DUNCAN PARVIAINEN

Duncan has been teaching yoga since 2007, leading retreats, workshops and teacher trainings across the globe. He is an E-RYT500 Yoga Instructor originally from Toronto, now living in Byron Bay Australia. He teaches alignment-based vinyasa inspired by Anusara, Ashtanga, Iyengar and Annie Carpenter's SmartFLOW Yoga.

In 2017, Duncan moved to Melbourne and joined Power Living Australia as their Lead Trainer and facilitated 200Hr programs, 300Hr programs, as well as developing their teachers, teaching classes and workshops. In 2020, Duncan moved to Byron Bay where he now teaches public classes, films his online content and runs teacher trainings.

Duncan teaches in a direct and passionate manner which is balanced by his lighthearted and loving attitude. His classes are strong! And have a heightened focus on alignment, smart creative flows, and creating space for deep release.

Duncan's Bio: Unconventional, Scientific, Artistic and Athletic

Duncan grew up in Canada, in an unconventional off-the grid household, powered by a windmill and solar panels. He was raised by parents who were scientifically minded, environmentally concerned and fascinated by Native American spirituality and Eastern philosophy. He learned Transcendental Meditation with his sisters at the age of 12, and completed his first 200 Hour Yoga Teacher Training at the age of 17. 

One of Duncan's greatest joys is the outdoors. He found great joy working as a Canoe Tripping Guide at Northwaters Langskib; one of Canada's leading Youth Wilderness Empowerment organizations. He spent months at a time taking adolescents on canoe trips into the remote wilderness of Canada.

Duncan later attended University of Guelph where he received the prestigious President Scholarship to study Biomedical Sciences. He transferred to Ryerson University where he pursued his love for dance, in their BFA program for Performance Dance. After leaving the program, Duncan pursued a new passion in triathlon and raced in two Ironmans (Mont Tremblant and Cozumel, Mexico) and one Half-Ironman.

After leaving university, Duncan became a popular yoga instructor in Toronto where he taught at some of the most well respected yoga studios and luxury fitness centres. This is where he was asked to be faculty for multiple yoga teacher training programs and created his own programs which he taught locally and internationally. Meghan Markle (Duchess of Sussex) was a regular student in Duncan’s classes, claiming “Call it a yoga crush at the highest level of ‘om’ if you will, and perhaps why it resonated with me above other moments of platonic amour is because meeting Duncan made me fall in love, not just with him, but with my yoga practice as well.”

Duncan left Canada in 2016 to move to Australia to be with the love of his life. Throughout all of the changes in his life, he's been entirely grateful for the practice of yoga which has always been there for him.