Ian MacVicar, CD, DSS, CYT, TIYT
Ian MacVicar was first introduced to yoga by his mother in the 1970s, when yoga was still relatively new in Canada – but he was not yet ready. He participated in numerous sports – hockey, wrestling, biathlon skiing, rugby, and marathon running to name a few – and accumulated numerous souvenir injuries. Ian finally came to the mat 8 October 2008 in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia in a studio run by an American ex-pat instructor and attended by German aid agency workers. Since then he has studied Astanaga, Hatha, Hot Yoga, Inyengar, Kundalini, Mysore, Nidra, Power, Restorative, Seniors’ yoga, Vinyassa, Yin, and YinYassa yoga in studios in Ottawa, the Halifax Regional Municipality, and in Djibouti. While in Djibouti he taught “mobility fitness,” combining yoga poses and Pilates for six months – and realized that becoming a yoga teacher was on his “bucket list.” Ian qualified as a Certified Yoga Teacher (CYT), as a Trauma Informed Yoga Teacher (TIYT 1), Trauma Informed Yoga Therapy (TIYT 2), as a Seniors’ Yoga Teacher, and Yoga in Schools in 2019. Ian has taught ages 5 to 80, but is particularly attuned to working with military veterans, and the First Responder and First Receiver communities - having spent 42 years in the Canadian Armed Forces, which included six years working with these essential communities.
Teaching yoga is Ian’s third career. He continues to work as an incorporated defence and security consultant, and as Director and Principal Analyst of an incorporated company with Associates across Canada. His consulting work incorporates writing, teaching, and travel. He has a special interest in the nexus between yogic philosophy and Western neuro-science, which he incorporates (playfully) in his classes.
