Shamanic Yoga Institute is led by Dr. Christine Selda and guided in close teaching and creative partnership with Rochelle Quarry, MEd. Together, they steward a school shaped by practice, place, reciprocity, and transformation, with a leadership structure that is clear, collaborative, and rooted in lived work
Founder-Led School | Collaborative Teaching Model | Practice, Service, and Integrity
Leadership at the School
Leadership here is not separate from practice, but rises directly out of the lived experience of showing up again and again to the path, the ceremonies, and the day‑to‑day commitments of this work. It is formed through years of study, careful discernment, humility, service, and a deep capacity to hold space with integrity for individuals, groups, and community.
This kind of leadership asks for vision, the ability to see possibility and direction, but also a willingness to listen deeply to the land, to spirit, and to one another. It calls for clarity and strength, but equally for relationship, collaboration, and reciprocity, so that what is led is always rooted in connection rather than ego or separation.
Christine Selda, Ph.D.
Founder and Visionary, Medicine Teacher and Yoga Teacher Trainer Expressive Arts Therapist, Registered Clinical Counsellor, E-RYT Gold
Dr. Christine Selda founded the school in 2005 and brings together shamanic practice, yoga, expressive arts, transformational education, and social change in one coherent field of work. Her teaching is shaped by Mountain Shamanism, a post-lineage and feminist approach to yoga, and a longstanding commitment to practice that is rigorous, relational, and responsive to the world in which it is taught.
Her work is devoted to training practitioners who can hold depth, complexity, and transformation with greater integrity. Alongside her role at the school, she serves as a Clinical Supervisor and brings academic, therapeutic, and ceremonial depth to the leadership of the institute.
From Christine:
My yoga is one of shamanic roots from the songs and bones of the earth, the mountains and the medicine peoples. I have had the great honour of answering my vocational calling to teach yoga since 1998 and studying with many of the masters of yoga as we know them today: B.K.S. Iyengar, Pattabhi Jois, Sivananda, Geeta Iyengar, Dr. Karandikar, Swami Durgananda. As I journeyed deeper in the study of yoga, I have come to disentangle myself from all of these lineages. I am grateful for the experiences and teachings received and I am very consciously stepping away from old structures and pedagogies that possess within them patriarchy and violence against women, children, and boys. For my yoga to be in alignment with who I am and what I stand for, my positionality is post-lineage; by standing apart and groundless, with no lineage to lean on, I lean into my own work and hold steady here.
In the river of yoga, the openness of being guides my teaching. My classes are crafted to attend to the layers of the self, from the superficial to the deep, through the practices of singing, devotional contemplation, meditation, the studying of scriptures, embodied prayer and breath. To embrace the full range of human potential and the ultimate freedom beyond duality and suffering, the play between the masculine and feminine as consciousness and light permeates my classes. My teacher is Shakti in her multiplicity of forms; always bringing me back to nature HerSelf.
I have been a voice for social justice since I was a teenager, and my work has always been about Stopping the Violence inside and out. I resonate deeply with an aspect of my career with the Howe Sound Women’s Centre Society, where I am the clinical supervisor for the children and youth PEACE counsellors. PEACE stands for Prevention, Education, Advocacy, Counselling and Empowerment in Stopping the Violence Work. I teach in Arts, Health and Society from primary schools to universities. I hold a Ph.D. in philosophy in which my dissertation was titled: The Women, The Artist, and the Yogini: An Arts-Based Phenomenological Study on Yoga and Expressive Arts with special attention to their political implications. My study revealed much of the #MeToo movement in yoga. I also wrote a thesis on shamanism and expressive arts. The pedagogy I pass forward is based on these three pillars of practice and philosophy: 1. Yoga 2. Shamanism 3. Expressive Arts. I continue to engage with the interplay between these methodologies of practice and social change.
I am part of the long line of women contributing to yoga by bringing it off the mat and into the world. My intent is to train safe teachers to work with the underserved and marginalized populations. Being yoga and living yoga is the mission: I strive to do this with integrity. I pray that I can serve in some way.
For private healing sessions, mentorship or to learn more about Christine please visit drchristineselda.com
“I felt safe, seen, gently held, and deeply protected throughout this work.”
— C. Green
Rochelle Quarry
School Director, Medicine Teacher and Yoga Teacher Trainer MEd, E-RYT 550
Rochelle Quarry helps steward the school’s trainings, mentorship pathways, and relational culture. With a background in education, philosophy, social justice, and the arts, she brings steadiness, intelligence, and pedagogical care to the student journey.
Her leadership supports the collaborative life of the school: how students are guided, how teachings are carried, and how community is held with respect, belonging, and accountability.
From Rochelle:
I have been studying the relationship between teacher and student as long as I can remember, and at present this seems more pressing than ever. My adventures in academia led me to complete a Bachelor’s in Arts and Master’s in Education, and my passion for philosophy, spirituality, social justice, and the arts guided me to travel and study with mentors from all walks of life. I have reverence for all of my teachers, but I am especially grateful to Christine Selda for continuing to be a source of immense support and inspiration as I continue to learn, unlearn, and respond to the shifting cultural context of yoga and shamanism.
I believe that these teachings and practices are antidotes to the disconnection we feel from ourselves, our relations, the Earth, and Spirit. My aim as a teacher is to share these tools with reverence and respect, and to offer others an experience of connection and devotion. It is my hope that from these encounters, students access new ways of seeing and being in the world. I’m so glad that I am not on this adventure alone! It is such a gift to be part of this school and an honour to collaborate with women of such high integrity, who encourage me to be a catalyst for change. Being in community propels me to continue this heart work–challenging my alignment, questioning whether I am in right relationship with power, and assuring that my efforts are contributing to the equality and equity for all.
How Leadership Is Held
The school is founder-led and collaboratively carried. Christine holds the vision and root architecture of the work; Rochelle helps shape its teaching culture, continuity, and day-to-day stewardship. Together, they lead through direct practice, mentorship, ceremony, and a shared commitment to meaningful, trustworthy education
This leadership is reflected across the wider pathways of the school — in the Medicine Wheel, teacher trainings, mentorship, retreat, and advanced study — where students are invited not only to learn, but to deepen their capacity for service, space-holding, and lived leadership.
Meet the School Through Practice
The clearest way to know the leadership of the school is through the work itself: training, retreat, mentorship, and the lived field of practice it holds.
Leadership FAQ
The Shamanic Yoga Institute is led by founder and visionary Dr. Christine Selda, Ph.D., a medicine teacher, yoga teacher trainer, expressive arts therapist, and registered clinical counsellor (E-RYT Gold). School Director Rochelle Quarry (M.Ed., B.A., E-RYT 550) supports the vision and day‑to‑day leadership as a medicine teacher and yoga teacher trainer.
Our approach is intentionally post‑lineage: we honour the teachers who came before while consciously stepping away from lineages and pedagogies that carry patriarchy and violence. This allows our faculty to teach from lived practice, integrity, and accountability rather than relying on inherited authority structures.
Our pedagogy rests on three interwoven pillars: Yoga, Shamanism, and Expressive Arts. These modalities come together as a technology of the soul, supporting personal healing, social change, and embodied spiritual practice.
Shamanism is woven through song, ceremony, elemental connection, and nature‑based practices that root students in the “songs and bones of the earth, the mountains and the medicine peoples.” This shamanic orientation invites students to relate to the more‑than‑human world as teacher and ally.
Classes and training sessions attend to the layers of self—from the superficial to the deep—through singing, devotional contemplation, meditation, scriptural study, embodied prayer, and breath. You can expect practices that balance masculine and feminine energies as consciousness and light, always returning you to nature and your own heart.
Our faculty name and address the histories of patriarchy and violence in yoga and spiritual communities, including dynamics revealed through movements such as #MeToo in yoga. We commit to training safe teachers, unlearning harmful patterns, and creating structures that support equity, accountability, and trauma‑informed practice.
“Post‑lineage” means our lead teacher does not claim or rely on a singular lineage for authority, and instead leans into her own ongoing work, study, and accountability. This stance supports a living, evolving practice that is responsive to contemporary realities, social justice, and the well‑being of students.
Christine’s intent is to train safe, grounded teachers capable of working skillfully with underserved and marginalized communities. She emphasizes “being yoga and living yoga,” inviting students to carry their practice off the mat and into the world with integrity.
Rochelle Quarry is the School Director, a medicine teacher, and yoga teacher trainer with a Master’s in Education, a Bachelor’s in Arts, and E‑RYT 550 certification. She has a long‑standing interest in the teacher–student relationship and brings experience in philosophy, spirituality, social justice, and the arts.
