First things first: how did you get started in the wellness world? 

I grew up dancing competitively, jazz and modern and ballet, very seriously so I just felt like yoga was a natural fit when I found it at 19. I was recovering from an eating disorder and just dealing with the dance industry; I had moved to Los Angeles to try to make it, and my eating disorder was just this really big monster in my life. I moved back to Vancouver and knew I needed to heal. I started practicing yoga and hearing a different narrative about how to move my body. Because I felt like with dance, it was always about perfection and hitting a certain line and pushing and being the best. And then with yoga, I was picking up on the narrative of “honor your body and don't push,” and that felt really revolutionary and was a big tool to bring me into a relationship with my body. I was hungry to learn more, so I took a teacher training at 20 and I'm 35 now so I've been teaching for 15 years. 

When did you officially start Girlvana and how?

I started it in 2010. I was 24 and I had been teaching yoga for four years in Vancouver. I was teaching, you know, people who could afford to go to fancy yoga studios. I thought it would be more inspiring and it was just sort of burning me out. But I had these little pockets where I would teach teenagers dance and at the end, I'd be like, okay, now pull out your journals, let's talk about our feelings. I was starting to infuse the things I felt like I really needed at that time, at that age. So I started to create a curriculum with these dancers. And then I was asked to come and teach yoga at an eating disorder recovery camp for young people and I was teaching them different ways of breathing and writing down their feelings and I just thought, Wow, I want to lead a summer camp for teen girls just for anyone, whatever you're going through. So I started it that year in 2010 as a yoga retreat for teens and now it's grown into lots of different things — a book, trainings, workshops, and classes.

We’ve gotten really into breathwork on the team lately, but don’t know a ton about it. What kind of breathwork do you practice and teach, and how did you get into it?

Breathwork is such an interesting topic because people are like, well, what is it? Like all of these practices, it’s ancient. Breathwork can go from really functional breathing and more science-based — really understanding how to breathe properly, which a lot of athletes are using. And then on the other spectrum, we see transformational breathing, holotropic breathing — reaching psychedelic states through breath. But all of it has its base in pranayama, which is the breathing exercises of yoga, so it's important to note that all of this is very ancient.

I had a lot of training in pranayama, yogic breathing, through my yoga training and then when I joined Open, we were bringing more transformational breathwork experiences. And so the breathwork I currently teach doesn't really have a name; it’s just called breathwork. It's a three-part active breath breath through your mouth. So it sounds like, [Ally inhales twice, then exhales] “Ah, ah, aaaah.” We do it to music and we have a gong and a singing bowl, so there's a big sound element to it. And really what it provides for people — myself included — can be deep emotional release, clarity, stress relief, and anxiety relief. Breathwork is essentially an active meditation. A lot of people have a harder time getting into meditation because you're just sort of sitting there and going like, “Am I doing this right?” And then with yoga, [some people think] you need to be strong and flexible. People have all these perceived notions of what it is. Breathwork is literally like: breathe like this for this amount of time and, guaranteed, you will feel something and you have to do it right, because there's no other way to do it. You can't do it wrong! What I hear the most after class is like, Oh, that's what it feels like to be present. Or that's what meditation feels like. Or that's what I've been trying to get to. And it's just a faster way to get there. 

What do you love about what you do?

I love that I get to provide tools for people to come home to themselves. I think that often the wellness industry sells us all these things in order to “be well.” And it's like, actually you just need you in order to be well. Yeah, you can come to class but I'm hoping that I can give you tools so that you don't need me anymore; that you have yourself and these things become a part of your lifestyle, the way you read, how you stretch your lower back, how you speak to yourself. I really feel like these are tools for people to come home to themselves and be themselves. And if I can be a guide and facilitate that, that's the coolest part.

What are some of your favorite places in nature? 

Vancouver is a big one, just for the lushness and the rain and that wet kind of heavy quality of being held. And then the jungle is really special to me. I have spent a ton of time in Nicaragua. It's where I met my husband; we lived there for a while. And I just recently was at a breathwork retreat in the redwoods; I love California. I love to surf and I love to swim and I was in the ocean all weekend. I definitely have deep connections with the Pacific Ocean in particular.  

What's one piece of advice you could give to someone regarding wellness specifically or wellbeing?

I think it's really just finding what works for you. Like, I taught yoga for years, but it's not going to be everyone's cup of tea and that's fine. Wellness is for you to define it. I think that we've sort of been sold this idea that [wellness] has to cost something. But it doesn't have to cost you to move your body. It doesn't have to cost anything to write a few notes down in a journal or go outside or watch a sunset. Wellness is free. Accessibility is a really big thing for me. 

What brings you joy?

I have a chocolate lab named Butcher who brings me a lot of joy. We got him in Nicaragua and he was just the wiggliest, happiest boy. I find a lot of joy from the ocean. I swim as much as I can even all through the year here, which is so nice. There’s something really powerful about being in the water for me. And teaching, I love teaching.