Sarasvati Buhrman, PhD. Pranayama, Meditation, Ayurveda, Yoga Philosophy
did graduate work in genetics and received her doctorate in Anthropology from the University of Colorado. She is a Yogic renunciate in the Vairagi order of north India. She has practiced and taught asana, pranayama, and meditation under the direction of her guru, Baba Hari Das, since 1976., and was trained in Ayurvedic medicine and asked to practice and teach by Dr. R.P. Trivedi. Sarasvati is Academic Director and cofounder of the Rocky Mountain Institute of Yoga and Ayurveda where she teaches yoga psychology and philosophy, pranayama, meditation, practices Ayurvedic medicine, and writes for Yoga International.
Hansa Knox, R.Y.T. Classical asana, Asana therapy
left the corporate world in 1988 to pursue a career in holistic health, and received her yoga certification at the Kripalu Center For Yoga and Health. She is currently a trainer of Yoga teachers in the Kripalu tradition , serves on the board for Kripalu, and is past president of Yoga Teachers of Colorado. She is the propriator of Gentle Touch Body, Mind, and Spirit Connection in Denver, and her theraputic work integrates yoga therapy, massage, and homeopathy. She is an executive board member of the Yoga Alliance.
Martha Oakes, A.P.C.P. Ayurvedic Postpartum Care
is a certified Maharishi Mother and Baby Practitioner, Ayurvedic doula trainer, and essential oils therapist who has been in practice since 1991 and has lived in Boulder, Co for the last six years. She has practiced Transcendental and kriya yoga meditation for over 25 years and is the author of a parent's manual for rapid postpartum recovery and numerous articles on the subject.
John O'Hearn, M.D. holistic medicine
received his MD in 1980 & completed an Internal Medicine residency at UNC-Chapel Hill in 1983. He is board-certified in Internal Medicine & Sports Medicine. In 1987, he completed a 2,000 hour physician training program in holistic/integrative medicine at the Himalayan Inst of Yoga Science and Philosophy. He was trained there by Rudolph Ballentine, MD, John Clarke, MD, Swami Rama and many other noted teachers. Dr O'Hearne served as a staff physician & lecturer for the Himalayan Institure & the Center for Holistic Medicine in NYC from 1986-1992. He has been in private practice in Holistic Medicine & classical homeopathy in the Boulder region since then. In addition to teaching classes at RMIYA, he is available for private consultation.
Sarita Shrestha, M.D., B.A.M.S Internal Medicine, Gynecology, Ayurveda
received her medical training at Benares Hindu University, India, and at Gwalior, India, with a specialty in obstetrics and gynecology. She is currently employed in the government hospital in Kathmandu, Nepal, and has published papers in the use of Ayurvedic medicine in the treatment of diabetes and has special training in the management of leprosy, mental retardation, and the use of Yoga Therapy to treat asthma.
Louise Sanchez, M.F.A. Ayurvedic pharmacist
is the Ayurvedic pharmacist for the RMIYA clinic. She received her degree from the University of Colorado at Boulder , and has dedicated her life to her two main interests: art and holistic healing. She has studied Ayurveda for a number of years and is a TM teacher and 35- year student of Maharishi Mahesh Yogi.
Sita Sharan, Pujari Ritual and Mantra
Following the death of her guru Neemkaroli Baba, Sita remained in India for eight years, where she studied Yoga philosophy, meditation, ritual, classical music, and Sanskrit, with several teachers in the north Indian Vaishnava sect of which she is a member. She writes occasional articles for Yoga Journal, and is one of the few women to be trained as a pujari of Hindu rituals such as the Yajna, or fire ceremony.
Jennifer Workman, M.S., R.D. Ayurvedic Nutrition
is a nutritionist and registered dietitian who holds a masters degree in Exercise Physiology and Sports Nutrition from New York University. Her specialties include weight management, sports nutrition, Ayurvedic dietary consultations, and a holistic approach to health problems. Jennifer has worked in the spa industry in New York and has taught graduate-level sports medicine couses at the New York College of Osteopathic Medicine.
Nischala Joy Devi Yoga therapy for Cardiac patients
is a yoga teacher who spent 18 years living as a monk in an ashram, spending much of her time developing methods for integrating the healing aspects of yoga with western medicine. She developed the yoga portion of the Dr. Dean Ornish Program for Reversing Heart Disease and served for seven years as Director of Stress Management for that program, and co founded the award-winning Commonweal Cancer Help Program. She is author of The Healing Path of Yoga.
John Douillard, D.C., Ph.D Ayurveda, Pancha Karma
earned his Ayurveda degree from the Open International University in Sri Lanka. He is author of Body, Mind, and Sport and The 3-Season Diet. John currentlty practices Ayurveda and chiropractic in Boulder, CO.
Sandra Summerfield Kozak, M.A. asana practice and teaching
Swami Mukti Dharma Therapeutic Yoga - Yoga Nicha
is the director of Vij y Stallings in New Zealand and is a life long disciple of Swami Satyananda of the Bihar School of Yoga. The Bihar School is particularly renouned for its therapeutic application of yoga, and swamiji's specialty is the yoga nicha process, which can be views as a yogic counterpart to Western psychotherapy as well as a powerful tool for physical healing and mental quietude.
RMIYA Guest Faculty:
Patricia Hansen M. A. Classical asana, Asana Therapy, Ayurveda
received her master's degree in religious studies from the University of Denver and a certification in Ayurvedic counseling from the Ayurvedic Institute under the direction of Dr Vasant Lad. A Co- founder and Co-Director of the Rocky Mountain Institute of Yoga and Ayurveda Colorado, Patricia is president and founding board member of Unity in Yoga International, an executive board member of IYS, a member of the Yoga Alliance Board, and a faculty member at Metropolitan State College. Patricia studied with Swami Sacchidananda and many other yogis and has taught yoga asana for over thirty years. She is a yoga therapist, ayurvedic counselor, and international yoga teacher.
Simran Bebout, M.T. Ayurvedic massage
is a practitioner of Yogi Bhajan's kundalini yoga, a medical technologist, Ayurvedic cook, and certified pancha karma technician who offers pancha karma treatments at RMIYA.
Jnani Chapman, R.N. Yoga therapy for Cancer patients
received her bachelors of science degree in nursing at the University of San Francisco and has for fourteen years served as senior staff member of Commonweal Cancer Help Program (which was featured in Bill Moyers' PBS special on health and healing.) Jnani also teaches yoga to women with breast cancer through the Breast Cancer Personal and Lifestyle Support Program of the University of California, San Francisco, and the California Pacific Medical Center. She is the former executive director of the International Association of Yoga Therapists.
David Crow, L.Ac. Ayurveda and Ecology
is a practitioner of Chinese and Ayurvedic medicine in private practice, who received his training at the American College of Traditional Chinese Medicine in San Francisco. David is an acupuncturist, herbalist, and author. He is director of the Center for Sattvic Medicine, founder of Sudarshan Herb Company, and author of In Search of the Medicine Buddha, a book about his studies with Tibetan and Ayurvedic physicians in Nepal.
Richard Freeman, M.A. Ashtanga vinyasa asana
holds a master's degree in philosophy , and has studied and taught Yoga in both India and Iran. His asana background includes study in both the traditions of BKS Iyengar and the ashtanga vinyasa style of Patabhi Jois. He is an internationally-recognised teacher of the latter tradition and is director of the Yoga Studio in Boulder, Co. Richard is one of the founders of RMIYA, and several of our students have chosen to accumulate their required 150-hours of yoga asana classroom instruction requirement under his tutelage.
Ciana Grove, C.M.T. Infant massage
has been a certified massage therapist since 1987 and an infant massage instructor since 1988. She also has an aroma therapy business, and has also worked as a recreation therapist, a stress management technician, and a nanny and labor assistant. She specialises in working with special needs babies.
Leslie Kalechman, M.S.W. Yoga Therapy
received her degree form the University of Wisconsin at Madison and works as a psychotherapist and yoga teacher at Exempla Lutheran Medical Center in Denver., where she specialises in eating disorders, post-traumatic stress disorder, depression, and addictions. She has been a practicing psychotherapist for twenty years and a practitioner of yoga for 30 years. Leslie is a longtime student of Swami Sacchidananda and is certified through Integrative Yoga Therapy.
Gigia Kalouch Ayurvedic cooking
has taught cooking and recipe development classes emphasising natural, healthy foods and ethnic flavors for the past eight years and is owner of the Narural Pantry. Although her first love is hands- on teaching in the art of cooking, she also publishes articles and recipes in national cooking and lifestyle magazines.
Indira Gupta, M.S.W. Ayurvedic cooking
a native of West India, has taught Indian regional cooking for more than 20 years. Her creative, modern style and technique address today's concerns for fitness, creativity, ecology, and Ayurveda. Indira teaches with an approach that feeds the whole person in body, mind, and spirit.
Vasant Lad, M.A. Sc. Ayurvedic Physician
Shar Lee Structural/Iyengar Asana, Asana Therapy
Shar Lee, CYI, has been practicing yoga for over 30 years and teaching for over 27, both in the USA and internationally. Her classes cover a wide variety of yoga related subjects including: asana of all levels, Yoga Therapeutics, Anatomy and Yoga, Doubles Yoga, Ayurvedic Massage and Marma Points, Meditation, Yoga Teacher Training and Certification, and Pre- and Post-Natal Yoga. Her own studies encompass many different forms and modalities of yoga with many of the senior yoga teachers world wide, including extensive studies in the US, India, and Nepal.
Rebecca Maloney Pancha Karma
Amadea Morningstar, M.A. Ayurvedic Nutrition and Cooking
Suzanne Palmer, M.A. Ayurvedic Massage
Terra Richardson, Registered Midwife Midwifery and Ayurveda
is a registered midwife who has been teaching midwifery for the last ten years and played a major role in creating curriculum standards for the state certification of midwives. Terra, who also has an undergraduate degree in experimental psychology, is co-author of Pregnant Feelings: The Emotional and Social Changes of Becoming a Mother. Terra is a disciple of Gurumayi Chidvilasananda and serves of the board of the local Siddha meditation center.
Mukunda Stiles, C.Y.T. Structural Yoga
is the author of Structural Yoga Therapy and a poetic rendering of Patanjali's Yoga Sutras, praised by BKS Iyengar. He certified the founding teachers of Yoga Teachers of Colorado in 1980. He trained in Siddha Yoga, Iyengar Yoga, and with the senior students of Prof. Krishnamacharya-yengar, Desikachar, and Indra Devi. Mukuda is a yoga therapist and international yoga teacher.
Aja Thomas, N.D. Sanskrit
is a senior staff teacher at the American Sanskrit Institute founded by Vyas Houston and has been teaching Sanskrit for the last eight years. Aja is also an ordained vedic priest through Bhaktivedanta Gurukula in Vrindavan. He and his wife and children live in Portland, Or.
Om Prakash Tiwari, M.S. History and texts of Yoga
is Director of the government-supported Yoga Research Institute of the Kaivalyadhama Association, in Lonavla, Maharastra (India)which his guru, Swami Kuvalayananda, founded in 1923. In his capacity as director, he sits on governmental committees for the propagation of Yoga in India and is currently directing a project for development of yoga teaching in public schools and editon of Yoga-Mimansa.
Laurel Rew, R.N., ADN. Core
received her nursing degree at the University of Wisconsin and is also a practitioner of Healing Touch . Laurel is an internship trainer in the Ayurvedic Postpartum Certification Training at RMIYA and one of the founders of Mountain Doulas, a cooperative of postpartum care profiders.
Mark Halpern, D.C. Ayurvedic Medicine
