Om Canada: An Intimate Glimpse at Yoga’s Firsts, by Valery Petrich, highlights sixty of Canada’s early yoga teachers, “…passionate souls who ushered in the practice of yoga in a post-war era, when contemporaries still perceived them as loners and loons.”

I, of course, had to purchase it because it included my teacher and mentor Gerda Krebs. She is included in Part 1 titled Survivors. At 89-years-old she is still going strong, regularly teaching public classes, workshops and teacher trainings.

Gerda grew up in Hitler’s Germany where she lost her mother at a young age. She immigrated to Canada with her husband in 1952. She began her yoga journey in 1967 and took her teacher training in 1970. Anyone who has done yoga in Sherwood Park knows Gerda. Many having taken classes with her in her own home. She was one of the founding members of the Yoga Association of Alberta but she may be best know for her television series Yoga Fits In, which she began in 1975 and ran for 25 years.

I was initially frightened to take classes with Gerda, her impressive history and German accent made me nervous but I soon learned she was one of the most sensitive individuals and caring teachers. She knows all her students intimately and teaches them from a place of almost maternal love. “Yoga is a philosophy. It will make you a better Christian. Yoga philosophy teaches us to do good deeds.”

It was time the pioneers in the Canadian yoga scene were recognized. What is as common as little black stretchy pants now was once frowned upon and even looked at as a weird, mystical religion. It took courage to stand out and offer something new to the public.

If you’re looking for more such history, you can head over to the website: Yoga Studio College of Canada Teacher Training program. Petrich founded the program in 1996 which has more data about the roots of yoga in Canada.