About Brenda

Brenda Lyons has extensive training and experience in the healing arts, including yoga, Tai Chi, Qigong, and mindfulness.  She is a registered yoga teacher (E-RYT 500) and a Certified Professional Yoga Therapist (C-IAYT-1000).

During her years as a teacher in international schools, Brenda also taught Qigong, Yoga, Mindfulness, and Tai Chi to students and adults at all age levels. She has also published articles in the areas of health and well-being. Her aim is to inspire and empower people to tap into the healing energy within themselves for better health and well-being through self-awareness practices and physical movement.

Brenda has been practicing yoga since she was 14 years old, but it was the aftermath of 9/11 and her subsequent evacuation from Islamabad, Pakistan, where she was teaching at the time, that gave her both the impetus and opportunity to deepen her practice through a teacher training course at the White Lotus Foundation in Santa Barbara, California. Since then, Brenda has studied with master teachers and has earned additional certifications in teaching Yoga for Stress Relief, Yoga for Seniors, Yoga for Memory Maintenance, Yoga for Pain Care, Yoga for Cancer, and Kripalu Yoga in the Schools for Teens.

Brenda was introduced to Tai Chi and Qigong when she moved to Taiwan 30 years ago. She noticed right away that all of the “cool” people were carrying tai chi swords instead of yoga mats. Wanting to follow in their footsteps, she contacted their master teacher only to find out that it would be several years of studying Tai Chi and Qigong before she would be able to even touch a sword. Nevertheless, she stayed in Taiwan for eight years and fulfilled her dream of learning a Tai Chi sword form.

Since then, Brenda has studied with Qigong masters in Malaysia, in the USA and, most recently, in Mainland China. She has offered Qigong classes to the expatriate population in Shanghai and has taught at the Omega Institute for Holistic Studies in New York, as well as in Malaysia, Ethiopia and Venezuela. She presently teaches Tai Chi Easy classes and Qigong in Panama and is a Professional Member of the National Qigong Association (USA).

Brenda was inspired to study the impact of mindfulness through her work with her secondary school students. Over the years, she had not only observed a significant increase in their stress levels, but she also realized that these students lacked the tools to deal with this stress. As she learned more about mindfulness, she realized that it would be both a simple and an effective means of helping students manage the pressures of school.

Currently, Brenda is a licensed instructor for the .b (Dot B) Mindfulness in Schools Project for grade 6-12 students, a facilitator for the Mindful Ambassador program, and has training in the signature Google Mindfulness program -Search Inside Yourself.  She also trained in the Mindful Eating program Am I Hungry? with Dr. Michelle May.  She has taught Mindfulness to secondary and university students in Asia and Central America, and trained teachers, parents and administrators in Mindfulness practices.  She currently offers classes in Mindful Eating and the Mindful Use of Technology, as well.