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), Kwikwetlem, Stz’uminus, sɛmiˈɑːmoʊ (Semiahmoo), sq̓əc̓iy̓aɁɬ təməxʷ (Katzie), Á,LEṈENEȻ ȽTE (W̱SÁNEĆ), Kwantlen, Snuneymuxw, and, the lək̓ʷəŋən (Lekwungen) speaking people of the Songhees and Esquimalt 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.
Yoga Outreach Staff
Delanie Dyck
Executive Director
She / Her
Delanie prides herself on being professional, nimble, creative, and diligent. She’s known for her commitment to, and passion for, creating innovative ways to share yoga and mindfulness-based practices with folks facing barriers. Always looking for ways to deepen impact and support sustainability, Delanie enjoys the challenges of working in the non-profit world. She is always striving to make Yoga Outreach an organization with a social justice focus that can thrive in the world, be great to partner with, work for, and volunteer with. In her personal life she’s a bit of a renaissance woman with a passion for projects, whether in the garden, kitchen, construction, or craft, she has a deep love of creating things. She might seem tough, but once you get to know her, you’ll find her open and kind-hearted.
- Cats (she has 3 orange ones)
- Kitchen witching (you can often find her making a good potion)
- Good fiction (if she’s not kitchen witching she’s reading)
- Fresh sheets dried on the line (is there any greater luxury?)
Nicole Marcia
MA, TCTSY-F, C-IAYT, YACEP
Director of Training & Mentorship
She / Her
Since 2004, Nicole has taught therapeutic yoga classes and offered individual sessions to trauma survivors, teaching them healthy self-regulation strategies to empower them to live connected and embodied lives. Nicole also trains yoga and healthcare professionals in the trauma-informed yoga theory and techniques. In 2009, she was awarded a master’s degree with a specialization in yoga therapy from Lesley University in Boston, MA. From 2008 – 2017 Nicole served as Director of Therapeutic Yoga Programming for the Provincial Health Services Authority at their Burnaby Centre for Mental Health and Addictions and at Riverview Hospital, where she developed and delivered a comprehensive yoga therapy program for in-patient clients in various stages of recovery from mental health and addiction issues. From 2009 – 2018 she taught at Onsite, the rehab arm of North Americas first safe injection site in Vancouver’s downtown east side.
At present, in addition to maintaining a private practice working with public safety personnel at Boreal Wellness, Nicole is a program director and teacher trainer with Yoga Outreach. She provides trauma informed yoga programming to the residents at Deborah’s Gate, a program serving women who have been trafficked into situations of sexual and/or labor exploitation and Tupper Nova, a day treatment program for youth who have serious mental health concerns. She is a Certified Yoga Therapist (C-IAYT) and a member of Bridge for Health and the Breathe Network which connects survivors of sexual violence with healing arts practitioners.
Nicole loves:
- Weslowski
- Riding my bike
- Swimming & hiking
- Hosting dinner parties for friends
Ariel Pavic
Yoga Programs Manager | Volunteer Coordinator | Core Training Registrar
She / Her
Born and raised in White Rock, BC Ariel has been smashing the patriarchy ever since raising her hand in her Catholic elementary school to question the priest on why he said only the girls were supposed to bake pies while the boys were being encouraged to shovel the driveway when it snowed. Ariel has been shoveling her own snow ever since. Ariel has been teaching hatha yoga asana and movement education since 2002 and was a Labor and Birth support Doula. As a passionate community volunteer, she has contributed her energy to Pregnancy Outreach programs, Planned Parenthood, Parkcrest Children’s Centre, Girl Guides of Canada, Burnaby Horseman’s Association, Burnaby Lake Pony Club, Burnaby Association for Community Inclusion. Ariel spent close to 5 years as the Coordinator for BC People First, a society run by and for people who are labelled with a developmental disability. When not working, parenting a teenager, volunteering, householding and being a wife she can be found riding her new forest pony, Piper or walking her rescue dog, Thomas.
Ariel loves:
- food, especially the kind she doesn’t have to cook herself
- thrift store “start the car” finds
- matcha tea lattes extra foamy
- any & all things horsey
Harmeet Kaur Mann
Student Liaison
She / Her
- 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
Training Faculty
Adesola Omojokun
Connect, Embody, + Empower Co-facilitator, Training Facilitator Level I (in training) & Level II
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.
Desi 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
Brittney Fehr
Training Facilitator Level I
She / Her
- Watching people, plants, and ideas grow
- Taking cooking lessons while travelling
- Getting out into nature daily
- Cheese and crackers, extra pickles
Candice Baldwin
Training Facilitator YOCP-200, Level II & Level I Guest Speaker
She / Her
Gagan Leekha
Training Facilitator Level I BIPOC ONLY
She/Her
Gagan is a first generation settler with family roots in India. Born and raised on the northwest coast of BC, Gagan met her first yoga teacher there by accident in 1998 right before moving to Lekwungen Territory (Victoria).
After practicing for almost 20 years and not seeing much of herself reflected in studios or western yoga culture, Gagan began her teacher training in 2017 with a vision to take yoga out of studios to where people already gather, and to help make yoga more accessible to all bodies. Gagan is a big fan of the work of Yoga Outreach and has been involved as a volunteer yoga instructor since 2018. She is also the co-founder of Sweet Refuge, a peer-led BIPOC meditation group.
Gagan loves:
- sunsets, sunrises (and the sky in general)
- bringing people together
- poetry (the kind that makes ones heart swell)
- being part of a large extended family
Helen Camisa
RYT500
Training Facilitator YOCP-200
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
Jessie Nelson
Training Facilitator YOCP-200
They/Them
Jessie (they/them) is a non-binary trans activist currently living on the traditional unceded territory of the Coast Salish peoples, known as “Vancouver, BC”. Jessie is white, of European settler descent, able bodied, loved and supported by beautiful family both kith and kin, a learner and endlessly curious, lover, partner, dog mom…yes mom, passionate talker, connector, ally, and smile producer.
Jessie is the founder of the consulting firm KITH+common. KITH+common was born from and inspired by its essential purpose; to create space for others to come as they are, without shame. KITH+ is a pillar for all things community specializing in business development strategies and community engagement approaches, all from an overarching lens of diversity and inclusion planning and integration. KITH+ offers inclusion consulting, customized content and training creation, and group facilitation. Jessie brings inclusive practices and insights to internal organizational culture to help create space for the diversity that exists to grow, flourish and impact change for both organizations and communities. Jessie believes in creating space for all people to come as they are. KITH is in the work of inclusion to create space for all people to express their diversity and find power in sharing their unique lived experiences.
Jessie loves:
- Their dog Kin
- Coffee
- Community
- Moving their body through run, group fitness, hockey, & being outside
Katie Connolly
Training Facilitator YOCP-200 & Yoga Outreach Kids Core Training™
She/her
Katie loves:
- her family
- movement
- learning
- nature and exploring the world around her
Laurel MacKay
M.Ed, CCC
Training Facilitator Level I & YOCP
She / Her
Laurel MacKay is a proud mother of two amazing young womxn, the wife of a sailor, a counsellor, yoga teacher and spends much of her time hanging out with teenagers. Her ancestors are from Scotland, Ireland and Finland and her family has lived in Canada for three generations. Laurel currently works at a local high school as a Youth and Family 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 students and families she works with and challenges the outdated systems we exist in, any chance she gets. Before being in schools, Laurel worked in the private and public sectors within mental health, addictions and corrections as a mental health coordinator, social worker, and counsellor. 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 playing her gong.
Laurel loves:
- Anatahtea lattes by the ocean in the morning
- being on or in water
- forest bathing
- mountain tops
- yoga and sound healing
Leslie Wilkin
MSW, RSW, RYT
Training Facilitator Level I, Level II, YOCP-200, & UYiYW
She / Her
Leslie is a clinical social worker and yoga teacher currently living and practicing in Nanaimo BC (Snuneymuxw). Her social work practice over the last 11 years has specialized in the areas of violence against women, relational trauma and substance use. As a yoga teacher, she has developed and taught trauma-informed yoga classes for adults and youth in acute mental health and substance use services through Vancouver Coastal Health, residential addictions treatment programs, and community services. Leslie approaches her work through an intersectional feminist lens and is fascinated by neuroscience, attachment theory and somatic psychotherapy as ways to understand how our brains and bodies adapt to survive and recover from trauma.
Leslie loves:
- Growing her own food & flowers
- Canning & pickling
- Training for triathlons
- Running through the woods
- 90s Riot Girl music
Mélanie Ruffié
Training Facilitator Level I (in training) & Level II
She / Her
-
dancing with friends
-
learning
-
playing and teaching her puppy new tricks
-
Nature
-
good food
Muneera Wallace
Guest Faculty YOCP-200
She / Her
Muneera is an Ayurveda health coach and educator with 15+ years’ experience in Ayurveda. She is the founder of Radiant Living, a coaching practice that blends Ayurvedic wisdom with habit-change science. Muneera is passionate about helping people reconnect with their innate body-wisdom, so they can be empowered, self-aware and resilient in their health. She works both online and in-person on the unceded lands of the Coastal First Nations in Vancouver, BC.
dancing,
- being in nature
- playing in the kitchen
- learning new things
Yogacharini Maitreyi
Training Facilitator Level II & YOCP
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.
Maitreyi loves:
- Nature
- Ayurvedic food
Rishima Bahadoorsingh
Guest Faculty YOCP-200
She / Her
Drawing upon her Indo-Trinidadian roots, Rishima sings and teaches songs rooted in the Indian spiritual traditions of bhajans, kirtan, raga, and other devotional music. Rishima is a strong believer in the positive impact of music. From a young age, she studied and performed formal music in piano and violin, voice, harmonium, and some Indian percussion with local and international teachers.
Rishima has worked under the guidance of Elena Steele, Neeraja Aptikar, the Pandit Jasraj Institute in Vancouver, and the Shankar Mahadevan Academy in India. She continues to learn Dhrupad (Naad yoga – yoga of sound) an ancient meditative style of singing that originated from the Sama Veda with Manish Kumar, part of the Dagarvani lineage. Rishima has also completed a Raga Therapy certification with NADA Centre for Music Therapy, India (2019). She has sung locally and internationally at cultural and charity events, TV shows, festivals, spiritual centres, studios, temples and workshops. Rishima also teaches online in Spanish and English.
Rishima is presently an elementary school teacher in Vancouver and holds a Masters of Education in Curriculum and Development in Inclusion and Diversity as well as a Bachelor of Education in Elementary Education and a Bachelor of Arts in Sociology. In her off time, she volunteers as a coordinator for the Canadian Institute of Sathya Sai Education in Human Values and is the founder of Sol Community Education Society, a society that supports rural education in Northern Peru. She is also the proud mother of 2!
Rishima loves:
- Singing, dancing, and making music
- Seeing children’s (and adult’s) eyes grow wide when they are learning something new
- Cats
- Nature
Sarah Holmes de Castro
MA, TCTSY-F, C-IAYT, YACEP
Training Facilitator Level I, Level II & YOCP
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
Sashah Rahemtulla
BA Child & Youth Care, RYS 200
Training Facilitator Level II
She / Her
Sashah has practiced yoga since she was a teen and found a connection to her own culture and heritage through it. Sashah is deeply committed to social justice and has worked as a Social Worker, Counsellor, and Gender Equality Advisor. Sashah loves to travel and has lived abroad in Indonesia, South Korea, and Tanzania which has taught her a lot about how to appreciate culture. Currently, she loves having conversations about how yoga can be a part of activism and how to appreciate the practice rather than appropriate it.
Sashah loves:
- Talking about social justice
- Walking by the ocean
- Travel
- Interior decorating
Tahia Ahmed
Training Facilitator Level I BIPOC ONLY
She / Her
Tahia is a facilitator and community organizer. Her dive into yoga philosophy and practice is driven by her ancestral connection to the spiritual traditions of South Asia. She is passionate about uplifting and cultivating spiritually grounded and culturally relevant approaches to building resilience. Tahia is also a birth doula and co-founder of the Nesting Doula Collective supporting Indigenous and POC communities on the Island. She trusts in the words of Arundhati Roy, “another world is not only possible, she is on her way. On a quiet day, I can hear her breathing”.
Tahia loves:
- Camping
- Reading
- Cooking her mom’s recipes
- Birth work
Board of Directors
Farah Nazarali
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
Nina Sheere
Vice-Chair
She / Her
Nina is a Registered Clinical Counsellor, currently working in private practice, as well as in the local health authority and in Victim Services in Vancouver. She completed a Bachelors Degree in Psychology and Women’s Studies at the University of Victoria and then a Masters of Counselling Psychology at Adler University. Bringing social justice and the lens of intersectionality into her work has always been foundational in her clinical practice and is reflected in her grassroots non-profit organization, The Street Feet Society. As a previous volunteer with Yoga Outreach in the Burnaby Youth Custody Centre, Nina is excited to support the organization as it continues to grow and engage with the community.
Nina loves:
- Summers on Salt Spring Island
- Swimming in the ocean or lakes
- Travelling to new places with her partner
- Cuddling with her dog, Gunnar
Asli Kucukbumin, M.A, R.C.C.
Asli is a Registered Clinical Counsellor who has worked with people impacted by trauma for 15 years. After completing her Masters Degree in Counselling Psychology at UBC, she continued studying different modalities in trauma counselling. The more she immersed herself in the topic, the more she valued the role of yoga, which led her to travel to Bali to study yoga. Asli feels passionate about social justice. Although she has enjoyed working at a local hospital and at her own private practice during the last three years including the pandemic, she missed being a part of the not for profit world. She is excited to serve on the board of Yoga Outreach as it is a not for profit agency that beautifully connects her interests in yoga, healing and social justice.
Asli loves:
- Spending time with her family and friends
- Dogs! (she says hello to every dog she walks by)
- Travelling (she has been to 30 countries)
- Learning (she has three degrees, multiple diplomas and certificates)
- Walking/reading by the ocean (a dog park by the ocean even better!)
Tamsen Simon
- Learning (currently practicing ASL)
- Longboarding around the seawall
- Reading a good book
- Coffee walks with friends
Veronica Berezowsky
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)
TRAINING PROGRAMS
Yoga Outreach Kids Core Training™
Use the tools of yoga to encourage curiosity instead of judgment. Supply kids with self-compassion so they can grow into mature, thoughtful adults.
Yoga Outreach Level II Core Training ™
This advanced training is for people interested in examining the social issues that give rise to trauma, as well as the latest research on psychology and anatomy in the context of trauma and healing.
The Yoga Outreach Certification™ Program
The YOCP-200 offers participants a unique opportunity to immerse themselves in the practices and philosophies of Yoga using a trauma informed, student-centred approach.
Using Yoga in Your Work™
If you’re a first responder, social worker, healthcare professional, or teacher, you may benefit from additional tools for managing anxiety and stress. The techniques we share are simple to learn, and easy to do with clients, with students, or with your colleagues. No yoga experience necessary.
Yoga Outreach Core Training™
Yoga Outreach Core Training™ skills are applicable for teachers in any setting, including studios. Learn how to make all your classes or client sessions more accessible, by removing barriers you didn’t realize were there.
