Hey There!
Hey, I'm Tessa.
I've been teaching yoga full-time since 2010. I trained at Trinity Yoga Centre here in Kelowna, completed my advanced training with Clara Roberts-Oss in Hawaii, and I've spent the last fifteen years learning how to read a room, read a body, and build a practice that meets you where you are.
I'm a lululemon ambassador, a Yoga Alliance continuing education provider, and I teach hands-on assists as part of teacher training programs across the Valley.
I teach because yoga saved me. And I want to give that to you.
Before yoga, there were horses.
I grew up riding. Horses weren't a hobby for me. They were a relationship with another living being that filled my heart and put me back in my body (something that would help guide me back to belonging time and time again.)
Then I left the nest. I was 21, living alone in a small town far from anyone who knew me, in a relationship that was hurting me. Isolated, unwell, in a depression that lasted years; and will always be something that I walk alongside. I didn't know how to find my way back to myself.
When that season of my life finally changed and I moved away, I lost horses too. That loss was a heavy grief I still tend to.
Yoga became my everything.
Horses were my yoga before yoga existed for me. When I lost them, yoga stepped in and gave me back what they had given me. A way to be in my body. A place for my nervous system to land.
Over time, yoga was part of how I was able to come off medication I'd been on for years. It held me through the hardest years and every difficult season since.
That's what I want to give you. Not a workout. Not a perfect pose. The experience of feeling whole in your body, even on the days when everything else feels like too much. You are not broken. You never were. And I'm here to help you cultivate a practice that meets you where you are and helps take you where you want to be.
If you're ready to begin, or begin again, I'm here.
Favourites
A few things, less yogi, things about me outside..
Happiest off the grid: Camping with a good friend or good book. Getting off grid as much as possible is top priority, especially in the warm months.
My favourite reset is paddleboarding on a quiet mountain lake. No wifi signals, no city noises, just water, trees, fresh air and the sweetness of just being.
I take my wine seriously. I'm part of a few local wine clubs here in the Okanagan and I love chatting with my students who geek out about the Okanagan's vino as much as I do.
Not sure where to start?
If walking into a class for the first time feels like a lot, start at home. I've put together a library of free classes, short and long, so you can find what fits your body and your day.
For Yoga Teachers
Twice a year I run a small mentorship cohort for yoga teachers who want someone senior to watch their classes and tell them the truth.
If you're looking for someone who will actually watch your classes and give you honest feedback, I'm here.
Feeling stuck in your teaching?
Most yoga teachers I talk to aren't lacking passion. They're lacking a structure they can trust, so they can stop second-guessing their sequences and start actually showing up for the people in their classes. I made something to help with that.