Elias Lopez is an environmentalist at heart who combines his love for nature with his love for yoga. Born and raised in Mexico, he enjoys bringing inspiration from his roots to his yoga practice. He infuses his classes with music and with careful attention to alignment through breath and heart, and views yoga as a journey to live well and love fully. Elias is honored to study with John Friend, Jim Bernaert, Ellen Salltonstall and Jackie Prete. He loves to create a fun, safe and sacred place where students are empowered to achieve their full potential.

Christina Wypijewska is a 500-hour trained yoga teacher offering balanced vinyasa flow classes with emphasis on breath, alignment and awareness. Her teaching philosophy is rooted in the wisdom of the ancient scriptures. A graduate of Yale University and Vassar College, with a background in public health, she completed her advanced certification at Laughing Lotus Yoga Center in NYC, including a 100-hour training in Ayurveda and Healing.

David (Yogananda) Hollander, 500 RYT, has been teaching yoga since 1994 and Mysore style Ashtanga Yoga since 2005. He helped to develop Teacher Training programs at New York Yoga, Yoga Sutra and Pure Yoga in NYC. Currently he runs the East Side Mysore Club. David has studied with Sri K. Pattabhi Jois, B.N.S Iyengar (of Mysore), Manju Jois and Nancy Gilgoff and is certified by David Williams and the Mysore Mandala in India. He directed Yoga Teacher Trainings at Ananda Ashram from 2009 to 2020.

George Bailin (Mahamuni) is an English professor, poet and published author. An original founding member of the Yoga Society of New York and Ananda Ashram both, he is a long-time student and disciple of Shri Brahmananda Sarasvati. He has written and published numerous articles about him in his monthly publications as well as a book titled Sage of Ananda.

Born to dancers Stephen and Susan Kotansky, violinist Jesse Kotansky grew up immersed in Balkan and Middle Eastern music. At age two he was given his first violin and had numerous opportunities to study and perform with master musicians from an early age. Jesse has bridged many worlds of music as a professional recording artist and performer with Aerosmith, David Bowie, Billy Gibbons, Teddy Thompson, Merita Halili, Raif Hyseni, J. Mascis and Ivan Milev.

Robert Manenti has been a student of the Yang style of Tai Chi at the Rhode Island School of Tai Chi for over 20 years. He studies under the guidance of John Conroy and teaches in Brooklyn, NY. He is also a nurse at St. Vincent's Hospital in New York City.

Ruth Lauer-Manenti (Amala Devi) has been a student of Sharon Gannon and David Life since 1990 and has been a teacher at Jivamukti Yoga Center in NYC also since 1990. She has made over a dozen trips to India to study with Sri K. Pattabhi Jois, who has given her written permission to teach the primary and intermediate series of Ashtanga Yoga. She also has a Master's degree in Fine Arts.

Steve Gorn has performed Indian classical music and new American music on the bansuri bamboo flute in concerts and festivals throughout the world. His gurus are Sri Gour Goswami of Kolkata and Pandit Raghunath Seth of Mumbai. In 2013, Steve was awarded the Pandit Jasraj Rotary Club of Hyderabad Award for Cross Cultural Achievement. He is featured on the Grammy winning recording Miho – Journey to the Mountain with Dhruba Ghosh and the Paul Winter Consort.

Shrimati Priyamvada Sankar first studied with her father, Dr. V. Raghavan, an eminent Sanskrit scholar, poet and musicologist. She learned the classical Indian dance form Bharata Natyam from the legendary Bala Sarasvati. For over thirty years, Priyamvada has performed in Asia, the U.S. and Canada, in addition to giving numerous lectures on South Indian music and culture. She resides in Canada and established the first Bharata Natyam dance school in Montreal.

Naren Budhakar was born and brought up in the Indian classical music tradition. He began performing Tabla at a young age. A disciple of Tabla Maestro Ustad Shabbir Nisar, Naren has played with prominent instrumentalists, vocalists and dancers including Pandit Birju Maharaj, Ustad Amjad Ali Khan, Pandit Jasraj and Shaed Parvez. He has performed at prestigious venues in the U.S. and Europe, providing Tabla accompaniment for various musical genres. He is also a disciple of Shri Aditya Khandwe, a virtuoso vocalist of the Gwalior style of classical Indian vocal music.