
Venus Olla
Venus Olla is a Registered Psychotherapist (Qualifying), a yoga and meditation teacher and an educator. Her personal and professional journeys have ensured that she remains a life-long learner, forever curious about the purpose of life. She has trained as a Psychoanalyst with a more recent orientation to Jungian Psychoanalysis which has offered her further insights into dreamwork, active imagination and shadow work.
She believes that self-knowledge and understanding are the precursors for experiencing a life well lived in all its bittersweet moments. Her yoga and meditation practice have provided her with a strong spiritual foundation that continue to guide her Soul in living its fullest expression in its current human form. Her passion is to help assist others to feel the same and embrace the journey of their Souls having a human experience.
Venus Olla is a Registered Psychotherapist (Qualifying), a yoga and meditation teacher and an educator. Her personal and professional journeys have ensured that she remains a life-long learner, forever curious about the purpose of life. She has trained as a Psychoanalyst with a more recent orientation to Jungian Psychoanalysis which has offered her further insights into dreamwork, active imagination and shadow work.
She believes that self-knowledge and understanding are the precursors for experiencing a life well lived in all its bittersweet moments. Her yoga and meditation practice have provided her with a strong spiritual foundation that continue to guide her Soul in living its fullest expression in its current human form. Her passion is to help assist others to feel the same and embrace the journey of their Souls having a human experience.

Jeff Meaner - Yoga Teacher
Many (un)foreseen events in my life brought me to the path of yoga. Sicknesses of various types and intensities have plagued me from birth. Born with a hole in my heart, bad lungs, near fatal fevers and organ infections, I spent many days and weeks in and out of hospitals, seeing specialists, etc. Test after test was administered and still I was never properly diagnosed. At 6 years old while playing soccer with family in my meme’s backyard I slipped and fell on wet grass and ended up in leg braces for 2 years. Perthes Disease if I remember correctly. Finally by 9, 10, 11 years old it seemed like my health was finally improving and I would be able to begin to really see what life was all about.
Other than a few colds and the chicken pox, I was relatively healthy and happy. I was married and had children right out of high school and was working hard within my community to make a life for my family. To compliment the youth programs, I was developing at work, I co- founded Acharya Boys and Girls Club in 2000, with my mentor and “big brother”, to feed balanced vegetarian meals to as many families as well could accommodate. Unfortunately, in 2002 due to outside resistance we had to close the kitchen, but I never stopped working with the kids, volunteering whatever time and energy I could spare.
Since 2005 I have been laid off my “real job”, faced serious backlash from an unfair employer I stood up to, and lost my home. I have been divorced, homeless, contracted cancer and had not been able to find steady work. So, in 2011 after years of struggling to stay alive, and sane, I finally started to practice what I had been preaching and hopefully teaching others for many years. I began to walk the path of the yogi in whatever way I knew how. I checked in with myself and determined a realistic, doable, commitment.
Many (un)foreseen events in my life brought me to the path of yoga. Sicknesses of various types and intensities have plagued me from birth. Born with a hole in my heart, bad lungs, near fatal fevers and organ infections, I spent many days and weeks in and out of hospitals, seeing specialists, etc. Test after test was administered and still I was never properly diagnosed. At 6 years old while playing soccer with family in my meme’s backyard I slipped and fell on wet grass and ended up in leg braces for 2 years. Perthes Disease if I remember correctly. Finally by 9, 10, 11 years old it seemed like my health was finally improving and I would be able to begin to really see what life was all about.
Other than a few colds and the chicken pox, I was relatively healthy and happy. I was married and had children right out of high school and was working hard within my community to make a life for my family. To compliment the youth programs, I was developing at work, I co- founded Acharya Boys and Girls Club in 2000, with my mentor and “big brother”, to feed balanced vegetarian meals to as many families as well could accommodate. Unfortunately, in 2002 due to outside resistance we had to close the kitchen, but I never stopped working with the kids, volunteering whatever time and energy I could spare.
Since 2005 I have been laid off my “real job”, faced serious backlash from an unfair employer I stood up to, and lost my home. I have been divorced, homeless, contracted cancer and had not been able to find steady work. So, in 2011 after years of struggling to stay alive, and sane, I finally started to practice what I had been preaching and hopefully teaching others for many years. I began to walk the path of the yogi in whatever way I knew how. I checked in with myself and determined a realistic, doable, commitment.