Sandhi IRVINE

Hi there! Here I offer you something unique to the safe environment of reading… you may continue on and perhaps find out about me what you are looking for, or you may simply not read on any further at any time for whatever reason as I take no offence, nor do I expect anything of you.

A Teacher-student relationship has potential to move beyond the neurosis of your other relationships if you want; “…invite into yourself the atmosphere of sanity inspired by his or her example, and vowing to cut the roots of further ignorance and suffering” -Chogyam Trungpa Training the Mind and Cultivating Loving-Kindness

Autobiography

You may learn that I’m pragmatic, practical, bookish, introverted, and prefer nature to people… but my yoga practice has bloomed within me a devotion in service for our yoga community & fellows. I will rarely meet you outside of a yoga context (as I’ll be reading, studying, communing with trees, etc. solo endeavours). I believe we are equal and worthy and enough simply because we exist already – that there is nothing that gives one life more value over another, there strives to be no hierarchy in my humility… and I pour myself into our study & practice together with the ease and joy of belonging to each other already! So, now you know this quirk, and you do not have to spend any time wondering about what is so strange about me and we may now just get to work, shall we? Dissonance? Inquiry is key.

I have to my name a cat, a mortgage, life partner & adult son, and over 30 years of intensive yoga study with over 20 years of that teaching yoga (2002). I approach teaching from the foundation of Iyengar Yoga as taught to me by my certifying teachers (Ingelise Nherlan, Jo-Ann Sutherland) and that of the greater IYAC community. After this, my teaching practice has grown to include training with most other schools of traditional and modern yoga (most significant in CV). The Iyengar certification mark requires teachers to preserve the lineage by not mixing Iyengar teaching with other disciplines, so I left that system (2017) to serve my spirit of adventure and learn, through perspective & contrast, more of what yoga means to me through what was accessible to me. As a white middle-aged middle-class woman residing in North America (Canada) I’ve been conscientious of yoga’s history of appropriation by circumstances of others who present in bodies and socio-economic situations like myself, so I sought to find any trace of authenticity between my lot and my deep reverence of yoga through a commitment to lifelong learning of it’s vast heritage and history as a living and breathing Art and how I can serve my community within context of it. I still teach from an Iyengar foundation as I’ve known it to provide safe & compassionate practice and has a seemingly infinite resource base. Sri BKS Iyengar has left an incredible legacy for our yoga community. However, my teaching practice includes multiple disciplines for an ability to reach & connect with a more resourced understanding of modern rhetoric to literally move your practice towards a place more aligned with yoga as I’ve come to understand it. I am shameless of my resourcing, allowing my life experience to be informative and then learning how to communicate that in an effective and unabashed way.

In short (!) there is much that will come from our practice together that is personal. I am in constant inquiry with how to embrace life with integrity and awe intact; it requires a lot of me to be in the world so I choose a disciplined simplicity. My teaching of yoga is for yogas sake, to pay homage to my teachers by maintaining as much clarity they have themselves departed to me, and that there are strong boundaries for what is and isn’t yoga that I follow & challenge with my humanity & humility. Yoga is old, older than me, and older than my teachers, and older than my teachers teachers… and that accumulation of time adds up to much more than I have come to on my own or with only one or a handful of teachers.

We will practice together to share our knowledge together, and to live it through our bodies, and to bring us to a place that feels (eventually) more like home within ourselves and being in the world …and from there my hope for you is to discover so many things absolutely amazing and true and beautiful as we stay curious.

Curriculum Vitae

1993: formal study (Saskatoon Public Library, Kundalini Yoga) – Emily Kaur

1999-2017: formal study in Iyengar Yoga (Jo-Ann Sutherland primary teacher, Miranda Jones, Gary Day, Marlene Mahwinney, Ann Kilbertus, Marie Andree Morin, Shirley Daventry-French, Leslie Hogya, Devki Desai, Father Joe Pereira, Eyal Shiffroni, and Ingelise Nherlan primary teacher) 

2002-2017: yoga teaching (University of Saskatchewan, Saskatoon Public School Division, Varsity View Community Association, JNS Yoga Studio), JNS yoga – Administration (2009)

2004: Bachelor of Fine Arts (University of Saskatchewan – High honours, Distinguished Exhibition), BA (psychology; University of Saskatchewan – Honours)

2005-2015: Iyengar Yoga Certification (Jo-Ann Sutherland, Ingelise Nherlan certifying teachers)

2012: Masters of Library and Information Science (San Jose State)

2013-2019: Sound Therapy Certifications (Vedic Chanting & the Art of Vibration -Kavitha Chinnaiyan, Yoga of Sound -Sheila Bringi, The Path of the Heart -Krishna Das), formal study (Vedic Philosophy -Kiya Mindlin), CBT Certification (Masters; University of Athabasca), and informal study (The work -Byron Katie, Wayfinder Training -Martha Beck)

2014-2020: most relevant hiking (Machu Picchu Inca Trail, Cirque Terre/Sentiero deli Dei, Mt. Whitney/Pacific Crest Trail, Grand Canyon rim-to-rim), and extensively in Hawaii/UTAH as well as my homeland Canada.

2017: (Yoga Alliance) Hot Yoga Certification -Dallas Kruzulenski, formal study (Bikram Yoga -Bikram Choudhury)

2017-2020: formal yoga study (Scaravelli Yoga -Diane Long, Yin Yoga -Bernie Clark, philosophy & meditation -Sally Kempton, Anatomy -Leslie Kamanoff, Restorative Yoga -Judith Hanson-Lasater, Iyengar Yoga – Ingelise Nherlan primary teacher), yoga teaching and sound baths (3ZU.YOGA – Director, University of Saskatchewan, Varsity View Community Association, Saskatoon Public School Division, Ground Yoga), formal sound study (Grotta Sonora Gongs -Mike Tambura & Mitch Nur,  Vedic Philosophies -Hali Schwartz)

2020-present: formal study & teachers (Mother Nature, Yoga & Anatomy -Judith Lasater, Lizzie Lasater, Mary Richards, Vedic Philosophy -Kiya Mindlin, Yoga -Tias and Surya Little), yoga teaching and sound meditation (moonyoga -Founder)

*in 2013 I received a CPTSD (complex post traumatic stress disorder) and ASD (Autism Spectrum) formal diagnosis. My perception of the world and people in it has always been different, and I often struggle in social settings. The academic work I pursue in the fields of psychology and Vedic Philosophy have since become a supportive foundation for leading a well functioning professional practice in the Arts. I shifted my life-focus with these supports and by receiving professional guidance for neurodivergence; using the medium of sound as an Artist of interference & installation to dovetail with my teaching practice of yoga, and simplify all other areas of my life back toward nature & peace.

In 2014, as well as removing digital devices from my daily function, I began an intense hiking regime that allowed me to meet myself in the wild! This trekking aided tenfold the medicine of befriending my unique perspectives & creative expressions. These days I continue walking 12k 3x/week whenever possible for the joy it brings. I love plants, animals, the air we breathe and the earth we abide with. I love the cosmos and the Mystery. I’m deeply grateful for the privilege to pursue this work in our greater community, and offer beautiful occurrences to encounter and light us up.

2025 @OshunHouse‘s last Sound Journey: me in front of Diwali, her Majesty the 42″ Wind Gong.

Om shanti, shanti, shanti.