Diane Bruni & Riki Richter
Diane and Riki first met in 1997 on Queen West in what was to become one of Toronto’s most vibrant neighbourhoods.
Diane had just opened Downward Dog Yoga and Riki was operating Mind the Body Pilates & Bodywork. Since then Diane and Riki have been nerding out on all things about the body and movement.
This collaboration consolidates multiple interests into an innovative prop that has the potential to help people feel better in their bodies.
Diane Bruni
Diane has been at the forefront of the yoga scene in Canada, she was the first Ashtanga teacher in Canada, founder of the Downward Dog Yoga Studio, and creator of 65 episodes of Breathing Space Yoga
After decades of ‘traditional’ yoga, Diane became disillusioned, her own injuries and the injuries she was witnessing in her community were disheartening. In 2012 after a stage 3 breast cancer diagnosis Diane sold her shares at Downward Dog, freeing herself from teaching traditional yoga classes gave her time to heal, study, experiment and re-evaluate the true meaning of yoga for her personally.
Diane designed the Body Loop to help herself and her community continue to practice yoga poses with resistance, the Body Loop creates a sense of containment and stability while allowing freedom of movement.
The yoga community is changing, and once again Diane is at the forefront of the next wave. Join her and 27,000 other curious movers in her FB group called The Yoga and Movement Research Community.
Riki Richter
Riki is an osteopathic manual practitioner that treats many different conditions with a focus on pregnancy and postpartum, lower back and pelvic dysfunction. She has been teaching movement for 23 years – yoga, Pilates, Franklin Method and has taught anatomy for numerous teacher training courses including Downward Dog’s for 12 years. She teaches patient specific movement re-education whether it be in order to lift a grandchild or perform a high level sport. Aiming to empower patients to take control of and be involved in their own healing process, Riki began collaborating with Dr. Raza Awan in 2004 and since opening Synergy Sports Medicine in 2011 has focused on a “Movement Based Rehabilitation” model. She programmed exercises based on common deficits found by Dr. Awan and created Synergy Movement Therapy Protocols used in 1-on-1 and group classes including Back Care, Hip & Knee, Neck & Shoulder, Foot & Ankle, Spinal Stenosis and Pelvic Health.