About Me

Hi, my name is Marcelle and it’s so nice to meet you!

A bit about me… I’ve loved medicine from a young age. My first job was as a helper in a family doctor’s office. I have over a decade of experience in a rural clinical medicine. Naturally, I devoted myself to the healthcare field, graduating with an honours bachelor degree in biomedical engineering (the first of its kind in Canada). After graduation I started working in the industry as a medical data management specialist.

After a few years, I transitioned away from the high-paced corporate world and its long hours. Pivoted away from an industry that was sorely lacking in compassion, in my experience.
Instead, I devoted my time and passion into my personal brands, becoming the entrepreneur I always knew I’d be. The switch was important in allowing me to better focus on my personal health journey, which has been invaluable. In the process, I’ve become a deeply passionate patient advocate, especially for young adults living with chronic and/or rare conditions and disabilities like me.

I’m a passionate yoga and meditation teacher and have blossomed into offering a multitude of additional healing services that have helped me personally throughout my health journey.

Check out the Chronically Surviving blog to read more about my story and to share your unique story too!

My Yoga Journey

When I first started on my yoga journey many years ago, I became passionate about the potential of teaching it to the geriatric population. The reason I originally chose to teach the elderly was because I didn't think there would be anyone else like me, a young adult with a chronic illness — I felt alone. I didn't think there were enough of us to actually make a career out of it, while the elderly were plentiful. Since then, I've come to realize that there are SO many of us young adults with chronic conditions out there. It lit me up inside with renewed motivation and a slight redirection of my path. 

I’ve come to realize there is a lack of availability and accessibility in the yoga and meditation community for the vulnerable like me and other young adults living with chronic/rare conditions. This meant a lack of professionals able to safely lead vulnerable people through a meditation or yoga session. I’ve set my mind to change that reality.

Mindfulness has had an especially profound impact on my life as it has for countless others for millennia. It has especially helped my attitude towards my chronic pain and some of my other debilitating symptoms, and it helps me maintain clarity of mind, easing my symptoms of anxiety and PTSD. Meditation provides a platform for empowerment, and is a way to renew self-esteem, and has brought more moments of peace to my life and to those I’ve had the honour to teach.

This is why teach. Because I believe in the medicine of yoga, and I believe it can and should be accessible to anyone and everyone. Especially young adult warriors who battle with limitations at the plenty like me. I believe in giving people the opportunity to experience for themselves the magic of yoga. Yoga was my gateway to finding the community I had been searching for my whole adult life, and the continued growth and healing that my soul needs.

I believe that everyone wants to be seen, to be heard. Actually, I think we need it to thrive, not just merely survive. I believe our ability to connect, our willingness to share, and our experience of life should not be squandered by fears and doubts. This is what strives me to keep going. That's part of the medicine of yoga I'm deeply passionate about — it provides a platform for empowerment and renews our life force. And we don't need anything other than our own bodies, and maybe a cushion or two to make it comfy! 

Positions, Education & Qualifications

Current Positions

Our Odyssey Community Blog & Outreach Lead

Helping the voices of young adults get amplified and heard. Supporting the magical healing that happens when we share our stories, and how it helps empower and support one another through our own odysseys.

Post-Secondary & Corporate Experience

Biomedical Engineer — Ryerson University

Honours Bachelors Degree in Biomedical Engineering
Specialty in biomedical instrumentations and biomedical data management.
Co-Inventor (Patent Pending) of Robotic Birthing Simulator

Medical Data Specialist — Linde Worldwide

Commercial database manager and business analyst for the North American gas industry. Specialist for the U.S. medical gas industry.

Yoga & Meditation Credentials

Registered Yoga Teacher

Yoga Alliance
Yoga Alliance (YA) is a nonprofit association representing the yoga community, comprising of Registered Yoga Schools (RYS) and Registered Yoga Teachers (RYT). Fostering and supporting high quality, safe, accessible, and equitable teaching of yoga.
To view Marcelle’s YA directory click here.

Yoga & Meditation Teacher Training—200hr YTT

Mula Yoga Dive Deeper
2018-2019 ⚬ 200hrs ⚬ Teacher: Hana Lukac
A strong, comprehensive Vinyasa Yoga Teacher Training (YTT) program that helped me step into my potential. 

Post-Grad Yoga Teacher Training

Post-Grad Yoga School
2019-2020 ⚬ 30hrs ⚬ Teacher: Shawna Turner
Semester 1 — Advanced SequencingAdvanced yoga anatomy and energetics training.
Creating effective yoga classes and sequencing for the vulnerable and unique bodies.
Semester 2  — The Art of Yoga Teaching
Finding your unique yoga teacher voice is the goal of this training.
Developing yoga classes that are effective and also infuses the practice with the medicine of yoga.

Accessible Yoga Teacher Training (A-YTT)

Accessible Yoga Training
2020 ⚬ 22hrs ⚬ Multiple Instructors
It is important to make yoga, meditation, and mindfulness practices and offerings in the world more accessible and equitable for all. This is the basis of Buddhism after all.
The focus on creating as much safety as possible and minimizing harm to people who may already feel vulnerable in their bodies and in yoga spaces. 
To create an open dialogue around the challenges people face when practicing relaxation and meditation is crucial for them to explore the multi-factorial backgrounds that often lead to people feeling unsafe. 
Engaging creatively with an overview of how to make spaces feel safer, how to adapt practices to treat pain, work with trauma, and help students feel more comfortable and more at home in their practice is the foundation of this training and my practice and offerings.

Trauma-Informed Yoga Teacher Training

Usui Shiki Ryoho Reiki Training

Level 1 — Basic Reiki Techniques

Basic course in Reiki method of natural healing.
Content focused on self-Reiki and basic hand healing techniques.
History, hand placements, anatomy of subtle body, and fields/cords.

Level 2 — Advanced Reiki Techniques

Advanced course in Reiki method of natural healing.
Content focused on Reiki as a profession. Advanced energy healing techniques, including at-distance healing.

Both Levels Attuned by Reiki Master Tasha Rooke, HBA, CST, RYT, PLR, NLP