About ELM and its Teachers
ELM combines our knowledge of yoga with our love for combat sports. Based in Montreal, the practice is rooted in discipline, consistency, and the integration of breath and movement. From alignment, to breathing, to control over the mind, let us help you dive deeper into these overlapping practices!
Our Teachers
Samar Shahabi - Instructor & Founder
Eight-Limbed Movement came to me as a vision years ago when I first began seeing the connection between my Ashtanga yoga practice and muay thai training. What started as a personal exploration became a long process of experimentation, testing how each discipline could support and refine the other. Quickly, I began to understand that these practices are not separate, but deeply complementary: one builds structure, awareness, and control, while the other tests intensity, resilience, and focus.
My yoga journey began at twenty years old, during a time when I was searching for a sense of control over my body (and my life). Years later, when I was introduced to muay thai, the overlap between these two paths became immediately clear. Since then, I have shaped my personal practice around this intersection, using Ashtanga yoga not only as a traditional system, but as a foundation to support strength, mobility, breath control, and mental discipline within combat sports.
I am a 500-hour certified Ashtanga yoga teacher, having completed an intensive two-month training in Mysuru, India, and I have dedicated over eight years to personal practice. Alongside this, I have four years of muay thai experience, including an amateur exhibition fight. My teaching draws from the first and second series of Ashtanga yoga, as well as pranayama (breathwork) and dhyana (meditation) techniques, to create a practice that is both structured and adaptable to individual needs.
Through ELM, I want to help people deepen their yoga practice while simultaneously enhancing their performance in other forms of training. Whether you are a beginner seeking direction, or an athlete looking to build greater stability, mobility, and focus, my approach is designed to give you a clear and sustainable structure.
Ultimately, my work is about building a body and mind that can hold both intensity and stillness, on and off the mat!
Sophie Gagnon - Instructor and Co-Founder
Sophie has been working in massage therapy and energy work for nearly 10 years. Her practice integrates fasciatherapy, periarticular work promoting movement, deep tissue massage, and Reiki, of which she is a Master and teacher. Her approach is precise, sensitive, and grounded in a deep understanding of the body in motion.
She also taught in the school system for over 14 years, working with students with learning difficulties, developing a strong capacity for adaptation, listening, and teaching.
Following anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) reconstruction after a jiu-jitsu competition—a discipline she practiced for over eight years—Sophie undertook yoga teacher training. This path became an integration of rehabilitation, body awareness, and inner stability. She practices and teaches muay thai at Café K-Oss and has considered Thailong her home since 2018. Sophie teaches a B.K.S. Iyengar-inspired style of yoga, an approach that prioritizes proper alignment in each posture, regardless of the number of props required. She continues her training with Josephine Vittoria, deepening her understanding of yoga as an art of detail and awareness.