With decades of experience as a clinical massage therapist (RMT), Yoga teacher and Therapist C-IAYT, and a lifelong passion for movement of all types, Leila is a pioneer in the field of movement education. She opened one of the first dedicated Yoga Therapy studios in Canada as well as developing The Anatomy of Yoga Therapy, an innovative 300 hour Yoga Therapy training program that she taught for 15 years.
Leila’s transformational system of therapeutic yoga evolved from her desire to empower patients and students on the path to self-healing. Whether challenged with physical, mental or spiritual issues, Leila skillfully guides students toward a felt sense of their wholeness by exploring experiential anatomy and the interplay between awareness, gentle movement, breath, and mental patterns. By cultivating an awareness of their living anatomy and inherent body wisdom, students can learn to apply this intelligence in a practical way to their own healing process. Leila invites students to make yoga a living, transformational process by encouraging them to practice off the mat.
Leila’s transformational system of therapeutic yoga evolved from her desire to empower patients and students on the path to self-healing. Whether challenged with physical, mental or spiritual issues, Leila skillfully guides students toward a felt sense of their wholeness by exploring experiential anatomy and the interplay between awareness, gentle movement, breath, and mental patterns. By cultivating an awareness of their living anatomy and inherent body wisdom, students can learn to apply this intelligence in a practical way to their own healing process. Leila invites students to make yoga a living, transformational process by encouraging them to practice off the mat.
“I had firsthand experience of the transformational potential of Yoga Therapy when I developed a debilitating fatigue condition in 2001 and crippling rheumatoid-type arthritis in 2005. For 10 years, I was unable to do anything but the simplest, minimal physical practice. I was so grateful for all of the Yoga Therapy tools that I knew. It was awareness, meditation and the practice of Witness Consciousness that kept me going and lifted me when I descended into hopelessness and despair. I realized that I was always able to do something that would bring about some change in what I was experiencing. During this time, yoga transformed from a theoretical practice into an absolutely practical, lived experience. I learned the importance of working with the whole person rather than the disability and of acknowledging and accessing all of the koshas, especially when the physical body is severely limited.”
Education
- Bachelor of Arts (History), University of Alberta 1976
- Bachelor of Law, University of Alberta 1979
- Registered Massage Therapist 1989-20212000 Hour Training
- Postgraduate courses in craniosacral therapy, myofascial release, movement therapy, visceral manipulation, neuromuscular therapy, and yoga therapy.
Yoga Training
- Practitioner since 1974
- Teacher Training Certificates with Sandra Sammartino (1993) and Donna Farhi (1997)
- Dru Yoga Teacher Training Certificate (2004)
- Donna Farhi's Canadian Coordinator 1999 to 2006International Adjunct Faculty
- Continuing studies with Nischala Joy Devi, Gary Kraftsow, Angela Farmer and Richard Miller.
- Influenced by the traditions of Bonnie Bainbridge Cohen (Body-Mind Centering), Charlotte Selver (Sensory Awareness), Mme. Meziere (Anti-Gymnastics), and Judith Koltai (Syntonics).