Our Studio is an alternative to the commercial studio setting, creating a space that feels safe, inclusive and tranquil. Classes are small and allow more time with instructors.
This is community!
We keep our fees low by
- hosting teachers committed to affordable classes
- encouraging YOU to sign up for a course or purchase a 5 class pass. This ensures the continuation of the class and supports your own commitment to your practice
- offering a reasonable sliding scale ($12-15 per class when you sign up for a full course or purchase a 5 class pass)
- offering PWYC (Pay What You Can) classes 2 - 3 times per week
Meet our Yoga teachers:
Sairupa Krishnamurti enjoys offering therapeutic, inclusive, and safe classes that emphasize wellness from within. Sairupa's yoga teaching is highly influenced by Ayurvedic Medicine, and she is currently striving towards a long-term goal of becoming a Naturopathic Doctor. Her teaching approach focuses on the whole individual, creating a safe space to engage in self-care at the level of involvement one is ready and comfortable with!
Maggie O'Connor: "I love to get to the heart of the matter, by practicing yoga that reveals inward creativity and grows wholeness." Her classes are influenced by ayurveda, freedom yoga and punk rock yoga and her favourite teachers are from the ashtanga, iyengar and anusara lineages. They are therapeutic, inclusive and safe classes that emphasize self-awareness and restoration through playful and peaceful practice.
Dianna Last is a Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction teacher who received her training under the direction of Roy Hintsa, Dr. Diane Reibel, Dr. Jon Kabat-Zinn and Dr. Saki Santorelli. She studied at the International Meditation Institute in India for five years. Dianna is certified as a Yoga Ed Instructor for Working with Those At-Risk and is a teacher for The Mindful Edge® – Stress Reduction and Life Strategies program for teens in high schools.
Julie Gladstone is the founder of the Starving Artist Yoga Network, and a certified yoga instructor with 10 years teaching experience, a certified Acupuncturist, and a visual artist with a BFA from Concordia University. Her teaching experience includes private prenatal classes in Mexico, training the woman's Lacrosse team and the Medical school at McGill University, and teaching youth-at-risk at Program Mile End in Montreal. Julie is passionate about the link between creativity, the alchemical process and spiritual practice and is dedicated to carrying on the tradition of yoga being available to anyone who has a desire to learn.
nisha loves to share yogic medicine and reiki, while continuing to learn about other vedic medicines such as ayurveda and pranic healing, and continuing her artistic practice as an actor, theatre movement creator, playwright, singer, and workshop facilitator.
Charlene: I took my first yoga class in 2003, prompted by an achy back caused by hours of playing my instrument. Having had a mostly inactive childhood, moving and breathing was revelatory. I started in the hot rooms of Bikram, explored AStanga Vinyasa, then found my home at Jivamukti. That kind of physical practice, combined with yoga philosophy, activism and meditation was life changing.
My classes offer generous amounts of hands-on assists intelligent and detailed alignment instruction, and thoughtful sequencing, with sprinklings of yoga philosophy and heartful intention.
My makeup includes an 800-hr Jivamukti certification, an Advanced Teaching Certificate from Kula Yoga Project NYC and numerous hours of studies in Anusara yoga. My most recent certifications are from Open Sky Yoga in Rochester, NY, home of my teacher Fran cois Raoult: I completed the Essential Yoga Teacher Training and the Pranayama Training in the summer of 2012.
I offer my gratitude to all of my teachers, especially David Life, Sharon Gannon, Jeannine Woodall and Yumee Chung (Jivamukti Yoga), Schuyer Grant (Kula style Yoga), John Friend (Anusara Yoga), Francois Raoult (lyengar), Darren Rhodes, and Juliana Gambrell and Lauren Zander (Handel Group). And last bu not least, many thanks go out to all of the students that walk through the door- you are the ones who make it all possible.
Meet Our Martial Arts Teachers:
Mary-Anne Labelle is happy to share the art of Tai Chi. She came upon Tai Chi over 25 years ago and explored Wu Style with Sifu Philip Mo. She has been studying various Yang style Tai Chi forms under the tutelage of Master Hung Ting Seng since 1998. To enhance her practice and understanding of the form, she started teaching in 2002.
Mai Cao has been training in the martial arts since 1996. She began her training in Kobudo (Okinawan weaponry) and attained the rank of black belt before beginning her training in Shaolin Kung Fu, under Sifu Rupert Harvey (Golden Harmony Kung Fu) 12 years ago. She is currently an instructor and black sash at Golden Harmony Kung fu, at Spirit Wind Healing Arts and a Kung Fu and Chi Gung instructor at Eight Branches Healing Arts and Academy for Eastern Medicine, where she also practices Zen Shiatsu and studies nutrition.
Mai first began teaching when invited to the Butterfly Peace Garden, a sanctuary for war affected children in the eastern province of Sri Lanka (2004), returning twice (2007 & 2010) she expanded her teachings to various affiliated centers across Sri Lanka ranging from convents to refugee camps and detention centers. Mai has also taught at SKETCH (working arts for street involved and homeless youth) in Toronto (2010).
click on the events below for more details. scroll down for descriptions of our classes and our courses.
click this button to book your appointment online
for teachers...
If you are interested in teaching in the self-serve yoga and movement studio, email our manager these items:
- • info about your yoga teaching experience/yoga resume
- • info about your self-care (stress mgt, health care, various practices)
- • what the concept of ‘self-service’ or ‘self-serve’ yoga/mindfulness means to you or your teaching philosophy
- • what you best love to teach
- • your teaching schedule/availability
find us online at these resources:
Kids Kung Fu Class
at Six Degrees
Started in the summer of 2010 to introduce his then 11 yr.
old daughter to Kung Fu, Instructor Rick Wong began a small regular weekend class which moved to 6 Degrees in April 2012. As younger children require parental attendance, the participants range from 5 to 65 years old. Emphasis is on self defense and traditional Choi Lei Fut techniques with a goal to improve fitness, self-awareness and self confidence.
Rick is an Instructor at the Hong Luck Kung Fu Club, founded in 1961 which is Toronto's oldest continuously operating martial arts club. He also teaches Kung Fu and Lion Dance to students at Alexander Muir Gladstone Public School. Rick studied Wu Tai Chi with Sifu Phillip Mo from 1981 until 1991. He has studied Choi Lei Fut and Dao Pi with Sifu Ian Chow, Sifi Mo Chow and Grandmaster Paul Chan since 1991. He was formerly a founding partner at the Interior Design firm, Cricket Design Company Inc.
Self-serve Yoga
The Studio at Six Degrees!
We grow, we shift, we find our place.
We are now offering more pre-registration classes, while still having drop-in PWYC classes on the schedule.
We want to bring you quality classes, with mindful teachers at affordable rates. With a combination of PWYC and pre-registered classes we hope to meet the needs of most of you while ensuring teachers and the studio can afford to continue creating this space that is here to support healing & self -care.
Each pre-registered class needs a minimum number of people to run the course, once this minimum is met we will open up the remaining spots for drop-in, sliding scale rates. Making a commitment to the course ensures the class will go on! Your presence helps the community as well as yourself. Six Degrees of connection and community!
Each of our teachers in every class is hand-picked for their skill, sensitivity and all around wonderfulness. We hope you enjoy what we have to offer.
The mandates for this project include: making health resources accessible to more people, promoting and supporting self-awareness and self-care as preventative medicine, and providing resources for personal and professional development in holistic health and well-being. The Studio at Six Degrees is being intentionally created as a space where:
- yoga is taught in a safety-first, anti-oppression, mind-body-spirit framework;
- teachers have credentials & experience in holistic health care such as TCM, Ayurveda, MBSR, Osteopathy etc, and are values-aligned regarding inclusive community health;
- and students experience increased wellness and inspiration to support unique and balanced life pursuits.
Programming fees are based on a pre-paid sliding-scale or drop-in by-donation (pwyc), thereby encouraging students to attend to their practice as a normal, regular health resource, not a luxury.
Class & course descriptions
Beginner Yoga 1 with Sabine Buehlman
Monday 12 - 1pm, 4 week course, Jan 7 - 28 OPEN FOR DROP IN!!
Monday 12 - 1pm, 4 week course, Jan 7 - 28 OPEN FOR DROP IN!!
In this 4 weeks beginners course you will learn the basic asana (posture), pranayama (breathing exercises) and relaxation techniques from the scratch.
Sabine is a yoga teacher, trained and certified through the International Sivananda Yoga Vedanta Centre. She has taught at the Sivananda Yoga Centre in Toronto. Sabine works also as a life coach and meditation teacher and is inspired by a desire to help people to have a healthy and strong body, to overcome fear and to find inner peace.
Meridian Exercises with Lamia Gibson OPEN FOR DROP INS!
Monday 5:30 - 6:30 pm, 6 week course, Jan 14 - feb 25
Meridian Exercises is an extension of the Japanese understanding of the Meridian system as discovered by Shizuto Masunaga. Much like a yoga class we open the channels in the order the Qi or Ki moves as we do each pose. We create balance and promote better health by moving our Ki gently through our energy system. Each class will have a focus on one of the 6 paired meridians and together we will move the Ki through our channels each time.
Lamia is a seasoned practitioner of Meridian exercises, a shiatsu therapist & acupuncturist. They believe that awareness of imbalance in our bodies is one of the first steps to preventative health and general well-being. Lamia invites you to join them in this practice to promote relaxation, strengthen your mental & physical body and to generate increased body and energetic awareness. be well, live well.
Tai Chi 24 with Mary-Anne LaBelle
2 days to choose from:
Monday 6:30 - 7:30pm, 8 week course, Jan 7 - Feb 25
Sunday 4:30 - 5:30pm, 8 week course, Jan 13 - Mar 3
Tai Chi is regarded as a fundamental martial art. A Tai Chi form is a series of interconnected flowing movements that have significant and long lasting benefits. Benefits of Tai Chi include: -develop, relax and calm both mind and body, improve co-ordination and balance, increase flexibility and strength, build confidence, discipline and sound judgement.
Mary-Anne is an instructor of Tai Chi at Six Degrees since oct 2011 Active member Traditional Wushu association of Canada Certified coach level 6 Wushu Student of MAster Hung Ting Sen since 1998 (24/42/88 fist, 32/42 sword, spear, national/traditional push hands) Medallist in competition since 2001
Yin Yoga with Charlene Yeh
Wednesday 6 - 7:15pm, 8 week course, Jan 9 - feb 27 OPEN FOR DROP INS
Yin Yoga is a body meditation. Through the practice of long-held postures targeting the fascia of the hips, hamstrings and lower back, Yin Yoga asks the practitioner to slow down and make space for stillness. Working from the outer body back to the center, this practice explores the relationship between the form of the physical poses and formless states of relaxation, meditation and absorption.
Charlene's classes offer generous amounts of hands-on assists, intelligent and detailed alignment instruction, and thoughtful sequencing, with sprinklings of yoga philosophy and heartful intention. Trained in Jivamukti, Anusara & Yin Yoga.
Gentle Hatha with Sairupa Krishnamurti
Thursday 6 - 7:15pm, 6 week course, Jan 24 - Feb 28
Yoga from an ayurvedic perspective. Looking for a gentle approach to yoga? Join these 6-week seasonal sessions inspired by the relationship between the sibling-philosophies of Yoga and Ayurveda. These classes are great for beginners who enjoy a gentle space to practice, but all levels are welcome to attend. Winter season classes focus on yoga asanas (postures), pranayama (breathing), and meditation that uplifts the spirit, balance the nervous system, and maintain inner warmth.
Sairupa has been practicing & learning Hatha Yoga for over 12 years, with several inspirational healers in Canada as well as South East Asia (where she lived for parts of her life). She completed a yoga teacher training in 2007 through the school of Integrative Yoga Therapy with yoga teacher/therapist Heather Greaves (Hamilton). A unique aspect to this course, was training in anti-oppression and inclusive teaching approaches. With a deep love for Ayurveda and Yoga, and a passion to make these medicines accessible - you will most often find Sairupa facilitating self-care classes with community-based organizations. SHe is currenbly working towards a long-term goal of becoming a Naturopathic Doctor through the Canadian College of Naturopathic Medicine.
Yin Yoga for Intuition, Mystery and Balance with Julie Gladstone
Thursday 8:00- 9:00pm, 8 week course, Jan 10 - Feb 28 OPEN FOR DROP INS
Exploring our inner landscape using long held poses to cultivate body awareness, intuition, patience, stillness and trust in the mysterious depths of the unknown. In this course we will practice releasing logic to develop confidence and trusting relationship with our intuition and body wisdom. The class will have a therapeutic benefit, helping ease stress, improve flexibility and joint health, improving sleep, calming anxiety and regulating menstruation. Practices include yin yoga, hatha yoga, acupressure points, mindfulness meditation, focusing, relaxation.
Julie is a certified Hatha and Yin Yoga instructor and a licensed TCM Acupuncturist. She welcomes students of all levels and gender orientation.
Family Kung Fu with Rick Wong
Saturday 9:30 - 11:00 am, 13 week course, Jan 12 - Apr 6
Kids, sisters, brothers, parents & grandparents... everyone is welcome to Join Rick's Kung Fu class! Family Kung Fu for self defense and internal health. Based on the idea that kids learn and progress better with their parents working out with them and vice versa. Classes begin with stretch and strength exercises and then progress to martial applications and forms. Movement from Choi Lei Fut, Do Pi and Wu Tai Chi systems. Recommended 8 years and up in a girl friendly class. Rick is an Instructor at the Hong Luck Kung Fu Club, founded in 1961 which is Toronto's oldest continuously operating martial arts club. He also teaches Kung Fu and Lion Dance to students at Alexander Muir Gladstone Public School.
Rick studied Wu Tai Chi with Sifu Phillip Mo from 1981 until 1991. He has studied Choi Lei Fut and Dao Pi with Sifu Ian Chow, Sifi Mo Chow and Grandmaster Paul Chan since 1991. He was formerly a founding partner at the Interior Design firm, Cricket Design Company Inc.
MBSR Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction
- Tuesdays Feb 5 - Mar 26 , 7-10pm
- Mindfulness Everyday is a non-profit organization and is offering this 8-week course on a sliding scale at Six Degrees only $250 - $440 plus HST
- There is also a materials cost of $40 plus HST (book, workbook, cds)
Mindfulness Everyday is a dedicated team of teachers with formal mindfulness training who are highly experienced in conducting MBSR workshops in Toronto. Mindfulness Everyday offers a number of programs based on Mindfulness Based Stress Reduction (MBSR), first developed in 1979 by Jon Kabat-Zinn, founding director of the Stress Reduction Clinic at the University of Massachusetts Medical School. Mindfulness is the ancient practice of present moment, non-judgmental awareness of one's life experience.
Dr. Kabat-Zinn describes mindfulness as an approach to life based on the understanding that: “the present is the only time that any of us have to be alive – to know anything – to perceive – to learn – to act – to change – to heal”. MBSR programs have helped thousands of people transform their lives. The course is challenging and life-affirming.
Through a series of 8 weekly sessions, participants learn and integrate mind-body techniques, designed to uncover and strengthen resources that are already within them. Several studies have shown that MBSR can lower stress and increase vitality and well-being.
