Meet Our Guides
Discover the incredible teachers, healers, and facilitators bringing their wisdom to City of Om 2026.
Adam Bracken
Adam has spent over 19 years in the fitness and health industry and is the Founder & CEO of The Fitness LAB, a strength and performance-driven training brand established in 2016. What began as a single location has grown into four facilities across the Ottawa area, known for delivering high-quality coaching, community-driven culture, and results-based programming. With a background in Fitness and Health Promotion, along with certifications including CSEP-CPT and FRC, Adam has coached a wide range of clients, from everyday individuals to elite athletes competing in the CFL, OHL, NCAA, ECHL, AHL, and NHL. A lululemon Legacy Ambassador and respected leader in the fitness community, he continues to expand The Fitness LAB while helping clients and teams perform at their highest level.
Alexa Jeffrey Garza
Alexa (Sol) is a 500‑hour yoga teacher based in Ottawa whose practice blends grounding awareness with a touch of magic. After discovering yoga nearly a decade ago, she followed her curiosity into sound healing, Reiki, and other heart‑centered modalities that help people soften, open, and reconnect. Her classes invite students into a space of loving kindness, where movement, breath, and energy work come together to create a truly uplifting festival‑style experience.
Aleysha Derksen
With over 12 years of teaching experience, Aleysha Derksen specializes in handstands, inversions, and transformational movement, leading workshops around the world that help students tap into strength, confidence, and play. As the founder of In Alignment Yoga School in Bali, she teaches yoga as a pathway to self‑discovery and personal evolution, guiding students toward the power and magic already within them.
Amanda Bottiglia
Amanda is a passionate Pilates instructor with seven years of experience, known for her welcoming energy and classes that build strength, flexibility, and overall well‑being. Whether she’s teaching from her home studio, online, or in group settings at Pure Yoga, Yogatown, or Framework, she brings enthusiasm and care to every session to ensure you get a powerful workout and have a great time doing it.
Anna Grace
Anna is a movement teacher and the founder of FWRD MVMT, a creative movement and lifestyle brand rooted in self-expression, individuality, and embodied experience. Her work blends strength, creativity, and music-driven sequences to create sensory-rich spaces that invite people to move, explore, and show up more fully as themselves. Anna is a certified yoga teacher, Pilates instructor, and Lagree instructor, with a teaching style that weaves together strength, creativity, breath, nervous system awareness and fun leaving you feeling empowered, and capable.
Ashley Keller
Ashley is an instructor that loves a long jog + and even longer weight track. Expect some throwbacks, latin beats and fun girly pop vibes! Let’s ride (:
Ayat Al-Badri
Ayat is a pharmacist by day and spin instructor by night! Her love for music and movement shapes every ride, creating an experience that’s empowering & energetic. Music genres include hip-hop, throwbacks, pop, and a whole lotta fun!
Bo Aganaba
Bo Aganaba is the Founder and Principal at GoodBeing, bringing together his background in urban and environmental planning with a long-standing mindfulness and movement practice. As a yoga teacher and former nonprofit leader, he supports people facing burnout, anxiety, and eco‑grief by helping them reconnect with their bodies and build functional, joyful movement habits. His playful approach to strength, mobility, and well‑being invites students to meet challenges with curiosity, creativity, and ease.
Brittany Bryden
Brittany Bryden is a music‑infused movement teacher who helps students find presence, play, and deeper connection through yoga. A mompreneur with a big love for community and co‑creation, Britt brings fun, creativity, and rhythm into every class — always guided by the beat that moves her.
Bronwyn Lefebvre
Bronwyn began practicing yoga at a young age and turned to it as a source of balance and vitality after being diagnosed with Lupus at nine, navigating surgeries and intensive therapy with the support of her mother’s introduction to self‑healing practices. Trained in Rishikesh and teaching for over nine years, she brings a joyful, powerful spirit to her classes, offering challenging and inspiring sequences rooted in lived experience and inner strength.
Brynn O'Dwyer
Brynn is a Pilates instructor and former varsity athlete who is passionate about intentional, well-informed movement. She discovered Pilates as a way to complement strength training and deepen body awareness beyond performance alone. Her classes focus on creating a focused, supportive environment where participants can move with confidence and purpose.
Chanel Sosnoski
Chanel is an instructor at SPINCO Orleans with a passion for cycling, high-energy playlists, and creating a welcoming space where riders can let loose and have fun. Her classes are fueled by a mix of EDM, dubstep, remixed throwbacks, and of course a sing-along anthem guaranteed to keep the energy high. Whether you’re brand new to spin or a seasoned rider, there’s a place for you in Chanel’s class. See you on the bike!
Charlene Dygos
Charlene is a personal trainer, fitness coach, and lagree certified instructor. Her sessions are built to push limits—combining power, endurance, and grit in a way that challenges both body and mind. Expect structured, athletic programming with a strong focus on effort and execution. Whether you’re chasing performance or stepping into something new, Charlene creates an environment that demands your best and proves you’re capable of more. Driven by intensity and curiosity, she brings a “show up and work” mindset to every class—no shortcuts, just results.
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Churchman
A laid-back yet engaging journey through house, disco and other genres crafted specifically for the early hours of the day. Expect uplifting rhythms, and plenty of toe tapping energy - music that encourages movement and connection while maintaining a fun, relaxed, welcoming atmosphere.
Devinder Kaur
Devinder is a knowledgeable and uplifting 500‑Hour Yoga Alliance Registered Teacher in the Hatha and Kundalini traditions, known for over 20 years of teaching with humour, sensitivity, and a deeply personal approach. As the founder of PranaShanti Yoga Centre and PranaShanti Education Centre, she has grown a thriving local and international community and is a sought‑after presenter and trainer at conferences and Yoga Teacher Trainings worldwide.
DJ Rise Ashen
Ottawa-based Rise Ashen has devoted his life to the study of sound and movement. From his early years as a B-Boy in Montreal in the 80s to his studies at Fanshawe College (North America's Oldest Recording School) and the Banff Centre for the Arts, to his evolution as a Global Grooves and House Music DJ, his focus has been on applying hi-fi knowhow to underground music. His record collection spans the 4 corners of the world with house and club music of all tempos as his primary focus. As a DJ and live looper/finger drummer, he blends it all in a worldy mash and is always the sweaty and dynamic life of the party. He has performed in clubs and festivals in the US, Scandinavia, Europe and Asia and his music regularly gets support from A-list DJs worldwide. His study of Yoga has led him to combine his musical journey with his Yoga journey and he has been DJing extensively for yoga classes, festivals and events since 2012. A long-time househead who has trained with many pioneering NYC dancers, since 2008 he has also been co-leading Capital Sessions Community House Dance Practices with his partner Tangent and teaching house dance at Ottawa’s Flava Factory Urban Dance school. He has collaborated and sharing the stage with countless artists including Montreal (Juno award winner) Miguel Graca, Jojo Flores, Fred Everything, Toronto based (Multi- Juno nominated) Ammoye, (Juno Award winner) Dubmatix, Version XCursion, LAL, (Juno Award Winner) Eccodek, (Juno Award Winner) Kobotown, King Sunshine, UK’s Sean Escofferey, Berlin’s Steph Lefrancois, New York’s Angel Moraes and Nickodemus, Kasm and Seed Organisation,Ottawa’s Bhavantu Collective, Ottawa’s Juno-award winner Kellylee Evans, Algonquin Singer Flying Down Thunder with whom he received a Juno nomination in 2012 for their debut album: One Nation, as well as a Native American Music Awards nomination in 2014 for their sophomore album: North Wind. He made 3 records with Silla, an Inuit throat-singing duet, they performed and toured for 6 years as Silla and Rise with Rise playing electronic percussion. They were nominated for a Juno Award for Best Indigenous Recording, a Juno for World Music Album of the Year, and they won the Mundial Stingray Award in 2018 as well as the SSIMA for best Inuit ensemble and Best Artistic music video in 2021. He is currently working on music with Trevor “lifeboogie” Walker and Toronto multi-media artist Shaemara. He believes music and dance are essential to human culture and he aspires to embody the wise words of Fela Kuti: "when the higher forces give you the gift of musicianship …it must be well used for the good of humanity".
Edelaine Valino
Edelaine has been coaching at The Rig Boxing for four years and is Mechanicsville’s studio manager. Her love for the fitness space and coaching stems from her enjoyment of building community, seeing how fitness changes people’s lives, and helping people find the motivation and encouragement to keep trying.
Emma Pollon-MacLeod
Dr. Emma Pollon‑MacLeod, ND, is a Menopause Society Certified Practitioner and women’s hormone health advocate who specializes in guiding women through perimenopause and menopause with evidence‑based, whole‑person care. As CEO of NutriChem, she empowers women with education, choice, and personalized support to understand their hormonal changes and move through midlife with clarity, confidence, and long‑term vitality.
Gilles Roisan
Gilles Roisan is a multidisciplinary artist: art director, graphic designer, filmmaker, and musician. A graduate of the ETPA art school in France, he became a graphic designer and entrepreneur while also performing in numerous bands since his college years (rock, electro, trip-hop). Moving to Montreal in 2007, he became a freelance musician and art director, while also developing his alternative electro rock project, TANUKi Project. Since 2023 he founded the Flow Yoga & Sound Festival with his partner Nady, in which he writes and performs the music for the Yoga sessions, handles all the visual production, and creates the festival’s visual identity.
Giselle Fernandez
Giselle is a dancer, kids yoga instructor, mindfulness coach, and the heart behind YogiBeatz. With over five years of experience teaching kids' yoga, she blends movement, music, and mindfulness to create fun, engaging classes that spark joy and connection.
Grace Bracken
Grace is a former competitive hockey player who learned early how powerful nutrition can be, a lesson that deepened after two major hip surgeries pushed her to rebuild her health from the inside out. Now a mom, coach, and founder of The Body Sculpt, she’s dedicated to helping people restore their metabolism, build lean muscle, and pursue fat loss without burnout or restriction. She leads a team of functional nutritionists and coaches who share her mission of making sustainable, strength‑focused transformation feel clear, achievable, and deeply supportive.
Imad Khaddaj
Imad Khaddaj is a holistic healer and teacher whose work weaves Yin Yoga, Traditional Chinese Medicine, Reiki, Tui Na massage, and meditation with the wisdom of Daoist philosophy, Tantric Buddhist practices, and energetic mysticism. With a grounded and compassionate approach, he creates spaces where body, mind, and spirit return to balance, guiding others to reconnect with their inner wisdom, release what no longer serves, and awaken the life they are meant to live.
Jacqui Du Toit
Jacqui Du Toit blends mindful movement, breathwork, and storytelling, drawing on her background in circus and performance to celebrate the body as a place of expression and awareness. She teaches all levels with a welcoming, intuitive approach that invites students to explore strength, softness, and self‑connection.
Jason Nowlan
Ciara Jean Beaton (yoga, pilates & acroyoga teacher) and Jason Nowlan (personal trainer) have been offering partner yoga and acroyoga together now for over a year in the Ottawa area. Together, they offer an uplifting experience by creating an engaging and inclusive practice environment that is always filled with laughter. They both love to bring people together by offering a practice that is lighthearted, dynamic and inspiring.
Jenn Dumoulin
A former varsity track and field and cross country athlete, Jenn is a spin instructor at SPINCO Orléans who dabbles in Hyrox and powerlifting. Her passion is connecting sport and fitness to personal growth - we learn amazing things about ourselves by challenging ourselves physically and mentally through physical activity.
Jenn Taing
Jenn Taing returns to the mat with a renewed devotion to celebrating the evolving power of the maternal body, inspired by her own journey into motherhood. Her pre‑ and post‑natal classes blend athletic fire with deep tenderness, creating space for mamas to feel strong, supported, and fully themselves. She’s here to spark a community where resilience, softness, and motherhood rise together in true festival spirit.
Jessy Leger
With many years of experience in the fitness community and now at Spinco, Jessy brings high energy, positivity, and motivation to every ride. His classes are designed to challenge riders, build confidence, and leave everyone feeling stronger.
John King
Monkey Rock Music is a fun, participatory music program for young children and their adult caregivers. We have been running in Ottawa since 2008, offering classes, daycare programs, elementary school shows, and even full blown rock concerts for toddlers and young kids.
Julie Parker
Julie has been coaching at The Rig Boxing for three years, where her challenging, attentive, and engaging style reflects her deep curiosity and growing love for the sport. A certified barre instructor and studio manager at The Rig’s Southpaw location, she believes in the power of group fitness to bring people together—and her classes do exactly that.
Katherine Markhauser
Katherine Markhauser is a trainer, mat pilates instructor and the co-founder of Chelsea Athletica Gym. Shes passionate about creating spaces where women can move their bodies - whether through strength training or on their mats. Her work at Chelsea Athletica centers around building a community and creating spaces where people can come together to move & meet like-minded people.
Kelly Schincariol
Kelly and Cat are two friends driven to help people discover strength beyond what they thought possible, blending high-energy, form-focused training with plenty of fun. They’ve created an inclusive, community-rooted space where everyone feels welcome to push limits, connect, and show up as they are. Their goal is simple: leave every person feeling stronger, sweatier, and just cheeky enough to come back for more.
Kemi Danmola
Kemi is a high-energy fitness coach and leader based in Ottawa, known for her empowering step experiences. She brings bold energy and joy into every class. Through STEP YOUR GOALS, she uses movement, rhythm and mindset to help people build confidence, express themselves and move with intention. Kemi believes movement is a powerful tool to step into your goals physically, mentally and energetically.
Kenny Caceros
Kenny Caceros is a lululemon Bayshore ambassador, hybrid‑training coach, and multi‑sport powerhouse who brings unstoppable energy to every room he enters. A HYROX 2025 World Championship qualifier and DEKA Fit AG World Champion, he leads The Strength Collective and The Hybrid Training Popup with the same fire that fueled his professional soccer career.
Kino Carey
Kino Carey is an Ottawa-born musician, based in Tokyo since 2015. In the past year, she has transitioned from being a pop-leaning artist to a dance music producer and DJ. Since then, she has played tech house parties at some of Tokyo's biggest nightclubs. Her sets combine the minimal grooves of tech house with the upbeat melodies of dance pop.
Krista Reid
Krista Reid is a breathwork facilitator and educator with over 20 years of experience in health and wellness, offering somatic, nervous‑system‑informed practices throughout the Ottawa–Wakefield region. She creates healing spaces, mentors facilitators, and supports individuals in reconnecting with their bodies, breath, and inner clarity through deep listening, thoughtful pacing, and embodied guidance.
Kyanna McPherson
Kyanna is a Jamaican Canadian yoga teacher who blends Hatha and Vinyasa with a grounding, intuitive flow that encourages movement with confidence, authenticity, and joy. Her playful, soulful classes weave breath, movement, music, and rest to support reconnection with the body, inner power, and sense of self.
Kyle Kirkup
Kyle Kirkup has been teaching group fitness for over twenty years, bringing a whimsical, challenging, and supportive approach to his strength and mat‑based classes at Collective Movement and beyond. He’s also a mentor to emerging instructors, blending strength, cardio, and mindfulness into pop‑infused, dance‑driven workouts that leave people feeling energized and empowered.
Lori Dye
Lori Dye is an Ottawa-born yoga teacher, mindfulness coach, and international retreat curator. Her work is rooted in elemental wisdom, breath, and the quiet intelligence of the body.
Lori Rosove
With 25 years as a social worker, 10 as a university writing instructor, and the author of two books, I have been passionate about guiding others in clarifying their thoughts through writing. I designed the trees&breathe journaling method to help you slow down, listen inward, and discover what's ready to be seen.
Madi Harris
Growth begins with a shift in mindset, and Madi leads with that belief at the center of her work. The power of one small word—“yet”—has shaped her approach to possibility, helping transform doubt into direction. Purpose, Vision + Goals has met her at every stage of adulthood, through seasons of uncertainty, ambition, reinvention, and expansion. Each chapter offered clarity, alignment, and the courage to take the next step. As a leader, she has witnessed the transformation that happens when people move from “I can’t” to “I can’t yet.” Confidence builds. Decisions sharpen. Momentum follows. PVG becomes more than a framework—it becomes a living practice that turns intention into action. Madi is dedicated to helping others define a bold vision, set meaningful goals, and step into what’s possible, even when the path is still unfolding.
Mandie Vossenberg
Mandie Vossenberg is a fitness professional and trauma‑informed trainer whose work blends movement, connection, and her background in social work and community organizing. As the owner of Collective Movement, she leads step, strength, and personal training experiences in Ottawa, where she lives with her husband and two cats.
Meghan Mainville
Meghan Mainville is a choreographer, dancer, teacher, and fitness instructor trained through The School of Dance’s contemporary program, the Limón Institute Launch program, and certified in both Group Fitness (ACE) and 200‑hour Yoga. She brings a fun, high‑energy, low‑pressure approach to every class, creating an engaging, community‑driven space where all levels feel supported and excited to move.
Nady Marro
Born into a family of yoga teachers, Nady has practiced since age 14, blending Tibetan‑inspired Energy Yoga with her background as a singer and musician. A 200‑hour Vinyasa‑trained teacher and founder of the FLOW Yoga & Sound Festival in the Laurentians, she now shares her passions for yoga, sound, and mindful education through her festival work, community leadership, accompanied by the much inspired musician, DJ and composer Legyl, her partner in life and on stage.
Peter Lavictoire
Peter Lavictoire brings big, joyful energy to the mat, blending his Baptiste‑inspired vinyasa roots with a lifelong love of movement. As Pure Fit’s lead trainer, he’s all about evolving the practice to build physical power and mental resilience, fueled by handstands, massive cashew‑milk coffees, and the passion he sees when people share what they love. A beach‑born yogi since age twelve, Peter channels that same curiosity and play into every class.
Rachel Hopper
Rachel Hopper is a Pilates and Lagree instructor known for her strength-forward approach and intentionally designed classes. With over three years of teaching experience, she’s passionate about helping people feel stronger, build confidence in their movement, and look forward to coming to class. Her mat classes are beat-based, combining structure and energy for a challenging workout, with options to modify or progress, making them accessible to a wide range of students.
Saman Tayari
Saman is a yoga teacher, breathwork facilitator and a percussionist. He integrates his drumming into his yoga and breathwork sessions, believing that drum beats connect us with our inner rhythm and with others, and help us be more present. He also incorporates electronic music to create more immersive experiences. His passion lies in quieting the mind through breathwork and invigorating movement and breath, a practice he is eager to share with others.
Samie Kadima
Samie is a certified Pilates and fitness instructor with a background in strength training and community‑based wellness, known for leading inclusive, mindful, and empowering movement experiences. Blending classical Pilates principles with modern training techniques, she creates supportive spaces where people of all levels can build functional strength, feel connected, and move with confidence.
Sarah Boyd
Sarah Boyd is a personal trainer, nutrition and lifestyle coach, and author with over a decade of experience helping people build strength that lasts. She blends exercise science with practical behaviour change to support active adults and athletes in training with strategy, resilience, and recovery at the center.
Serena Finlayson
Serena is a Certified Athletic Therapist, Registered Massage Therapist, professional dancer, and barre instructor who believes every(body) is an athlete. She’s passionate about movement as medicine and uses her wide-ranging expertise to bridge mind and body in ways that honour each person’s unique experience. Serena loves working outside the box, inviting students into movement as exploration, curiosity, and connection.
Solange Mattar
Solange has been teaching yoga for nearly a decade across studios, women’s shelters, and retirement homes, weaving movement into spaces that need it most. Her classes blend mindful strength, yin stillness, free movement, and Yoga Nidra to harmonize yin and yang energies and awaken both the masculine and feminine within. A devoted lover of movement and travel, she brings presence, intention, and an empowering, grounded vibe to every festival‑style experience she leads.
Spinco Orleans
SPINCO Orléans is rolling into City of Om with a full day of rhythm‑driven, sweat‑soaked, community‑charged rides — all inside our dedicated SPINCO space. As Orléans’ newest spin studio, they’re bringing their signature immersive, beat‑based experience to the festival, offering multiple 50‑minute classes that blend music, movement, and collective energy.
Stephen Bierbrier
Stephen Bierbrier (@bytownboy) has spent the past decade leading community workouts across Ottawa — from TD Place Stadium to Parliament Hill to the Dominion Arboretum. When he’s not coaching, he’s usually planning his next session, often spotted turning any nearby bench into an opportunity for a perfectly executed Bulgarian squat.
Sunshine Glitterchild
Sunshine Glitterchild is here to spread love, kindness, joy, cheeks & glitter through the art of drag…and sometimes on roller skates! Sunshine is a music lover with a passion for music of many genres and decades, especially disco. Sunshine seeks to connect with her audience not just through sparkley looks and performances, but through authenticity and heart with a side of silly.
Susan Benoit
Susan and Tarik are breathwork facilitators who guide participants to reconnect with their innate power, nervous system, and body intelligence. Combining trauma-informed awareness, embodiment, and breath mechanics, they create a container where people can regulate, release, and return to themselves-without force or expectation. Together, they bring complementary perspectives and energy, holding space for individuals to explore their breath, find their rhythm, and leave feeling resourced, grounded, and connected.
Tarik Hassan
Susan and Tarik are breathwork facilitators who guide participants to reconnect with their innate power, nervous system, and body intelligence. Combining trauma-informed awareness, embodiment, and breath mechanics, they create a container where people can regulate, release, and return to themselves-without force or expectation. Together, they bring complementary perspectives and energy, holding space for individuals to explore their breath, find their rhythm, and leave feeling resourced, grounded, and connected.
Tatianna Graham
Tatianna Graham is a women’s health coach, physical therapist, and yoga teacher dedicated to helping women 40+ feel at home in their bodies again. Through movement, nervous system support, and embodied practice, she guides women toward strength, self‑trust, and inner resilience. Her work creates space for emotional, mental, and spiritual reconnection, empowering women to listen inward and rise in community. Tatianna is a proud Preventative Health Awareness Movement (PHAM) ambassador.
Todd Lavictoire
A lifelong mover, Todd brings equal parts strength, heart, and grounded grit to everything he does. Guided by his mantra — “If you are willing to do only what’s easy, life will be hard…” — he trains, teaches, and lives with purpose, recently stepping into the Fight for the Cure ring to raise money for cancer research and patient care. One of the original Pure Yoga crew, Todd shows up with the kind of resilience and integrity that inspires everyone around him.
Valerie Callaghan
A Lagree and Mat Pilates instructor with a commitment to celebrating the intersections of showing up for yourself, Valerie is driven by supporting her students to move with love and intention not reaction. She encourages her students to build trust within themselves cultivating a safe space to move freely. Her classes blend Latin, Reggaeton, and Dancehall beats intentionally building the energy in the room to amplify both psychological and physical benefits as she leads the class through movements rooted in everyday life.
Zeina El haff
Zeina is a 200‑hour RYT‑certified yoga teacher with additional Jivamukti Spiritual Warrior training, offering a simple, accessible approach rooted in traditional teachings. She emphasizes alignment, breath‑led movement, and steady presence to help students cultivate internal awareness and balance over time.
