BYC has been Iren’s yoga home since 2010. It’s where she not only kept up her yoga practice but also discovered Yin Yoga (through Laura, who teaches at BYC) and Yoga Nidra (through Helen, the founder of BYC). Iren fell in love with both yoga traditions and felt inspired to become a yoga teacher herself.
Iren started teaching Yoga Nidra in 2020 and added Yin Yoga in 2021. In 2024 she completed her 200-hour teacher training, focusing on Slow Flow and Kriya Yoga. She teaches various types of yoga, as each style offers its own unique way to relax the body and sink the mind into the heart. She especially enjoys combining these styles in longer embodied yoga workshop sessions with a specific intention and serving Ceremonial Cacao. She co-hosted her first collaborative Cacao and Yoga workshop in the summer of 2018.
Iren is the founder and guardian of Cacao Connexion and Raw Bonbon. In fact, the first home for the Raw Bonbon raw desserts was the fridge at BYC back in 2013!
As a Cacao Medicine Woman and Yoga Teacher, she is deeply committed to the art of working with the Cacao Plant Medicine, embodied yoga movement and relaxation, and crafting raw chocolate with love, respect, and integrity. Iren honours the wisdom of the ancient Toltecs, the non-dual Yoga tradition and the European medicine wheel ancestry. Her practice brings together these traditions to weave their wisdom into our modern lives.
“I’ve had the honour of working with Kat (who teaches at BYC) to create regular Cacao Women’s Circles and develop themed workshops like Sankalpa and Chakra Balancing Series as offerings in BYC since 2023. It’s been such a joy to come together with people through Cacao, intention-setting, and Yoga.
BYC has been a huge part of my life, my creative endeavours, and has shaped me as a yoga practitioner and teacher. It has also been my community and safe warm space.”
~ Iren A Merdinyan
If you’d like to experience Cacao Connexion’s Ceremonial Cacao, feel free to reach out to Iren at:
