Upcoming Events

• September 2007
  Teacher Training: Hatha and Vinyasa (Power programs)
• October 26th-28th
  Yoga Retreat on Galiano Island

Featured Product

Dr. Hauschka Skin Care

CELEBRATING 40 YEARS: 1967-2007

For 40 years Dr.Hauschka Skin Care has led the way in holistic skin care. Rose Day Cream is Dr Hauschka's best selling moisturizer. Soothing rose ingredients nurture, renew and protect sensitive, dry and weather damaged skin

This coming Saturday the 16th, a representative of Dr. Hauschka will be at the Semperviva Life Style Store from 1:00pm - 3:30pm giving free facials and skin analysis to interested individuals. This event is free and is available to individuals on a first come first serve biases.

June 14, 2007

Featured Events

Eoin Finn

June 16th-17th : Ecstatic Backbends with Eoin Finn

Join Vancouver based and internationally renowned yoga instructor Eoin Finn on this unique yoga journey that will allow you to safely and ecstatically backbend into bliss.

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June 14th-17th : Hatha Yoga Pradipika with Ven. Marut

The second course, Pranayama and Emptiness, presents the entire second chapter along with a good dose of the fourth chapter on Emptiness.

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Janice Clarfield

June 16th : Couples' Yoga Workshop for Birth Preparation with Janice Clarfield

This workshop provides an opportunity for couples together to enhance awareness of and confidence in pregnancy, labour and birth.

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Anirudh Shastri

August 18th-19th : Yoga of Simplicity Workshop with Anirudh Shastri

Shastri will guide you in exploring the aesthietcs of Simplicity. Shastri will explore the philosophy of Simplicity and teach us how to find Simplicity in our asana practice and in our lives.

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Gurmukh Khalsa

October 2007 : A weekend of Kundalini Yoga with Gurmukh Kaur Khalsa

Gurmukh Kaur Khalsa of Golden Bridge Yoga Los Angeles and now New York City, returns to Vancouver for a weekend of Kundalini Yoga.

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The Semperviva Community

Insiya Rasiwala

Featured Teacher: Insiya Rasiwala

What do you love about teaching yoga?
The incredible feedback and positive energy that I have a part in creating in a space... and in my student's physical and energetic bodies and hopefully lives... it's a powerful charge... always reminds me of one of the Dalai Lama's teachings... "making people feel good is such a selfish act, it makes oneself feel good as well..."

What attracted you to yoga?
Really, it's a part of my heritage... and I was fortunate to be exposed to yoga since a very young age... In fact, some of my first memories include attempting to do headstands like my Dad... however I did not return to yoga until much later, when I lived and worked in the USA and attempted to balance a stressful job in advertising...

Yoga... especially the fluid style of ashtanga and vinyasa yoga... made sense to me... I felt as though I was coming home... like a duck finding water... I found it invigorating and yet relaxing and calming... such a great way to ease out all the mental and physical kinks in my system... It has definitely impacted my life path and connected me more deeply to my spirituality as well.

How long have you been practicing yoga?
Initially when I was a child... and during high school a bit... but mostly the breathing and gentle asana... I would say that I have been consistently practicing yoga since the last six years.

What teacher has had the biggest impact on your practice?
A few in particular... definitely my partner Eoin Finn, who has allowed me to infuse my yoga practice with a sense of playfulness and presence yet grounded it with a strong awareness of anatomy, alignment and ease... Also Gioia Irwin, who teaches a style known as Vijnana... that she helped evolve out of the Iyengar model - I learnt much about the energetic body from her... and the sense of really being "awake" in your body... Shiva Rea... who I've had the opportunity to study with a few times... her dynamic, flowing vinyasa style is something I definitely am attracted to and lastly, a teacher from Boulder, Colorado Susan Aposhyan who does not teach yoga, but "body-mind psychotherapy" and really allowed me to experience the innate intelligence in my body.

How would you describe your classes?
Like an improvised jazz melody... a mellow start, a few foundational, base notes to get things going and a fluid, wave of motion-sound that continues on... enveloping you... you think its going to stop, but doesn't until eventually things calm down again... and you're left wondering how you rode that wave. I think my classes are always different, sometimes extroverted and visibly happy and sometimes introspective and focused.

Before you became a yoga teacher, what did you do?
What didn't I do? Mostly, I worked in global advertising, pr and marketing... and freelance wrote as well. I finally transitioned into teaching yoga while working for a yoga apparel company, where I realized that though I was selling yoga pants to many people, I wasn't actually doing any yoga myself!

Describe your ideal class (as a teacher).
When everything is in tune... (still following the music analogy)... when all I am doing is channeling something larger than myself to enrich the collective connection and shared movement between everyone in a space... in a sense just allowing love and compassion to move through... allowing us all to transcend ourselves and laugh along the way.

Aside from yoga, what other hobbies or interests do you have?
Reading... I have 5 books on the go usually at a given time, running, surfing, spending time outdoors as much as possible, music and art, writing - I write for a few local papers and magazines on health, yoga and sustainability... cooking, especially for casual gatherings amongst friends; and definitely traveling.