Namaste. Formerly a professional dancer and ice-skater, in 1995 Laura began to practice healing forms such as Qigong, Tai Chi, meditation, pranayama, yoga, and pilates in order to heal her body from a serious illness.

Practicing Qigong was a major breakthrough in the first phases of Laura’s recovery which opened her mind to other healing forms such as Yoga. She started teaching Pilates in 1998 and yoga in 1999. One of Laura’s most popular classes is Yogilates, a class that is a combination of strength training, yoga, and pilates. She also teaches Pilates, Therapeutic Yoga and Hatha flow.

Laura also completed a comprehensive Pilates certification through the PhysicalMind Institute. As a part of this training, Laura learned how to teach Pilates on the mat, Reformer, Cadillac, Chair and Barrels. This training involved a combination of classroom hours, practice, observation and assistant teaching which spanned over a two-year period. This training increased Laura’s knowledge of anatomy and ways of moving which strengthen postural muscles and promote healthy muscle recruitment patterns.

Laura is a 500 hour registered yoga therapist (ERYT500 and Senior Yoga Teacher with YogaBC) and is certified through the Pilates Method Alliance (a governing body for Pilates instructors). She is the studio owner and director of all Feel Good Yoga & Pilates Teacher Training programs. For more information regarding our teacher training programs please see our yoga and pilates teacher training pages.

Are you suffering from an illness or injury that you are afraid you may be unable to overcome? Click here if you would like to read more about Laura’s Healing Journey and the obstacles that Yoga and Pilates has helped her overcome.

Born and raised in Victoria, Laura had a very active childhood and adolescence and took part in everything from rowing and field hockey to gymnastics and dance. Her passion for sports lead her to a degree and career in physical education. she now teaches PE and coaches at the middle school level in Sooke where she lives.

About six years ago Laura decided to go to her first yoga class with a friend. She immediately fell in love with yoga and began practicing regularly as she noticed all the physical benefits right away. Yoga was at that point to her the same thing that all her other sports were: exercise and health benefits. After the first year of her practice she began to notice many other changes and benefits arising from the practice at a much deeper level than that of the body.

After benefiting so greatly from yoga she began to wish that she could safely and effectively bring the practice of yoga into the schools where she teaches. Almost by miraculous event she was driving home from work one day and thinking about becoming a yoga teacher when she drove by a sign on the road which said “Coming soon: Yoga Teacher Training”.

That is when Laura met Laura Phelps who very soon became her teacher, mentor, colleague, and most importantly, friend. Studying with Laura Phelps was a true gift to Laura as she was encouraged not only to practice all the yoga that she traditionally loved, but to explore many other styles and create that special personal style that all yoga teachers strive to achieve. Over the course of Feel Good Yoga Teacher Training, Laura became pregnant for the first time which led her to begin teaching prenatal yoga and Baby and Me yoga.

Laura also has a great love of practicing and teaching Hatha, Ashtanga, and Power Yoga while she continues to explore and practice many other styles of yoga. True to her positive and open hearted nature, Laura has never encountered a style of yoga that she did not enjoy. Although Laura started her serious study of yoga during the Feel Good Yoga Teacher Training Program, she now knows that the study of yoga is a lifelong pursuit which allows us to become deeply aware of our true selves. Laura currently lives in Sooke with her ever so supportive husband Josh, her beautiful daughter Abigail, and her beloved horses Ben and Nicki. She loves to meet fellow people from the Westshore and welcomes everybody to her classes with an open and truly gracious heart. Namaste.

Growing up Carmalita spent a lot of her time in the beautiful outdoors of Vancouver Island, keeping busy playing all kinds of sports and dancing any chance she could. Although never dancing on a professional level, it has always been her passion and creative outlet.

Carmalita was always intrigued by yoga, seeing it as a form of dance. She first started practising yoga in 2006 and instantly fell in love with the asanas. The more she practised, the more she became aware of how much yoga brought to her. She realized that Yoga was so much more than just exercise and asanas. Her practice opened a whole new world to her where a sense of balance and peace enveloped her mind, body and spirit, bringing her more in tune with herself and in greater harmony with the universe.

Carmalita’s mother’s holistic views on life had a tremendous influence on her from a young age. She inspired Carmalita to always look for natural remedies in times of ailment or suffering. Yoga contributed greatly to Carmalita’s exploration for a healthier more fulfilled life.

It wasn’t until she travelled to India for the second time that she really started to explore what this new found love “Yoga” was all about. Practising with a wide variety of international people, she gained valuable insight, knowledge and new tools for a lifelong yogic journey. In April of 2009 Carmalita completed a Yoga Teacher Training Course at The Sivananda Yoga Vedanta Dhanwantari Ashram in South India. In May 2011 Carmalita completed the Yoga Teacher Training Course at Feel Good Yoga and Pilates.

A short while after Carmalita started practising pilates she noticed how much it complimented yoga by building strength, balance and endurance. Feeling totally inspired to share this with others, she decided to undergo the Pilates Teacher Training Course at Feel Good Yoga and Pilates in 2011.

After years of being uprooted and travelling, Carmalita has found peace and tranquility settling back home on Vancouver Island. She is currently teaching yoga and pilates while studying Holistic Nutrition.

Sandra was born and raised on Vancouver Island. She is inspired by the beauty and magic that surrounds us all each and everyday here on the West Coast.

Yoga began as a personal journey for Sandra in 2008. Through the practice of yoga, she discovered her own light within and began to connect with her true self on deeper level. It was a short time later she found herself immersed in the Yoga Teacher training program at Feel Good Yoga. She has been teaching yoga since
2010.

During this time of exploration, Sandra was introduced to the teachings of Joseph Pilates. Immediately she was attracted to his dedication, passion and alternative vision of health and wellness. Sandra completed the Pilates mat Teacher training
program in 2010. She continues to be amazed and inspired by all of the benefits of the Pilates method.

Her intention is to share her passion and love of yoga and Pilates with many, in hopes to inspire others to discover their own light within. Sandra believes that when one discovers the light within their potential becomes limitless and dreams
soon become reality.

Eden has been practicing yoga for 10 years and has recently become certified to teach Hatha Yoga through Feel Good Yoga and Pilates under the expert teaching of Laura Phelps.

She enjoys the unique workout yoga offers as well as the feeling of rejuvenation she is left with after a class, recharged and ready to face whatever life presents to her. Eden has always enjoyed being active and as a child was very interested in gymnastics and team sports. She has worked with the public for 14 years and truly values making connections with people.

Eden is a nurturing mother, friend and instructor. Her style of teaching is evolving and she currently enjoys practicing balance and introducing a lovely flow to the postures. Eden is happy to share her love of yoga as well as help others to access their individual sense of self and peace within their bodies. Meet Eden at the Feel Good studio, and find your yoga bliss. Namaste.

With Christi’s history of extreme sports and busy lifestyle, yoga brings balance and peacefulness. She went to her first yoga class 6 years ago and soon fell in love with hot yoga. Finding out she was pregnant, Christi explored other types of yoga and experienced benefits from many different types of practices. She completed teacher training at Feel Good Yoga in the spring of 2010 and has taught a variety of classes since then. “It is a blessing to teach at a studio filled with such love and light. I feel at home here.”

Andrea’s mom claims she began to dance as soon as she began to walk. At the age of 3, Andrea was enrolled in her first dance class. She continued to study and perform ballet, tap, and contemporary dance all the way through university until recurrent knee injuries forced her to choose a different path. That path was yoga.

In yoga, as Andrea’s extroverted performer was reluctantly relegated to the role of audience member, the inner exploration took over. Andrea was surprised to find she could make peace with- even heal- some of her injuries simply by quieting the mind, tuning in to her own body, and practising ahimsa (non-harm). Since 2000, Andrea has pursued a dedicated yoga practice, studying Iyengar, Ashtanga, Power Vinyasa, and Raja styles. Her teachers have included Eoin Finn, Elizabeth Peckham, Ann-Kathrin Martins and Norman Sim.

In 2008, Andrea discovered a fitness class that brought together her many passions: dance, fitness, yoga, meditation, music, and women’s empowerment. Bellyfit™, founded in Victoria by Alice Bracegirdle, changed the way Andrea, and many other women, approached the idea of holistic wellness. Suddenly for Andrea, being the idea of being fit and healthy was not all about what you lose (inches, pounds, etc.), but what you gain (confidence, connectedness with your body and your community).

Andrea achieved her Bellyfit Instructor certification in 2009. She joined the Bellyfit Development Team to help Alice expand a new format that unites signature Bellyfit™ movement (Belly Dance, Bollywood & African Dance) with a rhythmic yoga flow. Bellyfit Flow™ was born, and Andrea is currently working with Alice to certify more instructors to teach this unique fusion of yoga and dance.

Andrea is also a CYA RYT-200 Yoga Teacher, completing her Yoga Teacher Training with Eoin Finn in 2011. In addition to Bellyfit Flow™, Andrea teaches alignment-based vinyasa yoga, flow yoga, and power yoga. Andrea continues to be in awe of the capacity of yoga to inspire healing, mental clarity, humility, gratitude, positive intention, and unite community with love and grace.

Being a Vancouver Island local, Ajia has spent most of her time in the outdoors soaking up sky, fresh air and beauty of our beautiful island home! Being a professional dancer was always Ajia’s dream and creative outlet, but after encountering numerous injuries and car accidents she was told that the state of her body would not allow it. However, her injuries led her to discover the healing power of Yoga and Pilates. Just another example of how all things happen for a reason!

Growing up, Ajia’s mother was a World Champion Fitness Competitor and so health and fitness were always a number one priority in her life. With Yoga, Ajia found the gentler, more holistic way to wellness she needed. She decided to deepen her practice with the Feel Good Yoga Teacher Training Program. As the training passed, she discovered she had a growing sense of compassion for desire to help others overcome injuries and obstacles. Now, as a graduate, she can think of nothing more rewarding than being a yoga teacher and sharing the joy and healing it brings!

During the yoga teacher training program, Ajia discovered that her years of dancing had created an unhealthy degree of hypermobility in her joints and her teacher trainer (Laura) suggested that Pilates might help to stabilize them. Ajia found Pilates to be very effective and this led her to take the Pilates teacher training program as well. She is now certified in both Yoga and Pilates and is delighted to share their healing power with others. Ajia’s classes are very inclusive and motivating — she is inspired to help others achieve their individuals goals and move toward a healthier, happier balance of mind and body!

Ashley spent the first 18 years of her life living with her parents and younger sister in Alberta. She danced both for fun and competitively throughout her childhood and into adolescence.
She moved to Victoria in 2006 and immediately fell in love with the city. She began to explore the island, hiking, camping, sightseeing and found a passion in running in the beginning of 2010. Experiencing tight muscles and soreness from running, Ashley turned to yoga as a training aid and method of rehabilitation.

She soon discovered that her love for yoga went much beyond the physical. She decided to take her practice to the next level and enrolled in the Yoga Teacher Training Program at Feel Good, which she graduated from in January 2012. Soon after, she completed the Pilates Teacher Training in May 2012.

She had the opportunity to begin teaching right away and has fallen in love with leading students through their practice.

Ashley promises a fun variety of multi-level classes for the yoga and pilates enthusiast.

Assumpta was born and raised in a small town in Ireland. All her life she has been captivated by people’s pursuit of well-being- physical, emotional and spiritual well-being.

Throughout her life this calling has found various outlets, but when she discovered the study of Yoga she found the road she knew she had been seeking. Yoga was about well-being. The more she studied the more she found herself at home there.  Assumpta is a graduate of the Feel Good Yoga Teacher Training program.

She passionately loves to share this art of well-being with others in all its many forms. Warm, gentle and open, she loves nothing more than to help people feel well and peaceful.

A friend introduced me to Feel Good Yoga and after my first experience I knew that this is what was missing in my life.  Yoga allows me to reconnect to the inner peace. I had practice mediation many years ago but had lost the connection.  Learning to practice and teach Yoga under Laura’s beautiful guidance I was able to re connect to the inner peace.  When I tried Pilates I knew this was it, Yoga and Pilates was my new direction in life.  I had been involved in fitness for many years before I found my true passion, teaching Yoga and Pilates.  My training at Feel Good Yoga & Pilates was my inspiration to continue my education in Yoga, Pilates and fitness in general.  I am passionate about my teaching putting safety first and using good body alignment to maximize the benefits of the class.   I also have training in ergonomics; and I believe that good posture is the foundation we need in our daily life.   Yoga & Pilates is now part of my daily lifestyle and I love to share my passion and knowledge with others. I foster a holistic approach to personal fitness with an emphasis on the mind, body, breath connection.  Life is about finding the balance.

Caley first came to her yoga practice while attending university as a way to bring movement back to her life that was once fulfilled by dance. For Caley, yoga was the missing link that that brought her back to that mind-body connection.

After an on-again-off-again practice for about 10 years, Caley decided to enroll in the Yoga Teacher Training program at Feel Good Yoga and Pilates as a way to deepen her own personal practice and bring a renewed sense of balance back to her life. This incredible program and journey led her to a regular practice as well as to the world of teaching – something she would have never imagined doing at the start of her training!

This newly discovered love of teaching, combined with Caley’s passion for health and well-being led her to explore other formats such as Pilates.  She is now a Yoga Alliance RYT-200, Certified Pilates Instructor, and is currently working toward completing her BCRPA registration in Yoga and Pilates Fitness.

Caley loves bringing movement and playfulness to her yoga classes and likes to keep a light and fun atmosphere that everyone can enjoy.