Based on beautiful Pender Island, one of the Gulf Islands in British Columbia, Marcia Olmsted, Professional Yoga Therapist (PYT), Registered Yoga Teacher (RYT, 500 level), Certified Personal Trainer (CPT) specializes in Integrative Yoga Therapy: a highly adaptable and healing form of yoga beneficial to people of all ages, levels and physical abilities, including those with health issues and limited mobility. Marcia offers ongoing all levels drop-in classes, therapeutic yoga series classes, workshops, and private yoga and fitness sessions on demand in her beautiful ocean front studio on South Pender. She also teaches the ongoing series Yoga for Men at the Anglican Parish Hall, and offers group fitness classes at Pender Island Fitness (Driftwood Centre).

 Yoga (Drop in)*:

• All levels: Fridays, 9-10:15 am. (8830 Canal Road.)
• Intermediate/Advanced: Fridays, noon-1:15 pm (8830 Canal Road.)

*$10 drop in or buy a 10-class pass for $90 to have access to any Canal Road drop in class at a lower price.No mat or blanket needed.

Yoga for Men 55+:

Tuesdays, 12:30-1:30 pm. (Anglican Parish Hall.)  May 8-June 26. $35 per 8-class session. Subsidized by the CRD/Pender Parks and Recreation Commission.)  Yoga mat and blanket/bath sized towel required.  Register in class with Insructor or contact Andrea Mills, Community Volunteer Coordinator (communitysupport@shaw.ca) or at the Medical Clinic. 

Group Strength Training/Fitness (pre-registration required)

• Mondays: June 4-25 AND July 2nd-23, 8:30-10am - Pender Island Fitness Centre (Driftwood)
  
• Thursdays: June 7-28 AND July 5-26th, 8:30-10am - Pender Island Fitness Centre (Driftwood)
• Gentle, doable. Focus on muscular and cardiovascular strength training and stretching/relaxation in support of bone health, postural improvement, mobility and support of weight loss
• Includes individual assessment/coaching and home practices
• Sign up for one or more 4-week blocks
• $75 for each 4-week series; $65 for members of Pender Island Fitness Centre or Weight Watchers
• Click here to inquire.

Private Yoga Therapy & Personal Fitness Coaching

• Personalized programs to help you improve your wellness and mobility regardless of age, abilities, and health issues.
• Seniors rates available; Exchange of services welcomed. Click here to inquire.

Saturday Morning Workshops: (pre-registration required)

Take one or build your knowledge and practice through multiple workshops. All workshops at MO Yoga Studio, 8830 Canal Road (S. Pender, 12 houses past bridge on ocean side). All equipment and water supplied by MO. Cost: $25 per workshop, or multiple workshop package at increasing discounts: 2 @ 10% discount; 3 @ 15%  when register in advance.

Healing with Energy:  Chakras (Energy Centres): Learn about the 7 Chakras (energy centres) in the body that allow us to open blocked areas and better connect to ourselves and the world around us while strengthening and expanding our physical bodies. Students will receive home practice handouts.

• Date/Time:  May 19, 2012 10 am to noon
  
• Click here to register

Healing with Sound:  Learn about the origins of yogic chanting and experience a range of chanting types that can benefit the body, mind and spirit in this two hour workshop.   Students will receive home practice handouts.

• Date/Time: June 16, 2012 10 am to noon
  
• Click here to register.

Yoga and Menopause: Experience a range of therapeutic yoga tools to help relieve symptoms of menopause (hot flashes, sleeplessness, joint soreness, and more) and feel stronger and more energetic.   Students will receive home practice handouts.

• Date/Time:  June 23, 2012 10 am to noon
  
• Click here to register

Therapeutic Yoga Series: (pre-registration required)

Joyful Warrior: Relieving Symptoms of Stress with Yoga: Eight-week series: To be scheduled. $100. Pre-registration required.   Click here to be put on waiting list.

Stress causes illness at all levels of being and can push every one of the the body's systems -- respiratory, digestive, circulatory, nervous and immune --  out of balance. Over an eight-week period of one 90-minute class per week, students will experience a broad range of therapeutic yoga tools - asanas (postures), pranayama (breathwork), energy work with chakras and nadis (energy centres and channels), mudras (hand gestures), healing with sound, and guided meditation and more, to decrease imbalances caused by stress and to improve wellness in a safe, confidential, and caring environment.  Home practices will be assigned to allow students to select and practice techniques that work for them after the series is over.

Seniors rates available. Exchange of services welcomed. Click here to inquire.