Venerable Sumati Marut
(Brian K. Smith) has been teaching Asian Classics Institute courses, guided meditations, and informal talks and workshops in Tibetan Buddhism in Los Angeles, Tucson, New York, Ireland, Canada, and elsewhere since 2000.


He is the founder and spiritual director of the Asian Classics Institute, Los Angeles (www.aci-la.org), and is also a founding Board member and currently president of the Yoga Studies Institute (www.yogastudiesinstitute.org).

As a YSI staff teacher, he teaches courses in yoga philosophy around the world. He is on the faculty of Diamond Mountain University in Arizona (www.diamondmtn.org) as a professor of Sanskrit and Buddhism, and also has taught courses for Loyola Marymount University’s Yoga Philosophy Program.

Ven. Marut is Professor Emeritus of Religious Studies at the University of California, Riverside. He received his Ph.D. in the History of Religions from the University of Chicago in 1984, where he studied with Mircea Eliade, Wendy Doniger O’Flaherty, and other world-renown scholars of Indian and Comparative Religions. He taught courses in Indian, Eastern, and Comparative Religion for over twenty years — first at Barnard College, Columbia University, and then as a tenured Professor at the University of California, Riverside – before retiring in 2004. He has spent several years in India studying and is the author of two books based on ancient Sanskrit materials (published with Oxford University Press), many articles (academic, as well as popular pieces for encyclopedias), and is the co-translator of a Sanskrit law book, THE LAWS OF MANU (published by Penguin).

Lama Nyingpo (Ven. Eric BrinkMan)
Venerable Lobsang Nyingpo (Eric Brinkman) is an ordained Buddhist monk and the Director of the Tibetan Language Hypertext Project. A magna cum laude in honors with distinction graduate of The Ohio State University, he studied the Yoga Sutra for two years with his teachers Geshe Michael Roach, the first American to earn the title of Geshe (Doctorate in Traditional Buddhist Philosophy), and Christie McNally, who recently finished a translation of the Yoga sutra which has been published by Doubleday. He is an accredited staff instructor with the Yoga Studies Institute and travels extensively to study and teach; in the last 2 years he has taught Tibetan Heart Yoga in New York City, Indianapolis, Houston, Detroit, Arizona, Shanghai, and Taiwan. Between travels he currently teaches Tibetan Heart Yoga and Tibetan Language and Debate at Diamond Mountain University in southeast Arizona.

Yiannis Andritsos
Ioannis, originally from a small village in Greece, brings the high teachings of Yoga from the lineage of Sri Dharma Mittra. He began his study of Yoga after coming to the US in search of higher knowledge and freedom. Ioannis completed the teacher training at Atmananda Studio in Manhattan in 2003. After meeting Sri Dharma Mittra, he began practicing asana and meditation full time with this great master teacher. He now teaches a variety of vinyasa classes in Manhattan and Brooklyn. His previous work in professional dance, fitness training, and his current work in Thai Yoga massage enlighten his teaching and knowledge of the body dynamics. He has also studied extensively the raw vegan diet as part of a complete spiritual lifestyle. His warm hearted humor and sincere devotion make every class a unique and pleasurable experience.

Nancy Allen
Nancy is certified in Vinyasa and Restorative Yoga. She gives thanks
to her brilliant teachers who imparted Yoga Sutras and Hatha Yoga
Pradipika - Lady Ruth Manenti Lauer, John Brady, Lama Sumati Marut,
Geshe Michael Roach and Lama Christie Macnally. Nancy has been
studying meditation with James Connor and Dr. Lisette Garcia. She is
committed to passing on this powerful practice of yoga as a science of
ending suffering. In the practice, she offers a flow of purifying and
strengthening postures along with meditation, mindful breathing, and
practical teachings to create a more peaceful and awakened life.

Fletcher Boote
As both an accomplished visual artist and musician, Fletcher has always been drawn towards the creative and meditative aspects of deep looking and listening. Her classes emphasize chanting/kirtan as a direct link that jolts us in the depths of our soul and connects us to the sacred vibration that radiates from all of our hearts. She is committed to beginning every practice from this place of truth, believing wholeheartedly that in doing so, the reverberations will be all encompassing: at once personal, political, social, and spiritual; immediate and infinite.
Fletcher is deeply grateful for the blessings and generous guidance of her beloved teachers, Rosenclaire, sweet, sweet Lady Ruth, Lama Sumati Marut, Geshe Michael Roach and Christie MacNally, Sharon Gannon and David Life. She is a certified Jivamukti trained teacher.

J.Brown
J. Brown has been practicing/teaching yoga in New York for the last 10 years. He is studied in the Ashtanga-Vinyasa, Iyengar, Sivananda, and Viniyoga forms of Hatha practice. His teachers include Richard Freeman, Alison West (Yoga Union Certified), Swami P. Saraswati (of Rishikesh,India), Katchie Carlson, Robin Janis, and Mark Whitwell (Heart of Yoga Certified.) For more info go to www.yogijbrown.com

Maria Cutrona
Maria Cutrona is deeply honored to be a graduate of Kelly Morris Conquering Lion Yoga Teacher Training Program. This unprecedented training has illuminated for her the true purpose and power of yoga; to help transform our selves and our world completely. She is profoundly grateful to her teachers for inspiring her practice in the service to others; most notably Lama Kellly Morris, Lady Ruth Laurer Mannetti, Barbara Verrochi ,Kristin Leigh, and Rima Rabbath.
Maria humbly bows down in gratitude to the Holy Beings who have graciously shared their wisdom and opened her eyes to the path of ultimate transformation and liberation: Geshe’hla Michael Roach, Lama Christie McNally, Lama Sumati Marut,Lama Kimberly Veenhof, Lama John Brady,Kristina Pao Cheng, Mercedes Bahleda, Will Duncan and Amma.

Maria will always be immensely grateful to Lama Kelly Morris who has held her feet to the fire with love and compassion. Maria follows the lineage of Conquering Lion Yoga which involves both the outer vinyasa of breath and body and the inner vinyasa of intention and focus. Her classes include Sanskrit chanting, meditation, breath awareness,hands on alignment and of course, rigorous vinyasa.

Lama Camilo Cerro

Ava Gerber
Ava Gerber's fascination with multi-cultural religious ritual and ceremony and its expression has spanned the past two decades. She has studied religions in Nigeria, Haiti, Siberut, and Venezuela, and she has traveled to India and bathed in the Ganges River.She has spent 17 years studying the traditional dances of Africa (Woolof, Susu,Yoruba) and its Diaspora (Voodou, Garfunia). In addition to her studies of religion and dance she has an M.F.A. in art. She sees all these genera as material or vehicles for reaching enlightenment and serving all beings. She is a Yoga Alliance certified teacher. Ava would like to thank all those who have helped to bring about Lucky Lotus Yoga.

James Hall
James has been practicing yoga for over 10 years, but became serious about it as a lifestyle when he met his teachers, Michael Hewett and Nicole Nichols. A graduate of the first Kelly Morris Conquering Lion Teacher Training Program, James holds firm to the philosophy that when practicing yoga we must apply both inner and outer methods; we need both wings to fly high and free. Prior to becoming a yoga instructor, James was a wardrobe supervisor for various Broadway musicals including “The Color Purple”, “Ragtime” and “Showboat.” In addition, for five years, he was the costume designer for the Merce Cunningham Dance Company working along side such artists as Radiohead, Sigur Ros, Ernesto Neto and Olafur Eliasson. He is also a student of the Yoga Studies Institute, Asian Classics Institute and teaches Tibetan Heart Yoga. James is very grateful to his Holy teachers Lama Sumati Marut, Kimberley Veenhoff, Geshe Michael Roach, and Christie McNally.

Michael Hewett
Michael Hewett has been teaching yoga since 1997. His classes are taught primarily in the Vinyasa style with strong emphasis on classical yoga philosophy, breath work, and meditation as the basis to experiencing a direct perception of Ultimate Reality. Michael is a student of Geshe Michael Roach, with whom he has been studying Yoga Sutra and the Tibetan Heart Yoga system.
Michael is also an accomplished composer, guitarist, and recording artist.In 2000 Michael released “Hidden in Plain Sight,” a Cd of original compositions written for solo acoustic guitar. In 2002, the Dharma Moon record label released his second Cd “Being in Dreaming,” which is used in yoga centers around the world. Michael’s third Cd “Ally” will be released in Summer 2005. He currently performs in the hit Broadway Musical,“Wicked”.

Kelsang Delmo
Kelsang Demo is a western Buddhist nun, and resident teacher at the Vajradhara Meditation Center.

Matthew Lombardo
Matthew Lombardo was Born in Mineola;New York in 1976.Matthew is certified by the following: Jivamukti, Tibetan Heart Yoga, OM certified and a student of ACI, YSI. Matthew's classes are physically challenging, mentally stimulating, and spiritually effervescent.

Laura Kohn Thompson

Serge Jules
During the past ten years, Serge with the grace of his spiritual Master and the unfolding of his heart has guided and supported many people. He helps them to truly recognize why at times they experience suffering and how to progressively free themselves from that suffering by lovingly leading them into Meditation.
He received “Shaktipat” the initiation, from his Spiritual Master, who is from a lineage of Masters of India. He was blessed to spend time with his Master at the mother ashram in India and the main ashram in upstate New York for extended periods of time. He was guided to study various techniques of meditation, yogic Indian text of Vedanta, Kashmir Shaivism, the Bhagavad-Gita, the Yoga Sutras and other sacred texts of India. He was also able to offer and learn selfless service, communication and practiced sacred chants, mantras, virtues and other spiritual practices. Serge also studied human anatomy and physiology, Swedish massage, shiatsu, polarity and was certified in Reiki. Many of his students said, “Studying and practicing with Serge is uplifting and inspired them to make the practice of meditation a part of their daily lives”. info@sergejules.com

Karen Schwartz
Karen is a certified Yoga instructor with 20 years of experience helping people gain better physical, mental and emotional health. Certified by Ganga White and Tracey Rich of the White Lotus Yoga Foundation in 1996, Karen also considers the teachings of Erich Schiffman and Joel Kramer to be among her greatest influences. Karen believes that Yoga is about freedom, and that through exploring the edges of our physical, mental and emotional conditioning, we have the potential to gain greater self-awareness and the freedom to become our authentic selves. A former certified personal trainer, fitness instructor and dance teacher since 1987, Karen is also a New York State licensed social worker who specializes in addressing emotional health through movement and the body. She is a member of the International Association of Yoga Therapists and a frequent contributor to their publication Yoga Therapy in Practice.

Tristian

Julianna Takys
Julianna is a certified Prana Yoga Teacher, Thai Yoga Bodyworker and Reiki Practioner. With a background in movement and dance which stretches over 20 years, Julianna incorporates her acute knowledge of the body into carefully articulated guidance and support. She has studied extensively with and assisted her teachers, Jeff Migdow, MD and Jonas Westing in workshops and trainings at The New York Open Center and Kripalu Center for Yoga in Lenox, Massachusetts and is currently studying the teachings of the yogic scriptures as interpreted by Geshe Michael Roach, Christie McNally and Lady Ruth Lauer-Manenti. Julianna has lead classes and workshops for children and adults at various locations in New York, Canada and most recently Italy.
By cultivating balance, strength and joy on the mat, her classes strive to bring awareness to the limitless possibilities available when yoga is seen as a metaphor for the unity of all things in life. Focus is kept in the present moment through concentrated breathing and a connection to the higher goals of one’s physical practice through the integration of yogic philosophy, chanting and guided meditations. Julianna’s personal practice and teaching methods are influence by various styles including Vinyasa, Prana, Kripalu, Jivamukti, Anusara, the philosophies of Yoga, Sufism, Tibetan Buddhism and especially by her students who serve as constant teachers and inspiration.

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