Tara Neifer has been a student and teacher of yoga for more than twenty years. She was drawn to the practice as a young mother looking for meaning to life’s big questions and needing to take care of her body. Yoga became an outlet to be comfortable in her skin and engage her interest in philosophy. Over the years she has worked with many different teachers and styles and believes that there are many ways to “kiss the ground”. Her style is fun, friendly, accessible and inquisitive. She is currently teaching 3 distinct in person classes Gentle, Balanced and Calm and Strong.

      Tara began her training in 2000 with an alignment based 250 hrs Iyengar style training with The Yoga Studio of Calgary where she learned from many great teachers such as David McAmmond, Shirley Petrich and Margot Kitchen. She continued for many years taking workshops with some of Western Canada’s most senior Iyengar teachers as well as Father Joe Pereira, a renowned Catholic priest and Iyengar teacher from India.

      Later began being interested in yoga therapy and attended a Yoga Therapy Intensive with Susi Hatley from Functional Synergy in Calgary. She was beginning to understanding that yoga could truly be used to reduce pain and help people find more comfort in their bodies through a closer examination of compensation patterns and habitual movement.

      Yoga practice can have many facets, from what can be fairly clinical to something much more dynamic and ecstatic. The interest in how a physical practice can truly become a spiritual one lead Tara to Forrest Yoga, so named by its founder Ana Forrest. This style is deeply grounded in using the breath and body to get real, it is a physically strong and emotionally intense. Tara received her Advanced teacher training in 2017.

      Tara has taken trainings in both Yoga Nidra, a sort of guided mediation yogic sleep, and Trauma Aware Yoga. Both have brought a fuller picture of what yoga can be used for in different settings. Later she became interested in aerial yoga, realizing the great benefit of the hammock to soothe the mind but also as a therapeutic tool to decompress the spine. She also took this teacher training.

      Most recently Tara has completed a 300 hr training with Danielle Pechie, an advanced teacher from Calgary who specializes in biomechanics and Critical Alignment Yoga and Therapy. CA for short, is a method created by Gert Van Leeuwen out of Amsterdam. This style focuses on understanding and connecting movement chains that open up more relaxed freedom in the body. It truly is a system that takes you from restorative to radical! There are some specialized props in this style that add amazing benefit.

      Lately, as she has gotten older the addition of a cardio and metabolism boosting system started to interest Tara. Using safe yoga inspired high intensity interval training Sadie Nardini ’s system of Yoga Shred fit the bill. Tara training in the Yoga Shred system to support her overall health and fitness and to be able to offer this to others who also need this little kick.

      A recent resident to Vancouver Island and to Sooke she has found her second home at the SEAPARC teaching yoga, swim lessons, coaching and lifeguarding. Tara currently holds a 500-hour Certification through the Canadian Yoga Alliance