About Sandy

Bone Fit Trained - Foundations Workshop by Osteoporosis Canada - March 2024.  An exercise training workshop for health care professionals and fitness professionals to learn effective and appropriate exercises for people with osteoporosis.  This training provides knowledge and practical skills to adapt safe exercise programs to reduce the risk of fractures. 

Restorative Raj Yoga and Meditation - March 2023 with Yoga Master Yogrishi Vishvketu, PhD, held in Rishikesh, India (Akhanda Yoga Institute).  This 100 hour  teacher training focused on restorative and gentle practices utilizing bhramari pranayam and guided meditation.

Making Pranayama Accessible: Overcoming Obstacles Through the Breath - January 2023 with Yoga Master Jivana Heyman of the Accessible Yoga Association, USA.

According to the yoga teachings, breathing practices are among the most powerful practices we have. Yet, many of the common breathing practices are actually taught in ways that are not accessible or trauma-informed.  For many people focusing on the breath can increase anxiety instead of reducing it. So it’s important to find creative and gentle ways into working with the breath, which can help to bring about calm and reduce anxiety. 

Yoga for Long Haul Covid - March 2022 with Yoga Master  Robin Rothenberg of Essential Yoga Therapy, Seattle.   

Yoga for Long Haul Covid - Jan/Feb 2022 with Suzy Bolt Brighton UK, and Monisha Raja New York City.

A therapeutic approach in supporting those with long haul Covid, through gentle pranayam (breathing) practices and restorative asanas (postures).

Integrative Yoga for Seniors Professional Training - April / May 2022  Duke University Health and Well-Being.  This 50 hour Master training from North Carolina combined the best of evidenced-based research with the ancient wisdom of yoga.  Structured on the foundation of the physiology of aging, lead by Master Teachers and Medical Faculty.

Teaching Pranayama for Emotional Wellness, Athletic Performance & Expansion, Yoga Teacher Training - Oct. 2020 with  Yoga Master Yogrishi Vishvketu, PhD. Pranayama is so often neglected in movement-based classes though it has huge benefits for health, mood, athletics and spiritual growth.   Use the breath to heal sleep difficulties, low mood, anxiety and when feeling stuck, Akhanda Yoga.

Yoga Nidra Teacher Training  - Oct. 2020 with Master Teacher Devinder Kaur.   Yoga Nidra, or yogic sleep, is a type of meditation based in the ancient yogic anatomy of the Koshas, the 5 subtle bodies.  Sometimes described as a long savasana, it is actually a combination of deep body relaxation and mental awareness. Yoga Nidra is a quiet journey inward to stillness that transforms and releases old habits, fatigue, worry, and stress. Yoga Nidra is a technique for physical rejuvenation, mental relaxation, spiritual growth, and overall wellness,  PranaShanti Yoga Studio.

Love you Brain Teacher Training - June 2020.    LYB Foundation based in the USA, have been training yoga teachers and health professions across the United States and Canada through education, tools and skills to ensure yoga, meditation, and pranayama are accessible and supportive to people with traumatic brain injuries and concussions.

Yoga for Everyone, Trauma Informed Practice - May 2020.   This training  explored the language of invitation and inquiry,  encouraging choice and autonomy in a yoga practice.    To hold an atmosphere of allowing where options are offered throughout the class, a place of inclusion, safety and holding space.  Creating a container with protocols for a safe practice that can support students using yoga as part of their healing process.  All people regardless of ability, gender, race, class, age, sexual orientation, religion, nationality and profession deserve to be treated with respect.  Kathleen Burr, PranaShanti Yoga Studio.

Accessible Yoga Teacher Training - June 2018.  Accessible Yoga is an approach to teaching based on the  ideals of inclusivity, diversity and accessibility, rather than a specific style of yoga.  Accessible Yoga is dedicated to sharing the benefits of Yoga with anyone who currently does not have access to these practices, and with communities that have been excluded or under-served.  All people, regardless of ability or background, deserve equal access to the ancient practices of Yoga, which offer individual empowerment and spiritual awakening. 

Gentle Yoga Teacher Training - May 2017 with Michael Hutkins.  Gentle Yoga focuses on how yoga can be open to all types of students.  This includes students with different fitness levels, those starting a practice later in life or who are new to yoga or fitness, students with injuries or mobility difficulties such as MS, fibromyalgia, arthritis, brain injury/concussion, back challenges, overweight, pregnant, anxiety, depression, etc.

Chair Yoga Teacher Training - December 2014 with Michael Hutkins.  Chair Yoga adapts traditional yoga poses so that they can be done with a chair for support, making yoga more accessible for all people.  This may be low mobility seniors or other persons unable to participate in a standard yoga class due to mobility or disability issues. The chair takes the place of the yoga mat, and poses are seated or supported by the chair.  This brings the benefits of yoga to students, from beginner to advanced offering a meditative experience where the practitioner can get in touch with themselves.

Yoga Tune-up Therapy Ball Practitioner Training - May 2014 with Todd Lavictoire.  The Balls provides targeted self-massage trigger point therapy by using specially designed high grip rubber balls and focused movement routines that help penetrate through layers of skin and muscle to massage deeply into high tension areas.

Certified Yin Yoga Teacher - February 2012 with Master Teacher Joe Barnett Arizona USA.  ​Joe travels internationally year round, with the main focus on functional anatomy for yoga through forms of movement.   Joe teaches how to understand the full range of motion of their joints and how to use this wisdom effectively and therapeutically in yoga.  He is a senior student of Paul Grilley, a true Yoga Scientist who is largely responsible for the current rise in the popularity of Yin Yoga and Functional Alignment. 

Certified Restorative Yoga Teacher Training – May 2012 with Master Teacher Sudha Carolyn Lundeen, Massachusetts USA.  Sudha has over 30 years in healing arts, a senior teacher at Kripalu Center, and leads a variety of workshops, including 200- and 500-hour-level teacher training.  Sudha’s personal experience with breast cancer, combined with 12 years in clinical nursing in oncology, lends a sensitivity and broad knowledge base to her teaching style, which is described as welcoming, humorous, and healing. 

Anatomic Yoga Workshop - November 2011 with Master Teacher Dr. Ray Long, Author, Surgeon MD, FRCSC.  Dr. Long is a board certified orthopedic surgeon and the founder of Bandha Yoga. Dr. Long graduated from The University of Michigan Medical School with post-graduate training at Cornell University, McGill University, the University of Montreal and Florida Orthopedic Institute. He has studied Hatha yoga for over twenty years, training extensively with B.K.S. Iyengar and other leading yoga masters.   

Certified Hatha Yoga Teacher Training – November 2011 PranaShanti Yoga Centre. The training was led by Master Teacher Devinder Kaur and Guy Tardif  a  program registered with the Yoga Alliance and consisted of  220+ hours including 190 contact hours and 30 personal hours, held over a 6 month period.

Additional Training:

• Ongoing Accessible Yoga Workshops (Yoga for: Covid, the Heart and Grief, Prisons, LGBTQ2S+ Community,  Pain, etc.)
• Yoga as Gratitude - A Path to Initiate Giving Thanks - December 2022 -  Kimberly Carson  &  Carol Krucoff 
• Yoga for Scoliosis - February 2021 - with Leigh Anne Milne,  Sadhana Yoga 
• Ethics and Business of Yoga - December 2020 - Master Teacher Devinder Kaur. PranaShanti Yoga Centre.
• Diversity, Equity, Inclusion, & Anti-Racism Workshop - October 2020 with Dr. Sejal Patel of MIT through Mental Health Professionals Ottawa
• Balancing the Winds of Fall, Vata Pacifying Yoga  - September 2019 with Yoga Master Yogrishi Vishvketu, PhD 
• ​New Year's Power of Intention Workshop - January 2019 with Yoga Master Yogrishi Vishvketu, PhD
• Breath to Heal Training - December 2018 with Max Strom 
• ​Journey to the Heart of Yoga:  An Exploration of the Five Koshas - June 2017 with Yoga Master Yogrishi Vishvketu, PhD
• ​​Toning Circe and Sound Bath Workshop - June 2017 with Kathleen Burr 
• The Power of Intention - May 2017 with Yoga Master Yogrishi Vishvketu, PhD 
• Laughter Yoga Workshop - January 2017 with Marian Meade 
• Yoga & Meditation:  Embodying Practices Workshop - December 2016 with Michael Stone
• ​Kundalini Master Class - September 2016 with Yoga Master Yogrishi Vishvketu, PhD
• ​Partner Yoga Workshop - September 2016 with Eileen Scully
• Sleeping Soundly Yoga Workshop - April 2016 with Eileen Scully 
• Certified in Reiki (1995), Therapeutic Touch (2004) and training in relaxation massage (1990).  I have 20+ years experience providing massage, Reiki and Therapeutic Touch.