Yoga Therapy International Guest Speakers

Aggie Stewart

Aggie Stewart is a C-IAYT (Certified Yoga Therapist), accredited Buteyko Breathing Method (BBM) provider, and certified iRest Yoga Nidra meditation teacher. Aggie studied BBM with Robin Rothenberg and internationally acclaimed BBM provider and educator Patrick McKeown. She has presented on the BBM at the Integrative Medicine for the Under Served conference in 2017. Aggie specializes in the therapeutic application of breathing practices and is especially interested in their efficacy for people who have experienced trauma and have been diagnosed with autoimmune conditions. In 2019, Aggie published Yoga as Self-Care for Health for Healthcare Practitioners: Cultivating Resilience, Compassion, and Empathy with Singing Dragon, an imprint of Jessica Kingsley Publishers in the UK and US. A writer and writing teacher, she also teaches the use of writing as a yogic tool of self-reflection and healing. She is currently pursuing an MFA in creative writing in the Newport MFA program at Salve Regina University in Newport, Rhode Island.

Todd Caldecott Dip. Cl.H., RH(AHG), Ayurvedic Practitioner, Medical Herbalist – Food as Medicine

Todd CaldecottTodd Caldecott Dip. Cl.H., RH(AHG) is a medical herbalist and practitioner of Ayurveda, with close to 20 years of clinical experience. Leaving behind a career as a film and television actor, Todd began his healing journey traveling overland throughout West Asia in 1989, surviving on only few dollars a day, exploring remote locations including the famed Hunza valley in northern Pakistan, and studying meditation in Sri Lanka sand Bodhgaya (India). Upon return to Canada in 1990, he began studying Ayurveda with Dr. T. Sukumaran, and completed his training as a Western medical herbalist at the Coastal Mountain College in 1996. He continued his training in India, studying Ayurveda and Yoga at the Arya Vaidya Chikitasalayam in Coimbatore, where his wife later gave birth to their second son.

Upon return to Canada in 1997, Todd opened a clinical practice and manufacturing business in the West Kootenays of British Columbia, and worked as a consultant for a community forest project, conducting sustainable harvest research trials on non-timber species. In 2000, Todd became the clinical director of Wild Rose College (Calgary), where he developed and taught a three year clinical program in herbal medicine. In 2005, Todd relocated to Trinidad and Tobago, and provided clinical services in Chaguanas and Port of Spain, mostly attending complications of chronic diabetes. In 2006 he published his first book, Ayurveda: The Divine Science of Life, and returned to Canada to continue practicing. In 2009, Todd traveled to Nepal to complete work on Ayurveda in Nepal, a text authored by the late Vaidya Mana Bajra Bajracharya, a hereditary Buddhist priest and Ayurvedic physician of the Kathmandu Valley.

In 2011, Todd published his second book, Food As Medicine: The Theory and Practice of Food, and in 2012, founded the Dogwood School of Botanical Medicine, which provides distance learning and mentorship training in Ayurveda, nutrition, and herbal medicine. Todd has been an active member of the American Herbalists Guild since 1997, and lives in Vancouver with his wife and three children. Beyond teaching and his clinical work, Todd is currently working on another book on the treatment of cancer in Ayurveda, based on Vaidya Mana's work, in collaboration with his son, Vaidya Madhu Bajra Bajracharya, and Alan Tillotson Ph.D. Recently, Todd was honored as the 2014 Mitchell Visiting Scholar at Bastyr University.

To contact Todd, visit http://toddcaldecott.com/food-as-medicine/

Viji Vasu

Viji Vasus, BEd, MEd, Diploma in Yoga (KYM), CYT, E-RYT 500 was teaching at a prestigeous school in Chennai, India for 14 years before completing her Diploma in Yoga from the Krishnamacharya Yoga Mandiram (KYM) where she worked as a senior Yoga Therapist and Yoga Teacher for 13 years. Viji had the great honour of studying directly under Sri T.K.V. Desikachar during that time.

Viji Vasu and D.V. Sridhar went on to co-found Yoga Raksanam in 2002. In addition to delivering private Yoga Therapy and classical Yoga group classes, she taught in Yoga Raksanam's Yoga Teacher Training Diploma. She specialized in the art of Viñyāsa Krāma (sequencing) as well as analyzing classical postures versus their modification for therapeutic purposes. Viji is also very adept in her knowledge and practice of Meditation and the Bhagavad Gita. She recently retired after almost 20 years of service, a beloved Teacher by many.

Viji continues to teach her private students online, as well as for other programs around the globe including Yoga Therapy International. We are honoured to have her shining presence with us during our new online Term 1 as she introduces us to the Bhagavad Gita, one of Yoga Philosopy's most important texts.