Four teachers, three arts, one temperament. Ranks are listed in full below — because who grades your coach matters as much as who coaches you.
Founder & head instructor
Mira Okafor-Lindqvist
Karate rank
Karate — 4th dan black belt
Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu rank
Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu — Brown belt
Mira opened Grey Heron in 2016 after fifteen years of teaching in community centres, with one rule carried over from her own first sensei: the quietest room teaches the most. She built the curriculum, the no-testing-fee policy, and the parent bench.
“A technique you can only do angry is not yet a technique.”
Dan came up through a competition room and deliberately built the opposite: rolling split by experience, white belts protected, egos checked at the tape line. He still competes as a master's-division hobbyist and talks about it less than anyone asks.
“Position before submission; patience before position.”
Teaches: Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu · Juniors · Open Mat
Kids program lead
Sena Yoshida-Brandt
Karate rank
Karate — 2nd dan black belt
Sena taught kindergarten before she taught karate, and it shows: her classes run on names, games, and three-breath stillness challenges. She wrote our stripe system for focus, effort, and kindness — the one parents ask to borrow for home.
“Four-year-olds can concentrate for three breaths. That's where we start.”
Teaches: Little Herons · Young Herons
Striking & self-defence coach
Priya Ramachandran
Kickboxing rank
Kickboxing — Coach — 10 years pad-side
Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu rank
Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu — Purple belt
Priya coached amateur kickboxers for a decade before deciding she liked beginners better. She runs the pad rounds, the conditioning, and the women's cycle — where her first lesson is always the same: your voice, then your feet, then your hands.
No headshots here on purpose — come meet the coaches on the mat instead.
(And per the note in the footer: this is a design demo, so these four
lovely people, their belts, and their lineages are entirely invented.)
Coaching standards
What every coach here must be
Ranked in public
Every coach's rank and lineage hangs by the front desk and lives on this page. If a school won't tell you who graded its instructors, ask why.
Background-checked, first-aid current
Everyone who teaches children holds a current vulnerable-sector check and first-aid certification, renewed annually — paperwork available to any parent who asks.
Still students
All four coaches train under their own teachers and still attend seminars as white-belt-minded learners. A coach who has stopped learning has started performing.
See who teaches what, when
Every class on the weekly schedule lists its coach — filter by
program and meet them through a free trial.
Any program, any trial-marked class on the schedule — no card, no contract, and an honest chat with the coach afterwards about whether this is your right room.