LEAD TEACHER TRAINER & FOUNDER

A dedicated practitioner of Yoga since 2004, Stacey is well known as a “Teacher’s Teacher”; facilitating 200 & 300 hour Yoga Alliance accredited trainings in the Kootenays at her Shala: Nelson School of Yoga.

From beginner to experienced student, Stacey provides a space where people of all levels and abilities can come to learn and practice the teachings of Yoga.

Jena’s classes focus on mental and physical strength leaving her students feeling expansive and energized at the end of each practice.

Her training in alignment and mobility encourages students to cultivate their deep core strength to feel solid in their bodies.

Jena brings her knowledge of somatics into her teachings to help students connect to their bodies with a deeper awareness creating new patterns and ways of being from within through breath and movement.

Her intention with yoga is to empower people to step into their power and lead with love towards themselves and others.

Ex-military and former professional skydiving instructor turned multidisciplinary Trauma-Informed Wellness Coach & Yoga teacher practicing out of Nelson, BC - the traditional territory of the Ktuanxa, the Syilx, and the Sinixt peoples. After years of study, training under great teachers such as Dr Gabor Mate, and a wealth of hands-on experience, Peta integrates a broad range of practices to offer a unique and intuitive approach to working through trauma via non-conventional practices. She specialises in various forms of addiction, anxiety, panic attacks, integrating parts & inner-child work, unpacking core beliefs, identity challenges, intergenerational trauma, childhood and sexual trauma, disconnection from Self, body and emotions and shadow work. Peta works with people from across the globe and from many walks of life including indigenous people, LGBTQI2, Youth in recovery, Professionals in recovery, Skydiving instructors, BASE jumpers & extreme sport athletes, and more.

Ellissa’s journey as a therapist in the healing arts has paralleled her exploration of the mind-body connection through studying Yoga Asana and Vipassana meditation in Canada and in India. While traveling in India in 2005, she was introduced to the Iyengar Yoga method, which focuses on therapeutic postural alignment and the efficient use of props. In 2010, Ellissa completed a 200-hour Yoga Teacher Training inspired by the Iyengar and Ashtanga methods under the guidance of Hart Lazer at United Yoga Montreal. Ellissa has been teaching weekly Yoga classes in Nelson, BC since 2010.

Professionally, I have a rich and diverse background. In my role as a social worker, I worked in a non-for-profit in poverty reduction and homelessness prevention, as well as developed and coordinated an at-risk Indigenous youth program. In recent years, I’ve been working in the medical system as an oncology and acute care social worker, and also worked extensively in the mental health sector as a youth crisis response clinician, and with the early psychosis intervention team.

More recently, I completed my Master's in Social Work receiving training and mentorship as a family therapist working with young children, youth, and their parents through an attachment lens. I also teach trauma-informed and have been taking an online training program as an Ayurvedic Health Practitioner. Although I can certainly draw on knowledge and experience from the mainstream discipline of social work and Western therapy, I have found that Ayurveda and Yoga can serve as practical tools that cut to the chase and allow change and healing to happen much more quickly, especially when combined with the tools of CBT, Somatic Experiencing Therapy, and trauma therapy.