Hello + Welcome!
My name is Sandra Leigh.
Join me in Vancouver, BC
FALL 2026 yoga + wellness

UPDATE :: OFF THE MAT :: 2026

Since 2021, I’ve been keeping busy with Business Media flexible learning courses through the Radio Arts + Entertainment program at BCIT. As a mature student, this has been both fun and challenging, but mostly, it’s kept me busy and out of trouble. 😉

In June 2026, I graduated from the BCIT Music Business School!

I’m pleased to be sharing more, hopefully reaching more people through music, radio and recording arts, including new instructional video production, so stay tuned and thanks for visiting!

You’re invited to listen to my music project here >>> @givepeaceachant mantra music <<<

Email me sandraleigh108 @ gmail . com for more info.

Thanks for your interest in my work with yoga + wellness.
Here’s some of my story – my own journey with yoga + healing:

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.

Early in my teens, I recognized there were difficulties involving my family’s generational trauma, although I had no words for it at the time, I knew my home life was different and I had to grow up quickly.

At only 17 years old, I developed a fairly serious health condition and required multiple surgeries. I was in and out of hospital for some time but without many answers regarding the condition, I just got on with life as usual.

I was living and working in Vancouver for almost a year when 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 – hopefully a little wiser. A recovery program gave me my life back. I relied on a holistic health program to get mobile and well. I was breaking the model and unlearning so much of what I had learned growing up.

I began enjoying more activities like cycling, running and I returned to the gym. I also 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 14. When I attended her classes, I couldn’t explain it but I felt calm, for perhaps the first time ever.

A few years later I would deepen my understanding of yoga with a visit Yasodhara Ashram, near Kootenay Bay, BC, where I participated in a 10 day workshop – ‘The Hidden Language of Hatha Yoga’ as taught by Swami Sivananda Radha, the original pioneer of the ‘Divine Light Invocation.‘

I ended up staying on at the ashram work program for about a year. I completed a yoga development certification course (YDC) and a Hatha Yoga Teacher’s Certificate. I had learned how to meditate and chant Sanskrit mantras. It was like another world at the ashram with most everything growing and maintaining self-sufficiency.

Reluctantly, I returned back Vancouver to work, mostly waiting on tables in various West End restaurants. I saved my tips and bought my first harmonium for chanting practices at home. My first job teaching was at the YMCA, while my big dream was to go to India.

Meanwhile, Lilian introduced me to her dear friend and local legend, BC teacher, Sandra Sammartino who guided me to complete a modular teacher certificate course at her Kairos Studio in White Rock, BC. I was intrigued by Sandra’s approach to yoga as therapy. She was also the original pioneer and heart behind BC’s ‘Yoga Outreach’ programs.

My Yoga Outreach teaching experiences included placements for yoga with home bound trauma survivors. I 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 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 men were bottling up the effects of unprocessed childhood trauma. They responded so well to yoga and deep relaxation. These were the same lads who were not responding to corporal punishment. Times sure have changed but I often wonder what have we really learned?

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 practice to help ED patients restore delicate nervous systems and navigate frail bodies, mostly through breath alone. Our session was held in a quiet room with super soft and comfy chairs for yoga. I remember a noticeable inability for these ED patients to fully close their eyes, due to their extreme thinness, their eyes rolling as they took tiny little sips of breath. I believe they responded well and it seemed to be 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 + wellness program was discontinued in the 00’s.

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 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 in 2026, yoga is still flourishing but it’s a hard task to find funding for outreach wellness programming, even though we know the most vulnerable populations have had mostly positive outcomes with yoga + wellness programs in the past.

Thanks for reading along, so far. I hope by sharing, I’ll inspire even one person with a healthy awareness for responsible lifestyle choices and alternatives.

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? You can listen to more here.

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.