Bio
Christine started her yoga practice in 1980 while attending the school of Architecture at U of T. After receiving her degree, Christine practiced architecture, worked on films and television shows and designed a CD Rom game with a friend. After 15 years of yoga practice and study with her guru, she decided to leave her conventional life behind and venture full time into the world of yoga. For the next 15 years she studied with a number of international teachers. Christine’s extensive teacher training includes courses with Richard Freeman in Colorado and Downward Dog Toronto, in addition to countless workshops throughout North America with the likes of Pattabhi Jois, Chuck and Maty, David Swenson, Mira Metha, Sharon Gannon and David Life, Ron Reid and many, many others.
After teaching in a number of venues in Toronto, Christine opened Shama-Bhakti Yoga Centre in Oakville in January 2007. Christine has practiced many traditions of yoga asana, etc. and meditation, and her core expertise is in the practice of Ashtanga Yoga; her commitment is always to further her knowledge and expertise across the entire range of yogic expression. As the years pass, her understanding of these practices has grown and burgeoned into what she likes to describe as an integral yoga system, embracing all practices as the next step to the one goal – Self-Realization. Her teaching reflects this understanding, whether she is teaching asana, meditation, or philosophy.
Practically speaking, her appreciation of the relationship between the body and the mind allows her to effect growth in her students whether mentally, emotionally, or spiritually. The practice of movement, no matter how subtle, with the breath allows her to instruct her participants in each posture, facilitating movement into the deeper recesses of mind and body creating self-awareness and reflection.
Christine’s own delving into the study of “Self” through both Eastern and Western methods has given her great insight as to how one would approach yoga from a Western point of view. She believes that Eastern wisdom and approaches to yoga can be best brought to our culture by understanding how to distill its insights into the lexicon of the West. An enormous aid to Christine in facilitating this process is the combination of her three-years of training as a Transpersonal Therapist and her ongoing meditation practice. All these skills, combined with her experience as a yoga student and teacher, give Christine a unique perspective on how we relate to our bodies and help her create a dynamic blend of body, mind, heart and spirit in her classes.
Ultimately, Christine’s goal is to pass down the knowledge of liberation and awareness taught by her teachers and the Great Masters. For her, Yoga is cultivating a quality of mind and presence that extends past the mat and the yoga studio into everyday life and the community. With Shama-Bhakti Yoga Centre, it is Christine's intent to create a safe, loving and lighthearted environment where the Self can be explored.
Her far-reaching 30 years of experience of the practice as a student and a teacher, her deep knowledge of the influence of yogic postures on the body and mind, and her great compassion as a teacher, make her classes whether they are asana, meditation, or philosophy classes, a wonderful experience.
