AVA Members

Member Profiles

700 Hour Certification

Kathryn Downton is the senior Viniyoga teacher in the Maritimes. She is certified as a yoga therapist (700 hour). She is Fredericton’s most experienced prenatal yoga instructor, having offered classes to hundreds of women since 2000. She is a Doula with the Doulas of North America, providing physical, mental ad emotional support during labour to the woman and her partner. Most recently, she decided it was time to honour a long-standing request of her teacher, Claude Marechal of Belgium to pass on the teachings of this depth tradition in the North American context. The first class of certified Viniyoga teachers graduated from her studio in 2008. Many of these students have elected to continue their training through to the 500 hour level with Kathryn. The new 200 hour training course has started with a new group to graduate in 2009.

Kathryn continues her studies with Claude Marechal. Her training hours are somewhere in the thousands…

200 Hour Certification

Helen Champion has been studying and practicing yoga since 2000. Although she has experience with many different types of yoga, she was drawn to the viniyoga philosophy and practice after beginning to study with her teacher, Kathryn Downton, in 2002. After experiencing all of the wonderful benefits yoga brought to her personal life, she felt a strong calling to share her knowledge with others. She went on to complete her 200 hour yoga teacher certification 2007/2008. She is also beginning an additional 300 hours of training this fall.

In her spare time, Helen enjoys spending time with her husband doing outdoor activities such as running, walking, skiing, camping and traveling.

Ana dos Santos took up Yoga as a response to physical injuries that kept her from her passion for dance. After experimenting with several Yoga styles, Ana found her fit in Viniyoga. Studying with Kathryn Downton of Lifesong Yoga she completed her 200 hour certification. She discovered a source to assist in the healing of physical injuries and a deep tradition offering the tools for coping with the many demands of parenthood and study. Wishing she had these powerful tools at her disposal in earlier years, Ana was called to share yoga with young persons facing the pressures of adolescence. Her yoga practice and teaching compliment her full life as a parent and mature university student. Ana plans to continue yoga training to the 500 hour certification this Fall with Kathryn Downton. In October, Ana plans to attend special training seminar in Quebec on teaching yoga to adolescents with Claude Marechal.

Kate MacKay took up yoga as an adjunct therapy to help manage her asthma. It didn’t take too long to discover that yoga was a whole lot more that a means of re-learning how to breathe properly. Kate is a veteran 9-1-1 operator and emergency services dispatcher for the City of Fredericton and she can attest to the benefits a regular yoga practice brings to anyone suffering from the tensions, stresses and demands of modern working life. Her student teaching project was on the subject of insomnia and she has a particular interest at this time in developing yoga practices for shift workers and others in high-stress occupations. Her studies with Kathryn continue in the fall of 2008.

Kate’s other interests include knitting and writing.

Lisa Wilby started yoga back in 2001 after a back, injury initially to relieve pain. After discovering the many other benefits yoga provided her , she was hooked. Moving to Fredericton from Toronto provided an opportunity to deepen her own personal practice and also enable her to share her love of yoga with others. She completed the 200 hour certification with Kathryn Downton, has a Nutrition degree from George Brown College where she completed the Chef’s program. She has a love and passion for food and yoga and brings that passion to her teaching.

Lisa is also a devoted mother to her three wonderful children and loves yoga, cooking, music and running.