Looking for an exhilarating new experience? Have fun and feel great with Aerial Yoga and Reformer Pilates.

Balance is what keeps me happy in my life. Regular yoga practice has become a very important part in finding that balance by making me feel calm, grounded and motivated. I chose to become a yoga instructor so I could share this positive experience with people; encouraging them to feel good about moving their bodies and showing them how to release the tension that builds up in the daily grind. When I completed my teacher training in CorYoga, I became interested in anti-gravity yoga practice and completed teacher training in suspension yoga. Using the silks adds to your yoga practice and experience on your mat. Suspension yoga will increase your body awareness, build balance and coordination, and release muscular tension as well as strengthen and tone your entire body. Be prepared to fly!

FUN FACTS:

My favourite yoga pose is Viparita Karani – Legs-Up-the-Wall. There are soo many benefits to this gentle inversion, I favour this pose at the end of a long day.

I’m a principal dancer with two Filipino folk dance company’s. The first, is a traditional folk dance troupe called Folklorico Filipino Canada. The second is Hataw, a performing arts collective that fuses Filipino folk with diverse styles of dance.

Favourite food: Haagen Daas Caramel Cone Explosion. I’ve just come off a 30 day sugar-free diet and that tub of ice cream was my go-to treat to myself!

Top feel good song: Reverse Skydiving by Hot Natured featuring Anabel Englund

Coolest place I’ve practiced: My friend Amelia & I were practicing on Anjuna Beach in Goa when a herd of cows walked curiously towards us. The littlest one came over and licked Amelia’s shoulder urging her to pet him.

If I had a super power, it would be to heal pain, both emotional and physical at the blink of an eye. Something tells me there would be more peace in the world with less pain in our hearts.

Yoga is one of those things that is always been with me since I was born, in fact, I think we are all born yoginis and yogis and throughout our lives we always have little glimpses of our true nature. When I became interested in postural yoga I was in my early 20’s, I had been longing to find balance amongst my many interests and yoga was the practice that brought unification, and started me on a new path. In 2009 I completed my first yoga teacher training at Prana Yoga College and have been teaching yoga ever since. My dedication has granted me the opportunity to teach in many places and many styles including vinyasa, hatha, restorative, yin and aerial yoga. I also teach Pilates and I am an independent dance artist based in Toronto, Canada. I teach yoga philosophy and anatomy at teacher trainings and currently I am completing Georg Feuerstein’s 800 hour course in History, Literature, and Philosophy of Yoga and Leslie Kaminoff’s intensive course in yoga anatomy principles.
1) Favourite yoga pose/workout/stretch: Seated wide legged forward fold
2) Other interests: dance, arts, dogs, food
3) Favourite Foods: Fish & Chips
4) Top Feel Good Song: With or Without You – U2
5) Coolest place you’ve worked-out or practiced: Hawaii
6) If you could have a super power, what would it be: To be able to wish anything and make it happen – oh wait! I can already do that!

Leyla loves running and writing. She was introduced to yoga five years ago by her best friend/baby sister and was instantly attracted to the body-mind-soul connection. Since then she’s bounced around various branches of the practice, completed an RYT 200, and finally landed on the playfulness and dynamism that is Aerial Yoga!

Marlene is a mindful vinyasa yogi who has been practicing grace and expansion through movement for 10+ years. Her background in dance and love for all things yoga drew her to Aerial Yoga which she joyfully teaches to groups of all ages. When not in the hammock or flowing on the mat, you can find Marlene giving relaxing Thai massages, reppin’ as Lululemon Ambassador, making green smoothies, or practicing acro yoga with her hubby.

Erica Sun received a 200-hour Hatha Yoga Teacher Training in Thailand at Jungle Yoga and has since been crafting her teaching skills at Toronto’s United Athletics, Fly Studio, and on-stages at East Coast Music Festivals. Erica is far from her Prince-Edward-Island roots, but calls Toronto home for all of her passions from yoga, to Reiki Healing, and Make-Up Artistry: working in the fashion and operatic arts industries. Here at Fly, she received her Ariel Yoga Teacher Certification and is looking forward to sharing practice with the studio as a new teacher.

Karey is a dedicated life coach and passionate yoga instructor whose magnetic and bubbly energy empowers and ignites the soul! Join her for her fun and playful classes or try a private coaching session to get clear on everything from relationships to wellness to purpose to finances. Dream Big & Live Happy!

Megan fell in love with Pilates since she first started practicing 7 years ago. Following an arthritis diagnosis, she decided to make a career change and follow a growing passion that also helped to rehabilitate her health. She completed the Mat and Reformer training and is currently completing her Cadillac, Chair and Barrels at Stott. She loves integrating classical Pilates with a more modern athletic conditioning style, creating balanced and challenging work outs that facilitate and deepen a mind-body awareness.

Paulina believes that any fitness program should be challenging, yet fun – something that is evident in her classes. Paulina is a certified in Barre (Barreworks) and Pilates in both Mat and Reformer (Body Harmonics). In addition to her impressive fitness background, Paulina holds a Bachelor of Fine Arts in Performance Dance from Ryerson University.
Her 20+ years of involvement in dance, as well as her energy and enthusiasm, have made being active and healthy a big part of Paulina’s life. She enjoys helping people move their bodies better and looks forward to meeting, helping, inspiring, and entertaining all clients with her great energy and sense of humour.

Trained and educated at Body Harmonics, Alwynn Jessica Taylor is a certified Pilates Instructor. As many of her clients can attest, Alwynn possesses a love of movement that she incorporates into her classes-a passion she developed at an early age through extensive studies in the performing arts. Building on this love, Alwynn has embraced the practice of Pilates for the intrinsic mind-body connection that it offers which she demonstrates in the graceful nature and challenging exercises that the classical Pilates repertoire is based upon. Whether it’s in a large, a group class setting, a corporate environment or a private session, Alwynn’s style of teaching is focused, patient and intuitive. Alwynn’s knowledge of and commitment to holistic wellness stems from a background in teaching professional tennis, nationally and internationally for over ten years, as well as teaching spinning, ballet barre and fusion based Pilates classes. Her personal philosophy is to consistently challenge oneself in unique ways that go beyond the physical, culminating in a mind-body synergy that builds strength and overall wellness.

Dana is writer, cook, dancer and actor. After suffering an injury that prevented her from practising yoga to the extent she used to, along came Branch Yoga and a love affair was born. Through Aerial Yoga, many issues have been solved with the support of the silks. Turning the practise on its head – literally – has changed her life and she is pleased to bring that joy of childlike play to others.

Alanna first turned to Pilates as a way to ease the stress and tension in her body caused by a busy city lifestyle. She soon found that the control and concentration Pilates requires was not only improving her mental clarity but her overall health and happiness. Being physically fit has always been a priority. Alanna found that the mind-body connection of Pilates mixed with the intensity and resistance of the Reformer created a passion that she had to share with others. Her STOTT Pilates training ensures her classes will be full of encouragement and motivation! Students will reap the benefits of perfect Pilates form and precision in her classes.

Kate is a new Aerial teacher, one of the first graduates from Fly’s teacher training program last November and she is always thrilled to hop in the silk with her students! Unlike most Aerial Yogis, she came to the silk practice before she fell in love with her mat practice (as she found mat yoga to be too intimidating!) But has since picked up a regular mat practice and is constantly impressed that with regular practice, progress happens exponentially! Kate has also started a collective of healing artists called Trinity Makers, where she, along with a Reiki Master and an Acupuncturist/RMT, provide restorative workshops for all ages. Check out www.facebook.com/yogawkate to connect with her further!
1) Favourite yoga pose/workout/stretch: Pigeon Pose
2) Other Interests: Biking, Hula Hooping, Beach bumming
3) Favourite Foods: Mangos & Sweet Potatoes
4) Top Feel Good Song: Kimbra – nobody but you
5) Coolest place you’ve worked-out or practiced: on a paddle board on Lake Ontario!
6) If you could have a super power, what would it be: flight!

Kristy is an artist, animal lover and an emphatic aerial yoga enthusiast. She fell in love with the practice the moment she touched the silk and absolutely loves sharing it with others. She believes the beauty in aerial yoga is the freedom it gives to allow ones inner child to shine and inspires the mind, body and soul in a way so few other activities can.

Ariel was born and raised in Toronto, spending most of her childhood involved in competitive gymnastics and ballet. In 2002, she experienced her first Iyengar Yoga class and immediately fell in love with the sense of structured movement, precise alignment and meditative qualities of the practice. After completing the Ashtanga Vinyasa Yoga Teacher Training with Downward Dog Yoga Center, studying both in Toronto and Mexico, Ariel studied Thai Yoga Massage at Still Light Center in Toronto; she offers private 30, 60 and 90 minute customized sessions. Ariel integrates this ancient knowledge of therapeutic touch into many of her Yoga classes. Ariel is also an Aerial Yoga Instructor; her parents were very intuitive when choosing her name. She is honored to have co-created the FLY Aerial Yoga Teacher Training Program, the first of it’s kind in Toronto. In 2012, the experience of pregnancy inspired Ariel to study with Kundalini Yoga Instructor Gurmukh Kaur Khalsa in Vancouver, becoming certified to teach Khalsa Way Prenatal Yoga. Ariel currently teaches a variety of classes, drawing inspiration from various lineages of Yoga, which focus on a creative flow, precise alignment and conscious breathing. She aims to bring her students a sense of connection, peace and balance both on and off the mat.

1) Favourite yoga pose/workout: Obviously, I love to FLY! When practicing Aerial yoga, I feel most at peace during inverted butterfly pose. I dare you to try it- I think we could all use a little more peace in our lives

2) Other interests: When I’m not flying on the Aerial Silks or biking or cooking, I’m playing around with my 2 year old daughter, she’s definitely my best teacher. She’s taught me to slow down, become more playful and stay present in the moment. Great things to consider in both a yoga practice and in life.

3) Favourite Foods: Dark chocolate with sea salt is everything to me.

4) Top Feel Good Song: Feel It All Around-Washed Out

5) Coolest place you’ve worked-out or practiced: I love the instability of practicing on the sand and I love the energy of practicing by the ocean. There is a deserted beach in Grand Cayman that comes to mind, it’s pretty magical.

6) If you could have a super power, what would it be? Well, to FLY. Obviously

Heather is a graduate of the Yoga Tree teacher training program and a practitioner of Thai yoga massage who has been practicing yoga for over a decade. Yoga has helped Heather to develop better body mechanics that are an asset even (or especially) when out for a run, sitting at her desk, or curling up on the couch. She enjoys the strength, flexibility, and self-acceptance yoga has brought into her life and welcomes the opportunity to support other practitioners to find the benefits of their yoga practice. In her classes, Heather encourages awareness of positive body alignment, steady breathing, and mindful movement.