Our Founder, Mahyar Khorzad

A longtime yoga master, Mahyar studied closely and directly with one of the foremost yoga teachers in the world, Guruji B.K.S. Iyengar, and his family in Pune, India — from 1980 for 30 years, until his passing.

Mahyar holds the Advanced Certificate, Junior II — the most senior Iyengar yoga teaching certification in Canada, and she is the only Canadian teacher to hold it. She has also completed the Modern Techniques in Medical Yoga course at Gupta Yoga Hospital in Lonavla, India.

Through her devoted study with Mr. Iyengar and her own multilayered practice, Mahyar has developed an effective yoga style that focuses on the meaning and the mechanics of yoga poses (āsanas) and breathing techniques (prānāyāma). Students learn the keys to design their bodies in order to receive the ultimate benefit in mind, body and, eventually, spirit. Under her direction, Setu has taught Iyengar yoga in Toronto since 1997.

Two decades of training teachers

From 2000, Mahyar ran Setu's teacher training program — a meticulous two-year curriculum covering the foundations of teaching yoga, performing and adjusting the asanas, physical anatomy, and her own development workshops in areas such as emotional anatomy. For two decades she cultivated, instructed, and certified successful yoga teachers across Canada through the program; several of Setu's own instructors trained under her guidance.

There is no formal teacher training program at present. Students interested in deepening their practice are welcome in our workshops and advanced classes.