susanrichardsonyoga

Susan first started exploring yoga in 1988, and has been practicing devotedly since 1996. Over the years she has studied intensively with many senior teachers in the Iyengar tradition including Geeta Iyengar, daughter of B.K.S. Iyengar, Manouso Manos, Faeq Biria, Suzanne Fitzpatrick, Marlene Mahwhinney and Mahyar Raz.  Susan is certified as a Junior Intermediate 1 teacher through the Iyengar Yoga Association of Canada.

Susan is passionately involved with the practice of yoga as an exploration of the inner world through inquiry and observation. Her extensive training and ability to adapt postures to the needs of each individual provides her students with a strong, safe and nourishing practice. She aims to help students experience yoga and meditation as a way of developing awareness, of both body and mind, allowing us to be present, awake and whole.

“Yoga has been the strand that has tied the many aspects of my life together. Awareness of mind and body offers a freedom to open our selves up to the world around us and to experience it with clarity.”

Susan has been studying buddhadharma for over two decades and draws inspiration from her numerous retreats with Tsultrim Allione, and Toni Packer. She also studies yoga philosophy with Michael Stone, and is deeply influenced by Krishnamurti, and teachers who have studied with him such as Dona Holleman,  Mark Whitwell and Erich Schiffman.

Susan balances her love of yoga with her passion for music. Having studied piano throughout her childhood, teens and twenties, Susan has returned with enthusiasm and perseverance to  the piano and the glorious music of Bach, Mozart, Beethoven, Chopin, Brahms and Rachmaninoff. She studies with Boyanna Toyich, professor at University of Toronto, and is fascinated with all the similarities between yoga and music.

“Playing the piano is a wonderful opportunity for present centered awareness, deep listening and non-judgment- the same qualities one cultivates in yoga and meditation. And through yoga I have been able to take my playing to new heights by finding balance between motion and stillness, tension and relaxation, stability and mobility.”

Susan lives in Toronto with her husband and two sons, where she teaches both yoga and classical piano. Since 1999, Susan has been teaching public classes, workshops, intensives, and teacher training programs in the Toronto area. She incorporates her extensive studies of anatomy into her teachings. Susan studies with Laura Allard using the Zoologic System of Kinesthetic Anatomy in Clay developed by Jon Zahourek. Susan has also studied Sanskrit for years with the wonderful sanskrit teacher, Manorama. Along side her studies, Susan spent five years volunteering as the regional representative for the national Iyengar Yoga Association.