Teacher Feature: Kimberly Hasselfeldt

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Yoga has been a lifestyle and a passion for Kimberly Hasselfeldt since she first began practicing eight years ago. A frequent teacher at the Midtown location, Kim was one of the first students in the Yoga Tree Intensive Teacher Training, building her practice and knowledge from several sources including Leslie Kaminoff, Seane Corn, Danny Paradise, and Joe Barnett.

“As I went deeper into my own personal practice and grew to know the different aspects of yoga, I saw the different forms of benefits, mental, physical, spiritual,” says Kim, “I wanted to make yoga an even bigger part of my life and it felt great if I could help people experience some of the benefits I had gained personally for themselves.

This is what originally inspired Kim to start teaching, and continues to inspire her today. Using her personal experiences as a way of communicating with her students, Kim shares her own journey in order to help inspire others. “Yoga Tree has a beautiful community of students who I love connecting with,” she says, “I enjoy being a part of their practice and watching it grow. In my classes, I will often include a posture that I know students are working on, and structure sequences around it that will help them obtain their goals.”

When speaking to beginners about their practice, Kim believes that it is very individual and that each student has their own challenges. “I always say it in class, listen to your body,” she adds, “We are all structured slightly differently and come to practice with different challenges or limitations. We also come to practice with different intentions. As everyone’s practice is individual, beginners should not worry about what their practice looks like. We are all going to look slightly different and may have to vary our personal alignment slightly. Don’t ever think that you’re “not good at yoga”. If we don’t try things that we can’t do, or can’t do “perfectly” at first, we won’t grow our practice. You come to yoga for you, so do what you can and what you are comfortable with in class, and just enjoy the benefits that you reap.”

Kim teaches a variety of classes, but specializes in Ashtanga, Vinyasa, and Yin. Her extensive background in dance gives her incredible knowledge of the mechanisms of the human body, allowing her to connect with her students and help them find what is best for their physical well being. Her passion and enthusiasm flows easily to her students, and it is difficult to not feel inspired by her remarkable example.

As for her favorite asana; “This changes constantly for me as my personal practice changes,” says Kim, “Yoga isn’t a competition, but I feel a sense of accomplishment if there is a pose I have been struggling with and experience a level of success. I enjoy growing within that posture. My favourite example of this is the arm balance Koundinyasana.”

Be sure to check out one of Kim’s classes at our Midtown, Downtown, or Richmond Hill location.


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Video is created by The Art of Grace