We are committed:
to integrating formal practice and modern life
to teaching and practicing in a way that reduces reactivity
and softens gripping in the mind and body
to nourishing a way of being in this world that is more
compassionate, patient, creative and joyful
to making our space accessible to anyone interested
in the many benefits of a steady, sweet practice
to nurturing a community of yoga lovers of all
shapes, ages and abilities.
to teaching and practicing in a way that reduces reactivity
and softens gripping in the mind and body
to nourishing a way of being in this world that is more
compassionate, patient, creative and joyful
to making our space accessible to anyone interested
in the many benefits of a steady, sweet practice
to nurturing a community of yoga lovers of all
shapes, ages and abilities.
Our Teachers
Heather Jolma Fray
Creator/Teacher
Creating a yoga space for myself, my friends and the community I have yet to meet were the reasons for gathering the pieces of what has today become The Breathing Room. A life long lover of movement, I found yoga over a decade ago in a gym, getting a workout where my husband worked as a trainer and my son Max resisted being in the child care space. Moving on with my new found interest, I discovered then, Yvonne Edes, now Sundari SitaRam, at The Shanti Yoga Center. It is still unraveling, but yoga, as I have come to know it in my world, is a source of connection to what is good, natural; an easy way back to myself, my heart. It has become a way I have deepened my understanding of the impact my thoughts have on my health and well-being, therefore the health and well-being of my family, community, and planet. I have been teaching yoga for over 15 years now, and have finally, formally obtained my 200 hour RYT.
In my classes, I aim to welcome curiosity into movements traditional and nontraditional. I appreciate cues that invoke a sense of well being and embodiment. I believe good alignment supports the body waking up, but more importantly, feeling the body without worrying about right or wrong should come first. I believe bodies can change, adapt, build strength and flexibility. I believe the body and breath are tools to break open the mind and heart.
Creator/Teacher
Creating a yoga space for myself, my friends and the community I have yet to meet were the reasons for gathering the pieces of what has today become The Breathing Room. A life long lover of movement, I found yoga over a decade ago in a gym, getting a workout where my husband worked as a trainer and my son Max resisted being in the child care space. Moving on with my new found interest, I discovered then, Yvonne Edes, now Sundari SitaRam, at The Shanti Yoga Center. It is still unraveling, but yoga, as I have come to know it in my world, is a source of connection to what is good, natural; an easy way back to myself, my heart. It has become a way I have deepened my understanding of the impact my thoughts have on my health and well-being, therefore the health and well-being of my family, community, and planet. I have been teaching yoga for over 15 years now, and have finally, formally obtained my 200 hour RYT.
In my classes, I aim to welcome curiosity into movements traditional and nontraditional. I appreciate cues that invoke a sense of well being and embodiment. I believe good alignment supports the body waking up, but more importantly, feeling the body without worrying about right or wrong should come first. I believe bodies can change, adapt, build strength and flexibility. I believe the body and breath are tools to break open the mind and heart.
Julie McCoy-Cox
Co-Creator/Teacher
I fell in love with the practice of yoga when I was in college. Today, 24 years later, yoga is still a huge part of my life. My practice has evolved and changed over the years, but it has continually supported my body with strength and flexibility and it has consistently invited me to change and expand my mind and open my heart to be more compassionate and loving. As a teacher, it is an honor to be able to share a practice that has been such a powerful force in my life. To be able to share something you love with others is a great joy. I hope you will join us here at The Breathing Room so we can share this beautiful practice with you.
"Your task is not to seek love, but merely to seek and find all the barriers within yourself that you have built against it." ~Rumi
Co-Creator/Teacher
I fell in love with the practice of yoga when I was in college. Today, 24 years later, yoga is still a huge part of my life. My practice has evolved and changed over the years, but it has continually supported my body with strength and flexibility and it has consistently invited me to change and expand my mind and open my heart to be more compassionate and loving. As a teacher, it is an honor to be able to share a practice that has been such a powerful force in my life. To be able to share something you love with others is a great joy. I hope you will join us here at The Breathing Room so we can share this beautiful practice with you.
"Your task is not to seek love, but merely to seek and find all the barriers within yourself that you have built against it." ~Rumi
Deb Veach White
Co-Creator/Teacher
Bio coming soon!
Co-Creator/Teacher
Bio coming soon!
Gepina Caterina
Ashtanga Teacher
Gepina's love for yoga began over a decade ago when she first began to train as a massage therapist and Ashtanga Yogi. She has studied with many wonderful and happy teachers of the Ashtanga tradition: Kathy Cooper, Noah William and Casey Palmer. Gepina has a private massage therapy and wellness practice, Cohesive Therapy, just up Broadway here in downtown Vancouver. We are thrilled to have her as part of our teaching team. Gepina believes the Ashtanga practice is "magic", and enthusiastically greets each student right where they are to help bring the gift of yoga into their life.
Please find Gepina and her lovely practice here:
cohesivetherapy.org
Ashtanga Teacher
Gepina's love for yoga began over a decade ago when she first began to train as a massage therapist and Ashtanga Yogi. She has studied with many wonderful and happy teachers of the Ashtanga tradition: Kathy Cooper, Noah William and Casey Palmer. Gepina has a private massage therapy and wellness practice, Cohesive Therapy, just up Broadway here in downtown Vancouver. We are thrilled to have her as part of our teaching team. Gepina believes the Ashtanga practice is "magic", and enthusiastically greets each student right where they are to help bring the gift of yoga into their life.
Please find Gepina and her lovely practice here:
cohesivetherapy.org
Jerri Clark
Teacher
“How wonderful is it that nobody need wait a single moment before starting to improve the world?”
This quote from Anne Frank is posted to the side of my desk, and I’m reminded daily of my intention to take actions that improve upon love, patience, acceptance and positive human connections. In my 20 years of practice, yoga has helped me access a feeling of well-being that renews my faith in humanity and my own capacities. I’ve found that strength of character and flexibility of mind grow from consistency in the physical practice, and I strive to highlight those opportunities in the flow-based classes that I lead. I entwine philosophical concepts with alignment cues so that each posture provides a unique opportunity for individual release, expression or self-discovery. I encourage a pain-free, blissful state so strength and healing can arise in a state of harmlessness and grace. After hundreds of training hours in varied styles of practice I've recently added "Yoga as Mind-Body Medicine," an advanced module taught by Blissology® founder Eoin Finn and Dr. Lawrence Cheng, an osteopath in Vancouver, Canada. This program has greatly influenced my teaching as I incorporate ancient knowledge of the Chakra system with new discoveries about the human nervous system. I'm also pleased to be a Level 1 Teacher-in-Training with iRest®, a meditation technique based in ancient protocols and developed into a user-friendly modern format by psychologist Richard Miller. I have trauma-sensitive training through Living Yoga, Portland, and I teach a small adaptive class for a local agency. In addition to teaching, I work as a parent resource coordinator for a state agency that supports families navigating special education.
Teacher
“How wonderful is it that nobody need wait a single moment before starting to improve the world?”
This quote from Anne Frank is posted to the side of my desk, and I’m reminded daily of my intention to take actions that improve upon love, patience, acceptance and positive human connections. In my 20 years of practice, yoga has helped me access a feeling of well-being that renews my faith in humanity and my own capacities. I’ve found that strength of character and flexibility of mind grow from consistency in the physical practice, and I strive to highlight those opportunities in the flow-based classes that I lead. I entwine philosophical concepts with alignment cues so that each posture provides a unique opportunity for individual release, expression or self-discovery. I encourage a pain-free, blissful state so strength and healing can arise in a state of harmlessness and grace. After hundreds of training hours in varied styles of practice I've recently added "Yoga as Mind-Body Medicine," an advanced module taught by Blissology® founder Eoin Finn and Dr. Lawrence Cheng, an osteopath in Vancouver, Canada. This program has greatly influenced my teaching as I incorporate ancient knowledge of the Chakra system with new discoveries about the human nervous system. I'm also pleased to be a Level 1 Teacher-in-Training with iRest®, a meditation technique based in ancient protocols and developed into a user-friendly modern format by psychologist Richard Miller. I have trauma-sensitive training through Living Yoga, Portland, and I teach a small adaptive class for a local agency. In addition to teaching, I work as a parent resource coordinator for a state agency that supports families navigating special education.
Mariah Chapman
Teacher
With only a breath away, we can be greeted by our true nature. This the intention of my yoga practice. My yoga journey began with placing a little laptop in a small space of my home, and playing yoga videos off the web. Carving out a brief time for daily practice each morning, I soon began to realize that yoga was much more than just the asana. Little did I know, an amazing journey of transformation was taking place. My practice has taken me into a whole new dimension of living. A dimension of consciousness-living, awareness, peacefulness, and bliss. Through diving deep into my own breath, I have found where my happiness has been all along. I realized bliss is not an external source, but rather an inherent state that resides in our hearts. My love and curiosity for exploring the depths of yoga, led me to the Big Island of Hawaii where I received my 200 hour yoga teaching certificate with Konalani Yoga under the Shambhava Yoga tradition. Living in a yoga ashram for a month, has taught me that the heart is the passageway to infinite bliss. When we take the time to breathe, to come back to our hearts, we can touch our true nature. This is where my passion lies in teaching yoga. I wish to lead people back into their hearts, allowing their natural state of being to come forth. A natural state of pure bliss, Ananda.
“The heart is the hub of all sacred places. Go there and roam.” -Nityananda
Teacher
With only a breath away, we can be greeted by our true nature. This the intention of my yoga practice. My yoga journey began with placing a little laptop in a small space of my home, and playing yoga videos off the web. Carving out a brief time for daily practice each morning, I soon began to realize that yoga was much more than just the asana. Little did I know, an amazing journey of transformation was taking place. My practice has taken me into a whole new dimension of living. A dimension of consciousness-living, awareness, peacefulness, and bliss. Through diving deep into my own breath, I have found where my happiness has been all along. I realized bliss is not an external source, but rather an inherent state that resides in our hearts. My love and curiosity for exploring the depths of yoga, led me to the Big Island of Hawaii where I received my 200 hour yoga teaching certificate with Konalani Yoga under the Shambhava Yoga tradition. Living in a yoga ashram for a month, has taught me that the heart is the passageway to infinite bliss. When we take the time to breathe, to come back to our hearts, we can touch our true nature. This is where my passion lies in teaching yoga. I wish to lead people back into their hearts, allowing their natural state of being to come forth. A natural state of pure bliss, Ananda.
“The heart is the hub of all sacred places. Go there and roam.” -Nityananda
Sahadevi Johns
Saha Devi’s personal healing experience with the ancient technology of Kundalini Yoga inspired her commitment to her yoga practice and her teaching. Over the years Saha had the good fortune to study with many exceptional and renowned yoga teachers, including Yogi Bhajan, the Master Yogi, who brought Kundalini Yoga to the West and promised Kundalini Yoga’s quick powerful results.
Saha Devi recalls her early opportunities to serve and study yoga in India as pivotal and deeply informed her life choices. Saha has been a teacher for over forty years with a Masters Degree in Fine Arts from UCLA and is a certified IKYA Kundalini Yoga teacher.
Saha Devi’s classes are appropriate for beginners and beyond. She ends each class with the relaxing Gong Sound Bath, a long dip into the cosmic harmonics of the Gong that clear the subconscious and balance the chakras. The busy mind quiets and cannot resist the sound of the Gong to promote deep relaxation and healing.
Saha loves teaching this powerful technology that supports our physical, mental and spiritual well-being to keep up and fulfill our highest joyful potential.
Saha Devi recalls her early opportunities to serve and study yoga in India as pivotal and deeply informed her life choices. Saha has been a teacher for over forty years with a Masters Degree in Fine Arts from UCLA and is a certified IKYA Kundalini Yoga teacher.
Saha Devi’s classes are appropriate for beginners and beyond. She ends each class with the relaxing Gong Sound Bath, a long dip into the cosmic harmonics of the Gong that clear the subconscious and balance the chakras. The busy mind quiets and cannot resist the sound of the Gong to promote deep relaxation and healing.
Saha loves teaching this powerful technology that supports our physical, mental and spiritual well-being to keep up and fulfill our highest joyful potential.
