Through years of self development work Cheryl found Bikram yoga while traveling in Australia and completed teacher training in Fall 2002. From here she taught full time for Bikram Yoga Victoria and traveled to teach in Vancouver as well.

During this 3 year period she traveled to LA to complete her Yoga Judging Certificate and placed 4th in the Western Canadian yoga completion in 2003. She also Coached and trained Ida Ripley to place 10th in the world in 2004.

Seeing how Bikram yoga changes people’s lives and bodies she hopes to inspire others through Bikram Yoga Northwest to transform their lives and recognize their abilities.

I fell into the yoga looking for something to help heal my body from years of high impact sports. Not only did the Bikram heal my body, it helped heal my mind, body and soul. Being a natural born leader, Cheryl prepared me for training and sent me on my way to Bikram Yoga Teacher Training San Diego, Fall 2010.

My goal as a teacher is to help inspire students that are looking for a hard, detoxifing workout, but also for those who are looking for something to help heal their bodies inside out, bones to skin :)

I am a born and raised Calgarian. Every winter I say "This is my LAST winter!" But I love the city and people too much to leave. I’ve been an athlete my whole life. I started figure skating when I was young and skated for 7yrs, throughout junior high I was on the track and field team, volleyball team and played baseball for over 8yrs.

After high school, I started courses at Mount Royal College, in hopes of getting into the Criminal Justice Program and eventually applying for the police. It was a car accident that made me realize how much I loved working out and how important fitness was too me. I found an old Oxygen magazine in a second hand store and knew fitness/bodybuilding was something I wanted to get involved with. During the rehabilitation from the car accident my love for anything fitness grew.

A friend I was working with asked me to come to a yoga class and to bring a towel, because I was going to sweat! My initially reaction was "Yoga? Sweat? Seriously?". My first Bikram class I was humbled and hooked! I continued to practise for a year consecutive until the studio's changed and started offering different types of yoga. I stopped practising because it was Bikram’s series I loved. I loved the intensity, the structure and the way I felt after the class.

In May of this 2010 I was on a treasure hunt of the city as part of a job interview for a Private Investigation Company and stumbled across Bikram Yoga Calgary South. I literally drove over the sidewalk and almost threw the doors because I couldn’t believe a Bikram Studio was back! I was also training for a fitness competition and had cracked a rib while training. Instead of going to see a doctor, I got back in the hot room and after my first class back in almost 7 years I was hooked again. My rib was healed within a month.

I decided Bikram Yoga Teacher Training was something I must do. I attended the Fall 2010 training, learning first hand from Bikram. The 9 wks of training deepened my love for the practice and made me even more eager to share and teach the yoga to others. I truly believe this yoga can transform lives inside-out, from the bones to the skin, coccyx to the toes, and coccyx to the neck with a smiling happy face.

As the daughter of an Expat, I lived overseas in Malaysia and Indonesia for 8 years. Every two years we packed our bags and moved to a new country. I loved seeing new places and trying new things. When we finally settled in Canada, I found myself searching for something more. Something to bring stability to my life.

I started my Bikram yoga practice a few years ago when I was going to school in Victoria, BC. I showed up over-dressed, under-hydrated and without a clue. I left dripping, dizzy, and ready for my next class. I still remember my first instructor, Wendy, the way she held herself in class and her compassion for her students. She believed in the yoga and so do I. I've seen my body open up, my attitude improve, and my stress disappear. Things don't seem as difficult: if I need something, I trust it will happen when I am ready to receive it.

I completed Teacher Training in the spring of 2011, in LA, Cali. It was challenging, enlightening, at times a frustrating experience, but so special that it will be hard to match throughout the rest of my life. My goal as a teacher is to always continue to learn about the yoga, the body, and the mind. I hope to be able to travel the world and continue to teach for as long as I can.

I have been on a search for "something" or "somewhere" for many years always trying new things and taking classes on this and that and moving or traveling here and there. Coming from an upbringing of moving every few years and then into a 10 year career of a Flight Attendant, reflecting back I can clearly now see that the reason I didn't ever find what I was looking for was because I never stopped to paying attention to the present moment and always living in anticipation of what and where was next.

I stumbled into a Bikram Yoga class about 9 years ago in the dead of winter and it was the first time I may have ever stayed in one spot for 90 straight minutes and felt any kind of grounding. If I ever felt anxious, sad, overwhelmed, tired, whatever; the first thing I'd do was go take a class. Life was somehow easier to cope with after a Bikram class.

Over the years studios were popping up all over the country and I was able to practice while I was away working. With the belief that there is a path for each of us and when you see the signs and live with awareness your direction will clearly unfold for you... my path brought me to be a voice of what I am so passionate about and to teach. I am so grateful to have the opportunity to be apart of people's journey to a happier healthier life with teaching Bikram's 26 and 2 and at the same time am living a more meaningful grounded life.

On February 2, 2006, Bikram yoga became a part of my life. I was painting the interior of my house at the time with the help of a friend. When she mentioned that she was going to a hot yoga class that evening, I was intrigued. I had never heard of “hot” yoga. So I put down my paint brush and joined her. My initial thought when I walked into the hot room for the first time was, “get me out of here!”. I set my mat at the back of the room, clutched my water bottle and tried to talk myself into staying for the class. Too late, in walked Candice! Class started....and finished and I walked out of there grinning from ear to ear. If I had known how good I would feel after my first Bikram yoga class, I would have been in the hot room years ago! I had never been so challenged in my life, never sweat so much and never bent like that, ever! Did the last 90 minutes really happen? Did I just sweat out all my bodily fluids? Is that normal?......I feel great! I knew I had to get back in there ASAP...and I did and have never looked back.

I am passionate about this yoga. I love the challenge, I love the healing benefits and I love how I feel when I walk out of the hot room. I saw so many positive changes to my body and mind over the first few months of practicing and it hasn’t stopped there. After a steady practice for almost five years, I reached a point in my life where I knew all I wanted was to share my passion for this yoga with others. Fall 2010, I headed to San Diego to complete the most challenging part of my life so far, at Teacher Training.

I feel honoured to teach Bikram Yoga and to practice with all you yogis. I love seeing your practice evolve and your lives change from the yoga. Nothing is more inspiring to me than hearing how this yoga has changed your life so please come and find me and share your story with me. See you in the hot room! Namaste.

Life is often remembered and defined by before and after (a milestone/event/challenge/relationship, etc.) The challenge for me was when one morning in April 2007, it took me 20 minutes to get out of bed. The doctor said I had bursitis in my right hip and prescribed drugs and cortisone injection to relieve the pain. Even though it was hard to admit, I knew it was due to all the time I spent running over the many years. The pain had started to show itself since my early teenage years, but I ignored it, not wanting to stop running. I will always remember how incompetent I felt that one morning and couldn't believe that after all this time of trying to be healthy, that I ended up injuring myself instead. I had to find another way – there just had to be another way, right?!

My friend recommended Bikram Yoga to me, so I gave it a try. I was absolutely hooked from class one! I proceeded to do the 30 day challenge, which became the 60 day challenge, and then I continued until I did 90 days in a row. The only reason why it ended was because I had already planned to move back to Calgary (from Vancouver). Unfortunately there wasn't a Bikram Yoga studio in Calgary at the time. I was desperate - bouncing from studio to studio trying to find classes that resembled it, and although there were similarities, it never worked for me the way Bikram Yoga did.

Finally in January 2010, I learned of the BYCS studio and was happily going to classes as often as I could. One day at work while sitting at my desk, something "hit me"… I realized I was thinking, living, dreaming, talking yoga all the time, and that I didn't understand why I was still sitting at my desk, when all I really wanted to do was walk into that steamy, toasty, hot room. I made a decision to go to teacher training, quit my job and put faith into the Universe that I made the right decision.

Now here I am, just completed training and loving every minute of teaching, being at the studio, and also being bursitis free! I feel so lucky and am in gratitude of everyone who has supported me in this path. This has led me to see the beginnings of positive growth and change in every practitioner in the room, and I can not imagine anything more fulfilling than that.