About

Barrie

If you don’t want to change, don’t do yoga. 

I'll never forget when my teacher said this to our training group back in the late 1990’s. He stated it matter-of-factly, as if change was an eventuality of sticking around in yoga long enough. I’ve repeated it to students many times over the years. They usually chuckle knowingly and nod their heads in agreement.

Yoga as a practice of deepening self-knowledge that leads to inner growth and fulfillment: This has been the basis of my approach to practice and teaching for the past 30 years. It’s why I’m so passionate about guiding practitioners to nurture the true spirit of yoga through integrating yoga philosophy and contemplative inquiry with postural practice.

I love helping students discover the depth - and delight - of yoga as a journey of sacred connection and more purposeful living.

I’m an internationally recognized yoga teacher, public speaker, and author. My best-selling book, Evolving Your Yoga: Ten Principles for Enlightened Practice, is a guide for teachers and continuing students to deepen, expand, and integrate the benefits of yoga in their lives. I lead classes, courses, retreats, workshops, and trainings both online and in-person.

I’m known for conveying the essence of yoga philosophy with exceptional clarity, coherence, and relevance to students of all levels of experience and from all walks of life. My students tell me that I’m as unpretentious and down-to-earth as I am insightful and inspiring. They appreciate the combination of rigor and challenge balanced with sensitivity, humor, and compassion that I bring to my teaching.

My events weave together the technical precision of refined alignment-based postural practice with an ever-present awareness of the wisdom teachings of yoga distilled from decades of intensive study and practice.

I’ve been teaching yoga full-time since 1999 and working with teachers since 2007. As a Senior Certified Anusara Yoga teacher and teacher trainer from 2003-2012, I led Anusara Yoga trainings and workshops throughout Canada, the US, and internationally. I served on the Anusara Yoga Teacher Certification Committee from 2006-2012, mentoring new teachers toward certification. I was the co-creator and co-director of Shri Yoga, Montreal’s only studio dedicated to the practice of Alignment-based, Heart-centered Hatha Yoga from 2011-2016.

I’ve been a dedicated student of Iyengar Yoga for more than 25 years, and have studied with several Senior Iyengar Yoga teachers, most extensively with Kevin Gardiner. From 1997-2003, I served as a full-time staff member for the SYDA Foundation in India and the US, immersed in the study and practice of the traditional yogic disciplines.

My work has been featured in Yoga Journal, Yoga International, Elephant Journal, La Presse, and on CBC television. I’m regular contributor to the Yoga for Healthy Aging blog. Most recently, I collaborated with Nina Zolotow on her book Yoga for Times of Change.

I’m a native New Yorker, and though I’ve lived in Canada for the past 20 years, I’ll still choose a New York bagel over a Montreal bagel any time. I live in the Eastern Townships region of Quebec with my husband and our teenage daughter. I hold a B.A in Anthropology from The George Washington University.