Deborah Whipple, credentials:

Deborah discoverd the practice of yoga in North Vancouver 1979. She has continued to practice Iyengar yoga off/on ever since and is profoundly grateful to teachers Sally Kerr, Lynda Montis, and Andy Orr for providing and establishing a strong foundational root which has supported her well over 30 years of practice.  
She then discoverd Classical Ashtanga Yoga, joined the AYF Satsang and was deeply inspired by her teachers Andrea (Lakshmi) Roth (whom she credits with opening her to "the truth of yoga"), Al Trimble, Dayanand Diefenbaugh and guru Baba Hari Dass.  She has been on the Board of Directors of the Toronto Chapter of the Ashtanga Yoga Fellowship and has been part of the factulty of the AYF yearly retreat, www.yogastock.ca for many years.  

Deborah also dabbled in the practice Sivananda yoga under the tutelege of Dr.Smitha Koltari, phD for a few years.
After continual encouragement that "we teach to learn", she went on to continue with her studies and become certified as a teacher, completing the one year Enrichment Programme and Intro to Teacher Training in Iyengar Yoga at the Yoga Center Toronto; the 250 hour Advanced Practice in Hatha Vinyasa and 500 hour Advanced Teacher Training along with Prenatal Yoga Training at the Toronto Yoga Sanctuary under the direct guidance and mentorship of Cynthia Funk, Karusia Wroblewski, and Cora Wen, amongst many other world class international teachers who have been part of the faculty at TYS over the many years.

She has trained &certified with Judith Hansen Lasater in Restorative Yoga, and Anatomy & Therapeutics, with Swami Niramalanda in Svaroopa Yoga, with Cathy Keenan in Yin Yoga, with Drew Hume in Thai Yoga Massage, with Phoenix Rising Yoga Therapy (Level 1 Yoga Therapist - currently awaiting Level 2 certification) and Trauma Sensitive/Informed Yoga with Caroline Owen and Sarah Schlote,  as well as having participated in countless immersions, workshops, and intensives with many of yoga's master teachers in the Krishnamacharya lineage over the last 30 years.

Deb is also certified in the Nia Technique through Zeta Gaudet and has studied the work of Gabrielle Roth (5 Sacred Rhytmns) and Emile Conrad (Continuum Movement) with teacher Lorenna Bousquet (The Dancing Path & Spirit of the Earth Center).

She has a love for somatic body movement, is a passionate trance dancer with a love for the djembe, a certified astologer, a self taught herbalist, and a free spirit who likes to explore outside the box and encourages others to do the same.

She has been registered at the E500RYT level with Yoga Alliance although no longer supports that organization (opposed to the exploitation and commodificaiton of Yoga), is the founding director of OccupyYoga.ca. and has been teaching yoga and experiential movement full time since 2002.

Deb has been a faculty teacher for numerous YTT programmes and has a profound passion for training yoga teachers.  She most enjoys teaching The Psychology of Yoga, Esoteric Anatomy, Freedom Yoga, Deconstructing Your Vinyasa, Yoga of the Subtle Body, as well as numerous other workshops at the YTT level.  She has a special interest in yoga and hypermobility.
Deborah is a spiritual activist and a gifted teachers teacher; she loves to share her experiences and adventures in yoga and consciousness in both classical and alternative movement forms with her students and friends. Deb studied an Hons.BA in Psychology & Women's Studies at York University, and worked 20 years as a Senior Production Manager & Account Executive in the Advertising & Communications industry (Ironstone Media, St. Joseph Print Group, Tier One Communications, Southam Inc., enRoute Magazine, Solway Varvas Seppi Advertising, Telemedia Inc/TV Guide) before she retired  to accomplish her most important dharma - becoming a mother to her delightful daughter and wisest teacher, Kate.

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Yoga, an ancient but perfect science, deals with the evolution of humanity. This evolution includes all aspects of one’s being, from bodily health to self-realization. Yoga means union—the union of body with consciousness and consciousness with the soul. Yoga cultivates the ways of maintaining a balanced attitude in day-to-day life and endows skill in the performance of one’s actions.
~B.K.S. Iyengar, Astadala Yogamala~

The autonomic nervous system is divided into the sympathetic system, which is often identified with the fight-or-flight response, and the parasympathetic, which is identified with what’s been called the relaxation response. When you do yoga — the deep breathing, the stretching, the movements that release muscle tension, the relaxed focus on being present in your body — you initiate a process that turns the fight-or-flight system off and the relaxation response on. That has a dramatic effect on the body. The heartbeat slows, respiration decreases, blood pressure decreases. The body seizes this chance to turn on the healing mechanisms.
~Richard Faulds~