In 2002, when Charlotte was an editor for a publishing company in Toronto, she attended her first Bikram hot yoga class at a small studio in the city’s Beaches neighbourhood. The intensity of the workout appealed to her athletic tendencies, as did its emotional and physical lightening and lengthening effects. She returned to the hot studio as often as her life allowed.

Relocating a home office to her hometown of Kingston coincided closely with the opening of Feel Yoga, Kingston’s first and only Bikram hot yoga studio. Charlotte resumed her practice there, and participated in Feel’s work-trade (karma) program prior to her departure in early 2007 for Bikram teacher-training in Honolulu, Hawaii.

Yoga has encouraged Charlotte along a path to personal wellness that has increased her commitment to creative pursuits such as painting, gardening and cooking. She also enjoys spending time in the outdoors in the company of her dog, Farley.

Charlotte is a strong advocate of the benefits of practicing various forms of yoga as a counterpoint and complement to the Bikram series. She maintains a weekly practice of both Yin and Ashtanga series, and attributes both to a significant improvement in her flexibility and strength in the hot room. As a Bikram teacher, Charlotte aims to incorporate more meditative, relaxing and silent Yin-style elements into Bikram’s more Yang-tending series. She enjoys getting to know the diverse people who enter Feel’s doors every day and finds it deeply rewarding to observe the often dramatic healing, transformative and regenerative effects that even a single Bikram class can have on its practitioners. Charlotte feels privileged and honoured to practice and teach within Feel’s beautiful space and community. The practice continues to challenge her and she has great empathy with those who also find their journey with Bikram yoga a continuous exercise in patience, perseverance and determination.

Charlotte is fascinated by the bioenergetic body work she has recently experienced and hopes to gain a deeper understanding of the energetic flow through the chakras. She completed the Basic Jin Shin Do® training in the fall of 2011.

Charlotte’s artwork can be viewed here.