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Yoga Yoga Teacher Training Faculty

The teaching faculty of Yoga Yoga Teacher Training includes over 10 certified yoga teachers and professionals. Instructors come from a wide range of yoga teaching backgrounds in Hatha Yoga, Ashtanga Yoga, and Kundalini Yoga. The teaching staff also includes professionals in the fields of anatomy, physiology, physical therapy, ayurveda, kinesiology, psychology, literature and language, massage therapy, and education. In addition to our regular teaching staff, nationally recognized yoga teachers and published authors are invited as guest instructors to teach in their areas of specialization of yoga asana, pranayama, philosophy, therapy, and meditation.
	Ravyn Abboushi Ravyn’s teaching is greatly influenced and informed by Gary Kraftsow, Mary Keator and Donna Farhi, as well as by her own years of experience and practice. She finds great joy and pleasure in being released from the demands of daily life to interact with the body, breath and spirit during yoga practice and shares this in her teaching. Ravyn was introduced to Hatha Yoga in 1988 and has been teaching since 2000. She received her 500-hour certification through the American Viniyoga Institute. She holds a degree in Religious Studies with a concentration in Indian Philosophy from the University of Texas.
	Guru Karam Benton, Director of Teacher Training Guru Karam (Laura) has been a yoga practitioner since 1982. As one of the first certified Kundalini Yoga Teachers, she has served as a teacher training course facilitator in the Master's Touch program taught by Yogi Bhajan and has directed Kundalini Teacher Training courses since 1997 at both Level I and Level II. Along with her husband Mehtab, Guru Karam is one of the original founders of Yoga Yoga. She currently serves as the Director of Teacher Training in Austin. She brings a lively sense of humor to the profoundly transformative practice of Kundalini Yoga with a focus on ease and precision in postures and the breath.
	Mehtab Benton Mehtab completed his first Kundalini Yoga Teacher Training course in 1974 while in residence at the Hargobind Kundalini Yoga Ashram. During the 1970s, he taught yoga in the public school system and in drug rehabilitation programs in California. He studied Kundalini Yoga under Yogi Bhajan and was among the first students to be certified in Kundalini Yoga through the Master's Touch training course in New Mexico. He has been a Kundalini Yoga Teacher Trainer since 1997, and has taught Level I and Level II teacher training courses. Along with his wife Guru Karam, Mehtab received the International Kundalini Yoga Teacher’s Association “Building Communities in Yoga” award in 2000. He has taught Kundalini Yoga workshops and classes to students and teachers from around the world at the annual Kundalini Yoga Summer Solstice gathering in New Mexico.
	Ellen Briggs Stansell, Ph.D., RYT Ellen was awarded a Ph.D. in Philosophy with a concentration in Philosophy of Yoga by the University of Texas at Austin in 2008. Her dissertation, on the karma yoga teaching of the Bhagavadgita, includes her own original translations of several passages of the text. She has eight years of experience teaching philosophy. Known for her clarity, enthusiasm, and heart, she was awarded a Distinguished Teacher Award in 2003 by the University of Texas. Before entering graduate school, Ellen studied Buddhist Philosophy in India and received teachings from His Holiness the Dalai Lama. Ellen has practiced Hatha Yoga since 1999, mindfulness meditation since 1995, and taught Hatha Yoga since 2004. As a Hatha Yoga instructor, Ellen encourages students to cultivate patience, self-awareness, and self-acceptance, and to enjoy their practice.
	Ana Pilar Cruz Ana Pilar has been practicing yoga since 1993. She received her first 200-hour certification from Yoga Yoga and her 500-hour Advanced Training from the American Viniyoga Institute under the guidance of Gary Kraftsow. Her practice and teaching are also influenced by her studies with Donna Farhi, Srivatsa Ramaswami, and Dr. Robert Svoboda. She is currently deepening her knowledge of Yoga Therapy and the healing science of Ayurveda.
	Mandy Eubanks Mandy is an Anusara Inspired ™ RYT and has been accepted by Anusara Yoga for certification. Students in her class can expect to practice and learn the Universal Principles of Alignment and the life-affirming philosophy that embodies the tradition. Mandy has studied Anusara extensively with the founder of Anusara Yoga, John Friend, and with certified teachers Charly Pivert, Christina Sell and Noah Maze. She has completed numerous trainings in the Anusara method, including two Master Immersions and a Therapeutics training with John Friend. Mandy has also assisted Christina Sell in the year-long Anusara Yoga Immersion program at Yoga Yoga.
	Rich (Raghurai) Goldstein Rich is one of the owners of Yoga Yoga. His background as a consultant and business owner of traditional and nontraditional businesses provides him with knowledge in the areas of marketing, operations and new business development. His work style combines conventional business strategy with a heartfelt desire to serve. He has been practice yoga since 1981, teaching Kundalini Yoga since 2001 and is a Registered Yoga Teacher (RYT) at the 200-hour level. Rich teaches courses on integrating conscious business practices rooted in yogic principles for aspiring yoga instructors and business people concerned with a more heart-centered work experience.
	Sadani Houtz Sadani is a certified Kripalu Yoga teacher, Viniyoga Teacher, and Yoga Therapist. She established the Yoga Center of Lake Charles, Louisiana in January of 1998. Sadani loves to teach those who want to deepen their yoga practice, experience the subtleties of yoga, and are interested in teaching yoga. She provides individual adaptations to postures to ensure practicing yoga is accessible and safe for all whom she teaches. In private and group classes, Sadani encourages an integrated experience by guiding asana from the foundation of breath incorporating practices of pranayama, mantra, mudra, meditation, and personal ritual.
	Gurudev Singh Khalsa Gurudev has been a student with Yogi Bhajan since 1977 and lifelong yoga practitioner of Kundalini Yoga, Gurudev Singh has taught a wide range of workshops related to yoga, meditation, and yoga-based self-improvement widely throughout Mexico and the USA. His pragmatic approach to spiritual living in the modern world draws from the wisdom and techniques of the ancient yogis, his personal practice, and his lifelong passion for science. He has been the keynote speaker for many audiences, including; physician conventions, university symposiums, literary publishers, yoga students, corporate meetings, religious organizations, and the general public.
	Siri Bahadur Khalsa Siri Bahadur Khalsa began teaching Kundalini Yoga in 1980 while in residence at the Dallas Kundalini Yoga ashram. He is a graduate of the first Kundalini Yoga Master's Touch teacher training program and has taught at Yoga Yoga since its inception. He brings music to his classes with his original guitar compositions and through the sound of the gong. He believes that yoga allows students to define and redefine themselves as they travel their life path of realizing and fulfilling their destiny.
	Lori McDougall Lori completed a three year teacher training program through the American Viniyoga Institute under the direction of Gary Kraftsow. Lori also is a graduate of the Mount Madonna residential Hatha Yoga Teacher Training program, where she studied with Baba Hari Das, and is a certified Kundalini Yoga teacher at the 200-hour level. Her practice and teachings emphasize adapting the tools of yoga to sustain wellness, promote healing and awaken the heart and mind.
	Wayo Ramirez Wayo’s yoga education comes from intensive trainings with many senior yoga practitioners. He completed a 200-hour Hatha Teacher Training program at Yoga Yoga in 2002, and went on to complete a 500-hour course with the American Viniyoga Institute. He learned to teach Restorative Yoga from Judith Lasater, and studied Vinyasakrama Yoga with Srivatsa Ramaswami. He currently studies Sanskrit with Manorama. He often serves as a lead teacher for Hatha Yoga Teacher Training groups.
	Mark Uridel Mark Uridel began studying yoga in 1988, has a BS in Kinesiology with High Honors from UT Austin and a Master of Science in Physical Therapy from Old Dominion. Mark trained in various forms of yoga over the past 18 years including the Iyengar and Ashtanga traditions. Mark is a Licensed Physical Therapist and Massage Therapist with over 18 years of experience. He is a Certified Kinesiology and Pilates Instructor as well as a Registered Yoga Teacher at the 500-hour level. Mark’s focus on movement, breath and alignment teaches yoga as an internal practice and empowers students to listen to their inner guru and develop their own yoga practice.
	Prema Mary Vaughan Prema is a Yoga Yoga Teacher Training graduate who offers a compassionate and supportive perspective to Yoga Yoga Teacher Training students. Prema guides and mentors teacher training students based on her many years of personal practice and teaching yoga and work as a karma yogi (yoga of service) at Kripalu Center for Yoga and Health. Her experience teaching and advising college students and her in-depth study and practice of the spiritual aspects of yoga and shamanism make her an effective and interesting guide for yoga teacher training students. She assists in curriculum development and often serves as the lead teacher for Hatha Yoga Teacher Training groups.
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