The approach at Bend Spin & Yoga
is that the practice that you choose must work for you and has to suit your needs.

What makes Bend unique started in 2005 in a Rec-Centre in Toronto: I, Joanne, was teaching a yoga class and I had a participant who was having some difficulty getting comfortable in a pose. I pulled everything out of my “toolbox of tips” that I had learned during my teacher training, which didn’t work, and even found myself about to walk away with the same I-can’t-help-you attitude I had seen so many times in classes. I had made it after all, I was now a teacher myself. And I did walk away, but thankfully remembered quickly that when I was that person struggling in class, and the teacher had walked away from my difference, that it made me feel unwelcome; like I didn’t belong; that there was something wrong with me; and that maybe yoga just wasn’t for me. With that memory, I walked back. It took a few minutes with the student - it took me admitting that I had to work harder to make that pose work for her and that maybe I didn’t know everything and the good thing was - it worked. She was comfortable. She was propped up with 3 blankets under her knees and a block under palm and a sweater tucked under her shoulder - but she was safe, she was comfortable and could now relax.

This was one pose; one body; one day; one modality. What happened after this was years and years of on-the-mat training and learning how to make people feel comfortable and find ease in their practice - whether it be yoga, spin, kettlebells, lifting weights or receiving massage. The approach at Bend is that the practice that you choose must work for you and has to suit your needs. You do not need to conform to be something that you are not. We meet you where you are at and do our best to help you achieve your physical and mental fitness goals.