Maya Rao
Maya Rao from Mumbai will be supervising the Mysore program beginning in early September. Maya began her yoga training with Iyengar (Hatha) Yoga in Pune, studying for a year under one of Iyengar’s disciples, and then moved to Mysore to study Ashtanga yoga for five years with Sri K Pattabi Jois, founder of the Mysore Ashtanga Yoga Research Institute and his grandson Sharath Rangaswamy.
She is authorized to teach this classical form of yoga by the Ashtanga Yoga Research Institute and continued to return to Mysore every year practicing the second series studies with Guruji until his passing and now with Sharath Rangaswamy. On July 5, Maya will have completed her Level Two Teacher Training in Mysore.
Maya also completed a four month course in yogic studies from the esteemed Bihar School of Yoga and has been studying everything that involves whole health, from nutrition,massage to Pranic Healing “What started as a career has now become a way of life. It brings me joy to be able to impart some of this knowledge to others”
Shiya Mangel
Shiya Mangel began practicing yoga in 1995. In 2004 she completed a Vinyasa Yoga teacher training and then went on to complete the Jivamukti Yoga 200hour teacher training in 2005 with Sharon Gannon and David Life. In 2007 during a workshop with Seane Corn, Shiya was inspired to begin her Seva practice and signed up for the 2008 Off The Mat Cambodian Bare Witness Challenge. In 2008 Shiya raised $20,000.00 for the Cambodian Children´s Fund (CCF) and in February 2009 traveled with Seane Corn, Suzanne Sterling and 20 other fundraisers to Cambodia to work at CCF and take part in leadership training. In June of 2009 Shiya completed the Off The Mat Leadership Training with Seane Corn, Suzanne Sterling and Hala Khouri. Shiya is currently preparing to take her Advanced Jivamukti teacher certification exam. Shiya began teaching in 2004.
She is the co-founder of Shanti Yoga Shala where currently teaches Jivamukti Vinyasa Yoga All Levels and Jivamukti Vinyasa Yoga Basics classes.
Dawn Reid
Dawn Reid, RYT has been exploring the world of yoga for the past eight years. Having completed a 200-hour teacher training program in Inner Fire Yoga, she is a registered yoga teacher with Yoga Alliance. Dawn has taught at Yoga on Main, in Manayunk, the AMMA Center in Glenside, and Green Life yoga studio in Roxborough. Currently, she teaches yoga at the University of the Arts, including a lunch hour yoga class open to all UArts students, faculty and staff. Dawn is incredibly grateful to have studied with many amazing teachers including Erich Schiffmann, Jade Groff (prenatal yoga teacher training), Diane Long, Ken Nelson (Thai-Shiatsu Therapy), and most recently Seane Corn, Hala Khouri, and Suzanne Sterling (Off the Mat, Into the World).
Keri Smotrich
Keri began practicing yoga at an art museum where she was working after graduating college. Always an active person and athlete, Keri initially thought of these classes as a way to stretch after running or going to the gym, but it took a while before she began to see not only the physical changes in her body, but also how her practice carried over into life off the mat. Known for her high energy, Keri sees yoga as a way to witness oneself practicing life and as a way to create space to get to know oneself…and slow down!
In May 2010 she graduated from the Wake Up Yoga vinyasa teacher training under the direction of her beloved teachers, Corina Benner, Victoria Ladd and Julie Pogachefsky of Jai!
Kong Ung
Kong Kuch Ung started learning Tai Chi with Master Chiang in 1990. Under Master Chiang, he learned the Traditional long Yang form and Master Chiang basic 43 movements Chi Kung. Master Chiang emphasizes the importance of developing a strong movement foundation, as well as the development of patience, softness, even relaxed, slowness and a quiet mind.
In December 1997 embracing his Buddhist heritage he participated in a 10 day Vipassana retreat; it was not until after a couple of retreats did he fully understood the importance of a quiet mind and how it is manifested in Tai Chi. He realized that through movement one can develop a keen awareness of the body, as well as, the underlying emotional state.
Noah Williams
Noah was introduced to many yoga traditions throughout his childhood by his mother. In 1990 he began daily practice in Yoga, Tai Chi/Qigong and Yang Soo Do with Dr. Mark Rosenberg. In 1993 he began practicing Ashtanga Yoga at the Ashtanga Yoga Center in Encinitas California with Tim Miller, and at Tim’s Suggestion, Noah traveled to Mysore India to study with Sri K. Pattabhi Jois at the Ashtanga Yoga Research Institute in 1995. Noah has returned to Mysore yearly to study under Sri K. Pattabhi Jois and his grandson R. Sharath. In 2001 Noah received Advanced Teaching Certification from Sri K. Pattabhi Jois. Noah has also been a student of Sanskrit Recitation, Yoga Sutras and Philosophy under Dr. M.A. Jayashree and Professor M.A. Narasimha of Mysore since 1998.
Katherine Shriver
My love of the ashtanga vinyasa yoga practice began in 2000 and builds on 12 years of modern dance education that includes training at Sarah Lawrence College and Harvard Summer School. I’ve been teaching about asana for six years, and I’ve studied with the guru of Ashtanga Yoga, Sri K Pattabhi Jois, on world tours and in India. In pursuit of my basic RYT qualifications, I’ve trained with yoga masters like Richard Freeman, Tim Miller and David Swenson. I’ve explored the practice in some depth with Chris Hildebrandt in NYC and now practice under the guidance of Noah Williams at Shanti Yoga Shala in Philadelphia. I also study with Sharath Rangaswamy at the KPJ Ashtanga Yoga Institute in Mysore, South India.
For me, ashtanga yoga practice is a movement poetic and a self-healing discipline–mysterious and formal– that informs me about the deep stillness of immanence, compassion, seeing God in everything…while sometimes knowing what Ghandi meant when he advised us to: “be the change you want to see in the world.” Aside from my yoga practice, I practice Reiki healing and enjoy live music, travel, cooking and good company. I’m married to Rob Tucker, a child psychiatrist, and we share a home with two fabulous felines– Margo and Georgie. Prior to teaching asana as a formal practice, I specialized professionally in pedestrian and bicycle transportation research and policy for eleven years.
Ed Zadlo
Ed Zadlo D.Ay (Acharya Premananda) is the first certified Ayurveda/Yoga Acharya in the US. He has studied Vedic Science in the U.S. and India for over 30 years. He has practiced Ayurveda, and taught Yoga and Vedic Studies for over 20 years and has been ordained to teach in the Kriya Yoga tradition since 1980. Ed lives near Sumneytown, PA, where he has a full time Ayurveda practice and teaches Meditation, Yoga Philosophy, and Vedanta for many ashrams and Yoga centers in the U.S. www.edzadlo.com