The owner of Namaste Yoga Centre, Renee has been a Registered Massage Therapist for over 10 years. She has also been teaching Yoga for 11 years.

She graduated from the Canadian College of Massage and Hydrotherapy at the top of her class.

She has studied multiple styles of Thai Massage, Cranial Sacral Therapy, and Accu-pressure.

Renee was initially certified as an Integrated Yoga Therapist, and has now come to love Asthanga. She studied yoga at Kripalu, in India; Thailand; California (incl. Mount Madonna Centre); Arizona; and Toronto. She is a dynamic, yet technical teacher, always keeping her students' safety in mind while possessing the ability to give her students what they are looking for from a Yoga class.

As one of the leaders of a group of dedicated Yogis, who are creating service projects for the eradication of violence towards women and girls worldwide permanently in our lifetime, Bill is developing The African Women's Food Initiative. This project brings together his global vision, his expertise in food and agriculture, as well as his commitment to activism for peace.

Bill is V.P. of Thomas Canning (Maidstone Ltd.) - a family owned tomato processing business in southwest Ontario, primarily involved with organic canned products under the Utopia brand as well as private labels, such as Presidents Choice of Loblaws, Compliments of Sobeys, Irresistibles of Metro, Eden Foods sold in a variety of natural food stores in the US and Canada, Meijers Stores in the US, Nature's Promise of Ahold, Wild Harvest (Western US) of Albertson. Bill is currently developing export opportunities in China, Nigeria, Australia, and Trinidad.

He is known internationally as an expert in food production and is presently a consultant for organic food production and processing plants in China, Nigeria and Costa Rica. Bill was invited to Costa Rica at the end 2009. He met with a growers' cooperative there and helped them to develop the field side of tomato production as well as their business plan. He traveled to China at the end of 2010. In the tomato-growing district in northern China, he met with farmers there to develop and consult in the creation of a processing facility. In Central China, Beijing and the surrounding area, he met with business and government representatives about developing export opportunities for his Canadian products. In Southern China, Bill is organizing and planning the construction of a Canadian organic food processing park. He has been invited to travel to Nigeria at the end of this month, and is looking forward to sharing new business details and new developments in the organization of the African Women's Food Initiative, upon his return.

During his last trip to China, Bill was not only the Canadian food production expert, he was also the Canadian Yoga master. Bill has been teaching Hatha Yoga for over 20 years, is on the faculty at Amara Yoga School, and is currently teaching yoga and meditation to the Greater Essex County District School Board. He has two sons, one is teaching at the University of Guelph, and the other is an agriculture consultant in British Columbia. Both sons are soon to be involved in Thomas Canning and its global expression.

Bill has B.S. in Food Science and a Masters in Agricultural Leadership from the University of Guelph.

Chad brings experience and passion to yoga. Going to Yoga while in school as a philosophy student was more than just a routine. He had experienced the deep impact that exercise with awareness has on the psyche and spent much of his time wondering about the connection between mind and body. It wasn't long before he discovered yoga, the art of union. Compelled to explore this interest, he pursued training and apprenticeship within the Iyengar tradition and attained the status of RYT-500. Chad brings experience to students with a focus on alignment, technique, endurance, and strength with the goal of promoting holistic wellness.

Jane has been teaching for over 13 years. She is an expert on breath(pranayama) and meditation techniques. She teaches workshops also.

Jane was trained in Kripalu & Scarvelli between 1997 and 2002. After five years of teaching, she was then introduced to Viniyoga. Viniyoga was presented as a form of therapy for treating conditions from hypertension to depression.

Jane originally sought out yoga for freedom from anxiety and panic attacks. She experienced an immediate shift away from obsessive thinking toward more positive thought patterns. Yoga has helped her become more present and happy in her everyday life.

In the early 1970s Linda was drawn to yoga out of curiosity and after her first class with Shirley Kussner in the Iyengar Style of Hatha Yoga she became a Iife long student. The detailed instructions and the precision of the practice helped her to balance all aspects of her life: spiritual; physical; and mental - and as a teacher she is able to share this with her students.

Before, and since receiving her 200 hour Registered Yoga Teaching Certificate from Namaste Yoga Center in Royal Oak, Michigan, she has taken numerous workshops with many yogis in order to enhance her own practice and teaching.

Linda is certified to teach Yoga for Teens in Yoga Ed.; and was trained to teach Yoga to people with cancer by Jnana Chapman in Yogaville, USA. She is also qualified to teach Yoga For Equestrians. In 2006 she went to Thailand for 3 months to study Thai Yoga Massage, but spent much of the time there studying yoga with a Vinyasa Yoga teacher from Singapore and a Kripalu teacher from the United States.

Linda has taken workshops from Mr. B.K.S. Iyengar and his teachers - Stephanie Quirk, Laurie Blakney, Karen Major and Chris Briney. She was trained in meditation by Eric Shiffman; Bones & Muscles by Paul Grilley; and at the Kate Potter Namaste Yoga Centre in B.C. She also trained with Aadil Palkhivala (Purna School of Yoga); Richard Freeman, Asthanga; Wade Morissette; Jason Crandell of The Yoga Journal; and Nancy MC Caochan in Yoga at the Wall .

In 2009 she visited India with Monica Voss from the Ester Myers School of Yoga and was honored to have a class each morning in the Ester Myers Style. What a wonderful experience practicing on rooftops or mountains or in the desert with exotic birds, monkeys, camels and elephants watching. In Mysore, India she attended a class at the Mysore Mandala Yogashala and had her first Mysore experience. In Fort Cochine, India she practiced with a yogi who had a great wit and told her that she would need two more lifetimes to master the Peacock Pose; but to not give up, and keep on trying.

Her training in yoga for people with life threatening illnesses has been a help to her when teaching yoga at the Windsor Hospice, and with other volunteers working at the Hospice.

The exploration of yoga never ends, and Linda hopes that in time she will learn to be able to achieve the state of mind known as “Samadhi” (a particular state of consciousness induced by complete meditation.)

When Lisa first discovered yoga, 10 years ago, she didn't realize that such an important and amazing relationship was going to develop. She attended a weekly, 90 minute class that introduced her to a new world. It didn't take her long to feel the wonderful physical benefits of the postures and breathwork. She continued practicing during her entire pregnancy and she credits this together with the pre-natal yoga classes for the easy delivery of her baby.

During the course of her daughter's first year, she struggled with some very deep emotional issues. It was a time in her life that she can now look back on and wonder how she ever got through it! She knows that yoga helped to keep her centered and focused through this turmoil. On top of everything else, the studio where she enjoyed her practice was closing. Her only retreat was going and she was devastated. So, she decided to start her own practice in her basement using videos and a book. Unfortunately, with a life situation that was rapidly unraveling, she stopped yoga altogether.

A couple of years later, as she was picking up the pieces of her life, she drove past a beautiful blue sign that read Namaste Yoga Centre. She immediately started attending classes there and the familiar feeling of energized-calm came rushing back. A part of her that was missing was finally back in place. She was feeling whole again except for a void left by her mundane office job. She still felt unfulfilled and had a desire to do something that would make her feel as though she had contributed something meaningful and good at the end of each day. A good friend kept encouraging her to take Yoga Teacher Training. So, after extensive research, she registered for YTT in Rochester, MI. She had a wonderful teacher named Michael Johnson and learned so much from him and the other students during those 4 months that it opened her eyes and heart to ways of practicing yoga not only in the studio but in all other aspects of life. Metta, or loving kindness, is one virtue that really struck a chord with Lisa, and she tried to employ that on a daily basis. Each decision, thought or action she made was done with Metta.

She was very fortunate to have an opportunity to begin teaching at the Namaste Yoga Centre just weeks after her Yoga Teacher Training graduation. Now, 2½ years later, she is still very grateful for the time that she spent as a teacher and a student at Namaste. She has been participating in the Namaste Yoga Teacher Training since April of this year. This has helped her to become a stronger, more confident teacher. She also recently began studying the art of Thai Yoga Massage¹. She is working on completing her Essential Certification which consists of 2 levels. She completed the Level 1 course in Toronto this past May and now has the capabilities of giving a relaxing, 90 minute massage. In September she will begin school at the Canadian College of Health, Science and Technology in the Massage and Hydrotherapy Program. Recently she decided to teach private yoga classes for those individuals that are just beginning and want to learn the basics before entering a class for the first time, and those that just wish to fine tune their practice.

¹Thai Yoga Massage is an ancient technique which combines gentle stretching with assisted yoga postures and massage using hands, feet, elbows, thumbs and fingers. It is a must for reducing stress and creating feelings of relaxation.

Lisa has been learning, teaching and practicing Asanas for almost 10 years, but she has practiced yoga nearly her whole life. Asana is one of the 8 limbs of yoga, Pranayama is another. The bigger part of yoga is concerned more with the mental and spiritual well-being of the individual.

It is humbling to realize the grandeur world of yoga. I realize that I have much to learn. In the same sense, I have learned a lot. My practice of yoga continually grows with each and every intention I bring to it. The thing that has had the most bearing on my ability to teach is being a good student. I have advanced because I have wanted to advance which means being receptive to all the teachers I have had. This includes the Namaste staff, my gurus, my books, my family, and my students. They have taught me to stand, breathe, listen, think, and love. Yoga is not something I will do for the rest of my life; it is something that will happen for the rest of my life.

Lisa has been known for her vigorous yoga classes but appreciates diversity of the postures. As a teacher her expertise is best revealed in how she choreographs different versions of traditional to modern forms of yoga. The ebb and flow of dynamic movements combined with periods of stillness is what brings her participants to their “edge” so they can experience their will; in the same sense, it is what takes them to reprieve where they can relish their efforts. The practice of Asanas is one way in which Lisa hopes to facilitate each person's reason for yoga.

Karen first became interested in yoga when she was 19 and requested classes at her local fitness centre. She continued her journey from that point on to discover all that yoga had to offer her body, mind, and soul. She decided to become an instructor in 1998 to share what she had learned from this wonderful practice. She has been teaching ever since and loves how the yoga practice can really transform the day, and relax one's body and mind.

She was certified under the direction of Caroll Mitchell, where her practice evolved towards a Vinyasa Flow style. She is also a certified personal trainer. She is certified in Gravity training, and is a certified Spinning bike instructor. She has also worked as a manager of fitness clubs for over 7 years.

Simone began her personal practice of yoga in 1998. Her second child was born with a disability and she was looking for the healing aspects of yoga to help her through this growing process that life had presented to her family. It only took a couple classes for her to realize the true physical and mental benefits of yoga in her life. She fell in love instantly!

After a few more years of growing with her personal practice, and the birth of her third child, Simone was inspired to pursue a career as an instructor, developing a passion for teaching kids and teens. She enrolled with the YogaKids International Program and received her Certification in 2005. This program empowered her to understand all the aspects of kids and teens yoga and is still one of few teachers in the Windsor area certified to teach children.

In 2007 she received her Adult Certification through Karma Shala in Bloomfield, Michigan with Katherine Lucas. Katherine's teacher training was a fulfilling experience giving her the confidence as an instructor to guide all levels from the beginner student, new to the practice of yoga, to the more experienced student. In 2008 she took Janice Clarfield's Prenatal Teacher Training. Simone runs regular workshops teaching expectant moms the benefits of yoga during pregnancy and how it can support them and their partners through delivery.

Simone teaches with compassion, guiding her students with care, keeping in tune with their needs for proper alignment to protect and properly support them in every way during a practice. She offers individual attention, and private instruction upon request. She is inspired by each student's individuality. Her quest is to continue learning about the wonderful practice of yoga, allowing her to bring this knowledge to her students.