Meet Our Guides
Discover the incredible teachers, healers, and facilitators bringing their wisdom to City of Om 2026.
Adam Bracken
Adam has spent over 19 years in the fitness and health industry and is the Founder & CEO of The Fitness LAB, a strength and performance-driven training brand established in 2016. What began as a single location has grown into four facilities across the Ottawa area, known for delivering high-quality coaching, community-driven culture, and results-based programming. With a background in Fitness and Health Promotion, along with certifications including CSEP-CPT and FRC, Adam has coached a wide range of clients, from everyday individuals to elite athletes competing in the CFL, OHL, NCAA, ECHL, AHL, and NHL. A lululemon Legacy Ambassador and respected leader in the fitness community, he continues to expand The Fitness LAB while helping clients and teams perform at their highest level.
Adele Stratton
Adele has been practicing Holistic medicine and Spirituality for 35 years. She has studied all over Canada, U.S. and Caribbean. Specializing in Biodynamic Cranial Sacral therapy, Visceral manipulation, Developmental trauma, Bio-computer operating system. Being clairvoyant, she brings more to a session then most practitioners, as quite often guides or spirits will show up in a session to bring more information to the client. It could be a person who has passed on and comes in to give the client a message. Their Aura could change colour on the table. Just to say, it's not your everyday therapy session. Her main goal....Find the Root cause.
Adrian Soble
Once a full‑time sustainability engineer, Adrian is now a dedicated Lagree, Mat Pilates, and Yoga teacher with a passion for functional movement, strength, and mobility. His anatomy‑focused, dynamic, and playful classes draw from a wide range of practices to create approachable, intentional spaces where students can build strength, move with purpose, and close each session in gratitude.
Alexa Jeffrey Garza
Alexa (Sol) is a 500‑hour yoga teacher based in Ottawa whose practice blends grounding awareness with a touch of magic. After discovering yoga nearly a decade ago, she followed her curiosity into sound healing, Reiki, and other heart‑centered modalities that help people soften, open, and reconnect. Her classes invite students into a space of loving kindness, where movement, breath, and energy work come together to create a truly uplifting festival‑style experience.
Aleysha Derksen
With over 12 years of teaching experience, Aleysha Derksen specializes in handstands, inversions, and transformational movement, leading workshops around the world that help students tap into strength, confidence, and play. As the founder of In Alignment Yoga School in Bali, she teaches yoga as a pathway to self‑discovery and personal evolution, guiding students toward the power and magic already within them.
Allison Tomotsugu
Allison is a seasoned movement educator with over 20 years of teaching experience in yoga and Pilates. Allison is known for her attention to detail, making the familiar feel novel and complex concepts approachable and relevant for all levels of experience. Teaching full-time in Ottawa, you can find Allison teaching Yoga, Lagree, Reformer and Mat Pilates. She facilitates annual training programs for yoga teachers, Pilates Reformer instructors, and movement educators seeking advanced anatomy knowledge.
Amanda Bottiglia
Amanda is a passionate Pilates instructor with seven years of experience, known for her welcoming energy and classes that build strength, flexibility, and overall well‑being. Whether she’s teaching from her home studio, online, or in group settings at Pure Yoga, Yogatown, or Framework, she brings enthusiasm and care to every session to ensure you get a powerful workout and have a great time doing it.
Amber Stratton
Amber has been teaching yoga and movement for over 20 years and is the co-founder of Pure Yoga and Framework in Ottawa, Canada. Her signature class, Ritual first introduced at Pure Yoga in 2019, was born from her passion for movement and the power of intention, and has become a defining experience in the community.
Anna Grace
Anna is a movement teacher and the founder of FWRD MVMT, a creative movement and lifestyle brand rooted in self-expression, individuality, and embodied experience. Her work blends strength, creativity, and music-driven sequences to create sensory-rich spaces that invite people to move, explore, and show up more fully as themselves. Anna is a certified yoga teacher, Pilates instructor, and Lagree instructor, with a teaching style that weaves together strength, creativity, breath, nervous system awareness and fun leaving you feeling empowered, and capable.
Ashley Keller
Ashley is an instructor that loves a long jog + and even longer weight track. Expect some throwbacks, latin beats and fun girly pop vibes! Let’s ride (:
Ashley Shewchuk
Ashley is known for her Sunday Ritual class at Pure Yoga, where a strong community of regulars show up for more than just movement. She has a way of commanding the room, pushing you to your edge while tapping into a kind of resilience you didn’t know you had. There’s depth to it, something felt, not forced, where the practice carries a quiet kind of wisdom. She pulls you in as she taps into her own flow state.
Ayat Al-Badri
Ayat is a pharmacist by day and spin instructor by night! Her love for music and movement shapes every ride, creating an experience that’s empowering & energetic. Music genres include hip-hop, throwbacks, pop, and a whole lotta fun!
Bo Aganaba
Bo Aganaba is the Founder and Principal at GoodBeing, bringing together his background in urban and environmental planning with a long-standing mindfulness and movement practice. As a yoga teacher and former nonprofit leader, he supports people facing burnout, anxiety, and eco‑grief by helping them reconnect with their bodies and build functional, joyful movement habits. His playful approach to strength, mobility, and well‑being invites students to meet challenges with curiosity, creativity, and ease.
Bronwyn Lefebvre
Bronwyn began practicing yoga at a young age and turned to it as a source of balance and vitality after being diagnosed with Lupus at nine, navigating surgeries and intensive therapy with the support of her mother’s introduction to self‑healing practices. Trained in Rishikesh and teaching for over nine years, she brings a joyful, powerful spirit to her classes, offering challenging and inspiring sequences rooted in lived experience and inner strength.
Cat Doyle
Cat is passionate about helping people feel better physically, mentally, and emotionally, weaving her extensive experience with a deep love of health, healing, and wellness. A yoga teacher since 2011, she leads classes, retreats, and trainings with a focus on connection, continued learning, and the magic of community.
Cat Labelle
Kelly and Cat are two friends driven to help people discover strength beyond what they thought possible, blending high-energy, form-focused training with plenty of fun. They’ve created an inclusive, community-rooted space where everyone feels welcome to push limits, connect, and show up as they are. Their goal is simple: leave every person feeling stronger, sweatier, and just cheeky enough to come back for more.
Chanel Sosnoski
Chanel is an instructor at SPINCO Orleans with a passion for cycling, high-energy playlists, and creating a welcoming space where riders can let loose and have fun. Her classes are fueled by a mix of EDM, dubstep, remixed throwbacks, and of course a sing-along anthem guaranteed to keep the energy high. Whether you’re brand new to spin or a seasoned rider, there’s a place for you in Chanel’s class. See you on the bike!
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Churchman
A laid-back yet engaging journey through house, disco and other genres crafted specifically for the early hours of the day. Expect uplifting rhythms, and plenty of toe tapping energy - music that encourages movement and connection while maintaining a fun, relaxed, welcoming atmosphere.
Ciara Jean Beaton
Ciara Jean Beaton (yoga, pilates & acroyoga teacher) and Jason Nowlan (personal trainer) have been offering partner yoga and acroyoga together now for over a year in the Ottawa area. Together, they offer an uplifting experience by creating an engaging and inclusive practice environment that is always filled with laughter. They both love to bring people together by offering a practice that is lighthearted, dynamic and inspiring.
Devinder Kaur
Devinder is a knowledgeable and uplifting 500‑Hour Yoga Alliance Registered Teacher in the Hatha and Kundalini traditions, known for over 20 years of teaching with humour, sensitivity, and a deeply personal approach. As the founder of PranaShanti Yoga Centre and PranaShanti Education Centre, she has grown a thriving local and international community and is a sought‑after presenter and trainer at conferences and Yoga Teacher Trainings worldwide.
DJ Greeze
DJ Greeze is an Ottawa-based DJ and the owner of Crossfade DJs, known for creating high-energy dance floors that feel effortless, fun, and unforgettable. With nearly two decades in the music and nightlife scene across Ottawa, his style blends house, disco, throwbacks, hip-hop, and crowd favourites into sets built to match the energy of the room — whether that means getting people moving and grooving or simply complementing the vibe.
DJ Rise Ashen
Ottawa-based Rise Ashen has devoted his life to the study of sound and movement. From his early years as a B-Boy in Montreal in the 80s to his studies at Fanshawe College (North America's Oldest Recording School) and the Banff Centre for the Arts, to his evolution as a Global Grooves and House Music DJ, his focus has been on applying hi-fi knowhow to underground music. His record collection spans the 4 corners of the world with house and club music of all tempos as his primary focus. As a DJ and live looper/finger drummer, he blends it all in a worldy mash and is always the sweaty and dynamic life of the party. He has performed in clubs and festivals in the US, Scandinavia, Europe and Asia and his music regularly gets support from A-list DJs worldwide. His study of Yoga has led him to combine his musical journey with his Yoga journey and he has been DJing extensively for yoga classes, festivals and events since 2012. A long-time househead who has trained with many pioneering NYC dancers, since 2008 he has also been co-leading Capital Sessions Community House Dance Practices with his partner Tangent and teaching house dance at Ottawa’s Flava Factory Urban Dance school. He has collaborated and sharing the stage with countless artists including Montreal (Juno award winner) Miguel Graca, Jojo Flores, Fred Everything, Toronto based (Multi- Juno nominated) Ammoye, (Juno Award winner) Dubmatix, Version XCursion, LAL, (Juno Award Winner) Eccodek, (Juno Award Winner) Kobotown, King Sunshine, UK’s Sean Escofferey, Berlin’s Steph Lefrancois, New York’s Angel Moraes and Nickodemus, Kasm and Seed Organisation,Ottawa’s Bhavantu Collective, Ottawa’s Juno-award winner Kellylee Evans, Algonquin Singer Flying Down Thunder with whom he received a Juno nomination in 2012 for their debut album: One Nation, as well as a Native American Music Awards nomination in 2014 for their sophomore album: North Wind. He made 3 records with Silla, an Inuit throat-singing duet, they performed and toured for 6 years as Silla and Rise with Rise playing electronic percussion. They were nominated for a Juno Award for Best Indigenous Recording, a Juno for World Music Album of the Year, and they won the Mundial Stingray Award in 2018 as well as the SSIMA for best Inuit ensemble and Best Artistic music video in 2021. He is currently working on music with Trevor “lifeboogie” Walker and Toronto multi-media artist Shaemara. He believes music and dance are essential to human culture and he aspires to embody the wise words of Fela Kuti: "when the higher forces give you the gift of musicianship …it must be well used for the good of humanity".
Doriana Taccardi
Doriana (she/her) holds an MSc and BSc in Clinical Psychology and is currently completing her PhD at Queen’s University, where she studies circadian rhythms in Chronic Pain and Multiple Sclerosis while witnessing firsthand the powerful impact of yoga on body and mind. A former competitive roller hockey player and RYT, she teaches hot yoga in Kingston and continues to deepen her practice through arm balances, inversions, Vipassana meditation, and a love of philosophy, breathwork, and mindfulness.
Edelaine Valino
Edelaine has been coaching at The Rig Boxing for four years and is Mechanicsville’s studio manager. Her love for the fitness space and coaching stems from her enjoyment of building community, seeing how fitness changes people’s lives, and helping people find the motivation and encouragement to keep trying.
Emma Pollon-MacLeod
Dr. Emma Pollon‑MacLeod, ND, is a Menopause Society Certified Practitioner and women’s hormone health advocate who specializes in guiding women through perimenopause and menopause with evidence‑based, whole‑person care. As CEO of NutriChem, she empowers women with education, choice, and personalized support to understand their hormonal changes and move through midlife with clarity, confidence, and long‑term vitality.
Georgia Morissette
Georgia Morissette is a 79‑year‑old yoga teacher whose background in psychology, education, and fitness shapes her uplifting, senior‑focused classes across the Ottawa area. A longtime advocate for positive thinking and balanced living, she continues to inspire retirement‑community residents through her practical wisdom, collaborative approach, and lifelong commitment to movement, creativity, and kindness.
Jacqui Du Toit
Jacqui Du Toit blends mindful movement, breathwork, and storytelling, drawing on her background in circus and performance to celebrate the body as a place of expression and awareness. She teaches all levels with a welcoming, intuitive approach that invites students to explore strength, softness, and self‑connection.
Jason Nowlan
Ciara Jean Beaton (yoga, pilates & acroyoga teacher) and Jason Nowlan (personal trainer) have been offering partner yoga and acroyoga together now for over a year in the Ottawa area. Together, they offer an uplifting experience by creating an engaging and inclusive practice environment that is always filled with laughter. They both love to bring people together by offering a practice that is lighthearted, dynamic and inspiring.
Jenn Stow
Jenn Stow is a movement educator with over 20 years of teaching experience, known for her creative sequencing, dynamic flow, and intelligent approach to movement. Her classes combine fluid transitions, strong energetic pacing, and humour to create practices that feel both challenging and approachable. Jenn’s teaching style encourages students to explore movement with curiosity, connection, and authenticity.
Jenn Taing
Jenn Taing returns to the mat with a renewed devotion to celebrating the evolving power of the maternal body, inspired by her own journey into motherhood. Her pre‑ and post‑natal classes blend athletic fire with deep tenderness, creating space for mamas to feel strong, supported, and fully themselves. She’s here to spark a community where resilience, softness, and motherhood rise together in true festival spirit.
Jessy Leger
With many years of experience in the fitness community and now at Spinco, Jessy brings high energy, positivity, and motivation to every ride. His classes are designed to challenge riders, build confidence, and leave everyone feeling stronger.
Jill Wright
Jill Wright is a Time Management Expert and founder of Energy + Hours, where she helps high‑achieving moms, creatives, and entrepreneurs align their hours and energy through practical tools, rest, intuition, and a neuro‑affirming lens. Her work—featured on 80+ podcasts and in organizations across North America—supports real people in creating sustainable, meaningful success without burnout.
Jonathan Rose
Jonathan Rose is a 104th Grey Cup Champion, East Division CFL All‑Star, and Ottawa Redblacks All‑Decade cornerback with a deep passion for football and mental health advocacy. He now channels that experience into storytelling and connection as a dedicated CFL enthusiast and podcaster.
Julie Parker
Julie has been coaching at The Rig Boxing for three years, where her challenging, attentive, and engaging style reflects her deep curiosity and growing love for the sport. A certified barre instructor and studio manager at The Rig’s Southpaw location, she believes in the power of group fitness to bring people together—and her classes do exactly that.
Kelly Schincariol
Kelly and Cat are two friends driven to help people discover strength beyond what they thought possible, blending high-energy, form-focused training with plenty of fun. They’ve created an inclusive, community-rooted space where everyone feels welcome to push limits, connect, and show up as they are. Their goal is simple: leave every person feeling stronger, sweatier, and just cheeky enough to come back for more.
Kemi Danmola
Kemi is a high-energy fitness coach and leader based in Ottawa, known for her empowering step experiences. She brings bold energy and joy into every class. Through STEP YOUR GOALS, she uses movement, rhythm and mindset to help people build confidence, express themselves and move with intention. Kemi believes movement is a powerful tool to step into your goals physically, mentally and energetically.
Kino Carey
Kino Carey is an Ottawa-born musician, based in Tokyo since 2015. In the past year, she has transitioned from being a pop-leaning artist to a dance music producer and DJ. Since then, she has played tech house parties at some of Tokyo's biggest nightclubs. Her sets combine the minimal grooves of tech house with the upbeat melodies of dance pop.
Krista Reid
Krista Reid is a breathwork facilitator and educator with over 20 years of experience in health and wellness, offering somatic, nervous‑system‑informed practices throughout the Ottawa–Wakefield region. She creates healing spaces, mentors facilitators, and supports individuals in reconnecting with their bodies, breath, and inner clarity through deep listening, thoughtful pacing, and embodied guidance.
Kyanna McPherson
Kyanna is a Jamaican Canadian yoga teacher who blends Hatha and Vinyasa with a grounding, intuitive flow that encourages movement with confidence, authenticity, and joy. Her playful, soulful classes weave breath, movement, music, and rest to support reconnection with the body, inner power, and sense of self.
Madi Harris
Growth begins with a shift in mindset, and Madi leads with that belief at the center of her work. The power of one small word—“yet”—has shaped her approach to possibility, helping transform doubt into direction. Purpose, Vision + Goals has met her at every stage of adulthood, through seasons of uncertainty, ambition, reinvention, and expansion. Each chapter offered clarity, alignment, and the courage to take the next step. As a leader, she has witnessed the transformation that happens when people move from “I can’t” to “I can’t yet.” Confidence builds. Decisions sharpen. Momentum follows. PVG becomes more than a framework—it becomes a living practice that turns intention into action. Madi is dedicated to helping others define a bold vision, set meaningful goals, and step into what’s possible, even when the path is still unfolding.
Mandie Vossenberg
Mandie Vossenberg is a fitness professional and trauma‑informed trainer whose work blends movement, connection, and her background in social work and community organizing. As the owner of Collective Movement, she leads step, strength, and personal training experiences in Ottawa, where she lives with her husband and two cats.
Mike Dynie
Mike has spent the last 18 years weaving his background in health communications with a lifelong devotion to Eastern philosophy, offering yoga as a practical, soulful tool for everyday well‑being. His teaching is breath‑centered, functional, and shaped around each student’s unique path. From intimate one‑on‑one work to festival‑style group flows, he helps people cultivate intuitive practices that support them through every season of life.
Natalie Fraser
Natalie Fraser is a yoga teacher with families and community at heart. Her classes are inclusive, fun and accessible. Whether you are a first timer, a caregiver yoga'ing with kids, or someone looking for ease - you'll find what you need here.
Nikki Richard
Nikki is a social justice activist, yoga teacher, and certified somatic movement and breathwork coach who brings trauma‑informed practices into activist spaces as tools for regulation, solidarity, and collective care. Her work weaves nervous system awareness with political consciousness, offering an embodied, relational approach that supports resilience without bypassing structural harm.
Peter Lavictoire
Peter Lavictoire brings big, joyful energy to the mat, blending his Baptiste‑inspired vinyasa roots with a lifelong love of movement. As Pure Fit’s lead trainer, he’s all about evolving the practice to build physical power and mental resilience, fueled by handstands, massive cashew‑milk coffees, and the passion he sees when people share what they love. A beach‑born yogi since age twelve, Peter channels that same curiosity and play into every class.
Piaf Des Rosiers
Piaf is a physiotherapist and PhD candidate with a passion for finding fun ways to get kids and teens more physically active. As an advocate for inclusion and accessibility, she hopes that all will feel welcome coming to her lil om'ies class!
Randy Roffey
Randy is a registered yoga teacher trained in Yin, Restorative, Meditation, and Yoga Nidra, grounding his work in daily practices of breathwork, meditation, vulnerability, and gratitude. As co‑founder of the 24 Hr Yogapalooza fundraiser for CHEO, he’s deeply connected to the Ottawa–Gatineau yoga community and brings a passionate, down‑to‑earth presence to everything he does.
Run Ottawa
Run Ottawa is the National Capital Region’s premiere running organization and the organizers of Canada’s most popular multi-day running event, Tamarack Ottawa Race Weekend. Run Ottawa is committed to building an accessible, inclusive running community that promotes health, belonging, and personal excellence while empowering people to give back. Guided by values of environmental responsibility, community engagement, and operational excellence, they create programs and events that welcome all participants and remove barriers to movement.
Sarah Boyd
Sarah Boyd is a personal trainer, nutrition and lifestyle coach, and author with over a decade of experience helping people build strength that lasts. She blends exercise science with practical behaviour change to support active adults and athletes in training with strategy, resilience, and recovery at the center.
Selina Rose
Selina Rose is an Ottawa‑based yoga teacher, Somatic Experiencing practitioner, and Functional Diagnostic Nutrition practitioner whose work blends movement, nervous system support, and digestive well‑being. With more than 10 years in the wellness world, she helps people reconnect with their bodies in grounded, accessible ways. She also founded Bloat Babes, a holistic gut‑health platform supporting women through education, embodiment, and community.
Solange Mattar
Solange has been teaching yoga for nearly a decade across studios, women’s shelters, and retirement homes, weaving movement into spaces that need it most. Her classes blend mindful strength, yin stillness, free movement, and Yoga Nidra to harmonize yin and yang energies and awaken both the masculine and feminine within. A devoted lover of movement and travel, she brings presence, intention, and an empowering, grounded vibe to every festival‑style experience she leads.
Spinco Orleans
SPINCO Orléans is rolling into City of Om with a full day of rhythm‑driven, sweat‑soaked, community‑charged rides — all inside our dedicated SPINCO space. As Orléans’ newest spin studio, they’re bringing their signature immersive, beat‑based experience to the festival, offering multiple 50‑minute classes that blend music, movement, and collective energy.
Stephen Bierbrier
Stephen Bierbrier (@bytownboy) has spent the past decade leading community workouts across Ottawa — from TD Place Stadium to Parliament Hill to the Dominion Arboretum. When he’s not coaching, he’s usually planning his next session, often spotted turning any nearby bench into an opportunity for a perfectly executed Bulgarian squat.
Sunshine Glitterchild
Sunshine Glitterchild is here to spread love, kindness, joy, cheeks & glitter through the art of drag…and sometimes on roller skates! Sunshine is a music lover with a passion for music of many genres and decades, especially disco. Sunshine seeks to connect with her audience not just through sparkley looks and performances, but through authenticity and heart with a side of silly.
Tarik Hassan
Susan and Tarik are breathwork facilitators who guide participants to reconnect with their innate power, nervous system, and body intelligence. Combining trauma-informed awareness, embodiment, and breath mechanics, they create a container where people can regulate, release, and return to themselves-without force or expectation. Together, they bring complementary perspectives and energy, holding space for individuals to explore their breath, find their rhythm, and leave feeling resourced, grounded, and connected.
Tiffani Harris
Tiffani Harris is a movement teacher with over 18 years of experience, offering classes, workshops, trainings, and retreats across a wide range of styles. She loves connecting with students of all levels, using clear, detailed guidance to help them understand their bodies in a creative, engaging way.
Tracy Billows
Tracy Billows is the founder and co-owner of Yogatown, Ottawa's longest-running yoga studio, open since 2008 and now spanning three locations across the city. With 25 years of practice, she considers herself a student first and a teacher second. Yogatown reflects everything Tracy believes in - connection, belonging, and community. Off the mat, her greatest joy is her family - husband Jason, two children, and her dog Pepper. She is also a passionate health enthusiast who loves exploring new ways to thrive, and nothing brings her more joy than inspiring others to do the same.
Valerie Callaghan
A Lagree and Mat Pilates instructor with a commitment to celebrating the intersections of showing up for yourself, Valerie is driven by supporting her students to move with love and intention not reaction. She encourages her students to build trust within themselves cultivating a safe space to move freely. Her classes blend Latin, Reggaeton, and Dancehall beats intentionally building the energy in the room to amplify both psychological and physical benefits as she leads the class through movements rooted in everyday life.
Zeina El haff
Zeina is a 200‑hour RYT‑certified yoga teacher with additional Jivamukti Spiritual Warrior training, offering a simple, accessible approach rooted in traditional teachings. She emphasizes alignment, breath‑led movement, and steady presence to help students cultivate internal awareness and balance over time.
