

M.Ed, CCC
Connect, Embody, + Empower Co-facilitator, Embodiment & Social Justice Facilitator, Yoga Outreach Core Training™ Facilitator, YOCP-200 Facilitator
Facilitator
She / Her

Laurel MacKay is a proud mother of two amazing young womxn and spends much of her free time watching rugby or hanging out in the woods with her dog Apollo. Her ancestors are from Scotland, Ireland and Finland and her family has lived in Canada for three generations. Laurel currently works at a residential addictions treatment program and in private practice as a counsellor. She has had the privilege of living and working on the unceded traditional and ancestral territory of the lək̓ʷəŋən speaking people of the Songhees and Esquimalt Nations, for the past 25 years. She is a fierce advocate for the people she works with and continues to find ways to make her offerings as accessible as possible. Laurel has worked in the private and public sectors within mental health, addictions, schools, and corrections in various roles and offers trauma informed yoga classes to anyone who is interested. Laurel believes connection is the most important gift we can offer one another and yoga can assist us in connecting with ourselves, each other and the world around us. When not working she can be found hiking, reading, attending or teaching yoga classes, cuddling with her dogs or creating sound healing vibrations.

Laurel loves:
  • Anatahtea lattes by the ocean in the morning
  • being on or in water
  • forest bathing
  • mountain tops
  • yoga and sound healing
Katie Connolly
Facilitator

Katie Connolly

YOCP-200 Facilitator, Yoga Outreach Kids Core Training™ Facilitator
Facilitator
She/her

Katie is an Expert Registered Yoga Teacher, Children’s Yoga Teacher, and Craniosacral + Somatoemotional Release Healer. Her mission is to empower others (mom’s in particular) with tools to nourish their nervous systems, so they can live their life to the fullest, be present, and lead by example. As moms, we greatly influence our little one’s nervous system baseline, and how they perceive and interact with the world around them. Katie learned meditation and breathwork as a child from her mom, to help ease her anxiety. This gift has greatly influenced her life-mission to empower others with tools to understand and process their emotions, and strengthen their body-autonomy.

katie loves:
  • her family
  • movement
  • learning
  • nature and exploring the world around her
Helen Camisa
Facilitator

Helen Camisa

RYT500
YOCP-200 Facilitator
Facilitator
She / Her

Helen has been teaching yoga since 2014 and has trained in Hatha, Flow, Prenatal and Kundalini yoga. In the last few years she has turned her attention to teaching a series of classes dedicated to students working in bigger bodies called Full Bodied Yoga. These classes invite people to a comfortable space where they explore joy in movement while learning adjustments specific to their own unique bodies.

Helen loves:
  • High tea
  • Performing comedy
  • a rainy day Netflix binge
Harmeet Kaur Mann
YOCP-200 Faculty

Harmeet Kaur Mann

Embodiment & Social Justice Facilitator, YOCP-200 Facilitator
YOCP-200 Faculty
She / Her
I share yoga to honour the lineage and the roots of my ancestral wisdom, by exploring the sacred knowledge with all who hold the curiosity and establishing a deeper connection to their body and breath. I hold the trauma-informed, brave space for you to show up exactly as you are, and to cultivate self acceptance and empowerment. I will welcome and advocate for all of your joy, sorrow, reflection, self connection and healing. My focus is on nourishing you from the inside out, so that you can embrace yourself and intentionally move into life’s rhythms with more inspired awareness.
Yoga has always played an integral part in my life and was first introduced to me at a very young age by my Pita ji (father). My journey to begin sharing Yoga with a trauma-informed, decolonized lens wasn’t until I saw the need for  community healing and liberation. My gorgeous little girl is the light of my life and everything I do goes towards delivering the torch to her and the future generations as a more equitable, inclusive and loving place. Yoga IS Social justice and liberation for all. We can lean into pleasure activism through using our body as a resource. We can support our activism and nourish ourselves through movement, breath and rest to continue the hard, necessary work we all must do.
Harmeet loves:
  • Adventures with my 3 year old mini me
  • Wandering through mountains
  • Playing in all forms of water- taking a cold plunge, running in the rain, being held by the ocean
  • Cozy and quiet mornings filled with movement, meditation, cuddles and gratitude
  • Live music that makes my hips sway
Candice Baldwin
Facilitator

Candice Baldwin

YOCP-200 Facilitator, Embodiment & Social Justice Facilitator, Yoga Outreach Core Training™ guest speaker
Facilitator
She / Her

Candice Baldwin’s natural curiosity about her own healing from injuries and trauma lead her to 20+ year yoga practice. This enthusiasm to learn and serve others on their healing journey lead her to pursue her life as a yoga teacher and yoga therapist, while her African ancestry and autism has made her passionate about calling in BIPOC and neurodivergent communities. Candice is a 500 RYT, 200hr Himalayan Kriya Yoga teacher, Swing Yoga teacher, and Yoga Therapist (C-IAYT). Her approach in Yoga Therapy focusses on building a practice around the needs of the people she serves, working with visually impaired peoples, 50+ population and people living with injuries, trauma, neurodivergence and chronic illness. You can find her at vidyatherapeuticyoga.com

Candice loves:
Brittney Fehr
Facilitator

Brittney Fehr

Embodiment & Social Justice Facilitator, Yoga Outreach Core Training™ Facilitator
Facilitator
She / Her

Brittney is a certified meditation teacher and registered yoga teacher currently pursuing her masters in counselling psychology. She first joined the Yoga Outreach team in 2020 as a Social Justice Intern and is excited to be joining now as a Training Facilitator for the Core Training Level I. She is a human, and like most humans has experienced suffering. Experiencing and studying the impact of suffering on everyday lives and relationships has emphasized the importance of understanding trauma and how it effects individuals and society. This is why she is so passionate about trauma-informed practice and Yoga Outreach’s approach. Originally from the Wetʼsuwetʼen territory, she currently resides on the unceded, ancestral, and occupied, traditional lands of the Səl̓ílwətaʔ (Tsleil-Watuth), Kwikwetlem, hən̓̓qəmin̓əm̓, and Skwxwú7mesh (Squamish) peoples

Brittney loves:
  • Watching people, plants, and ideas grow
  • Taking cooking lessons while travelling
  • Getting out into nature daily
  • Cheese and crackers, extra pickles
Adesola Omojokun
Facilitator

Adesola Omojokun

Connect, Embody, + Empower Co-facilitator
Facilitator
She / Her

Desi is a Therapeutic Yoga Teacher and Mental Health Worker, born and raised in London,
UK. She relocated to British Columbia in the summer of 2016 and now resides on the
unceded, ancestral land of the Kwikwetlem First Nation people.

In 2015, shortly after completing her Bachelor’s degree in Medical Science, Desi was first
introduced to yoga. Since then, she has pursued it with great passion, integrating the
ancient teachings into her daily life both personally and professionally; by maintaining a
regular personal practice in addition to completing her 240Hr YTT (VSOHA), 300Hr Yoga
Therapy Training (VSOHA) and Yoga Outreach Core Training™.

Desi is fascinated by the way in which yoga and yoga therapy inherently incorporates the
blending of Eastern philosophical principles and our understanding of the human mind and
body and it’s response to stress and trauma. She is motivated by empathy and connection
and teaches with the intention to empower individuals and support them in realising their
highest potential. To do so, Desi combines her yoga training with her educational
background, her professional experience as a mental healthcare worker – currently working
for PHSA with individuals with eating disorders and finally; her experience as a volunteer
SMART Facilitator for Vancouver Coastal Health, supporting individuals recovering from
addiction.

Adesola loves:
  • First morning sip of coffee
  • Dining with friends & family
  • Staying active – yoga, tennis, running & hikes
  • Taking a dip in a fresh body of water
  • A good documentary on a rainy day
Kat Petrova
Treasurer

Kat Petrova

Treasurer
She / Her

Kat is a designated Chartered Professional Accountant with 10 years of experience in Retail, Television and Manufacturing industries.

Her professional strengths are management reporting, providing operational insights and forecasting cash flows. Kat is a strong believer in life-work integration, incorporating her personal values – Learning, Responsibility and Choice – into everything she does. Kat is a long-term yoga student and has completed a 200-hour certification with Eoin Finn in 2008.

She was born and raised in Odesa, Ukraine, and is now living on the traditional, ancestral and unceded territories of the Coast Salish Peoples.

Kat loves:
  • Regular physical exercise for mental resilience and vitality
  • Acquiring new skills (piano lessons, learning Spanish, baking bread)
  • Celebrating the Queer community in all its fabulousness.
Farah Nazarali
Board Chair | Training Faculty

Farah Nazarali

Board Chair | YOCP-200 Facilitator
Board Chair | Training Faculty
She / Her

Farah is a devoted yoga student who has been teaching for over 15 years. She has studied classical yoga, Tibetan Buddhism, Non-Violent Communication and conflict resolution. She is a pioneer in integrating conflict resolution skills with yogic practices and Buddhist wisdom; bringing a somatic approach to communication and conflict.

Farah is the former podcast host of In Conversation: The Podcast of Banyen Books and Sound and Hollyhock Talks,  and she is the founder of Drishti Point Yoga Podcasts.  As a former podcaster, Farah maintains one foot in the digital realm and the other foot firmly rooted in Nature, natural rhythms, and the unlimited possibilities contained within the human heart.

Farah loves:
  • Forest gazing
  • Ocean bathing
  • sunsets and sunrises
  • gardening
Anne-Gaëlle Morcrette
Member at Large

Anne-Gaëlle Morcrette

Member at Large
She / Her
Anne-Gaëlle is a trauma-informed yoga teacher, with focus on women and children. Her concern for social justice led her to first be a lawyer.
She is passionate about learning about the intersection between neuroscience and yoga. Anne-Gaëlle believes that yoga and meditation can be very powerful tools for healing and that the benefits of these ancestral practices should be accessible to everyone.
She now devotes her time and effort to sharing her knowledge about trauma and yoga practices, as well as advocating for the rights of more vulnerable folks.
As a teacher, she offers a gentle and calming presence and invites you to find peace within yourself and connect to your own beauty and strength. She was born and raised in France and moved to Turtle Island in 2009.
Anne-Gaëlle loves:
  • her first cup of tea in the morning
  • long walks by the ocean, especially on a stormy day
  • curling up on the sofa with a good book and her cats
  • cooking new dishes and getting creative in the kitchen
Ioana Birleanu
Member at Large

Ioana Birleanu

Member at Large
She / Her
As a business and executive leader with 16+ years of experience, Ioana has an unwavering passion for people and a deep belief in personal and professional growth. She spent more than 12 years in the corporate environment with one of the largest tech companies in the world, where she managed multicultural sales territories, and built and led highly diverse and successful teams. Witnessing first hand the positive power that focusing on people and their wellbeing can have on business performance, she decided to take the leap into an entrepreneurial journey.
With all this experience, Ioana co-created Growth Flourishing Coaching & Consulting together with her wife. Through her holistic business approach, Ioana helps entrepreneurs and business owners refine their vision, strategies and processes, and reach new performance heights. As a very grateful female LGBTQ+ immigrant to Canada, Ioana is a firm believer in the true economic impact and growth that SMBs can bring to the Canadian economy. She sincerely believes that with true authenticity, aligning systems with values, and conscious practices for profitability, businesses can thrive and multiply their positive impact on our world.
Ioana loves:
  • Riding her motorcycle
  • Any outdoor activity – hiking, skiing, scuba diving…
  • Nesting in her home with a good book on rainy days
  • Spending time with close ones
Veronica Berezowsky
Member at Large

Veronica Berezowsky

Member at Large
She / Her

Veronica is a curious soul inhabiting, this lifetime, the mysterious body of a woman. She deeply recalls a wiser way of existing on Earth and aims to contribute in restoring it. An eternal student, her mission this lifetime is to unlearn, develop her consciousness and be of service to others.

Veronica has over 15 years experience using dance & movement as tools for individual and social transformation and inclusion, providing individual and group dance therapy, and participating in the empowerment of communities through social justice and human rights based projects in Latin America, Africa and Asia.

She currently works as a somatic and EMDR therapist in private practice, mainly focused on individual, ancestral and collective (patriarchal) trauma recovery. She also collaborates as dance artist within community-based projects, dance-therapy instructor at the Movement Arc, and yoga instructor within a Latinx/BIPOC community that she birthed.

Her calling centres around holding space for others to reclaim and embody their whole Self, in a journey towards a more conscious, fulfilling & meaningful life.

Veronica loves:
  • Dancing!
  • Walking barefoot
  • Creating community
  • Helado de cajeta (Mexican caramel ice-cream)
Tamsen Simon
Member at Large

Tamsen Simon

Member at Large
They / Them

Tamsen is a former Olympian and current Pilates teacher pursuing their Master’s of Counselling Psychology at Adler University. With a special interest in working alongside people with neurological conditions, Tamsen is focused on the integration of physiology and psychology.  They are passionate about connecting the dots between our experiences and our beliefs while exploring the intersections between how we think and how we move in the systems of our bodies and our world. Tamsen lives their values by advocating for accessible practices; this brings them into alignment with the mission of Yoga Outreach.

Tamsen loves:
  • Learning (currently practicing ASL)
  • Longboarding around the seawall
  • Reading a good book
  • Coffee walks with friends

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