Sheena & Sole Strength
Sheena Stoqua - Hello! My name is Sheena Stoqua. I'm a Registered Kinesiologist, certified Yoga Teacher, Integrated Yoga Tune Up® teacher, Roll Model Method® Practitioner, MovNat Instructor. My passion is movement education and my mission is helping people move better in their bodies.
Sport, physical activity, and nature have always been an integral part of my life. I took my first yoga class in 2000 and became a certified personal trainer in 2001 while obtaining a Bachelor of Science degree (major in human kinetics and biology). Following graduation, I worked in corporate health as a wellness consultant for Nortel, Entrust, and Adobe, in education as a teacher in Japan, and educational publishing as territory manager for a Pearson Canada. In 2011, I decided to deepen my yoga studies and took my first 200hr YTT. This stoked an entrepreneurial fire in me to share yoga with my small community and start my own wellness business. In 2012, I left the K-12 education field, and alongside my phys ed teacher / personal trainer husband, started root2rise yoga and fitness.
Over the last 9.5 years with root2rise and while teaching group classes throughout SD&G, I continued to take a myriad of yoga teacher trainings; everything from children's, pre/postnatal, chair, restorative, and yin. I decided to dive further into alignment, biomechanics, anatomy and physiology when I started noticing that people were curious about how their bodies worked. I began studying the work of Jill Miller, Katy Bowman, MovNat, Kelly Starrett etc and registered as a Kinesiologist with the College of Kinesiologists of Ontario. While still including traditional yoga poses and breath work, my classes also became infused with self-massage, corrective exercises, movement education, and most importantly, real-world applications. It was soon clear that participants sensed their bodies better when we incorporated strength work, so tools like resistance bands, blankets, and other toys made their way into my teaching. It also became evident that even though "postural yoga" doesn't often jive well with some bodies, there are ways in which we can prepare our joints and tissues so that the practice feels good and benefits us, on and off the mat.
In the last 5 years, I have also developed a keen interest in the relationship between pain, movement, the nervous system and brain. I have become greatly influenced by somatic movement therapy practices such as Feldenkrais. Mindful movement, meditation and massage along with mobility and strength work have been game-changers in how I embody my own body. In my classes, I often find myself saying ..."what do you notice?", "how does it feel?", "what happens when...?" rather than directing poses, and it's a honour to share these unique inquiry-based movement experiences and opportunities with my participants. Although I now teach an evidence-based approach to movement, I recognize that science is always changing and that everyone's experience and needs are unique.
Although I began my journey on a traditional yoga path, I am now educating myself on how deep cultural appropriation, along with privilege, power, discrimination, and harassment are found throughout Western yoga. This is an ongoing learning process for me; as I continue to work on myself, understand my own privilege as a white, able-bodied instructor, I see more clearly the inequity that is all around us. I strive to be better, not only as a teacher, but as a human.
Sole Strength - Sole, as in the underside of the foot or the foundation of the human body, highlights my interest in anatomy and natural movement. Our feet are one of the major ways we interact with the world and nature! Sole could also be defined as one...you have one body to experience this life in, so get to know and take care of it well. The word strength can be interpreted as our physical strength and our inner strength. We cultivate both in our various movement practices.
Offerings - I teach accessible group movement classes in and around Long Sault. I also offer private sessions or small group trainings. During the weekdays, I teach at different corporate organizations, such as RCMP/CBSA. As a Registered Kinesiologist, my sessions are often covered through extended group benefits (ie. Sunlife, Desjardins, etc) and are also tax deductible. For more information or to book a session, please contact me.
Sport, physical activity, and nature have always been an integral part of my life. I took my first yoga class in 2000 and became a certified personal trainer in 2001 while obtaining a Bachelor of Science degree (major in human kinetics and biology). Following graduation, I worked in corporate health as a wellness consultant for Nortel, Entrust, and Adobe, in education as a teacher in Japan, and educational publishing as territory manager for a Pearson Canada. In 2011, I decided to deepen my yoga studies and took my first 200hr YTT. This stoked an entrepreneurial fire in me to share yoga with my small community and start my own wellness business. In 2012, I left the K-12 education field, and alongside my phys ed teacher / personal trainer husband, started root2rise yoga and fitness.
Over the last 9.5 years with root2rise and while teaching group classes throughout SD&G, I continued to take a myriad of yoga teacher trainings; everything from children's, pre/postnatal, chair, restorative, and yin. I decided to dive further into alignment, biomechanics, anatomy and physiology when I started noticing that people were curious about how their bodies worked. I began studying the work of Jill Miller, Katy Bowman, MovNat, Kelly Starrett etc and registered as a Kinesiologist with the College of Kinesiologists of Ontario. While still including traditional yoga poses and breath work, my classes also became infused with self-massage, corrective exercises, movement education, and most importantly, real-world applications. It was soon clear that participants sensed their bodies better when we incorporated strength work, so tools like resistance bands, blankets, and other toys made their way into my teaching. It also became evident that even though "postural yoga" doesn't often jive well with some bodies, there are ways in which we can prepare our joints and tissues so that the practice feels good and benefits us, on and off the mat.
In the last 5 years, I have also developed a keen interest in the relationship between pain, movement, the nervous system and brain. I have become greatly influenced by somatic movement therapy practices such as Feldenkrais. Mindful movement, meditation and massage along with mobility and strength work have been game-changers in how I embody my own body. In my classes, I often find myself saying ..."what do you notice?", "how does it feel?", "what happens when...?" rather than directing poses, and it's a honour to share these unique inquiry-based movement experiences and opportunities with my participants. Although I now teach an evidence-based approach to movement, I recognize that science is always changing and that everyone's experience and needs are unique.
Although I began my journey on a traditional yoga path, I am now educating myself on how deep cultural appropriation, along with privilege, power, discrimination, and harassment are found throughout Western yoga. This is an ongoing learning process for me; as I continue to work on myself, understand my own privilege as a white, able-bodied instructor, I see more clearly the inequity that is all around us. I strive to be better, not only as a teacher, but as a human.
Sole Strength - Sole, as in the underside of the foot or the foundation of the human body, highlights my interest in anatomy and natural movement. Our feet are one of the major ways we interact with the world and nature! Sole could also be defined as one...you have one body to experience this life in, so get to know and take care of it well. The word strength can be interpreted as our physical strength and our inner strength. We cultivate both in our various movement practices.
Offerings - I teach accessible group movement classes in and around Long Sault. I also offer private sessions or small group trainings. During the weekdays, I teach at different corporate organizations, such as RCMP/CBSA. As a Registered Kinesiologist, my sessions are often covered through extended group benefits (ie. Sunlife, Desjardins, etc) and are also tax deductible. For more information or to book a session, please contact me.
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