Yoga Association of Alberta

10/23/2026

Why Certify with the YAA? 🧘

In Alberta, yoga teachers are not required by law to hold a professional teaching licence. With so many training programs and pathways available, what does it mean to choose a recognized standard of education and ongoing development?

For 50 years, the Yoga Association of Alberta has supported yoga teachers through quality education, mentorship, professional standards, and a community that welcomes diverse traditions and approaches to practice.

YAA Certification is more than a credential. It’s a commitment to continued learning and responsible teaching, supported by:

✨ Quality training — Comprehensive Hatha Yoga education grounded in practice, philosophy, and teaching skills.

🌱 Mentorship and flexibility — Opportunities to learn with experienced teachers and develop within a tradition that resonates with you.

📚 Lifelong professional development — Continuing education, recertification, and advanced recognition at the 500-, 750-, and 1,000-hour levels.

🤝 Professional support and community — Connections with fellow teachers, teaching opportunities, directory listings, and access to professional resources.

Already completed yoga teacher training elsewhere? YAA’s Equivalency Certification Program recognizes qualifying training from other institutions, with individualized assessment and upgrading options.

Whether you’re beginning your teacher training journey or looking to build on years of experience, explore what YAA Certification can offer.

🔗 Learn more at yoga.ca/why-certify/

10/21/2026

Sometimes yoga finds us in the most unexpected places.

For Barbara Eastham, it began with an illustrated yoga book tucked inside a trunk in a remote town in Iran, where she was serving with the Peace Corps around 1970.

During a challenging period in her life, she began exploring the poses in that book and discovered how profoundly a simple practice could shift the way she felt.

That unexpected introduction became the beginning of a lifelong journey.

Back in the United States, a chance invitation led her to meditation and yoga philosophy classes with Dr. Arya (later Swami Veda). An encounter with Swami Radha eventually brought her to Yasodhara Ashram in British Columbia, where she immersed herself in yoga study and practice.

Years later, after moving to Calgary, another unlikely encounter — a conversation over a beautiful eggplant in a grocery store — reconnected Barbara with an old acquaintance and introduced her to the Yoga Centre of Calgary.

There, she became part of a vibrant teaching community, guiding classes and teacher training programs while continuing to learn from teachers and traditions that shaped her evolving understanding of yoga.

When the Yoga Centre closed in the early 2000s, Barbara remembers the Yoga Association of Alberta as a “lifeboat” for Calgary teachers — providing continuity through shared certification standards, professional connections and opportunities to keep learning together.

Throughout her story, there is a wonderful sense of curiosity, openness and gratitude for the people and experiences that shaped her path.

From a yoga book in Iran to a community of teachers in Alberta, Barbara’s journey reminds us how an unexpected beginning can unfold into a lifetime of discovery.

💛 50th Anniversary Pioneer Interview Series
Discover more stories from YAA’s yoga community at yoga.ca/pioneers/.

10/18/2026

Deepen your practice with Beth McCann! 🧘

Join YAA’s upcoming Core Curriculum Classes for a weekend of learning, exploration and hands-on practice.

Whether you’re deepening your personal practice, working toward yoga teacher certification or continuing your professional development, these sessions offer an opportunity to explore foundational yoga practices with an experienced teacher.

✨ Saturday, October 24 — Sun Salutations
Explore the movement, breath and awareness within this familiar sequence, with opportunities to refine your understanding and approach.

✨ Sunday, October 25 — Inversions
Explore inverted postures through mindful preparation, alignment and an approach that respects individual abilities and experience.

Instructor: Beth McCann

📅 October 24–25, 2026
📍 In-person at Percy Page Centre or Livestream via Zoom
🔗 Register now at yoga.ca/product-category/1-workshops-classes/

Come practise, learn and deepen your understanding in community!

10/17/2026

Save the Date | July 7–11, 2027 💜

Emotional Health through Loving-Kindness
A Mindfulness Meditation and Gentle Yoga Retreat with Kavindu (Alejandro Velazco)

What does it mean to meet ourselves and others with openness, warmth and compassion?

Join Kavindu for five days of mindfulness meditation and gentle yoga, exploring loving-kindness as a foundation for emotional well-being and a more compassionate relationship with ourselves and the world around us.

Anita Sielecki will also guide Mindful Movement practices to support somatic integration.

📅 July 7–11, 2027
📍 Providence Renewal Centre, Edmonton, or online via Zoom
💜 In person: $885, including meals and accommodations
💻 Online: $395
✨ Some scholarships available

Mark your calendar for this opportunity to practise, reflect and deepen your understanding in community.

For information, contact Anita Sielecki at (780) 432-7152 or [email protected].

10/15/2026

For Marcia Langenberg, teaching was deeply connected with listening — paying attention to what someone needed, creating space for them to find their own way, and helping them develop confidence and independence.

Her path to yoga began in 1991, during a difficult period in her own life. What started as a personal practice gradually became another expression of something already central to who she was: an educator.

Over the years, Marcia studied with teachers including Teddy Hyndman, Rosemary Antze and T.K.V. Desikachar, and became deeply involved with YAA. She served as President as well as in numerous other leadership and volunteer roles, contributing to teacher training, certification and the wider YAA community.

Throughout her interview, the same thread appears again and again — teach with care, listen closely, and leave room for another person to discover for themselves.

As we remember Marcia and celebrate 50 years of YAA, we’re grateful to return to her own words and the wisdom she shared through decades of teaching and service.

💛 50th Anniversary Pioneer Interview Series
🔗 Discover more YAA history at yoga.ca

10/12/2026

Gathered in gratitude. 🍂

This Thanksgiving, we’re grateful for the teachers who share their knowledge, the students who bring curiosity to their practice, the volunteers who give their time, and the community that has brought YAA to life for 50 years.

Across generations, traditions and communities, it’s the people who continue to make yoga a shared practice — and YAA a place to learn, connect and grow together.

From all of us at the Yoga Association of Alberta, Happy Thanksgiving. 💛

10/10/2026

What does it mean to offer yoga through a trauma-informed lens?

In Trauma-Informed Yoga: Providing Support Where It Is Needed Most, YAA Executive Director Donalee Campbell explores how trauma-sensitive approaches are shaping YAA’s Outreach work, particularly in correctional facilities and other high-stress environments.

At the heart of this approach are respect for personal boundaries, a sense of agency, and opportunities to develop self-awareness, mindfulness, emotional regulation and stress management. It’s not simply about what is practised, but how yoga is offered — with care, compassion and an understanding of the experiences participants may carry with them.

YAA has a long history of bringing yoga to underserved communities across Alberta. As the need for trauma-informed programming grows, YAA continues to build capacity through specialized training for Certified Yoga Teachers and expanded Outreach initiatives.

💛 Read Donalee’s full article, originally published in the Winter 2025 issue of Yoga Bridge, to learn more about the approach behind this work and why continued community support matters.

🔗 Read more at yoga.ca and find the full article here: https://yoga.ca/trauma-informed-yoga-providing-support-where-it-is-needed-most/

10/09/2026

Yoga should be within reach. 💛

YAA’s free Accessible Outreach Yoga programs offer welcoming ways to practise — whether you’re new to yoga, looking for a gentler practice, or would benefit from chair-based options.

Accessible Yoga
Fridays · 1:00–2:15 PM
In-person + Zoom · Oct 2–Dec 18

Chair Yoga
Thursdays · 11:00 AM–12:00 PM · Twice monthly
In-person + Zoom

Both programs are gentle, beginner-friendly and trauma-informed, with an emphasis on making yoga more accessible to different bodies, abilities and circumstances.

✨ Free to join

Can’t make a live class? Recorded Outreach classes are also available on demand to all YAA members through the Video Library — another way to practise when and where it works for you.

Accessibility has been part of YAA’s work since its beginnings in 1976, creating more ways for people across Alberta to experience and connect through yoga.

🔗 Find class details, explore recordings or join YAA at yoga.ca

10/07/2026

Sometimes connection begins with something as simple as learning someone’s name.

When YAA Certified Teacher Megan Kim returned to maskêkosak kiskinomâtowikamik (Enoch Cree NationSchool) in fall 2025, she spent three days sharing yoga with four groups of Arts Academy students from Grades 4 through 9.

Each class offered a different way to explore yoga. Students discovered animal poses through games and drawing, experimented with breath and movement, voted on the poses they wanted to practise, and reflected on what yoga could offer them as a “gift.”

Along the way, Megan learned alongside her students too — including learning to count to five in Cree with help from students and teachers.

But the moments that stayed with her most were the moments of connection: a student persisting with a challenging pose, two friends discovering a shared favourite, a hesitant student gradually opening up, and a classroom gathering around a simple drawing Megan had made of them.

“The highlights for me during these classes were always about connection, whether it was seeing a student connect with a pose, or feeling that a student connected with me.”

The experience is one glimpse into the relationships at the heart of YAA Outreach — creating opportunities to explore yoga through movement, breath, creativity and connection.

💛 Read Megan Kim’s full story, Teaching Outreach Yoga to the Arts Academy Students of maskêkosak kiskinomâtowikamik, from the Spring 2026 volume 26 issue 2 of Yoga Bridge.

🔗 Read the article at yoga.ca

10/04/2026

What does yoga feel like when access to it matters?

These words come from participants in YAA’s Edmonton Remand Centre Outreach Program, where yoga has been offered as part of YAA’s ongoing commitment to making practice more accessible.

Their feedback speaks for itself — moments of calm, peace, movement, focus and connection, along with a simple request heard again and again: more classes, please.

As another season of YAA Outreach gets underway this fall, we’re taking a moment to celebrate the impact these programs can have — and the voices of the people who experience them.

💛 For 50 years, YAA has worked to make yoga accessible across Alberta, bringing practice into communities and spaces where opportunities to participate may otherwise be limited.

Learn more about YAA Outreach at yoga.ca.

Join Us!Wherever you are at on your yoga journey, you can deepen your practice through your connection with our vibrant and engaged YAA community. There are so many benefits to membership! Get to know us —first year Associate Memberships are FREE, and then are only $10/year to continue enjoying me...