Hello + Welcome!
My name is Sandra Leigh.
Join me in Vancouver, BC ::
FALL 2026 yoga + wellness
UPDATE :: OFF THE MAT :: 2026 ::
Since 2021, I’ve been keeping busy with Business Media courses and the Radio Arts + Entertainment certification at BCIT. As a mature student, this has been both fun and challenging, but mostly, it’s kept me busy and out of trouble. 😉
In June 2026, I graduated from the BCIT Music Business School!
I’m pleased to be gradually sharing more entertainment and media skills, hopefully reaching more people through music, radio and recording arts, including new instructional video production, so stay tuned. Thanks for visiting!
You’re invited to listen to my music project here >>> @givepeaceachant mantra music <<<
Email me sandraleigh108 @ gmail . com for more info.
Thanks for your interest in my work with yoga + wellness. Why did I take up yoga and meditation in the first place?
Here’s a blog with some of my story and background of my own journey with yoga + wellness ::
I grew up in Calgary when TV programming included a CTV exercise program called ‘Kareen’s Yoga’, hosted by ever-fabulous Kareen Zebroff. I remember following along in the living room with my mom, and us both wearing one piece nylon bodysuits paired with thick, itchy leotards, just like the ones, D and E, seen below.
Early in my teens, I recognized the difficulties of my family’s generational trauma, although I had no words for it at the time, all I knew was home life was difficult and different and I had to grow up quickly.
I expressed myself with strong interests in music, art, drama all highlighting my school experiences but at only 17 years old, I developed a fairly serious health condition and required multiple surgeries. I was in and out of hospital for some time but without many answers regarding the condition, I just got on with life as normal.
I was living and working in Vancouver for almost a year when the same health complications returned. By now, I was in my early 20’s, living on my own in Vancouver. I only tell this story because I pulled through – hopefully a little wiser, my own health recovery program gave me my life back. I relied on a holistic exercise program to get mobile and well. I was breaking the model and unlearning so much of what I had learned growing up.
My body began to repair and rebuild as I got healthier, I began enjoying activities like cycling, running and I returned to the gym. I also registered for yoga, not expecting any kind of life changing experience.
Instead, I met an exceptional yoga teacher, Lilian Bianchi.
Originally from Brazil, Lilian had been practicing yoga and meditation since she was 14. When I attended her classes, I couldn’t explain it but I felt calm, for perhaps the first time ever.
I began attending sessions with Lilian as often as possible and for many years, I had no ideas or intentions to teach yoga. I knew I had landed on a mat and was in a process of growth and recovery. Yoga was so interesting and fun and Lilian’s classes were very challenging. I was so inspired by the lasting effects of the pranayama exercises and deep relaxation exercises that I gave up cigarettes, too.
Then, in 1995, my only marriage backfired, ending quickly with a divorce. The patterns of the dramatics showed me that I needed more space and time for my own recovery, more time for self love and repair was required.
So, I decided to visit Yasodhara Ashram, near Kootenay Bay, BC, where I participated in a 10 day workshop – ‘The Hidden Language of Hatha Yoga’ as taught by Swami Sivananda Radha, the original pioneer of the ‘Divine Light Invocation.‘
I ended up staying on at the ashram work program for about a year. I completed a yoga development certification course (YDC) and a Hatha Yoga Teacher’s Certificate. I had learned how to meditate and chant Sanskrit mantras. It was like another world at the ashram, with everything seeming to give added aura. I was so glad to be in the area around Nelson, because this is where my estranged grandmother, who was 1/2 Cree Nation spent her last years of life, passing away there many years earlier.
I also loved the interior but reluctantly I returned. I went back to work, mostly waiting on tables in various West End restaurants. I saved my tips and bought my first harmonium for chanting practices at home.
It wasn’t long after, I started instructing yoga + fitness classes at the YMCA plus I began subbing for Lilian.
Lilian introduced me to her dear friend and local legend, BC teacher, Sandra Sammartino who guided me in a complete modular teacher certificate course at her Kairos Studio in White Rock, BC. I was intrigued by Sandra’s approach to yoga as therapy. She was also the original pioneer and heart behind BC’s ‘Yoga Outreach’ programs.
My own Outreach teaching experiences included placements for yoga with home bound trauma survivors. I taught adult women at a drug and alcohol treatment facility in South Vancouver. The Yoga Outreach program also sponsored an after school program called “The Avengers”, where I taught yoga and breath work for children and youth with intellectual disabilities.
Through Yoga Outreach, I taught men’s yoga to young offenders who were being held at the Willingdon Youth Corrections Centre in Burnaby.
Looking back, I’m sure these incarcerated young men were bottling up the effects of unprocessed childhood trauma. They responded so well to yoga and deep relaxation. These were the same lads who were not responding to corporal punishment. Times sure have changed but I often wonder what have we really learned?
Through Yoga Outreach, I also led a women’s yoga program at St. Paul’s Eating Disorder Clinic. Although we didn’t call it “trauma-informed” or “somatic” movement at the time. I developed a practice to help ED patients restore delicate nervous systems and navigate frail bodies, mostly through breath alone. Our session was held in a quiet room with super soft and comfy chairs for yoga. I remember a noticeable inability for these ED patients to fully close their eyes, due to their extreme thinness, their eyes rolling as they took tiny little sips of breath. I believe they responded well and it seemed to be a positive experience, if only to try a new activity. Sadly, the St. Paul’s ED clinic program funding was cut and the ED yoga + wellness program was discontinued in the 00’s.
In 1999, I met a yoga group from the UK and I became interested in their unique, energy based style of yoga, called Dru Yoga. I completed a 3 year Dru Yoga Teacher Training course. I was also fortunate to travel and take further trainings in the UK, studying in North Wales, London, Scotland, The Netherlands, and India. I later earned a Dru Sound Healing & Mantra Certificate and a Dru Meditation Teacher’s certificate. More recently, I was certified as a Dru Breath Coach. Dru Yoga is popular in the UK, Europe, Australia and parts of India, and specializes in sound and mantra. Dru Yoga is incorporated into all of my classes. It’s an energy based yoga, and most every body can do it.
In 2001, after an entire summer in North Wales, UK, I took a job at Banyen Books, a local independent “metaphysical” bookstore where I eventually became a part-time floor manager. It was an excellent job and I loved working there.
In the early 2000’s, yoga (as an industry) began to really expand, too. In the bookstore we’d get a new yoga book, yoga video, or DVD arriving on a near daily basis. The section for yoga books eventually outgrew itself, from one small shelf of the classics, to into an entire room, dedicated to both traditional and western influenced yoga media. Banyen then moved locations to even bigger, permanent premises. We saw the yoga section expand, yet again. I worked part-time at the bookstore and then, I’d teach a few weekly yoga classes.
I watched the yoga industry (books, studios, and all) continued to grow. We saw the bookshelves buckle under full capacity for so many years.
Now, times have changed and in 2026, it’s a hard task to find funding for “The Outreach” style of wellness programming, yet we know the most vulnerable populations were having positive outcomes in the past.
Thanks for reading along, so far. I hope by sharing, I’ll inspire even one person with a healthy awareness for responsible lifestyle choices and alternatives.
I’ve also had a life long passion for music and singing. You might be familiar with the music from our community class but did you know that I produced that music myself? You can listen to more here.
That’s Part 2 of my story, coming soon.
We’re grateful to live and work on the unceded, ancestral territories of the Musqueam, Squamish and Tsleil Waututh Nations.