Click the links below to read the instructor bios.
studio owner and director
Jennifer is the owner and director of Moksha Yoga Danforth. It has been an interesting and varied route to arrive here. Originally an actor and dancer, Jennifer started practicing yoga at age 16. However, it wasn't until just a couple of years ago that she knew she wanted to teach and share this incredible practice. Along the way she worked in theatre, film, and event production and spent time living overseas and traveling, Now she has truly come home to her role as teacher and director of this fantastic space. When not at the studio Jennifer can be found teaching and coaching communication skills in the corporate world. Always with a little breathing and yoga thrown in!
Jennifer believes in not just the physical benefits of yoga, but in the deep, loving spiritual tradition of the practice. She teaches from the heart, and strives to create a class atmosphere where everyone is welcome and leaves feeling inspired.
She feels lucky to have been able to study with some wonderful teachers along the way, including Todd Norian, Ann Greene, John Friend, Judith Lasater, Frank Jude Boccio, and Mark Whitwell. And of course the founders of Moksha Yoga, Ted Grand and Jessica Robertson!
In addition to Moksha, Jennifer teaches Yin, Restorative and pre-natal yoga. Jennifer is a registered Anusara-Inspired yoga teacher, and is currently studying to become an Ayurvedic Health Educator.
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studio manager and teacher
Celeste was originally introduced to yoga when her mother started teaching and practicing in the early 90’s. It wasn’t until Celeste graduated from university that she would rediscover the practice and embark on this life changing journey. Celeste studied drama in school, so she loves expressing herself creatively, thrives off public energy and really digs when people get in a room and share something powerful together. Celeste’s second home is this studio. She loves the role of manager, because it lets her watch students grow, expand and blossom through their practice…it also gives her a venue to show off her freakish talent for remembering names. When Celeste is not teaching or managing, she can probably be found teaching a first aid class, playing her guitar, busy studying up on some Traditional Yoga Studies through YREC, or reading a really great book.
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Ted
 Founder of Moksha Yoga, Teacher
Ted Grand created the Moksha yoga sequence of postures. In creating the series he drew upon his thirteen years of yoga experience and more than one thousand hours of training in yoga therapy, yoga teaching, and traditional yoga. Approaching this task with patience and tireless research, he modified and perfected the sequence based on the opinions of a wide range of experts and peers in the yoga community. Ted is co-owner of Moksha Yoga Montreal and Moksha Yoga Halifax and is co-founder of Yaletown Yoga in Vancouver, Moksha Yoga Uptown and Moksha Yoga Danforth in Toronto. He has studied teacher training programs under Bikram Choudhury in Los Angeles, Acharya Yoganand Karandikar in Pune, India and with Georg Feuerstein at the Yoga Research and Education Centre in San Francisco.
He has also been fortunate to study teacher training with Janice Clarfield (pre-natal yoga), yoga philosophy with Rod Stryker, Anusara Yoga with John Friend, Iyengar Yoga with Patricia Walden, and Restorative Yoga with Judith Hanson Lasater. Ted feels an immense amount of gratitude to his teachers with every class he teaches and participates in. He works to support beginners as well as more experienced students with finding a path to peace through their yoga. His love of yoga is infectious and can be felt in each and every class he teaches. Ted is also a proud husband and father, an organic farmer, and an environmental/social activist.
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Founder of Moksha Yoga, Teacher
Jessica is a teacher at heart. She has taught everything from flute and recorder to canoeing. After completing a degree in Humanistic Studies at McGill she lived in Panama conducting workshops on Inclusive Education and human rights for people with disabilities. She then taught English at Tokyo Seitoku University in Japan and privately in Salamanca, Spain.
Jessica has had a longstanding interest in yoga and has been honoured to practice under the tutelage of teachings of Baba Hari Das for many years.
Jessica is a certified Bikram Yoga Instructor and a Sivananda Yoga Instructor. She is devoted to and passionate about ongoing study.
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Teacher
Michelle found Bikram Yoga and immediately knew she had found her passion. She decided that sharing the bliss was what she needed to do. Since training in L.A. Michelle has left her corporate career and now guides classes. She is always amazed at the transformations that occur, feeling honoured to be a part of the process. An avid sailor, skier and novice rock-climber Michelle believes that physically the Bikram practice enhances every sport; and that that is only the beginning of the journey.
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Teacher
Stephanie has been a hairstylist for the past thirty years, using cardio and weight training to keep fit. She then added yoga to her routine over six years ago to bring a sense of balance to her life. Enjoying yoga and all of its benefits, she sought different forms of yoga until some friends introduced her to hot yoga. She began a daily practice, and after finding better health and improved posture, she decided to train as a teacher. Stephanie trained under Bikram and his senior teachers in Los Angeles and received her certificate in November of 2003. She is dedicated to yoga and intends to continue studying so that she can bring a wealth of knowledge to her class and share this with fellow yoga practitioners.
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Teacher
Serena has made yoga a daily practice since 2002. Always seeking new ways to transform and become more self aware, she was instantly hooked by hot yoga. She became much more focused, grounded in her body and self-confident. Practicing yoga gave her the courage to give up an unhealthy job, sever unhealthy relationships and become vegetarian. She found that in aligning her body through asana practice, she became more aligned with her inner truth - her centre - which now guides her life more and more. Serena feels honoured to share her love of yoga with her students and delights in seeing them grow. She hopes that through yoga we can all become more connected to our body's wisdom, our heart's yearnings, and the Earth. Aside from practicing yoga, Serena also practices NIA, creative movement, and belly dance. She also does astrology and tarot readings.
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Teacher
“Better than a thousand hollow words, is one word that brings peace.” ~Buddha
Kosu has been teaching Moksha Yoga since 2004, and Yin Yoga since 2006. The recipient of the “Quiet Buddha” award from her Moksha training, Kosu integrates the practices of mindfulness and loving kindness into all aspects of her yoga practice. During the week, Kosu also works as a multifaith chaplain at a chronic care hospital. In her off hours, she watches documentaries and plays cribbage with her partner, Mel, and 12-year-old daughter, Cleo. She is a recent breast cancer survivor.
Teaching mentors include: Ted Grand, Jessica Robertson, Erich Shiffman, Paul Grilley, Sarah Powers and Michael Stone.
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Teacher
Lindsey teaches at our studio. A more detailed bio to come soon.
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 Teacher
A member of the Moksha Yoga Danforth community since September of 2002, Jessica Lemon has been balancing life as a student and a teacher since receiving her Moksha Yoga certification in 2004. She studies at the University of Toronto and last year completed a year abroad in France where she studied French literature and taught both Yoga and English in the North Western region of Nantes.
Love of travel and self-discovery first led Jessica to hot yoga at the age of 18 when she moved to Vancouver to pursue acting. Since then, she has lived and worked in Montreal, Toronto, and London Ontario using her enthusiasm and talent for communication to inspire both French and English communities to explore methods of healing and health through yoga.
It is Jessica’s goal as a teacher and student to integrate the desire for growth and evolution with love and compassion. She believes it is through this balance that we will heal the world.
An understanding heart (is) everything in a teacher, and cannot be esteemed highly enough. One looks back with appreciation to the brilliant teachers, but with gratitude to those who touched our human feeling. The curriculum is so much necessary raw material, but warmth is the vital element for the growing plant and for the soul of the child.
Carl Jung
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Teacher
Following more than two decades in varying corporate administrative positions within the winemaking industry, Danny's growing penchant for wellness and physical conditioning eventually lead him to pursue a career in health and fitness. Shortly before attaining certifications in fitness assessment and personal training, Danny was introduced to yoga while traveling abroad on the island of Kauai. This initial introduction to Hatha yoga piqued Danny's interest. However, it wasn't until shortly afterwards, upon his return to Canada, while attending his first Hot Yoga class that Danny experienced a truly cathartic revelation. From the outset, it was clearly evident that the awareness and inter-connectivity that yoga cultivates was an ideal complement to the rigors of conventional fitness.
In the summer of 2004, Danny registered and subsequently graduated from the inaugural Moksha Teacher Training certification program consisting of over 800 hours of study. Danny has since studied with many highly accredited teachers including David Life, Paul Grilley, Judith Lasater, Baron Baptiste and John Friend. Danny's love and passion for yoga grows with every passing day. Danny credits his teachers, students and family for helping him to attain a greater understanding and appreciation of connection, compassion and awareness.
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Teacher
Monique’s yoga journey began at a Toronto Parks and Rec class in 2001. After feeling the energized, yet calm state she had after a long savasana, she fell in love. She started taking classes at Moksha Danforth but the real hook was when she became part of the trade program. Moksha became her new home and becoming a teacher was an obvious next step. She’s been teaching in Toronto since 2005, and also had the wonderful experience of teaching in Taiwan. She came into this new life with a long history of teaching dance to children, which she continues to do each summer at Centauri Summer Arts Camp. Along with working as a yoga teacher, Monique also works part-time nanny to a friend’s little one, where she gets to see the world through the eyes of a 2 year old. Monique likes to create an easy-going atmosphere in her classes, focussing on awareness of breath and an understanding of the essence of a posture. She loves to work with beginners and seasoned yogis alike.
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Barbara attended her first yoga class at the age of 3; she’s been hooked ever since. Taking her first hot yoga class in 2003, she found herself simultaneously challenged and comforted by the heat, the environmental awareness, and the knowledge and expertise of the teachers that infuses the Moksha Yoga Danforth studio. This led her to take the teacher training in the summer of 2006. Extremely grateful to join the MYD team, Barbara is continually amazed at
the power of yoga to transform people’s lives. Barbara is also a professional dance artist, she dances, choreographs, improvises co-creates short dance films and has been a member of Dancetheatre David Earle since 1997. She has also trained in alternative dance techniques including Skinner Releasing Technique and Authentic Movement.
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Teacher
Leo Hauer discovered Yoga during his early experiences with Zen meditation. Inspired to try and sit with his knees below his ears, he began to practice asana and study the philosophical and meditative aspects of Yoga in 1989. Believing that learning is attained by direct experience, Leo is currently exploring Taoist and Yogic energetic practices of Qi Gong and Charka meditation, which evolved from his experience with Yin Yoga. Since 2000, Leo has been teaching yoga and leading workshops and retreats focusing on Anatomy, the techniques of Yin Yoga and Healing Nutrition.
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Teacher
Jonny Belinko has his undergraduate degree in Chemistry and Environmental Sciences (Trent University) and has been studying yoga for the past number of years quite intensively. He spent most of 2005 and 2006 in Taiwan at Space Yoga Studio where he teaught and studied yoga full-time. Jonny is a Certificated Moksha Yoga Teacher (2005) and has a Certificate of completion in Ashtanga Yoga teacher’s training program from David Swenson (2006). Jonny is a creative, energetic, enthusiastic, highly motivated individual who loves laughing and having fun. He enjoys teaching with a lot of Energy and tries to be very aware and conscious of his own energy. Jonny feels strongly connected to the word "Balance", which carries him throughout his Asana practice, his teaching, as well as his day-to-day life. While he finds a great deal of pleasure in living a balanced lifestyle, he savors enjoyment in simply walking and spending time by the ocean.
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Teacher
Aura was first introduced to Ashtanga yoga in 1996. It was part of her movement class in the theatre and dance program where she received her Bachelor in Fine Arts. Her love for hot yoga started with Bikram, introduced to her in 2002, which then led her to Moksha and she’s been hooked ever since. Aura carries lightheartedness in her teachings but at the same time challenges each individual to go to their edge. Her training in dance and physical theatre supports her teachings by honing in to proper alignment and use of breath. She has an eye and the touch to support a posture whether it’s for an advance student or your very first class!
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