Hello + Welcome!
My name is Sandra Leigh.
Join me in Vancouver, BC for a yoga class
FALL 2026 yoga sessions

UPDATE :: OFF THE MAT :: 2026 ::
I’ve been taking a number of Business Media courses at BCIT for the Radio Arts + Entertainment certification. In June 2026, I proudly graduated from the BCIT Music Business School! I’m pleased to now be sharing some of these skills and I hope to reach more people through music, radio and the recording arts, including new video production.

If you’re interested, you can check out my music website and listen to the music we play in class, both Instrumentals and >>>mantra music<<<.

Email me at sandraleigh108 @ gmail . com for more info.

This link is to an article I wrote (not AI) regarding subtle body anatomy and how meditation and sound practices play an important role in processing the lived experiences and traumas we all store in our subtle energy.

Why did I take up yoga and meditation in the first place?
Here is some of my story and background of my own journey to wellness ::

It could be that my interest in yoga was inspired by the television shows of the day. I grew up in Calgary when TV programming included a CTV exercise program called ‘Kareen’s Yoga’, hosted by ever-fabulous Kareen Zebroff. I remember following along in the living room with my mom, and us both wearing one piece nylon bodysuits paired with thick, itchy leotards, just like the ones, D and E, seen below.

In my teens, I started realizing the difficulties of my family’s generational trauma, although I had no words for it at the time. Home life was difficult to say the least. I took to expression through strong interests in music, sports, dance, art, drama, with high energy activities all highlighting my school experiences. However, “the body keeps the score” and at only 17 years old, I developed an unexpected health condition requiring multiple (serious) surgeries and lengthy hospital stays from the ages 18 – 24. It was traumatizing, but back in those days, we just got on with life as normal.

Shortly after I recovered, I trained as an Aesthetician and went to work at a spa specializing in skin care, massage and European spa treatments. 3 years later I moved to Vancouver.

I was living and working in Vancouver for almost a year when the same health complications returned. By now, I was in my early 20’s, living on my own in Vancouver. I only tell this story because I pulled through a little wiser and as part of my own health recovery program, I relied on exercise programs to get mobile and well. I returned to the gym and I registered for yoga, not expecting any kind of life changing experience.

Instead, I met an exceptional yoga teacher, Lilian Bianchi. Originally from Brazil, Lilian had been practicing yoga and meditation since she was only 14! When I attended her classes, I couldn’t explain it, better than to say it felt like a light went on in my body. I started feeling calm, for perhaps the first time ever.

I began attending sessions with her as often as possible and for many years, I had no intention to become a teacher, myself. All I knew was that I had landed on a mat and was in a process of growth and recovery. Yoga was interesting and fun and Lilian’s classes were very challenging!

Then, in 1995, my impulsive marriage to a long time pen-pal backfired, ending quickly with a divorce. These dramatics showed me how I needed more space and time for my own recovery.

I visited Yasodhara Ashram, near Kootenay Bay, BC, and participated in a 10 day workshop that included ‘The Hidden Language of Hatha Yoga’ as taught by Swami Sivananda Radha, the original pioneer of the ‘Divine Light Invocation’ as well as Hidden Language. These practices went beyond prayers to prepare me for the next step on my journey.

I ended up staying on at the ashram work program for about a year after completing their yoga development certification course (YDC) and receiving a Hatha Yoga Teacher’s Certificate. I had learned how to meditate and also, how to chant the Sanskrit mantras that I was growing so fond of.

I reluctantly returned from the interior BC, back to Vancouver and went back to work, mostly waiting on tables in restaurants and serving ale in bars. I saved my tips and bought my first harmonium. I started subbing for Lilian and I also started teaching at the YMCA, both downtown and in South Vancouver.

Lilian introduced me to her dear friend and local legend, BC teacher, Sandra Sammartino who offered a complete modular teacher certificate course at her Kairos Studio in White Rock, BC. I was intrigued by her approach to yoga as therapy. Her trainings worked with subtle armoring and letting go processes, and in varying degrees, layers of psychological traumas trapped within ourselves were given a safe place to process. Time with Sandra was a true sanctuary for deep learning and growth, especially for those in recovery.

She was also the original pioneer and heart behind BC’s ‘Yoga Outreach’ programs.

My Outreach teaching experiences included many interesting placements, such as providing yoga sessions for home bound trauma survivors. I also taught adult women at a drug and alcohol treatment facility in South Vancouver. The Yoga Outreach program also sponsored an after school program called “The Avengers”, where I taught yoga and breath work for children and youth with intellectual disabilities.

Through Yoga Outreach, I also taught men’s yoga to young offenders who were being held at the Willingdon Youth Corrections Centre in Burnaby. Looking back, I’m sure these incarcerated young and vulnerable men were themselves bottling up the effects of unprocessed childhood trauma. It was a terrible place for them, actually! These young men responded extremely well to yoga and deep relaxation. These were the same lads who were NOT responding to corporal punishment. Go figure.

Through Yoga Outreach, I also led a women’s yoga program at St. Paul’s Eating Disorder Clinic. Although we didn’t call it “trauma-informed” or “somatic” movement at the time. I developed a mindfully tailored yoga practice to help ED patients restore their delicate nervous systems. In contrast to the young male offenders in Willingdon, these groups were mostly females, under 25, who stayed at the eating disorder clinic which was closed off to the public. Our session was super soft and comfy chair yoga, then time spent simply sitting, experimenting with stillness. Not really meditating, but more midfully observing our breath. I remember a noticeable inability for these ED patients to fully close their eyes, due to their extreme thinness. Their eyes would just roll up as they took tiny little sips of breath. I believe they responded well. It was a positive experience, if only to try a new activity. Sadly, the St. Paul’s ED clinic program funding was cut and the ED yoga was discontinued.

In 1999, I met a yoga group from the UK and I became interested in their unique, energy based style of yoga, called Dru Yoga. I completed a 3 year Dru Yoga Teacher Training course. I was also fortunate to travel and take further trainings in the UK, studying in North Wales, London, Scotland, The Netherlands, and India. I later earned a Dru Sound Healing & Mantra Certificate and a Dru Meditation Teacher’s certificate. More recently, I was certified as a Dru Breath Coach. Dru Yoga is popular in the UK, Europe, Australia and parts of India, and specializes in sound and mantra. Dru Yoga is incorporated into all of my classes. It’s an energy based yoga, and most every body can do it.

In 2001, after an entire summer with Dru in North Wales, UK, I took a job at Banyen Books, a local independent “metaphysical” bookstore where I eventually became a part-time floor manager. It was an excellent job and I loved working there.

In the early 2000’s, yoga (as an industry) began to really expand, too. In the bookstore we’d get a new yoga book, yoga video, or DVD arriving on a near daily basis. The section for yoga books eventually outgrew itself, from one small shelf of the classics, to into an entire room, dedicated to both traditional and western influenced yoga media. Banyen then moved locations to even bigger, permanent premises. We saw the yoga section expand, yet again. I worked part-time at the bookstore and then, I’d teach a few weekly yoga classes.

I watched the yoga industry (books, studios, and all) continued to grow. We saw the bookshelves buckle under full capacity for so many years. Now, times have changed and we experience yoga + spirituality differently. New generations do take interest in a whole lot more esoteric subjects, now easily available, but in 2026, it’s a hard sell to bring yoga to some of the most vulnerable populations we know it can help. Lulu Lemon is thriving and yoga teachers seem to be multiplying faster than ever,

Thanks for reading along, so far. I plan to continue with my story, but for now, I’ll stop here.

I’ve also had a life long passion for music and singing. You might be familiar with the music from our community class but did you know that I produced that music myself?

That’s Part 2 of my story… coming soon.

We’re grateful to live and work on the unceded, ancestral territories of the Musqueam, Squamish and Tsleil Waututh Nations.