Teachers

All of the teachers at Shakti Yoga have completed an intensive teacher-training course at an accredited Yoga training facility. We all have experienced first hand the effects of yoga in our daily lives and feel passionately about sharing that with others.

Collette Beneteau

Collette Beneteau began living her yoga practice in 2003 when she first stepped on her mat at Downtown Yoga in Windsor, Ontario. There, she met many people who inspired her to seek out a path less travelled and to find a gentler way to live life to its fullest. Her practice became the beautiful, holistic tool that led her to deepen and strengthen physically, mentally and spiritually.

At the time, she was a stay at home mom with four children. Her youngest child was in and out of the hospital,and the other 3 were home schooled. Collette found the time to go to yoga and strengthen herself, then went back home to strengthen her family.

Collette has been practicing yoga for 7 years. In 2003 and 2004 she took the teacher training course with Jonny Kest at the Center for Yoga in Bloomfield, Michigan. In 2007 she took a kids teacher training course at Yoga Buds in Toronto. She then further deepened her studies with world famous teachers Manju Pattabhi Jois and David Williams.

Collette became a Registered Massage Therapist in 2009. She blends the skills she has learned from massage and yoga into one another for a more holistic experience. She has also taken Reiki and Thai massage to better her understanding of natural healing. Collette's ultimate goal is to share the wonders of yoga with everyone around her and to lend a healing hand when needed.

Adam Bolton

Adam is returning to his roots in Chatham-Kent, after having lived in Toronto, Montreal and abroad for the last decade. He left the pig farm to pursue a career in the performing arts and has had the good fortune to have performed on Canada's most renowned stages amongst this country's most talented artists. He has come to the practice of yoga as a means to maintain, prevent, and heal injuries caused by the intensities of a life in the performing arts, and through yoga has not only discovered physical transformation, but has experienced a mental and spiritual awakening. With a passion for understanding and communicating the workings of the body and the mind, Adam is honoured to have had the chance to study with exceptional teachers at the Sivananda Yoga Ashram in Val Morin Quebec, at Ashtanga Yoga Montreal, and owes the igniting of this passion to the teachers at Downward Dog Yoga Centre in Toronto.

Adam is also a Thai Yoga Massage Practitioner ,providing a technique and physical language that facilitates the cultivation of the creative healing force within, as well as integrating spiritual awareness, relieving stress and chronic tension.

Renée Trepanier

Renée Trepanier recently spent time in Baja California, Mexico, where she practiced at the Yandara Yoga Institute and became a certified yoga instructor through the Yoga Alliance. Having studied yoga since 2002, she is drawn to the healing and transformational aspects of yoga through physical fitness and mental well-being. More succinctly, her practice has brought her focus toward incorporating the notion of mettainto her classes and daily life, the philosophy of practicing loving kindness to all beings, including one’s self. Renée’s classes are sure to warm your body and heart, and to make you sweat, leaving you invigorated and inspired toward being a more compassionate and loving individual.

Virginia Wigle

Virginia grew up in Chatham and currently resides outside Merlin along the north shore of Lake Erie with her husband. Her first exposure to yoga was as a fitness instructor in 1997. Her interest in teaching fitness classes was fueled by her love of dance and movement, having studied ballet and jazz as a child, teenager and young adult. In 2006 she received her certificate as a Teacher of Yoga from the Stillpoint Yoga Center in Picton, Ontario. Since 1996, Virginia has taught a variety of fitness classes such as Step and Spin, as well as yoga based stretch classes. She has been teaching mainly yoga classes since 2004 at various locations, including the Recreation department of the Municipality of Chatham-Kent. She has taught at Shakti Yoga Studio since Sept. 2006.

Virginia teaches primarily beginner and gentle classes. She developed an interest in Yin yoga resulting in her completing Paul Grilley’s Yin Yoga Teacher Training workshop in May 2007. In Sept. of 2007 she started teaching Yin Yoga at Shakti. Since then she has studied with Paulie Zink and Bernie Clark, further exploring the subtitles of Yin yoga. She continues to cultivate her love for yoga and appreciation for its spiritual importance in her life by attending continuing education opportunities, workshops and retreats. It is her heart’s desire to live the spirit of yoga in all aspects of her life.