SWAMI KRIYANANDA
(Howard Klein, M.A.)

Swami Kriyananda has practiced and taught yoga and healing in Europe, Asia, Australia, New Zealand, and North Amerrica for over thirty-five years. His small classes focus on student needs and include yoga breathing, physical exercise, relaxation techniques, and meditation.

A disciple of Swami Brahmananda Saraswati (Ramamurti S. Mishra, M.D.), the founder, guide, and inspiration for this Ashram, Swami Kriyananda was program director and yoga teacher trainer at the Yoga Societies of New York and San Francisco from 1971 to 1990 and director of the International School of Massage Therapy in San Francisco from 1984 to 1990. An active member of the Yoga Society of San Francisco Swami Kriyananda is the President of the board of directors, elected for the term beginning January 2007. Swami Kriyananda's yoga classes are influenced by his practice as a therapeutic touch healer and by his philosophy of meditation or centering. "Only when you are centered can healing and rejuvenation happen".



Marcelo, M.A.

Marcelo Carvalho began teaching yoga in 2001. His yoga classes include asana (poses,) pratyahara (internalizing the focus of the mind and the senses,) and pranayama (expansion of primordial energy - parna.) He emphasizes meditation, yoga psychology, and Self-knowledge as principle tools for personal transformation and healing. Marcelo studies Sanskrit with Dr. Ram Karan Sharma and the Yoga Society Sanskrit faculty.

An active member of the Yoga Society of San Francisco, Marcelo is the Resident Manager, has been on the board of directors since 2000, and is elected Vice President for the term beginning January 2008. Although he did not meet Shri Brahmananda during his lifetime, he has embraced him as his Guru.




JEREMY

With his teachers' blessings, Jeremy Moran began teaching Jivamukti yoga in April 2003 after completing the certification course in New York. As a student and teacher of yoga he believes in building a consistent practice through discipline, self-study, and devotion that helps us connect with our true selves on a daily basis. Jeremy Moran has been a continuing student of Jivamukti yoga since 1999. His studies also include Sanskrit, playing the harmonium, and studying yogic scripture.



LETITIA

Letitia Bartlett began studying yoga and mime in 1971. For twenty years she worked primarily in the theater, mime and circus world before returning to serious yoga study at the Iyengar Institute in San Francisco in the early 90s. Letitia graduated from the Teacher Training Program at the Institute in 1996, and since then has madetwo trips to Pune, India to study with the Iyengars.

Her yoga classes combine concentrated discipline with the spirit of curiosity and investigation. Letitia's dynamic approach is encouraging, challenging, and fun.



JOHN -- Vivekananda

John Marino began his study and practice of yoga in 1975 as a response to the crippling effects of rheumatoid arthritis and began teaching yoga in 1992. Because of his personal history, his classes are therapeutic and designed to encourage those who feel they are too “tight” or otherwise not suited to the practice of yoga. He guides students of all ages, levels of skill, and flexibility to approach the asanas to the extent of their personal ability without compromising the integrity of their bodies. His classes are fun, informative, and productive, and his style is gentle and witty.

While John's work is largely inspired by the style of BKS Iyengar, his students are his greatest inspiration. Another influence is the massage therapy practice he began in 1981. He is a disciple of Shri Brahmananda Sarasvati, the founder of the Yoga Society of San Francisco, where he has served several terms on the board of directors. He teaches at various health clubs in the San Francisco Bay Area, most recently at Fitness West and at the Heritage, a life care community where he pioneered an approach to teaching seniors.



HARI

Hariharananda Jorge Cal was drawn to the practice of yoga for health reasons. As a student of Yogiraj Swami Venkataraman S. Bua Ji, he learned the combined technique of conscious breathing and dynamic posture flow that characterizes his teaching style. In Swami Bua Ji's very traditional style, he also discovered a vital method of realizing and abiding in one's cosmic consciousness by means of guided visualizations during relaxation (yoga nidra) and meditation. It is his greatest desire to share the experience of abiding in that unified field of consciousness and wholeness with his students.

As a result of his yoga practice, Hari has developed a deep and rich understanding of the holistic healing process. He practices as a certified massage therapist and Reiki master in San Francisco.





BRIKSHA

Briksha (Mahendra) combines Hindu Yogic practices and Buddhist wisdom in his teaching. He has learned spiritual nutrition and healthy eating life style under the guidance of Dr. Gabriel Cousens and Dr. David Jubb.He has been working as rawfood chef for 6 years and teaching rawfood classes for last 2 years He worked as a head chef in Tree of Life for a year.Beside catering rawfood,working as private chef and rawfood consultant currently he is working as chef in Cafe Gratitude(a rawfood restuarant) and rawfood consultant in Judahlicious( an organic juice bar) . He has been teaching Yoga, guided meditation, and stress management classes since 1992.Briksha is certified Breath-worker(consicous Breathing) too.






Sasi

I have had a life long interest in the Eastern healing arts including yoga. The study and practice of this ancient art and science has, through the years, nourished and sustained me physically, mentally and spiritually. Teaching for 12 years has added another dimension to this experience in broadening my communication skills and providing me with the opportunity to share the knowledge that I have accumulated over the years.

In my teaching, I constantly reiterate the importance of being fully grounded  in their standing and seating as the foundation from which they move. Students are instructed to cultivate the practice from within by the unwavering awareness of the  breath, and maintaining a full presence through concentration (dharana). From this stable foundation I emphasize alignment - creating the path of least resistance for prana to flow through the body. I encourage them to find lightness in the heart center and flow from that awareness.

Studying Sanskrit and Yoga philosophy with Dr Ram Karan Sharma for 3 years has nurtured and enlightened the spiritual insight of my practice.

The opportunity to work, over the past 2 years, with Niroga Institute, a non-profit organization that seeks to foster health and well being through Transformative Life Skills for at risk and under served individuals, families and communities, has enhanced my ability to move and teach from a deeper place of compassion.

  My experience of traveling around the world and engaging people of different cultures and backgrounds has significantly broadened my perspective not only of the practice of yoga, but of life itself.  

Zhao Yi (Ripple)

Zhao Yi (Ripple), MLI (Master of Legal Institute), is a certified Kripalu yoga teacher (CKYT) with four years teaching experience in China and the United States. She provides safe and supportive environment for students to invite self-exploration and self-acceptance. Her class may include chanting, healing language (in Mandarin Chinese), Acu-points, pranayama, asana, meditation, Thai massage, and partner yoga. Designing an individual class according to the student.s physical and psychological needs is her specialty. Ripple is currently a residence of Brahmananda Ashram, she will receive the advanced yoga teacher training at Kripalu Center for Yoga and Health (Lenox, Ma.) with diversity scholarship.



CLAYTON HORTON, RYT

Clayton has been a student of yoga for over 20 years and began teaching in 1996. He is the director of Greenpath Yoga in San Francisco, CA. His practice is rooted in the Ashtanga tradition and Greenpath meditation. He is a student of Sri Pattabhi K. Jois and the Greensufi. Clayton is a founding board member of the Green Yoga Association and the Director of Teenpath Yoga for teens in San Francisco. He is a student of Sanskrit and on the Board of Directors at the Yoga Society of San Fransisco Brahmananda Ashram. He received formal Authorization to teach Ashtanga Yoga from Sri K. Pattabhi Jois and his Grandson Sharat of the Ashtanga Yoga Research Institute of Mysore, South India in 2003.

Mysore Style teaching refers to the traditional method of Ashtanga Yoga as taught by Sri K. Pattabhi Jois of Mysore, South India. Students progress through a series of postures performed to the rhythm of one's natural breathing. Postures are taught one at a time, based on each students breathing, flexibility, strength, and dedication to practice. This method of teaching is intended to foster self-reliance and independence in the process of developing a personal yoga practice.