Classes in Edmonton

Empathy with clients' physical and emotional states guides the yoga classes and healing treatments at Sukha Shack, where the staff works to keep clients balanced and healthy. Noninvasive sessions can help ease pain, break addictions, facilitate forgiveness, and make connections with the spiritual side.

Bathed in bright, natural light, Shanti Yoga Studio provides a nurturing environment for body benders of all experience levels. Spark early-morning muscle motors with a Sunrise Yoga class, or practice traditional yogic breathing and mind melding in a Hatha or Ashtanga course, offered on alternating days of the week. If your connective tissues need cajoling in order to relax or meditate, try a Yin yoga class, which specifically targets parts of the joints and spine in extended physical exercises. See the schedule here. At Shanti, yoga is practiced as a way of life, and aspiring yogis of all experience levels are welcome to attend classes in an open, accessible studio. As the basis for yoga is to prepare the body for meditation, Shanti also offers meditation courses, where attendees can practice being fully present in life and the afterlives of childhood pets.

Learn Photography Canada's James Lam wasn't born a photographer—it was something he fell into after beginning a career as a mechanical engineer and travelling to Australia to work as marketing director for a national charity. But once he picked up the camera and learned its ins and outs, there was no going back. He fostered his passion and travelled around the world photographing landscapes, architecture, wildlife, and people until he could photograph an apple off a man's head from 20 paces.

Today, he leads students of all levels on photographic journeys of their own throughout Calgary, Edmonton, and Vancouver. As groups wander along photogenic streets, snapping images of architecture, urban wildlife, and people, James and his fellow instructors demystify digital SLRs by explaining aperture, white balance, and ISO. The team also explores photography further, expounding on techniques such as night photography and creating panoramic photos so that patrons can study the entire interior of a bank at once before robbing it.

StillPoint Healing Centre greets physiques with holistic massage, acupuncture, yoga classes, and workshops for nurturing the body and mind. Skilled yogis shepherd sun-saluters to peace of mind with a slate of sessions, such as classes for beginners, advanced dynamic-flow sessions, and sunrise meetings for early risers and insomniac owls. The centre's registered massage therapists and acupuncturists ease aches with five distinct massage modalities—such as deep-tissue, hot-stone, and Thai massage—and the precise placement of microfilament needles. Benefits range from stimulation of the circulatory and lymphatic systems to relieved tension to improved range of motion, which can help when running backward to stare at and still escape from an attractive ghost.

Reflecting on this childhood, Chris Keating sometimes feels as if he didn't exist. His parents' divorce left him with very little tangible evidence of his formative years, so he's spent his adult life as a photographer making sure children can look back fondly at warm family memories. Chris Keating and his Calgary staff have made this a reality for more than 3,000 families since opening the doors to Towne Photography in 2006. There, the professional photographic crew shoots posed and candid shots of families, children, couples, and babies at picturesque parks or against their studio backdrops, and they also snap triumphant graduate portraits, intimate prenatal shots, and provocative passport pics that make border crossing a breeze. Their ironclad guarantee allows unsatisfied clients to request reshoots, reprints, or resizing on all photographs, and they vow to remake or recapture any artwork that sustains damage over the years. Chris also takes his photographic knowledge on the road to conduct Betterphoto Workshops across the United States and Canada, teaching novice photographers how to artistically preserve their most precious memories.

True Yoga, housed within a former Chinese temple, welcomes students to practice Ashtanga yoga in a serene environment. The studio's instructors specialize in the restorative postures of traditional Ashtanga yoga but also lead classes such as prenatal yoga, mother-and-baby yoga, baby massage, and birthing workshops. During morning classes, babysitters tend to little ones in an onsite childcare facility. The eco-friendly facility is also outfitted with free parking spaces and a small boutique.