CREDENTIALS

Stéphane Treyvaud
M.D., F.R.C.P.(C), FMH (Switzerland)

For more than 20 years, Dr. Treyvaud has practiced psychiatry with adults, children and adolescents.

He is a fellow of the Royal College of Physicians and Surgeons of Canada, and a full member of the Canadian Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry and the Canadian Group Psychotherapy Association.

Dr.Treyvaud trained in mindfulness and Zen meditation with Karlfried Graf Dürckheim, a prominent European Zen master, and Jon Kabat-Zinn of the University of Massachusetts, founder of Mindfulness-based Stress Reduction (MBSR), a clinically based approach to mindfulness meditation. He trained in mindfulness Yoga with Helen Duquette in the tradition of Vanda Scaravelli, and also deepened his insight meditation expertise with Shinzen Young in the Vipassana tradition.

During Dr. Treyvaud’s medical training, his main interest was an integrative approach to medicine, now referred to as mind/body medicine. During his psychiatric training at both the Psychiatric University Clinic (Burghölzli) in Zurich, Switzerland, and the University of Toronto, he specialized in psychoanalysis, Jungian psychology, existential psychotherapy, and developmental psychology. In Toronto he studied with Northrop Frye, a prominent literary critic, whose work deeply influenced Dr. Treyvaud’s views on consciousness and the imagination.

Dr. Treyvaud has been running a private practice for over 15 years. At first he specialized in adult individual and group psychodynamic psychotherapy. In the last 6 years he introduced mindfulness meditation into his practice in the form of 12-week mindfulness-based stress reduction programs. Since then, he has developed an integrative mindfulness approach that encompasses both psychotherapy and meditation. He gives regular workshops and seminars at various institutions, and has presented yearly workshops across Canada at the annual meeting of the Canadian Group Psychotherapy Association.

Anna Rizzotto
MEd, BSW

Ms. Rizzotto has 27 years experience in the field of human relations, with an emphasis on counseling, training, teaching, and program and community development. 

In 1988 she developed a special interest in mindfulness meditation and has been training and practicing in this field ever since. For 4 years she led relaxation and meditation programs for outpatients at the Hamilton Health Sciences Center. She later deepened her training in Mindfulness-based Stress Reduction (MBSR) with a 7-day professional training program under the direction of Drs. Jon Kabat-Zinn and Saki Santorelli, and in 2005 completed a further teachers training level in MBSR at the Center for Mindfulness in Medicine, Health Care, and Society at the University of Massachusetts Medical School.

From 2003 to 2005 she held the position of Corporate Education Coordinator at the Joseph Brant Memorial Hospital in Burlington. In that capacity she provided training to hospital staff in areas such as teamwork, communication, conflict resolution and stress management in general, and specifically introduced MBSR to the hospital staff. In 2005 she took on the position of coordinator of the Kailo program at Halton Healthcare (Oakville, Milton and Georgetown hospital sites), the first hospital system in Canada to introduce this approach to its corporate culture. Kailo is a North American, award-winning, hospital-based wellness program for staff with an integrated body/mind/spirit philosophy. As part of Kailo's holistic programming, Anna leads MBSR groups. Also in 2005, she completed her Yoga Teacher Training with the Kripalu Center for Yoga and Health in the United States.

Helen Duquette

Helen Duquette began her Yoga studies in 1969. Her eclectic background in Yoga and her curiosity and respectfulness to her practice opens the door for her students to experience the same joy and delight that she has found on her path.

Helen has creatively combined her experiences with the Kripalu and Iyengar methods, and the approach to Yoga taught by Vanda Scaravelli. The knowledge that she has gained in Canada, United States and Europe has provided a dynamic and exciting experience in her Hatha Yoga practice. Helen has also extensively studied the modalities of Syntonics and Authentic Movement.

She now teaches a gentle yet demanding form of Hatha yoga, which concentrates on developing core strength through releasing tension and creating length in the spine. It is a seemingly soft but powerful yoga, which uses the breath and gravity to allow the spine to unfold, thus opening and energizing the whole body. It asks that we pay attention to our bodies, to be mindful and alive. It asks that we work with integrity.

Helen opened her Yoga Studio in 1990. After 14 years of continuous growth that brought the studio to a place of being highly regarded in the yoga community, she sold the studio in 2004, but continues to teach there. This has afforded time for her to deepen her own work and be more readily available to others.

In 1991, Helen was approached by students who were interested in becoming yoga teachers and wanted to understand her approach to teaching. She created a 2-year teacher training program that provides a solid base for those interested in sharing their Yoga knowledge with others. Many of the teachers who have graduated from this intense course have opened studios and/or have made teaching Yoga their life’s work.

Helen has become a mentor to many yoga teachers and works with them on a one-on-one basis. She is also a guest teacher at various other studios and does regular workshops at Sheridan College in Oakville.

Students with Multiple Sclerosis have been a major focus in Helen’s work for over 16 years. Helen has trained yoga teachers to carry on this work. She organized a benefit called ‘Salute the Sun’ and raised over $20,000.00 for the MS Society, Mississauga Chapter.

The understanding that our bodies are willing to change if invited to do so with an affectionate, affirmative approach, provides the ground for Helen’s work. It is this philosophy that Helen brings to each class and shares with each student.

To contact Helen directly please email: helenduquette@sympatico.ca

Matilde Delgado

Ms Delgado’s interest in Yoga goes back at least 12 years. She studied at the Helen Duquette Yoga Studio in Misissauga and graduated from the Yoga Teacher Training Program at Sheridan College in 1996.  Helen Duquette's studio training is based on the yoga practice developed by Vanda Scaravelli, which emphasizes a progressive, soft approach to finding the breath, the ground and spinal realignment. 

Ms Delgado is currently pursuing an ongoing two-year study program in anatomy and movement at Living Yoga in Guelph.  She teaches Yoga to both the general public, and specialized groups, such as multiple sclerosis and brain injury patients.