Fiona Stang

Fiona draws from over 28 years of yoga experience. Her passion in teaching is making yoga a “practice for life” with her attention focused on healing the body, mind and soul. Fiona first journeyed to Mysore, India in 1999 to study with the Jois family. Fiona continued to study with her teachers to receive their teachings of devotion, grace, faith, compassion, patience, and yoga. In 2000, Fiona was authorized to teach ashtanga yoga and founded a Mysore program in Vancouver. In July 2009, she was in the first group of 40 students worldwide to receive Level 2 Authorization from KPJAYI.

Fiona has been inspired by many ashtanga teachers throughout the years. She has studied under Sharmila Desai, John Scott, David Swenson, and Tim Miller. All these teachers have greatly influenced her understanding and teaching of Ashtanga Yoga.

Fiona is grateful for the community of teachers at AYV that support her daily practice and keep her teaching fresh and innovative. When not at the shala, Fiona is seen volunteering on the ski race course, tennis courts or hiking in the mountains and woods with her two children, Ambrose & Viveka, her husband Julian and their dog Aspen.

Fiona also teaches workshops in other countries. Please visit Fiona’s schedule page for her international engagements.

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Saori Moue

Saori was introduced to Ashtanga yoga following the 2011 Earthquake/Tsunami in her hometown of Fukushima, Japan. The stress and fear led her to a major life shift because at that time, she was becoming seriously unhealthy due to her long hours and expectations from her job. Saori met teacher, Mae Yoshikawa, and credits the subsequent practice for helping her regain control of her breath and for improving both her physical and mental states.

In 2012, Saori experienced her first Ashtanga yoga teacher training with Ken Harakuma and in the same year received instruction from KPJAYI Director, Sharath Jois, in Tokyo.

While visiting Canada in 2015, Saori was introduced to Fiona Stang while practicing at Ashtanga yoga Vancouver. The AYV community was a major factor in Saori's decision to choose Vancouver when she moved in 2016. Since then, she has completed an apprenticeship under the guidance of Fiona and continues her own practice and ever learning while teaching at AYV.

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Shivaun Berg

I was introduced to Ashtanga Yoga in 2004 and began practicing daily in 2007. Fiona Stang and Angela Jamison are my teachers. The need for a bit of self care while a stay at home mom living in North Carolina, led me to my first Ashtanga classes at Yoga Spot with Nancy Kimberly and Suzanne Faulkner. After moving back to Canada in 2007, I was fortunate to find a daily Mysore program at Winnipeg Yoga Shala with Jonathan Austman. This experience showed me how a dedicated teacher and community can come together to support and sustain a lifelong practice. In 2008 I began assisting Jonathan in the Mysore room and worked with him until his death in 2019. In November 2019, I opened Ashtanga Yoga Winnipeg which operated through the COVID pandemic until I relocated to Vancouver in 2022. 

Along with Jonathan, I have had the benefit of working with other wise and caring teachers including Mary Taylor and Richard Freeman with whom I completed their month-long teacher intensive in 2012. I met Angela Jamison in 2019 at a workshop in Minneapolis, MN and travelled later that year to Ashtanga Yoga Ann Arbor (AYA2) in Michigan. Through the pandemic, I practiced regularly with AYA2 online, and in July 2025, began the first of, hopefully, many visits to Ann Arbor. 

I connected with Fiona for the first time in 2016 when my daughter came to Vancouver for school and dropped in to AYV whenever I came to visit. During the pandemic, Fiona was a great support as we shifted to teaching online. Since moving to Vancouver, I am grateful to be able to practice with Fiona regularly and for the warm welcome and support of the AYV community. Working with students at AYV is an extension of the practice and a reminder to be curious and patient and to trust the process. 

Sarah Kozlowski

Sarah was taught yoga and meditation as a child to help relieve her anxiety disorder. With a desire to share how yoga helped her mental health, Sarah completed a 200hr teacher training program with Karma Teachers.

Sarah was first introduced to ashtanga yoga by Fiona Stang of Ashtanga Yoga Vancouver. She had the honour of studying with R. Sharath Jois in in 2016.

Sarah guides students to use asana as a tool to cultivate a stable body, and a steady mind. She is currently apprenticing with Fiona Stang at Ashtanga Yoga Vancouver.

Sarah loves to travel and find new forms of creative expression. She is feels fortunate to learn under the guidance of Fiona Stang.

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Seline Taye

Seline started practicing yoga as a teenager when her mom brought her to her first class. Since then, she has always returned to practice as a way to help her find mental space and capacity to balance multiple aspects of a busy lifestyle.

She completed her Yoga Teacher Training in Rishikesh India in 2018, and has been teaching yoga for over 7 years. She began her teaching journey in Toronto, at multiple yoga studios and for corporate wellness programs. She has spent some time teaching internationally in Tenerife (Spain) and Nepal. In Toronto, she hosted several workshops on: backbending, inversions (hand balancing) and the ashtanga yoga method.

Her focus on yoga teaching has shifted from Vinyasa / Hatha / Restorative, to more Ashtanga yoga, as that continues to be her main practice. Her first encounter with Ashtanga was in 2016 and she began a deeper journey into the practice with David Robson and Jelena Vesic in 2021. She completed assisting school at the Ashtanga Yoga Center of Toronto, and has assisted and taught at the studio for 4 years.

In 2023, she took her first trip to Mysore, India to practice Ashtanga under Guruji Sharath Jois, and was able to practice with him one last time in Miami 2024 before his passing.

Currently, she has made the move to Vancouver in Sept 2025 and is excited and grateful for the opportunity to learn more, practice, and assist with Fiona Stang.

She hopes to be able to pass on the teachings she has learned throughout the years from both her practice / experience and from important teachers / mentors.

GUEST TEACHER

Natalia Correa

Natalia is an Authorized Level 2 Ashtanga yoga teacher, from KPJAYI, India. Certified Holistic Nutritionalist with a Diploma in Herbal Pharmacology from the Institute of Holistic Nutrition, Canada. She is fascinated by the healing properties of yoga and herbs.

Natalia’s holistic journey began in 2010 with her first trip to India when she discovered yoga as a holistic practice. Devotion to the practice brought awareness towards her old unhealthy patterns and enabled her to look deeper for a different approach to life. This began her studies in yoga, holistic nutrition and the underlying causes of those old patterns. She travels to India regularly to study with her teacher, Sharath Jois and shows her devotion to the lineage by daily practice and by teaching at Ashtanga Yoga Vancouver and recently in Squamish, B.C. Heading to Squamish, BC. practice Ashtanga w Natalia. Visit her website: http://www.nataliacorrea.cl/

She will be always grateful to her teachers.

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GUEST TEACHER

Brittany Morgan

Brittany spent 10 years experimenting with body movement as a dancer/acrobat. Always intrigued by kinesthesis disciplines, she began practicing and studying yoga in 2010. Brittany quickly acquired a yoga mentor that introduced her to the Ashtanga method. It was through this discipline that she began to discover the deep connection between breath, body and mind and the many ways in which they interdepend on one another to help “oneself” reach their true Yoga potential.

In 2013 Brittany travelled to Europe to participate in Lucy and John Scott’s teacher training program. She is currently practicing and apprenticing under the direction of Fiona Stang and Tanya Salas. Her teachers and the community of people at AYV are a source of constant inspiration. She is thankful for their dedication, support, wisdom and openness. She hopes to show gratitude by sharing her experiences with all who would like to listen.

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Apprenticeship

The apprenticeship program is a rare opportunity to develop a unique relationship with the teachers at Ashtanga Yoga Vancouver. In the intimate setting of “Mysore style” classes lies the heart and soul of ashtanga yoga. The apprenticeship allows for a different perspective than one’s individual practice and invites you to understand the deeper mind-body-spirit connections that the practice embodies.

We require interested students to have at least 3-5 years yoga experience and/or an established “Mysore style” practice under our guidance for a minimum of one year before applying for the program. Once a relationship is established with our studio, you are welcome to apply to the apprenticeship program.

Slowly, with the guidance of a senior teacher, you will integrate into the room. By assisting us daily in class, you will gain a better understanding of the heart of ashtanga yoga, tradition, lineage, and the energetic body.