learn more about me
My journey to date has been so full: suffering from depression, anxiety, social anxiety, an eating disorder, the sudden loss of my husband to cancer, becoming a widowed single-mom overnight, moving too many times to count, the list goes on.
From an early age (I wish it was even earlier), around my late teens, I began showing a big interest in using my own resources to turn my life around. Having been slightly overweight since my early teens, I started running, and a few years later I hit the gym, and have not looked back since. From being an inactive teen (whose hobbies included singing, band, writing poetry, etc.) I changed the course of events and became in LOVE with bodybuilding and weights. I learned how to navigate my nutrition, I sought out help from personal trainers, therapists and too many self-help books to count. It became an all-consuming hobby that overtook even my studies. So, after I graduated from the University of Toronto with a degree in Anthropology & Archaeology, I immediately enrolled in a personal training certification course, and this my friends was the beginning of the rest of my life to date!
Since 2010, I completed specialized yoga training in LifeForce Yoga for anxiety and depression with Amy Weintraub in Arizona, USA. I then went on to complete my Registered Yoga Teacher Training Certificate RYT250 with Maureen Rae in Etobicoke, Ontario. In addition, I was privileged to complete a meditation facilitator training with Tony Murdock of Oakville, Ontario. With this knowledge in hand, plus my extensive personal repertoire, I began training clients and eventually opened a yoga studio in the Beach area of Toronto, Ontario. There, I facilitated classes, workshops and also led kirtan (mantra chanting) for studio participants, amongst a roster of 20 other teachers at the studio, and was honoured to chant kirtan at our yearly Toronto Yoga Conference.
Training and coaching groups and with clients one-on-one has been a dream come true, to impact the lives of people in such positive ways as to make a lasting change in their health, mentality and spirit, is the most rewarding gift. Now, I have taken everything I do online, offering workshops and one-on-one sessions in yoga, meditation, mindset and especially mental health virtually, with the same effect and same reward for both my clients and myself.
Seeing you through this journey, offering what I can to improve your health (mentally, physically and emotionally) brings me such joy and purpose!
Love,
Donna