Johanna Tiemessen
Certified Blue Belt Nia Teacher
Certified Dancing for Birth™ Teacher
Johanna has always had a passion for movement and the energy that is created from movement. A dancer as a young girl, she practiced ballet and jazz for many years. University opened the door for yoga practice, including valuable time for calm meditation and self-reflection.
Just before moving to Yellowknife in 2000, Johanna discovered Nia. With only time to attend a few classes, she held her experience dear to her heart and in September 2000, traveled to Gibson, BC to complete her Nia white-belt training. During this blissful week, the spirit of Nia manifested itself in her soul and upon returning home, she began her journey as a teacher, sharing this spirit with others in her community. In 2011, Johanna completed her blue-belt training in Portland, Oregon at Nia Headquarters, with one of the co-creators of Nia, Debbie Rosas. This experience further deepened Johanna’s appreciation for this technique and how vital it is for us to be aware and connected to ourselves, and in essence each other.
Johanna’s classes are a journey in themselves. As the teacher, she guides the class but encourages her students to remain aware of what the movement feels like to them – physically, emotionally, spiritually and mentally. Each class starts with setting a focus and intention, which helps bring a common awareness among the students and guide the energy of the class. The movements of Nia are simple and natural, allowing a beautiful and forceful energy to evolve throughout the students, leaving them feeling alive, happy, energized, balanced and blissful. For over 21 years, Johanna has taught every week to an ever-evolving group of women and men, all who come to seek the joy of movement.
In 2014, Johanna became certified as a Dancing for Birth™ teacher. Founded in 2001, classes focus on birth preparation and include a mixture of feel-good prenatal fitness, essential birth wisdom, and celebration of pregnancy, birth and mothering. As Johanna is also a trained birth doula, these classes are fun, empowering and educational.
Johanna is one of the founding members of Collective Soul Space.
Anne-Marie Guedon
Certified Yoga Instructor
Anne-Marie is an E-RYT500 with Yoga Alliance and has accumulated over 1500 teaching hours since she began teaching 2006. She has a 200h yoga teacher training certification in Kripalu based Hatha from Rama Lotus in Ottawa and has just completed an additional 300h hours of yoga teacher training in PranaFlow yoga with Shiva Rea. A bit of an obsessive knowledge seeker, she also has extensive training in Yin yoga, Restorative yoga, YogaTuneUp, and Pilates (Body Harmonics method). Anne-Marie believes in creating a class environment where each individual can explore what they need both physically and mentally and her studies of anatomy have led her to deeply respect individual differences in the architecture of the human body (which she tries to communicate in her classes).
Anne-Marie’s teaching style focuses on exploring movement patterns that cultivate health in the body’s diverse tissues and the nervous system. One of the goals of her teaching is to foster a better understanding of the body so that practitioners can incorporate that knowledge into other activities in their day-to-day lives and enjoy living more comfortably. She draws on different philosophies of movement from her own journey to understand the body and encourages other to be curious as well.
Fia Grogono
www.soulspine.ca
Fia Grogono is a Yellowknife teacher, movement coach, choreographer and dancer. She holds a Bachelor of Fine Arts in Contemporary Dance from Concordia University and has created and performed work across Canada, Europe, and Brazil.
She is a certified Rambert Grades teacher and a practitioner of Medical Qigong, blending technical skill with a holistic approach that encourages movers to connect with both their bodies and spirits. Her classes encourage curiosity and exploration, supporting movers as they challenge themselves, build confidence, and explore movement possibilities. You can learn more about her work at www.soulspine.ca or @fia.soul.spine on instagram.
Michaelis Harrison
Registered Massage Therapist
Registered Nurse
Certified White Belt Nia Teacher
Michaelis is passionate about the body, inside and out. Her nursing and massage careers have helped expand her knowledge of the body and what wellness truly means.
As a nurse she has worked in hospitals, health centers, correctional centers, and in home and community care. Helping patients through some of their most difficult moments has taught her to approach every problem with an open mind.
As a massage therapist she has experience working in a variety of settings including sports clinics, multidisciplinary clinics, wellness centers and independently as a sole proprietor. Her primary focus is to treat pain and discomfort through soft tissue manipulation and leave clients feeling empowered to achieve their physical goals and optimal mental wellbeing.
Her favorite pastimes are cooking, dancing, skijoring, exploring the globe, and spending time with her children. Her favorite pastimes are cooking, dancing, skijoring, exploring the globe, and spending time with her children.
Christine Lewandowski-Shannon, Holistic ERA
Christine has lived and worked in the North for 18 years and she is passionate about promoting a holistic approach to wellness, fostering personal accountably in students and inquiry-based self-directed learning. She is an educator, mother of two beautiful and boisterous children, a business owner, yogi, mindfulness practitioner and prides herself as a life-long learner. Christine founded her businesses, Holistic ERA & Holistic Education, to share in her many passions and empower and inspire people to cultivate positivity and presence in their lives.
Her education and experience in the wellness world include Mindfulness Teaching certification from Mindful Schools out of California and various Yoga schools with certifications in Restorative Yoga and Children’s & Infant Yoga. Christine has also completed various certificates in Emotional Intelligence & Leadership coaching through EITC, Mindfulness Based Stress Reduction (MBSR) Therapy Teacher Training through the Centre for Mindfulness Studies, courses on Self Regulation through the Mehrit Centre, and “Edu-culture” courses lead by Indigenous Educators to support Indigenous learners. Christine is currently working towards her 200-hour Yoga Teaching certification.
Through the studio she offers private professional coaching sessions, and a range of classes, from healing restorative yoga to meditation and mindfulness, to infant and toddler classes, as well as workshops such as intention-setting, vision board creation and intuitive collages.
Her pastimes include spending time outdoors in nature with family, camping, cooking and eating healthy food, holistic nutrition, reading, painting, drinking tea and connecting with people and the environment.
Laurence Marie Bilodeau, R.M.P.
The Art of Healing
Certified Usui Reiki Ryoho & Crystal Reiki Master Practitioner/Teacher
Certified Art Therapist
Aura-Soma Artist
Laurence became a certified Reiki master practitioner of the Usui System of Natural Healing – Usui Reiki Ryoho – through four deepening years of training, practice and self-healing work. The unlimited subtleties of the Reiki realm broaden her perspective, and she decided to integrate other techniques in her practice. Techniques such as, crystal healing, guided meditation, breath work and sound bath. In addition to these services, she offers also consultations, to ensure the clients are feeling supported, protected and guided while they are processing their inner work.
As a Spiritual Coach, she explores the deeper connections between people and the Universe and help her client to gain a new or deeper understanding of the world they live in and the energies that flow within it. Laurence’s website for tickets to workshop is The Art of Healing.
Melanie Hopkins
Flowage Wellness
Melanie Hopkins, founder of Flowage Wellness, is a Certified Chinese Energetic Qigong Practitioner and Reiki Master. Since 1995, she has lived in Yellowknife, where the abundance of nature and the beauty of the North continue to inspire her practice. Surrounded by the vast landscapes of the region, Melanie spends much of her time immersed in the natural world, exploring the infinite ways we can connect with its wisdom and energy.
Melanie completed her Qigong certification through Empty Mountain Institute in California and earned her Reiki Master certification from Starflower Reiki. She has also studied spiritual practices including Channeling and Mediumship.
Her work is grounded in the belief that everyone can access the healing vibration of Qi—the life force energy present within and all around us. Through movement, meditation, and energy practices, she guides others to experience peace, balance, and renewed vitality.
Leslie Gray
Frozen Yoga
Leslie first met yoga in 2001 through a home-practice VHS with Rodney Yee, and later fell head over heels for Moksha hot yoga. Especially their mantra: “calm mind, fit body, inspired life.” Always an athlete, her passion for movement eventually led her straight into sports injuries – which led directly to yoga for recovery and to rebalance. Ever since, yoga has become a sanctuary and cornerstone, increasing physical and mental health, and enhancing both mental and physical flexibility and balance.
In 2014, she completed her YTT200 with Sadhana Yoga school in Hatha and Vinyasa flow yoga and has since studied Alignment based Hatha Yoga, Restorative Yoga, and Yin Yoga with Bernie Clark. She also deepened her meditation practice through a 10-day Vipassana course.
Yoga fits your body and your brain, wherever your body is, and wherever your mind may be. Leslie believes that the breath is the key and that yoga can be relaxing and fun. Working with the breath, you can change your day, relieve stress, and find a place of calm. Yoga as a whole system brings awareness to your body, mind, and soul and can benefit anyone at any time, or all the time! And even better, yoga is completely portable, so you can take it with you wherever in the world you go, and use it as needed. She aims for her students to be comfortable yet challenged, feeling their way into poses as their individual bodies allow, prioritizing function and feeling over form.
Kerry Wheler
Music Together
Kerry has been sharing music with families in Yellowknife since 2007. As a mom of 2, she enjoys outdoor activities including cross-country skiing and family canoe trips. Teaching Music Together and connecting with families is one of her favourite things about living in Yellowknife.
Kerry offers group 10-week music sessions 3 times a year: Fall: September to December, Winter: January to March, and Spring: April to June, with different class times to choose from. More information and register link can be found on her website www.makemusicnwt.com
Nancy Mullick
SkyFire Taiko
Christa Domchek
, Sundog Yoga
Certified Yoga Instructor
Christa has always been drawn to benefits of alternative therapies in maintaining and improving health especially after becoming a mother in 2005. The physical and mental benefits she gained from the practice of yoga at that time in her life guided her to become a teacher of classical Hatha yoga in the Sivananda tradition in 2007.
Shortly after, she cofounded Sundog Yoga and has been primarily offering accessible classes through her 10-week adaptive yoga sessions and yoga nidra classes.
Christa also became a certified Thai Yoga Massage (Level 3) practitioner in Jan 2010 with Lotus Palm. In 2012, she deepened her practice by travelling to Thailand to train with a well known teacher named Pichest Boonthumme. She greatly enjoys offering this healing bodywork to the community of Yellowknife.
In 2013, Christa completed the Ayurvedic Yoga Therapy Certification Course taught by Dr. Marc Halpern from the California College of Ayurveda. Christa completed her practicum and began offering Ayurvedic services in Yellowknife. During the COVID-19 pandemic, Christa furthered her studies by taking a unique 120-hour Ayurveda Yoga Specialist training course taught by Kathryn Templeton through Yoga International and recently became certified in January 2023.
She is very excited to share the practice of self awareness and self care that Ayurveda provides through her yoga classes, thai massage and ayurvedic assessments.
Christa is one of the founding members of Collective Soul Space, created to provide a sacred space for the healing arts in Yellowknife.
Maureen Tonge
Maureen Tonge (Dhanraj Kaur), E-RYT500 was an Internationally Certified Kundalini Yoga (as taught by Yogi Bhajan) and Hatha Yoga instructor certified with the Canadian Yoga Alliance, teaching Kundalini Yoga and Meditation & Hatha Yoga (with a focus on Restorative Yoga) classes in and around Yellowknife since 2007. She is one of the founding members of Collective Soul Space.
On October 5, 2020, Maureen made her final transition of her journey with the peace and grace that was her final wish. Even though Maureen is not with us physically anymore, her spirit, art and guidance continue to surround us with each class and each breath in the Studio.
Collective Soul Space 