Like many of us, I have always felt the most at home in nature. Deeply devoted to mother earth I have always felt that the more rooted down I am, the more I can rise up. I have dedicated a lot of my life to finding ways to sleep under the stars. For the past several years I have been wandering about and found myself cycling through New Zealand, climbing in Thailand, surfing in Tonga, canoeing through the North West Territories, backpacking in India and Japan, skiing in Whistler, biking the north shore, road tripping to California while living in tents, cars and forests in Squamish, Kananaskis and everywhere in between. If it involves snow, sand, sunshine or mud – I’m in.

Between adventures, I began to study my love of movement, completing a degree in kinesiology followed by a Masters in Counselling Psychology at UBC. Yearning for connection in the city, I found yoga as a place to ground down and started exploring the mind, breath, spirit and emotion in a different context. I completed my 240-hour RYT training in Mexico with Anna Laurita where I remained for the year teaching yoga, riding horses and playing on the beach. I have since completed a mentorship with Suzanne Slocum-Gori, 39-hour Yin Teacher Training with Danielle Hoogenboom, and a Yoga for Youth Training with Ryan Leir. I am currently based in Vancouver, BC, offering weekly classes in the city and ongoing retreats in the mountains and Mexico. I have been blessed to join the faculty for the Karma Teachers 200hour teacher trainings and have recently been presenting at schools and conferences in Western Canada on incorporating yoga into classrooms and schools.

I am endlessly grateful for my teachers who have taught me that yoga extends beyond the mat. I have so much love for my teachers Anna Laurita, Suzanne Slocum-Gori, Mara Branscombe and  Danielle Hoogenboom who I continue to learn from each day. I am honoured and humbled to call myself a teacher at Karma Teachers and support the community of selfless giving. I am also grateful to all the young people I work with both at the CRUW program and as a youth addictions counsellor, for they are some of my greatest teachers and inspiration behind Root to Rise.

I love teaching yoga and I hope to create a space for sweat and play where everyone laughs, sweats, cries and breathes as ONE. 

Living Yoga

I strive to find ways to make yoga more accessible to all bodies, ages, genders and incomes. From the moment I received my first teaching certification I have taught Karma Yoga and continue to do so today. Previous collaborators include:

-Covenant House

-Vancouver Aboriginal Child & Family Services

-Broadway Youth Resource Centre

-Downtown East Side Women's Centre

-Enviros Addiction Treatment Services

-Mountain Equipment Co-op initiative for young people with Chronic Illness 

-UBC Learning Exchange

Please contact me to learn more about bringing free/low cost, accessible yoga to your community: raelene@raelenehodgson.com