Imagine what might be possible if you stopped waging war on your body. So many of us have spent decades in quiet battles—measuring, comparing, criticizing—believing our worth was tied to our appearance instead of our essence. This series is an invitation to lay down arms and begin a different kind of relationship: one rooted in compassion, trust, and deep respect. When we stop fighting our bodies, we free up space for joy, presence, and power. Join us to explore how it feels to come home to yourself—fully and unapologetically.
Each class in this series is thoughtfully designed to create a journey of self-love and empowerment.
Week 1: Connect
Hello, body, my old friend. Develop your interoceptive awareness—your ability to sense and feel your body.
Week 2: Trust
Learn the language your body speaks and how to listen and respond with loving kindness.
Week 3: Honour
Ascend into a new, awakened, spiritual way of seeing and understanding your body.
Week 4: Love
How to fall in love with your ever-changing body.
Week 5: Empower
Celebrate and be free! It’s time to redirect your life force into living your birthright of peace, purpose, power and joy.
I'll be pulling all my best tools out from my yoga toolbox! You can mostly expect a mix of mindfulness, Yin yoga, Kundalini, Breathwork and Somatics. One thing is for sure, I keep all of my classes accessible with lots of options and variations.
Yin yoga honours our profound need for stillness with its long-held, passive stretches that target the connective tissue of the hips, legs and back. It's an opportunity to open your body and release deep physical tension. When coupled with mindfulness, this quietly powerful practice will also support you in letting go of excess stress, stuck emotions and outdated, limiting thought patterns.
Kundalini Yoga is a dynamic and transformative style of yoga that combines breathwork (pranayama), physical postures (asanas), chanting (mantra), and meditation to awaken kundalini energy—a dormant spiritual energy believed to reside at the base of the spine.
The goal of Kundalini Yoga is to activate this energy and guide it upward through the chakras (energy centers in the body), leading to greater awareness, vitality, emotional balance, and spiritual awakening.
Unlike more physically focused yoga styles, Kundalini Yoga often feels more energetic, meditative, and deeply introspective, making it a powerful practice for inner transformation and self-discovery.
Somatics is a practice of deep internal awareness and movement re-education that helps release accumulated stress and restore ease in the body. Based on the work of Thomas Hanna, Somatics teaches us how stress, trauma, and repetitive movement patterns can lead to Sensory-Motor Amnesia (SMA) - a state where certain muscles remain unconsciously contracted, creating stiffness, discomfort, and misalignment.
Somatics helps retrain the nervous system through slow, mindful movements, allowing muscles to relax and move with greater freedom. Unlike traditional stretching, which focuses on external flexibility, somatic practices invite you to explore movement from the inside out, promoting neuromuscular awareness, deep release, and a lasting sense of ease.
This series is an opportunity to create a sacred space in your home. It doesn't have to be big - it could be the corner of a room (I even have a friend who meditates in his closet! 😉).
The potent energy of transformation builds over time when we return to the same place to practice. I recommend having a few meaningful objects in your space, be it plants, candles, crystals or photographs. You might even find your pets want to join you! 😸
Here are some props you will find helpful for your practice:
Yoga mat
2 yoga blocks
2-3 folded blankets
A strap or scarf
A bolster or stack of rolled-up blankets
A chair
A small amount of wall space
Register by pressing the "Buy Now" button at the top of the page. You will be prompted to enter your email and select your payment method (PayPal, Visa or Mastercard). If you prefer to pay by e-transfer or cash, please email melanie@happytreeyoga and we'll arrange it!
On the morning the course starts, you'll receive a welcome email with the Zoom link and calendar invite for all five classes (this information can also be found on the course page after you register). Click the link to join the live classes on Wednesdays at noon, starting October 8th.
Each class will be uploaded to the HappyTree platform within 48 hours of the live event. Access them anytime, as often as you like, by logging in to the HappyTree platform with your email and password and resuming the course. You will have access to the series on demand until December 31st, 2025. 😊
Melanie Richards is the founder of Yoga HappyTree Inc., the creator and leader of Yoga teacher training programs, and a mental health advocate. For ten years (2007-2017), she owned and operated HappyTree Yoga Studio, known for its vibrant community and regularly voted one of Montreal's top five yoga studios by Cult Mtl.
Melanie teaches yoga to psychiatry inpatients and outpatients. Last year, she received a Builder of Hope Award from The Douglas Foundation, recognizing her efforts and contribution toward establishing The Rebecca Joy Richards Award for Research in Eating Disorders.
She also received a Quebec Notable Award for Social Entrepreneurship and has a TEDx talk on the power of intention setting (2014). In 2012, she was recognized by CTV's The Power of One for her work in the community with cancer patients and underprivileged youth.
Melanie is a 500-hour Experienced Registered Yoga Teacher (E-RYT 500) with Yoga Alliance. She is a certified Hatha teacher and Kundalini yoga teacher and has sat multiple 10-day Vipassana silent meditation retreats over the past decade. Her teachers include Barrie Risman, Nischala Joy Devi, Nubia Teixeira, and her spiritual mentor, Lisa Lajoie, with whom she's led international yoga retreats.
Melanie shares Yoga from her heart with relatability, compassion and enthusiasm, fostering a warm and inclusive learning atmosphere. She empowers people from all walks of life to take the path of Yoga back home to their hearts.