Main Asana Instructors
Andrea Kalpana Tabachnick, E-RYT 500
Kalpana has been practicing classical ashtanga yoga since 1975 and teaching since 1994. She served as the Director of the Ashtanga Yoga Institute in Santa Cruz, California for ten years and as Curriculum Developer and Senior Instructor for the Mount Madonna Center Yoga Teacher Training program for six years. Her background studies include classical ashtanga yoga teacher training in 1981, intensive studies in ayurveda, as well as ongoing workshops in traditional and contemporary styles of asana. She currently serves as the Program Director for the Salt Spring Centre of Yoga and teaches public and corporate classes throughout Vancouver. (Experienced Registered Yoga Teacher 500 with Yoga Alliance)
Chetna Tracy Boyd, RYT 500
Chetna has been studying yoga in its many aspects since 1999. She began teaching in 2003 and is a graduate of the Salt Spring Centre of Yoga, where she was certified in classical ashtanga and hatha yoga systems and is registered with the Yoga Alliance. She completed her Professional Yoga Therapy 500 hour training through Integrated Yoga Therapy and joined the faculty of the SSCY Yoga Teacher Trainings in 2007. Chetna teaches private yoga therapy sessions as well as public and corporate classes in Victoria. Her compassionate approach to teaching promotes an environment that is relaxing and encouraging, empowering and fun.(500 hour Yoga Alliance Registered Teacher).
Dorothy Chandra Price
Dorothy has been a yoga practitioner for over 30 years and completed her Yoga Teacher Training at the Salt Spring Centre of Yoga in 2002. She teaches all levels of yoga on Salt Spring Island, as well as weekend yoga getaways and an annual retreat in Mexico. Dorothy’s teaching style includes sustained as well as flowing postures, with the aim of cultivating mindfulness through alignment and breath. She brings compassion and a deep love of yoga to her classes.
Julie Higginson, MA
Julie has been practicing yoga since 1998, including studies in hatha, Kripalu and restorative yoga and has been influenced by the work of Donna Farhi. She graduated from SSCY YTT in 2008, joined the the faculty in 2009 and presently teaches intro and continuing beginner and restorative yoga in Victoria. Julie is deeply inspired by the teachings and by how the practice of yoga facilitates improved physical and mental functioning as well as providing a personal space for sanctuary and healing. She is very grateful to the Centre’s founding teacher, Baba Hari Dass, and for the collective efforts of the many instructors and staff dedicated to this stellar program. She also serves on the Board of Directors of Dharma Sara Satsang Society.
Tangachee Goebl
Tangachee has been studying yoga since 1975 and teaching since 1990. She has spent several years in India studying classical Ashtanga yoga with a number of teachers and completed the SSCY 200 hour Yoga Teacher Training in 2002. Meditation has been a major part of Tangachee’s life for the last 30 years and she likes to incorporate mindfulness of the body and breath into her teaching practice. More recently she teaches mostly private classes with special emphasis on Therapeutic Yoga.
Anila Lacroix
Anila was introduced to philosophy and meditation as a child and has been practicing various styles of yoga since 1998. In 2005 she completed her teacher training in classical ashtanga and hatha yoga at SSCY and has gone on to graduate teacher trainings in Anusara, meditation, yin, hot and kids yoga. Anila currently teaches power, hatha, Anusara, hot, meditation and yin in studios throughout Vancouver for YYoga and Semperviva as well as offering workshops and private sessions. Her work as an ambassador for Lululemon has allowed Anila to offer her love of yoga to a wide variety of new students while stoking the fire of seasoned practitioners. She believes in practicing with an open heart and mind and gives thanks to her many teachers for her sense of compassionate play, and thanks her community for such a wealth of inspiration.
Lyndsay (Chandra Prabha) Savage
Lindsay has had a relationship with yoga from early childhood to the present day. Her training in Hatha Yoga includes Iyengar, Kria, and Classical Ashtanga. Her teaching is strongly influenced by Vijnana Yoga as taught by Orit Sen Gupta, Gioia Irwin and Cathy Valentine. Lyndsay brings her passion and enthusiasm for yoga into her classes, where she explores different ways to connect inside to make the body light and the mind quiet. Her teaching style builds a yogic understanding into the student’s body/mind, enabling them to learn to be their own teacher. Lyndsay has a 200 hour Yoga Alliance certification from SSCY as well as an 800 hour certification in Vijnana Yoga.
Cathy Valentine
Cathy has been a practitioner of yoga from a very young age and a teacher of yoga since 1998. She is registered with Yoga Alliance at the 500 (advanced) level. She has a deep and dedicated practice of Vijnana Yoga. In teaching, she offers instruction from the toes to the crown, and all the nadis in between. Read more about Cathy and Vijnana Yoga on Cathy’s website.
Saraswati Glenda Garcia, B.Sc., R.D., RYT 500
Saraswati began her practice of yoga in 2002 and has been teaching since 2008. A passion and commitment to her personal practice has enabled Saraswati to gain an understanding beyond the physical function of yoga. With increased awareness and appreciation for the science and intelligence of the body, she has delved deep into the study of pranayama and yoga philosophy in order to increase her understanding of the human psyche and the human condition. In her work as a Registered Dietitian, Saraswati is able to combine yoga and nutritional science in order to provide patients with a whole health experience. She receives ongoing training and education from Mount Madonna Centre in California and is mentored by a community of yoga teachers in the lineage of her main teacher, Baba Hari Dass. She teaches yoga at the Salt Spring Centre of Yoga, throughout Victoria, and at Mount Madonna Centre for the Arts.
Pranayama Instructors
Mark Divakar Raetzen, BA LLB LLM
Divakar has been practicing Ashtanga Yoga since 1976. He is President of the Dharma Sara Satsang Society and one of the founding members of the Salt Spring Centre of Yoga. Divakar completed Yoga Teacher Training at MMC in 1981 and is a long time teacher of pranayama, meditation and yoga philosophy at the SSCY Yoga Retreats and annual Yoga Teacher Training.
Pamela Chandra Rose, B.A., PDP (education), M.Ed.
From 2001-2010 Chandra was Education Director for Okanagan Valley College of Massage Therapy as well as the key instructor for Communications and Ethics from 2000. She holds a Master of Education in Adult, Community and Higher Learning from the University of Calgary. Chandra has conducted many sessions in spiritual education and has been a featured speaker at international conferences on teaching ethics and spirituality for health professionals. She is delighted to serve as an instructor and mentor in the YTT program. She has been a student of classical ashtanga yoga since 1974, and completed YTT 200 at Mount Madonna Center in 1982. In 2010 she completed two sections of the MMC YTT 500 program. Chandra was a founding member of Dharma Sara Satsang Society and is a member of the Board of Directors.
Penny Janaki Polden, RN. CYT
Janaki has been practicing classical Yoga and meditation as taught by Baba Hari Dass for over 30 years. She completed her first Yoga Teacher Training in 1973 at the Sivananda Yoga Centre in Grass Valley, California and the 200 hour Yoga Alliance certified Yoga Teacher Training at SSCY in 2003. One of the founding members of the Centre, Janaki currently teaches pranayama and meditation for ongoing classes and retreats at SSCY.
Ayurveda and Shath Karma Instructor
Savita Leah Young
Savita became a student of Baba Hari Dass in 1994, after practicing vipassana meditation since 1987. She completed the 200 hour Yoga Teacher Training at SSCY in 2006 and graduated with honors from Mt. Madonna Institute College of Ayurveda, as a Certified Ayurveda Practitioner in 2008. She currently operates her own clinic, Amrit Dhara Ayurveda, on Salt Spring Island. As the mother of three and recently given the honor of being a grandmother, Savita has devoted her life to living in balance with nature and the environment, and sharing this knowledge with others.
Anatomy Instructor
Bryn Thompson, BScPT, FCAMT
Bryn began his physical therapy and yoga practices simultaneously in early 2001. He has studied various styles of yoga including Ashtanga, Vijnana, and Iyengar and has incorporated the many gifts of these classical traditions into mainstream western sciences of anatomy, physiology, pathology, and the practice of physiotherapy. Bryn has a passion for working hands on through the body, sharing his knowledge, and inspiring growth in his students and patients. Bryn currently lives in Boulder CO, working part time, supporting his partner’s Masters studies at Naropa, and taking care of his three beautiful boys.
Physiology Instructor
Dr. Janice Hamsa Wright
Janice graduated from McGill University in 1991 with a BSc in Anatomy and an MSc in Biology. She received her MD from McMaster University in 1996 and has been practicing holistically as an MD in Vancouver since 1998. In 2001 Janice received acupuncture training through the Acupuncture Foundation of Canada Institute; she has also completed extensive training in palliative care. Janice’s interest in holistic medicine and natural healing is longstanding. She believes in integrative medicine – using both conventional medicine and complementary modalities to support and encourage the body’s innate capacity towards wholeness. To this end, Janice practices at InspireHealth, Canada’s only Integrated Cancer Care Centre. Patients are offered yoga, meditation and other inspirational classes. Janice became certified as a yoga instructor in the Salt Spring Centre of Yoga YTT program in 2003 and practices asana, pranayama and meditation regularly.
Philosophy Instructors
Alan Shankar Martin, PhD
Shankar is Professor Emeritus in the School of Human Kinetics at the University of BC and holds degrees from Leeds University and UBC, a PhD in Kinesiology from SFU, and an Honorary Master Herbalist degree from the Dominion Herbal College. He completed the Sivananda Yoga Teacher Training in 1973. A founding member of Dharma Sara and a long time student of Baba Hari Dass, Shankar teaches yoga philosophy at the SSCY Yoga Teacher Training as well as ongoing weekly classes at the Centre. He serves as Director of the SSCY, and Senior Educational Administrator of the Yoga Teacher Training program.
Sharada Filkow, BFA, Teaching Certificate
Sharada has been a student of classical ashtanga aoga since 1975, completing YTT at Mount Madonna Center in 1982. She is one of the founding members of the Salt Spring Centre of Yoga, where she has lived for many years. Sharada is a longtime teacher. Having taught at the Salt Spring Cente School for many years, she now teaches yoga philosophy and history of yoga at YTT and other Centre programs. Her other passion is Nonviolent Communication, which she practices and teaches.
Additional philosophy instructors include Divakar Mark Raetzen, Chandra Pamela Rose and other guest presenters.
