Pandit Rajmani Tigunait, PhD
Spiritual head of the Himalayan Institute, Pandit Rajmani Tigunait is the successor of Sri Swami Rama. He holds two doctorates, one from the University of Allahabad in India and the other from the University of Pennsylvania. He is a regular contributor to Yoga+ Joyful Living magazine (formerly Yoga International), the author of fourteen books, including Touched by Fire and the best-selling At the Eleventh Hour: The Biography of Swami Rama, and the force behind Sacred Link®—The Healing Revolution.  Read More

Sandra Anderson
Sandra Anderson is the co-author of the award-winning Yoga: Mastering the Basics, and is on the faculty of the Himalayan Institute, where she is a resident. Turning to yoga practice after years as an environmental geologist, Anderson was initiated into the Himalayan tradition in 1988. She teaches subtle body yoga, meditation, and spiritual ecology in nation-wide workshops, and is the co-director of the Himalayan Institute’s Teachers Association (HITA). She is also a senior editor for Yoga+ Joyful Living magazine.

Rama Berch
Rama is a Registered Yoga Teacher, whose credentials include certification and training in four styles of yoga—as a hatha yoga teacher, advanced hatha yoga teacher, pranayama teacher, and meditation teacher. After Kundalini initiation by her Guru in 1976, she was moved during meditation into spontaneous yoga poses, enlivening not only her knowledge, but also her understanding of the body. Rama is the originator of Svaroopa Yoga and the founder of Master Yoga Foundation, in La Jolla California. She has an exceptional understanding of how the body and mind work, and how they work together. She communicates clearly and with great insight and compassion, and travels extensively teaching courses and workshops around the world.  Learn more

Greg Capitolo
A native of San Francisco, Greg Capitolo began practicing hatha yoga and meditation in 1994. He studied with several senior Iyengar yoga teachers while working in accounting, finance, and IT positions for various corporations in the Bay Area. After completing the Himalayan Institute’s 200-hour teacher training program in 2005, Greg began teaching yoga classes at corporations such as Kaiser, PeopleSoft, and Oracle—feeling blessed to bring the teachings of the Himalayan Masters to his friends and co-workers. Desiring to deepen his yoga practice and studies, Greg left California in 2006 to take residence at the Himalayan Institute in Honesdale, Pennsylvania where he currently serves as Business Manager, Treasurer, and hatha yoga teacher.

Carrie E. Demers, MD
Board-certified in internal medicine, Dr. Demers is a holistic physician who blends modern medicine with traditional approaches to health. After receiving her medical degree from the University of Cincinnati and completing her residency at Michael Reese Hospital in Chicago, Dr. Demers went on to study massage, homeopathy, nutrition, herbal medicine and ayurveda. She is a faculty member of the Himalayan Institute, and has been the Director of the Institute’s Center for Health and Healing for the last 12 years. Dr. Demers has been interviewed by numerous newspaper, magazine, and book editors regarding her holistic approach to health, and has been quoted in Time Magazine. She has written articles for Yoga+ Joyful Living and other magazines, and lectures nationally on ayurveda and holistic health.

Sarah Goddard, MS
Sarah Goddard serves on the teaching staff of the Himalayan Institute, and is the Program Director of their Main Street location in Honesdale, PA.  Sarah completed her 200-hour training from the Himalayan Institute in 2002 and has taught in corporate, clinical, and studio settings.  Her goal is to share with others the transformative power of yoga, which she learned first hand making the transition from corporate engineer to full-time yogini.  Sarah holds a Masters Degree in Materials Engineering from the University of Delaware, and completed an eight-year engineering career with W.L. Gore and Associates prior to joining the Institute in 2004.

Michelle Head, DC
Dr. Head is a chiropractor and certified applied kinesiologist with a private practice at the Himalayan Institute’s Center for Health and Healing and at Honesdale Chiropractic. She has a holistic philosophy of health care and evaluates the structural, chemical, and mental aspects of health utilizing manual muscle testing. Dr. Head earned a BA in natural sciences and a BM in piano performance from Lawrence University in Appleton, Wisconsin. She earned her Doctor of Chiropractic degree with Summa Cum Laude honors from Palmer College in Davenport, Iowa. Dr. Head lectures on stress management, workplace ergonomics, and headache prevention.

Linda Johnsen, MA
With a Master's degree in Eastern Studies and Comparative Psychology, Linda Johnsen has published over 200 articles in Yoga + Joyful Living (formerly Yoga International) and other periodicals, and is the award-winning author of eight books, including Kirtan! Chanting as a Spiritual Path, The Living Godess, and A Thousand Suns, an introduction to the culture and practice of Vedic astrology. Johnsen has lectured throughout the United States on yoga, ancient philosophy, and Eastern spirituality.

Doug Keller
After receiving graduate degrees from Georgetown and Fordham universities, and teaching college-level philosophy, Keller pursued his ‘post-graduate’ education in the practical experience of yoga at the Siddha Meditation Ashram, in India—spending a total of 14 years doing service, practicing, and teaching yoga in Siddha Meditation Ashrams worldwide. He received intensive training in the Iyengar system in New York, practiced Ashtanga Vinyasa Yoga in India, and became one of the first certified Anusara Yoga teachers—producing three highly respected books on asana, pranayama, and yoga philosophy. His work has since taken him beyond the basic principles of the Anusara system. Keller’s latest work, Yoga as Therapy, is one of the most comprehensive and practical treatments of the structural aspect of yoga therapy available. He is a regular columnist for Yoga+ Joyful Living magazine, addressing specific therapeutic problems in a popular column titled “Asana Solutions.” He is at the highest level of certification with Yoga Alliance, ERYT500, and a member of the International Association of Yoga Therapists.  Learn more

Gary Kraftsow
Gary Kraftsow has been a pioneer in the transmission of yoga for health, healing and personal transformation for 30 years. He began his study of yoga in India with T.K.V. Desikachar in 1974. Gary graduated with a BA, Magna Cum Laude, from Colgate University in 1976, and received his Masters Degree in Psychology and Religion from the University of California at Santa Barbara in 1983. He began practicing at the Maui School of Yoga Therapy in 1983, and received a Viniyoga Special Diploma from Viniyoga International in Paris, France soon thereafter. He is a renowned speaker and teacher of the Viniyoga methodology at many conferences and schools nationally and internationally. In 1999 he founded American Viniyoga Institute, LLC. Gary has successfully developed protocol for two National Institute of Health studies: "Evaluating Yoga for Chronic Low Back Pain" and "Yoga Therapy for Generalized Anxiety." He is the Director and Senior Teacher of the American Viniyoga Institute; author of two books published by Penguin: Yoga for Wellness and Yoga for Transformation; and author of two educational DVD's: Yoga Therapy for Low Back, Sacrum and Hips and Yoga Therapy for Upper Back, Neck and Shoulders.  Learn more

Swamini Mayatitananda
(Formerly Maya Tiwari) 
Sri Swamini Mayatitananda is a pre-eminent spiritual Mother who emanates silence and wisdom. A world renowned spiritual teacher, she has helped transform thousands of lives with her healing presence. Affectionately called Mother, she fills a significant void in the world culture as nurturer, healer, and educator, transforming disease and despair into health and inner harmony. Mother belongs to India’s prestigious Vedic lineage, Veda Vyasa, which seeks to preserve the precious oral teaching of the Vedas. Mother is the spiritual head of Wise Earth School of Ayurveda and the founder of Mother Om Mission (MOM). A charitable organization, MOM disseminates Wise Earth’s unique inner-medicine healing for at-risk communities in Guyana, South America, transforming violence and disease into harmony and health. Learn more 

Irene (Aradhana) Petryszak
Irene Petryszak is chairman of the Himalayan Institute and a senior editor of Yoga+ Joyful Living magazine. She has studied the deeper aspects of yoga for 30 years in the United States and India with master teachers in the Himalayan lineage. She holds degrees in Eastern studies and English literature, and lives and teaches at the Himalayan Institute headquarters in Honesdale, Pennsylvania.

Rajesh Rai
Rajesh Rai started his professional life as a Barrister in Chambers at Lincoln’s Inn, London, England. He had a successful practice, finally settling down to Public Law, Human Rights (both domestic and international), and European Community Law. During this time, he acted as a director to a number of NGOs, including the “Kurdish Human Rights Project,” and also briefly served as Vice Chair to Chambers. In addition, he served as director for several businesses, including one which pioneered legal process outsourcing. His experience in the law he practiced and business led him to combine profit models with his humanitarian ideals. To this end Rajesh has pursued and implemented various models with the objective of sustainable environmental and community regeneration. Rajesh co-devised, and is the promoter of, the Community Program on behalf of the Himalayan Institute.

Shiva Rea, MA
Shiva Rea is a leading teacher of transformational vinyasa flow yoga and yoga trance dance worldwide. She began exploring yoga at the age of fourteen as a way to understand her name, given to her by her father, a surfer and artist. Her studies in the Krishnamacharya lineage, tantra, ayurveda, bhakti, kalaripayattu, world dance, yogic art, and somatic movement infuse her approach to living yoga and embodying the flow. She is known for bringing the roots of yoga alive for modern practitioners in creative, dynamic and life-transforming ways, and for offering the synthesis form of vinyasa flow out in the world. As a global adventurer, she has lead over 70 retreats and pilgrimages nationally and internationally, and has served as a creative catalyst for conferences, festivals, and actions for the environment, yoga, and the arts. Shiva writes for Yoga Journal and is the author of award-winning CD's and DVD's to empower and transform yoga home practice. She lives with her family near their favorite surf break at Sunset Beach in Pacific Palisades, California. Learn more

Rolf Sovik, PsyD
Rolf Sovik is the spiritual director of the Himalayan Institute and a clinical psychologist in private practice. He has studied yoga in the United States, India, and Nepal, and holds degrees in philosophy, music, Eastern studies, and clinical psychology. Co-director of the Himalayan Institute of Buffalo, he began his practice of yoga in 1972, and was initiated as a pandit in the Himalayan tradition in 1987. He is the author of Moving Inward, co-author of the award-winning Yoga: Mastering the Basics, and a frequent contributor and columnist for Yoga+ Joyful Living magazine

Rod Stryker
One of the pre-eminent yoga and meditation teachers in the United States, Stryker is the founder of ParaYoga and has taught tantra, meditation, and hatha yoga for more than twenty-five years. He is one of the few Western teachers capable of articulating an authentic experience of the Tantric tradition. Rod credits all of his accomplishments, and the many gifts in his life, to having been a disciple of two great masters. His first teacher, who he met at the age of 19, was Kavi Yogiraj Mani Finger. Today, Rod is a student of Pandit Rajmani Tigunait, PhD, and a teacher in the lineage of Sri Swami Rama of the Himalayas. Rod has owned two highly successful yoga studios in Los Angeles. His private clients have included a long list of celebrities and high-powered professionals.  Learn more

Ishan Tigunait
Growing up at the Himalayan Institute, Ishan received his first lesson in personal development and enlightened leadership from the illustrious master of the 20^th century, Swami Rama of the Himalayas. After receiving a degree in computer engineering from Pennsylvania State University, he joined the corporate world working for IBM. But he soon moved on to fulfill his ambition of establishing a business model where corporate profitability is guided by a higher vision of self empowerment and social regeneration. He was a serving director of Roshini Biotech, a leader in large scale bio-fuel tree plantation in India, and played a crucial role in the strategic development and expansion of Roshini, whose Pongamia tree plantations cover about 100,000 acres. He was also co-founder of BioEnergy Africa, charged with technology transfer to bio-energy plantation projects in Africa. Currently serving as director of the Himalayan Institute’s Global Humanitarian Projects, Ishan is spearheading the Institute’s Community Center vision in Africa.

Souliy Wan-N’Tani, PhD, LLM
Souliy wan-N'Tani's academic career spans three countries from the Universityet Druzhby Narodov, Moscow, Russia, to the Rheinisch-Friedrich-Wilhelms-Universitaet zu Bonn in Germany, to Boston University's African Studies Center, where he did postdoctoral research. He holds a PhD in Political Science, LLM in International Law, Certificate in International Development Studies, and a Diploma in Russian/English simultaneous interpretation and translation. His main area of specialization is the social and political thought of Africa and the African Diaspora. His professional experience also includes coordinating the establishment of a sister-city network between Uganda's Fort Portal District and Germany's Heinsberg Administrative Region, along with an integrated international development project, and design and direction of projects regarding the use of alternative construction materials in tropical countries, specifically focusing on the exploitation of clay and basaltic rock quarries in the Noun Valley and Berr-Mbokam Plain of northwestern Cameroon. He is currently Professor of Sociology and Criminal Justice at Curry College, Milton, Massachusetts, and Coordinator of the Criminal Justice and Legal Studies Program at Roxbury Community College in Boston.

Deborah Willoughby
As founding editor of Yoga International magazine (now Yoga+ Joyful Living), Deborah Willoughby has consistently provided an alternative to the mainstream media’s vision of the world for nearly two decades. At the height of a successful career in Washington, DC, she turned her attention full time to the practice of yoga. She has studied under the direct guidance of Swami Rama, the founder of the Himalayan Institute, and his successor, Pandit Tigunait, in both the United States and India. She is the President of the Himalayan Institute, where she teaches yoga philosophy and meditation practices.

Ajume H. Wingo, PhD
Dr. Wingo is an Associate Professor of Philosophy and a Senior Fellow at the McCormack Graduate School of Public Policy's Center for Democracy and Development, University of Massachusetts, Boston. He is also a Fellow at Harvard's Du Bois Institute. His book, Veil Politics in Liberal Democratic States, is published by Cambridge University Press in a series "Cambridge Studies in Philosophy and Public Policy.” He is presently working on another book, entitled The Citizen of Africa, about how to establish and maintain a responsive governments in African states. Dr. Wingo specializes in the problem of how to build responsive government in countries new to democracy. He has written extensively on civic education and liberal democratic political philosophy, as well as on civic education and political aesthetics.