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 yoga, physical therapy, Ayurveda, kinesiology, psychology, literature and language, and education. Nationally recognized yoga teachers and published authors are regularly invited as guest instructors to teach in their areas of specialization of yoga asana, pranayama, philosophy, therapy, and meditation.

	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.
	Guru Karam Benton 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.
	Lori Johnson, Director of Teacher Training 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.
	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.
	Rachel Hector Rachel Hector began teaching yoga 10 years ago and is currently pursuing a doctorate in kinesiology at the University of Texas at Austin. She is certified at the 500 hour level and teaches Hatha yoga and Ashtanga yoga. Rachel teaches Ashtanga Yoga in a beginner-friendly format that is appropriate for all levels of Ashtanga students. She provides a safe environment where students can learn about the practice, their bodies, and how to prevent and heal injuries. Her recent observations in various physical therapy clinics and yoga studios in Boulder, Co., further solidified her desire to help students practice and teach safely and effectively with a focus on injury prevention and recovery.
	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.
Yoga Yoga Adjunct Teacher Trainers	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.
	Mark Uridel Dr. Mark Uridel, DPT, ERYT-500 has 25 years of training and experience in yoga. He integrates his Physical Therapy expertise into his yoga classes to provide an educational, healing and transforming experience. Mark is a senior instructor for the Yoga Yoga Teacher Training Program. A member of the International Association of Yoga Therapists, Mark empowers his students to have wellness of mind, body and spirit. He describes yoga as a process of moving toward wholeness and encourages students to have acceptance, compassion and loving-kindness toward themselves and others.
	Chase Bossart Chase Bossart is the Therapy and Education Director and Senior Yoga Therapist for the Healing Yoga Foundation in San Francisco. He is a long time, private student of Mr. TKV Desikachar and is a Krishnamacharya HYF certified Yoga Teacher Trainer. Chase has an M.A. in Religious Studies from UC Santa Barbara, where he wrote his thesis on Patanjali's Yogasutra, and he is also a faculty member for the Loyola Marymount University's Yoga Therapy Rx Program.
	Eduardo (Wayo) Ramirez Eduardo’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.
	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.
	Libby Cox Libby Cox, RYT 500, is an artist and dancer whose love for the human form and movement brought her to Hatha Yoga in 2000. She has been intimately involved in the Austin yoga community since 2003, serving as a studio administrator, yoga teacher and now a teacher trainer. At nearly 3,500 hours of classroom teaching experience, Libby draws from her training in Ashtanga, Anusara, Iyengar, vinyasa, restorative yoga, injury prevention, meditation, and specializes in yoga philosophy. This combination of studies has sustained Libby's long time love of connecting the exploration of body-mind and breath to invigorating, well informed creative movement. She appreciates the process of synthesizing many different teachings, considers herself a life long student, and encourages her students to do the same. Libby loves the support and inspiration that grows out of a yoga community, and seeks to share her love of yoga as a philosophy that nourishes the capacity for creativity and resilience on life's paths.
	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.