Andrea Kapeleris

My journey into yoga began almost 15 years ago when I was seeking some reprieve from the stress of school. I found a sense of peace in yoga asana practice and felt it brought balance to my life. Years later when I completed my Ph.D. in clinical psychology and was working a fast-paced job at a private practice in downtown Toronto, I again turned to yoga to seek balance. This time, I decided to take a deep dive and enrolled in a 200 hour yoga teacher training in Rishikesh, India, where I stayed for five weeks in an ashram at the foot of the Himalayan mountains. This was a life-changing experience for me that shifted the course of the rest of my life. At that teacher training I met one of my life teachers and fell in love with yoga philosophy and mantra chanting. Upon my return to Toronto I began volunteering at a non-for-profit yoga studio where I taught yoga asana classes and began to apply the yoga teachings to my life. I also began applying yoga principles to help my psychological clients, with great results. My life journey then took me to the U.S. where I assisted a friend in opening another non-for-profit yoga studio. There I taught yoga classes and gave seminars of yogic lifestyle and ahimsa cooking. After several years I travelled to New Zealand, where I lived and worked in Wellington. There I met some amazing yogis who taught me how to live yoga on and off the mat. I began focusing on on self-development using the ancient yogic principles and practice as a foundation. After meeting my husband, I then relocated to London, UK, where he is from. There we both live and practice yoga together with our young son.