Tanya Wetherill

I couldn’t touch my toes, let alone do a handstand or a split. I was dragged to my first yoga class over 27 years ago by a friend, and I almost walked out. Everyone in the class made it all look so easy, but to me, it seemed completely impossible. They all looked like zen yogis, and I found myself counting the minutes until it was over. But then, something profound happened after class. I felt a sense of calmness and clear-headedness that I hadn’t experienced in years. It was as though I had finally taken a deep breath for the first time in a very long time. I was, begrudgingly, hooked.
 
Over time, and with a lot of practice (and patience), I began to feel more connected to my body. My strength and flexibility grew, but so did something much deeper. I was falling in love with yoga, one breath at a time, and began to notice the positive effect it was having on my everyday life. I found myself able to laugh things off in a way I never had before. I was learning to pause, breathe, and respond rather than simply reacting. I was practicing yoga both on and off the mat, and slowly began to realize that yoga wasn’t just changing the way I moved, it was changing the way I lived. It was helping me become a kinder, calmer, more present version of myself.

I knew fairly early in my yoga journey that I wanted to teach, but it took me about 13 years of practicing before I finally took the plunge. My teacher training journey took me around the world and introduced me to so many different sides of yoga. In India, I lived in an ashram, where I learned to meditate and was introduced to yogic philosophy and history. In Hawaii, I completed my first 200-hour Vinyasa teacher training with Karin Khun, who taught me the importance of discipline, acceptance, and showing up for the practice. I studied with Jayme Hernandez and discovered the beautiful art of teaching pre and postnatal yoga. In Nicaragua, I studied Aerial Yoga with Saffron and Amy from Circasana, taking my practice into the air and laughing the entire time. Each experience gave me something different, and together they shaped the teacher I am today.

My first yoga studio opened in May 2015 in Old Montreal, and from the very beginning, I knew I was doing what I was meant to do. Teaching yoga and meditation brought a kind of happiness into my life that I had never experienced before. I discovered how much I loved teaching and, perhaps a little surprisingly, how much I loved sharing this practice with others. For the next six years, I taught live classes and workshops, hosted private yoga parties, led yoga and wine-tasting weekends at vineyards, and organized many yoga fundraisers, raising more than $30,000 for different charities. It was, without a doubt, the wildest and most rewarding ride of my life.

When the COVID-19 pandemic forced me to close my studio doors at the end of 2020, I was faced with a new chapter I hadn’t planned for. But as challenging as that time was, it also gave me the opportunity to grow, adapt, and explore what might come next. I had to truly practice the art of letting go and trust that one chapter ending could make space for another. And that’s what led me here teaching yoga online and creating my own yoga teacher trainings, sharing everything I’ve learned along the way with students near and far.
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I teach because I genuinely love this practice, and I hope that my joy for yoga inspires my students to discover their own strength, flexibility, and sense of connection within their bodies, their minds, and their spirits. Yoga has given me so much over the years, and it’s a privilege to be able to share it with others. I’m grateful for where this journey has taken me so far, and I can’t wait to see where it leads next.

And finally, a very special thank you to my husband, Mark. Closing my studio at the end of 2020 was one of the hardest and most unexpected chapters of my journey, but it also led me to him. I’m so grateful that one door closing opened another, and for all the love, support, and encouragement he has given me ever since. I truly couldn’t have imagined where that chapter would lead, and I wouldn’t change a thing.