Find a teacher near you:
To see the teachers on the move, please click here.
AUSTRALIA
Shelley Cowden
Melbourne, Australia
Dr Shelley Cowden is a Yoga practitioner, researcher and teacher in Melbourne, Australia. Her PhD was an examination of the shifts in meaning of Yoga in the translation to the west. Shelle collaborated with Mark on the book ‘The Promise’ and did her teacher training in Fiji in 2015, returning in 2017.
Contact Shelley:
w : sundarihealing.com
ig : @sundarihealing
Kory McAvoy
Brisbane, Australia
With her partner Lauro, Kory is the founder of the Academy of Grounding, a combined Brazilian jujitsu, Yoga and movement science centre. Kory first did teacher training with Mark in Bali in 2018 and later came to further study in Fiji. Kory is the mother of two beautiful girls and teaches both group and private classes.
Contact Kory:
w : theacademyofgrounding.com
Megan Walsh
Mandurah, WA
Megan has been a holistic health practitioner for over 30 years, integrating her experience as a Remedial Massage Therapist, Clinical Aromatherapist, Herbalist, Bowen Therapist, Reiki Practitioner and Yoga Teacher.
Megan empowers her clients to incorporate yoga into their daily habits and knows that through peaceful movement on the mat, ordinary spiritual practice supports extraordinary happiness off the mat. Megan provides her services in person and online. You can find her teaching yoga around Mandurah and Fremantle or seek out one of her renowned chair massages at the Fremantle Markets every weekend.
Contact Megan:
w : meganwalsh.co
Stephan Jaeggi
West Sydney, Australia
Stephan is a former pro boxer, MMA fighter and aiow mentors youth through teaching combat sports and the heart of Yoga. Of Goori (Sydney area Australian indigenous) and Swiss descent, he trained as a teacher with Mark in Bali on three separate occasions after meeting near Sydney at a festival.
Contact Stephan:
ig : @stephanjag
Malika Warda
Perth, WA
Malika Imad Warda lives her life to honor the truth that permeates existence in all that she does. Malika's writing began spontaneously through the practice of meditation, where she began to translate the experiences; these writings often came through in the form of poetry or insights. This process has continued to unfold organically over the years, taking many forms, but it has ultimately become a way to express the deeper truths of love and acceptance she has come to know. Malika teaches meditation and yoga, and also produces music, as a way to help connect people to the deeper essence of their being.
Malika is a published poet, yoga teacher, and co-founder of modern inner-city sanctuary ‘Cntrspace’ in North Perth. Learning the breath principles with Mark in Bali felt completely natural and logical to her, and she shares them through her classes at Cntrspace, inviting people into their autonomy, their embodiment, their pleasure and their joy.
Contact Malika:
w : cntrespace.com.au
Sarah Jessop
Margaret River, WA / Palm Beach, Qld
Sarah works in the outback and teaches Yoga to men, women and children from all walks of life. Specialising in teaching the Highly Sensitive and the Highly Insensitive. A creative and undefinable spirit. She also combines Yoga with aquatic skills and has a assion for teaching and mentoring both in and out of the water. Sarah will not be found in a Yoga studio, but you’re welcome to get in touch with her for a radically compassionate and stripped back sharing of breath technology shared with her by her friend Mark Whitwell.
In the early 80s Sarah was chosen to open the Brownies meeting with the Queen in Perth Western Australia, televised around the world.
Contact Sarah:
m : sarah.sweethoney@gmail.com
Cecile Galiazzo
New South Wales, Australia
Cecile has been teaching Yoga since 1992. She met Mark Whitwell in 1994 then Sri TKV Desikachar in Chennai in 1995. Through a deeper understanding of the Yoga Sutras and the principles of a tailored personal practice, she witnessed the love and respect of teacher and friend.
Cecile is an artist and grandmother. In this later chapter of life, she is interested in helping children and older persons connect to body and breath. “The breath starts and ends the movement, just as it starts and ends life” – the breath is our teacher.
Contact Cecile:
m : cecilegaliazzo@hotmail.com
t : 61 - 413943158
Steve Harris
Bowral, Australia
Steve has been teaching Yoga in Bowral for the past 17 years, the pleasure of the breath, non-attainment Yoga, not imposing the will on the body, finding the Joy in your personal practice.
Contact Steve:
a : 8 Cliff Street, Bowral, NSW, Australia
m : shnpath@gmail.com
Patrick Ryan
Sydney / Brisbane, Australia
“We are really living in exciting times, with amazing ancient technologies available to us easily for the first time. After more than a decade of exploring various explanations of Hatha Yoga, I feel the principles taught by Mark are simple, extraordinary, full of compassion, kindness, challenging, achievable and, in my experience, the ancient pure wisdom of Yoga. It’s an extremely effective form of Yoga and one that I love to practice daily.”
Patrick is a novelist and practitioner/teacher of both Yoga and Tai Chi. He travels and teaches all along the East Coast of Australia, in Fiji, and in Sri Lanka. For the last ten years or more he has been the retreat logistics manager, mentor, and assistant teacher for the heart of yoga Fiji Teacher Training and beloved by many.
Contact Patrick:
m : chilledmangostar@gmail.com
t : 0449-900-568
BRAZIL
Barbara Malavoglia
Brazil: São Paulo (SP) and Itamonte (MG)
Barbara Malavoglia is a dancer and yogini, working with the Indian dance Bharatanatyam, dance creations and teaching yoga.
She studied yoga at the Krishnamacharya Yoga Mandiram [IN] in 2019. Since 2020 she has taken part in courses with students of Desikachar: Mark Whitwell, Jorge Knak and Navtej Johar.
In 2022 she participated in the Teachers Untraining at The Heart of Yoga with Mark Whitwell and Rosalind Atkinson.
Contact Barbara:
m : barbaramalavoglia@gmail.com
t : + 55 11 999047612
ig : @barbara_malavoglia
CANADA
Crescence Krueger
Toronto, Canada
Doula, Yoga teacher and Founder of the Heart of Birth.
Contact Crescence:
w : crescencekrueger.com
Brooke Evans
Vancouver Island, Canada
Brooke is a counsellor and yoga teacher with special affinity for survivors of violence and trauma. She met Mark in 2017 and straight away understood his message of Yoga without struggle, and the power of the breath for healing, going on to complete teacher training with Mark in Ojai, California and Bali. She prefers to teach one-on-one or small groups, and brings Yoga as a crucial part of her counselling tool kit.
Contact Brooke:
ig : @becounsellingandyoga
Galen Evans
Vancouver Island, Canada
Galen is a certified Heart of Yoga teacher (and partner of Brooke), father, karma Yogi, builder and creator. Completing teacher training with Mark in Ojai and Bali, he has implemented the Yoga over the last years into dedicated personal practice and shares from this direct experience. Having constructed a home studio-temple, he may be available for one-on-one sessions if you ask.
Neil Boyd
Alberta, Canada
Neil is a farmer and Yogi in rural Alberta, Canada. Listen to the podcast episode with Mark and Neil on Yoga and farming.
Contact Neil:
m : nileboyd@gmail.com [not a typo]
Jennifer White
Vancouver, Canada
Jennifer White is a Yoga teacher, death doula and teacher of end of life practices of healing and support. She draws on a wide range of healing practices (including Yoga) for herself and those she serves. Jennifer creates environments of deep genuine conversations, gentle non-judgemental support and guidance, constant stable presence, and is at ease in supporting the dying and loved ones.
Contact Jennifer:
m : projenniferwhite@gmail.com
ig : @afriendindeath
CHINA
Ronan Tang (Tang Yijie)
Beijing, China
Ronan is one of the China’s leading Yoga teacher trainers. He is highly skilled at leading mixed level ‘inclusive’ classes, interlaced with a wealth of teachings around asana, pranayama, meditation, Chinese traditional medicine, meridian massage, acupuncture, Taichi, Taoism Qi Kung, ancient and contemporary philosophy; in other words, a rich, educational and balanced yoga experience. Ronan’s very insightful teachings aim to help you cultivate balance and harmony in your life, on and off the yoga mat.
Contact Ronan:
w : blog.sina.com.cn/joyronan
m : joyronan@yahoo.com.cn
t : +86-1371-860-3333
Tonny Chang
Shanghai, China
Tonny met Mark at a Yoga conference and was struck by the power of the breath. A physically accomplished teacher of Rocket Yoga, he faced a crisis of Yoga after attending teacher training in Bali. He realised that he had been leading his many students astray by teaching them strenuous gymnastics without the breath. Returning to Shanghai, he has cultivated a sangha of practitioners doing Yoga as “participation only” amidst the largest city in the world.
Tonny was born in Brazil and teaches around the world in English, Mandarin, and Portuguese. He lives in Shanghai with his wife and two sons.
Contact Tonny:
m : tonnychang108@outlook.com
CROATIA
Domagoj Orlić
Zagreb, Croatia
Domagoj is a long-term scholar, practitioner and teacher of yoga and tantra. He is a student of Mark Whitwell and translator of his book Yoga of Heart: The Healing Power of Intimate Connection (Yoga srca: Iscjeljujuca snaga prisnosti, 2004). Domagoj also authored two books on yoga in his native Croatian language: an introductory book on yoga entitled The Experience of Yoga: An Introduction to the Philosophy and Practice of Viniyoga (Iskustvo yoge: Uvod u filozofiju i praksu viniyoge, 2001) and a comprehensive study entitled Yoga in the West: The Transforming Power of Yoga in the Interpenetration of World Cultures (Yoga na Zapadu: Transformacijska snaga yoge u preplitanju svjetskih kultura, 2007). Domagoj holds a BA degree in Philosophy and teaches yoga both privately and publicly in his home town Zagreb. He is also available for teaching in Central Europe.
Domagoj practices and teaches Yoga of Heart as the very heart of yoga, that is he understands yoga as a way of enjoying Life and the deepening of intimacy with oneself, other human being and the Whole of Existence that we utterly are as sensitive, compassionate and spiritual beings with a Heart. Heart is the point of absolute union between man and the world, it is a total interconnectedness of all polarities (ha-tha yoga), and so shri-hrdaya-yoga-tantra is an approach to yoga in which a concerned individual, by surrendering to her own power of receptivity (shri), gets to know her Heart (hrdaya) through practicing the most appropriate yoga for herself, naturally and non-obsessively, as a daily discipline of pleasure (tantra) and a wholehearted participation in the Cosmic Unity that we totally are as an absolute freedom of responsible emotivity and love.
Contact Domagoj:
w : yogaofheart.art
m : domagoj.orlic@gmail.com
t : +385-98-964-0699
Adisa Hajra
Rijeka, Croatia
Adisa has been practicing Yoga for more than fourteen years and teaching it for the last five years. She is continuously studying Yoga with Domagoj Orlić and Mark Whitwell, and in her teaching she is focusing on developing a personal practice for her students aiming at creative learning, psychosomatic healing and personal transformation. Together with her life partner Domagoj Orlić, she conducts workshops, seminars, retreats and teacher trainings in her native country and abroad.
She is also studying Chado, the Japanese Way of Tea, commonly known as the Japanese Tea Ceremony (Chado Urasenke Tankokai).
Contact Adisa:
w : yogaofheart.art
ig : adisa_yoga
Eva Koscak
Croatia
Eva has been a student of life, Domagoj and Mark for many years, and is an accomplished yogini and teacher. Her particular interests are teaching young people, experiential learning, and connecting with music through Yoga.
Contact Eva:
ig : contact via profile here
FIJI
Mariana Garcia Flores
Originally from Mexico, Mariana is now living and teaching in Fiji, where she lives with her partner Alex. After escaping an accounting career, Mariana is trained as a yoga teacher, psychotherapist and life coach, completing her teacher trainings in Fiji and Bali. Mariana offers retreats in Fiji and New Zealand, and is passionate about the precious intimacy with life offered by Yoga for every person.
Find her on Instagram: @aliveaslife and at her website HERE
Litiana Lagibalavu
Suva, Fiji
Litiana (Liti) is a yoga teacher, entrepreneur, lawyer, Indigenous Fijian, proud mother, and an activist-philosopher building essential bridges between the ancient traditions of yoga and modern heart-driven people. She completed her teacher training on Taveuni Island with Mark in 2019. You can listen to her episode on the heart of yoga podcast here.
Contact Liti:
ig : @yoganesian
Ilana Burness
Suva, Fiji
“I live in Suva city, the Capital of Fiji. I teach people how to breathe using the “Ujjayi breathing” technique which connects each of the yoga asanas (asana meaning postures) to the breath or the sound of the ocean breath as taught to me by Mark Whitwell. I help people to link breath with body movement, using the breath as a guide. Each asana is held for several rounds of breathing, all done at the student’s own pace, guided by the breath. Every person’s breath and body is unique and should be respected.”
Ilana offers classes and private lessons in Suva and online.
Contact Ilana:
w : ilanasheartyoga.com
Alumeci Vakayarovosa
Taveuni Island, Fiji
Alumeci is a 200hr certified yoga teacher and a mother of seven offering Yoga lessons on Taveuni Island and eastern Vanua Levu, where she lives off-grid.
Contact Alumeci:
fb : alumeci.vakayarovosa
FRANCE
Catalina Zárate
Paris, France
Accompagnatrice développement personnel Yoga.
Contact Catalina:
ig : @catalinadenis
GERMANY
Ellen Engel
Buchholz, Northern Germany
Practical and gentle Hatha Vinyasa Yoga.
Contact Ellen:
m : ellen_engel@yahoo.de
Veronika Köberlein
Munich, Germany
Veronika found her way to Yoga through her dance teacher in 2002. First being more of a physical effort it turned into a spiritual search for contentment. After practicing Yoga obsessively for some years with different teachers and schools she realized that Yoga is not an effort to be someone or get somewhere with Mark’s help. Veronika did her Teacher Training with Mark in Fiji and has been traveling with him around Europe and assisting him on his Teacher Training in Japan 2010/11. She is interested in helping people to realize that there is nothing that is missing through teaching them their personal Yoga. Anyone who is interested in learning Yoga that is perfectly fitted for YOU is welcome!
Contact Veronika:
m : veronikoe@gmx.de
t : +49-176-9317-8019
Moritz Kübler / Mahā Yoga
Germany and Sweden
Moritz first met Mark at teacher training in Germany and immediately came to Crete to go deeper into the exploration of breath and participation in life. He has later completed teacher trainings in Bali and New Zealand. Teaching as Māhā Yoga, Moritz is an educator from the heart and teaches traditional hatha yoga, meditation in person and online.
Contact Moritz:
m : moritzkuebler@gmail.com
ig : @moritz.kuebler
Anne Kompenhans
Darmstadt, Germany
Anne specialises in teaching women, particularly adapting the practice for pregnancy and post-partum.
Contact Anne:
w : inannayoga.de
Sybille Schlegel
Mainz, Germany
Sybille discovered yoga in 2004 in New York. She was deeply fascinated by the ancient wisdom of yoga as well as its positive effects on body, mind, and soul. Intensifying her practice through the years, she absolved the vinyasa teacher training (200 hrs. YA) at Balance Yoga Institute Frankfurt, Germany.
Impressed by Sri T. Krishnamacharya, she began to dive into his teachings. She then met Mark Whitwell, a student of Krishnamacharya and his son Desikachar, and started to study with him. Mark altered her understanding of vinyasa and asana significantly and declared Sybille a “Heart of Yoga Teacher” in 2012.
Sybille teaches hatha yoga vinyasa style at her school in Mainz and is co-director of the Hatha Vinyasa Teacher Training Course in different cities throughout Germany. Sybille, who has a Master degree in history, has a strong interest in the yoga shastra (yogic scriptures) and consequently studied Sanskrit and yoga philosophy with Prof. Dr. Meisig at the University of Mainz, to improve her understanding. She teaches yoga philosophy, yogic anatomy, sequencing and Sanskrit in the Hatha Vinyasa Yoga Teacher Training Course as well as in workshops throughout Germany and Europe.
Contact Sybille:
a : Hatha Vinyasa Parampara Yogaschule, Mainz, Germany
w : hathavinyasa.de
m : sybille@hathavinyasa.de
Andreas Ruhula
Mainz, Germany
Andreas is the co-founder and teacher of Hatha Vinyasa Parampara Studio with Sybille in Mainz, sitar player and teaches both in person and online.
Contact Andrea:
w : hathavinyasa.de
Lisa Keese
Berlin, Germany
Lisa trained with Mark in Germany, China and Bali, and has co-taught classes in China and Bali. She specialises in one-to-one teaching and adapting Yoga for pregnancy, post-partum, and those with disabilities. Her guiding principle is the same as Krishnamacharya’s – “If you can breathe, you can do Yoga.”
Contact Lisa:
ig : @likelovelustyoga
Christiane Suckow-Buechler
Berlin, Germany
Christiane Suckow-Büchler joined her first yoga class in 1997. Although her first yoga years were just characterised through a very challenging asana practice it took just a little time to find out that yoga is much more than this – it is a means to perceive our own reality and accept this, to feel intimate with oneself and with life within. Yoga offers an manifold spectrum of methods to discover that and build up intimacy.
Before Yoga she spent many years of her life on the dark side of the moon. In the 1980s she did everything to bemuse her feelings of being separated and troubled – nothing to be proud of but part of her life. Luckily she found a way to reset and get along from that. When yoga came into her life it supported her a lot to keep up the connection with herself and her surrounding. Yoga teaches her how the mind works and to detect for example which old patterns still keeping her stuck.
In 2005 she travelled to Cologne and there she met Mark for the first time. His teachings touched her heart deeply and so she is happy to join his yearly classes in Berlin since on.
Heart of Yoga let her experience that we are okay as we are. Most of us have forgotten this because we are too struggled with the ideal conceptions society suggests.
Life is a gift and with yoga we celebrate and honor that. Let's share this!
Contact Christiane:
m : chrissuckow@yahoo.de
t : 0049 0163 164 37 24
Anna Naumann
Berlin, Germany
Anna Naumann is a freelance art director / graphic designer based in Berlin. She is specialised in fashion, beauty, lifestyle, luxury branding and advertising. She studied at Institute of Design in Hamburg and worked for several years as an art director at SelectNY in New York / Hamburg and Berlin. She is trained in the heart of Yoga by Mark Whitwell and has studied with him in Berlin, Mainz and Paris.
Contact Anna:
m : anna@goldidee.com
Nauka Trantow
Wurzberg, Germany
“What moves me is my own urge to create harmony: with nature, with animals, with me, my body, my mind, my feelings, with you.
In 2003 I became a nutrition therapist (state-approved dietitian) and continued my education in the field of nutritional psychology at the Frankfurt Center for Eating Disorders.
In 2013 this expanded into becoming a Yoga teacher. I did two teacher trainings and yoga therapy according to Svastha. My teaching is based on the Krishnamacharya tradition. In 2017 I became a ‘heart of Yoga’ teacher with Mark Whitwell.
However, my dog Elli taught me the most: nature, self-confidence, feeling, non-verbal communication, and the feeling of having a real friend. Because of you, I am who I am today.
I live everything I offer.
For me yoga is all that connection…
Nature, animals, people, touch, asanas, breathing, food, herbs ... I am nature. You are nature. Our head is just in the way.”
Contact Nauka:
w : naukayoga.de
Dinah Kaufmann
Munich, Germany
Yoga teacher -guide for groups or 1:1 Development of a personal practice
Contact Dinah:
e: dinahkaufmann@gmail.com
ig: dinah.yoga
GREECE
Elina Pavlidis
Sifnos Island, Cyclades, Greece
“Mark Whitwell has completely, yet so subtly changed my practice of Yoga after 12 years of practice. Feeling hugged by life, instead of struggling to reach somewhere. Thank you, thank you for sharing the technology of Yoga.”
Contact Elina:
w : elinapavlidis.com
ICELAND
Soffia Einarsdottir
Soffia is a yoga teacher and physiotherapist specialising in women’s health available for private instruction.
Contact Soffia:
ig : @soffiayoga
INDONESIA
David
Ubud
David can be relied upon to teach you the heart of yoga, the breath principles that make it easy for the mind to rest in its seat, the heart. Da vid has a store in Ubud, ‘Le Nirvana’ with handmade menswear inspired by his French origins. He teaches privately and through Samyama Centre in MAS, as well as group classes ‘Advanced Yoga for Perfect Beginners’ at Nalanda. Contact for a one-to-one lesson while in Ubud. David gladly exited the spiritual circus and the search for future impossibilities after teacher training in India in the heart of Yoga in 2019. “A real yogi” — Mark Whitwell
Contact: IG @david22bali
Coco Breban
Ubud
Coco teaches with warmth and deep feeling for the essence of yoga, and will not dilute the principles of breathing that make the heart of yoga effective and powerful. A graphic designer and tantrika, she is available for one-to-one lessons to customise yoga to the practitioner, by arrangement. She is based in Ubud, teaching through Samyama Centre and Nalanda.
Contact via IG: @cococoxi and See the schedule on IG at @heartofyogabali
Thofan Mendino
Ubud, Bali
Originally from Jakarta, Thofan teaches at the Yoga barn, Ubud, Bali. Mark Whitwell is one of his most influential teachers, especially his teaching of how Yoga can be adapted to all religious backgrounds, including the Muslim religion.
Amanda Noga
Amanda Noga is a Yoga teacher and Ayurvedic practitioner who has taught Ayurveda alongside Mark across Asia Pacific, including Fiji, China, Bali and Australia. Amanda integrates the principles Mark shares into graceful flows adapted to the individual according to their specific ayurvedic needs.
She lives in Bali with her baby son, Sage and beloved, Marc Laws.
Contact Amanda:
w : yogaalchemy.com.au
IRELAND (see also Northern Ireland)
Eleanor Moran
Navan, Ireland
Eleanor is a nurse, mother and yoga teacher living in Navan, Ireland. Contact to enquire about classes or privates.
Contact Eleanor:
ig : @boynevalleyforestbathingyoga
Saraswati Bella Hancock
West Cork, Ireland
Devi Yoga sanctuary in West Cork, Ireland — yoga, dance, sangha, tantra yoga, kirtan, women’s circle, one-to-one yoga teaching.
“Yoga practice means abiding in your natural state, which is as vast as the wide blue sky. Yoga practice is your daily love-making with life itself as it moves through you.”
Contact Saraswati:
w : deviyogadance.com
ISRAEL
Ram Aruveni
Ben Guryon, Israel
Ram has been teaching yoga since 1998. His teaching focuses on the importance of the quality of breath. Ram says, “Mark has been a tremendous inspiration to me; he is like a father, certainly a friend, and as a teacher. Yoga is a beautiful way to transform the self into unification.”
Contact Ram:
a : Prana Yoga, Ben Guryon, Belv 79, Israel
w : pranayoga.co.il
e : ram2you@gmail.com or yoga@pranayoga.co.il
t : +972-54-7620466 or +972-3-5230907
Ernessa Bergman
Israel
Ernessa was born in NYC in 1960 and have lived in many parts of the world leading her to Israel where she presently resides with her partner and three sons. She has been teaching yoga since 2000, having studied in the US and Germany. She met Mark in 2003 and has been connected to the Yoga of Heart ever since. She teaches Yoga and is inspired daily by her students, their wisdom and difficulties, which are perpetual motivation to continue to teach the wisdom Mark communicates.
Ernessa says, “This yoga, which is available to all of us, which is so accessible, so easy and real is not being taught enough. The message of empowering the individual to embrace the yoga that is there within them, rather then searching outside of themselves, is not a matter of fact. A shift of understanding is needed and friends are needed to support that shift.” She hopes that more and more of her students are teaching what they now practise and that the word is spreading.
Ernessa teaches privately and in yoga studios in Israel.
Contact Ernessa:
e : ernessa.bergman@gmail.com
t : +972-544-771-539
ITALY
Devis Maccarelli
Perugia, Italy
Devis met Mark and his teachings in 2019 after learning yoga in the Krishnamacharya-Desikachar tradition several years earlier with an elderly French teacher living in Assisi. He immediately felt a deep resonance with what was his personal understanding and experience but at the same time was inspired with new and profound insights: under Mark's guidance he rediscovered the gift of yoga as a daily non-obsessive practice that is intimacy and direct participation in Reality. He currently lives between Assisi and Perugia, in Umbria, where he shares the ancient wisdom of yoga with everyone in a mood of friendship, respect and care.
IN ITALIANO
Devis ha incontrato Mark e i suoi insegnamenti nel 2019 dopo aver conosciuto lo yoga nella tradizione di Krishnamacharya-Desikachar diversi anni prima con un anziano insegnante francese che viveva nei pressi di Assisi. Ha subito sentito una profonda risonanza con quella che era la sua personale comprensione ed esperienza ma allo stesso tempo è stato ispirato con nuove e profonde intuizioni: sotto la guida di Mark ha riscoperto il dono dello yoga come pratica quotidiana non ossessiva che è intimità e partecipazione diretta alla Realtà. Attualmente vive fra Assisi e Perugia in Umbria, dove condivide l'antica saggezza dello yoga con chiunque in un clima di amicizia, rispetto e cura.
Contact Devis:
w : cuoredelloyoga.com
e : info@cuoredelloyoga.com
t : +39 349 6606325
Rosita Pompili
Italy
Contact Rosita:
w : rositapompili.yoga
ig : @ruggito_
JAPAN
Kaori Santosima
Tokyo, Japan
Kaori is a yoga teacher, an ayurvedic adviser, and a translator. A teacher for 6 years, and practicing for 11 years, she enjoys teaching yoga in a local Japanese community of Tokyo & Kyoto. She met Mark’s teaching in 2008 at Hong Kong Asia Yoga Conference and was touched by its all-embracing, loving nature, and received much nurturing through applying Heart of Yoga principles to her daily practices. Her class is focussed on breath and awareness, aiming to bring harmony between the two polarities of Life (Inhale-Exhale, Receiving-Giving). As not a very flexible nor strong practitioner herself, she is passionate about introducing yoga to fellow less-physically oriented people with kindness and humour.
Contact Kaori:
a : Ohanasmile Yoga Studio2-9-4 Yutenji, Meguro-ku, Tokyo, JAPAN
w : santosima.com
e : info@santosima.com
Yuto Matoba
Tokyo, Japan
Yuto specialises in Yoga philosophy and helping each person adapt their practice to participation in life, not struggle for a future perfection. He teaches classes that blend practice and enquiry into the ecology of mind.
Contact Yuto:
ig : @yuto_mtb
Dave Pauley
Northern Japan
Originally of Australia, now long-time resident of Japan, Dave is a BJJ practitioner and teacher of the Heart of Yoga.
Contact Dave:
ig : @ujjai
Minami Takashima
Based in New Zealand, but offers online sessions in Japanese
Minami is a Yogini and teacher born in Japan and presently living in Nelson, New Zealand. After burning out in the Japanese work-obsessed culture, she discovered the Heart of Yoga as a means of healing and restoration. Minami has completed further hatha teacher training in Orissa and is passionate about sharing Yoga for intimacy with self and with a chosen other, the Tantra of the union of opposites within and without. She is currently teaching in-person sessions and workshops in Nelson, as well as online one-to-one sessions in both English and Japanese.
Contact Minami:
ig : @yogawithminami
MEXICO
Raúl Petraglia
“After 15 years of practicing different styles of yoga, I am convinced that the moment we stop being obsessed by the perfect practice, by the physical prowess, by the impositions of "unrealistic" ideals, when we stop abusing our body and mind, at that very moment the real journey of Yoga begins.
I am deeply grateful to my teachers Vanessa Vega and Amorhania del Bosque for connecting me with the essence and commitment to practice and service. I feel specially blessed after receiving direction and instruction from Mark, our encounters and classes in person and zoom have generated and generate a total transformation in the way of interpreting and sharing the teachings. Gratitude to all my teachers.
The practice of Hatha, based on the principles of Professor Krishnamacharya, which recognize the breath as its center, opens the door to direct intimacy with life, to the force that nurtures nature, that dwells in us, as ourselves. It will be an honor to walk with you in the development of your personal practice. Connect with the breath and allow the magic to happen. 🙏🏼🔥”
Raúl (Petra) is a Heart of Yoga teacher - RYT200 + Teacher Training in Bali 2022 and Casa Ananda in Mexico - RYT500 2020.
Teaches at Casa Ananda Yoga Ashram in Playa del Carmen, at Ikal Tulum, Private Classes in person and on zoom.
Available for retreats, Krishnamacharya's Lost Principles workshops, special private or hotel groups, anti-stress breathing and practices for excecutives (¿¿Breath?? Program), yoga trips and scholarships. He shares classes in Spanish, English and bilingual.
Contact Raúl:
ig : @petranyoga & @heartofyogamexico
t : +529981097549
Español
“Tras 15 años de practicar distintos estilos de yoga, estoy convencido de que en el momento en el que dejamos de estar obsesionados por la práctica perfecta, por la proeza física, por las imposiciones de los ideales “irreales”, cuando dejamos de abusar de nuestro cuerpo y mente, en ese mismo momento comienza el verdadero viaje del Yoga.
Agradezco a las Maestras Vanessa Vega y Amorhania del Bosque por haberme conectado con la la esencia y el compromiso hacia la práctica y el servicio. Especialmente me siento bendecido tras recibir dirección e instrucción por parte de Mark, nuestros encuentros y clases en persona y zoom han generado y generan una transformación total en la manera de interpretar y compartir las enseñanzas. Gratitud hacia todos mis maestros.
La práctica de Hatha, basada en los principios del Maestro Krishnamacharya, que reconocen a la respiración como su centro, nos abren la puerta a la intimidad directa con la vida, a la fuerza que nutre la naturaleza, que habita en nosotros, como nosotros mismos. Será un honor acompañarte en el desarrollo de tu práctica personal. Conecta con la respiración y permite que la magia suceda. 🙏🏼🔥”
Raúl (Petra) es maestro de Heart of Yoga - RYT200 . Ademas realizó el Entrenamiento de Maestros en Bali 2022 y en Casa Ananda en México - RYT500 en 2020. Enseña en Casa Ananda Yoga Ashram de Playa del Carmen, en Ikal Tulum, Clases Privadas y Becas, en persona o zoom.
Disponible para retiros, talleres de Los Principios Perdidos de Krishnamacharya, grupos especiales privados o en hoteles, prácticas y respiración anti estrés para ejecutivos ( Programa ¿¿Breath??) y viajes de yoga. Comparte clases en español, inglés y bilbilingües.
Contactar con Raúl:
ig : @petranyoga & @heartofyogamexico
t : +529981097549
Montserrat Ruiz García
Montserrat Ruiz García guía de Yoga, apasionada por experimentar la conexión de cuerpo, mente y la vida. “
Después de varios años de práctica y enseñanza del Yoga me interesé en conocer las enseñanzas desde la raíz, así conocí a mi maestro Mark Withwell y la tradición de Krishnamacharya y todo tuvo sentido. Me gusta compartir estas enseñanzas para llegar al corazón.”
EnGLISH
Montserrat Ruiz García, Yoga guide, passionate about experiencing the connection between body, mind and life.
“After several years of practicing and teaching Yoga I became interested in knowing the teachings from the root, that’s how I met my teacher Mark Whitwell and the Krishnamacharya tradition and it all made sense. I like to share these teachings to reach the Heart.”
Contact Montserrat:
e : montse08@hotmail.com
t : +51 4432405540
NETHERLANDS
Marieke Dijkstra
Woubrugge, South Holland
Marieke is a senior teacher with vast Yoga experience who has seamlessly and completely integrated the breath principles shared by Mark and message of “You are already the power of Life” into her teaching, along with the principle of adapting yoga to individual needs.
She is a Yogini of Heart, offering private and group classes, Yoga therapy and personalised guidance.
“When you can breathe you can do Yoga.”
Contact Marieke:
w : yogatemple.nl
Juliette Reniers and Frank Eijkelkamp
Siddeburen, Groningen, Netherlands
Frank and Juliette are the founders of ‘The Land of Now’ - a Heart of Yoga & Ayurveda retreat centre in the north of the Netherlands. They offer in-depth retreats and yoga education where they take you to the heart of yoga, supported by the natural wisdom of Ayurveda: intimately connected to life. As simple as breathing into life itself. Besides group programmes they offer 1 on 1 sessions and therapy, and retreat space for organisers of inspiring programmes.
Contact Juliette and Frank:
w : thelandofnow.com
NEW ZEALAND
Andrew Raba
Auckland, New Zealand
Andrew is a Yoga teacher, writer and librarian living in Auckland, and specialising in teaching Yoga adapted for high school students and teachers, helping create body confidence and positive mental health for young people. Andrew contributed to and co-edited ‘God and Sex: Now We Get Both,’ Mark’s latest book.
He also teaches a weekly class on the North Shore, and one-to-one lessons or workplace sessions by appointment.
Contact Andrew:
w : andyraba.com
ig : @_andyraba_
m : andrewraba@gmail.com
Vanessa Hollebone
Hastings / Napier, New Zealand
After practicing Yoga for nearly 20 years, Vanessa attended teacher training with Mark in both Bali and Fiji after first experiencing his classes at the New Zealand International Yoga Festival. “As soon as I felt the breath, and heard Mark’s voice, I knew this was what I had been looking for. Something inside me said ‘This is the real Yoga’. Vanessa teaches Men’s Yoga, mixed classes, beginner’s courses and private sessions in Hastings and the surrounding areas. Her classes are down to earth, irreverent, playful, adapted to the individual needs, friendly and dedicated to communicating the principles of body and breath that make Yoga powerful and real.
Contact Vanessa:
w : downtoearthyoga.co.nz
ig : @downtoearthyoga_nz
m : vanessahollebone@gmail.com
Manisha / Josee Lebel
Bay of Plenty & Auckland, New Zealand
Manisha is a registered Naturopath & Herbalist and a Yoga Teacher. Grounded in her research in Yoga as a Holistic Science and Samkhya Theory, she teaches with deep reverence for the wisdom traditions and the philosophy of Yoga.
Manisha lives between Ohope Beach and Auckland where she shares Yoga with small groups or in private sessions. She offers care and presence along with a wealth of knowledge and experience in Yoga & Ayurveda, Naturopathy & Holistic Health, Philosophy & Life.
Contact Manisha:
ig : @manisha_lebel
m : manishalebelyoga@gmail.com
Barbara Coley
Auckland, New Zealand
Having practiced many styles of yoga over the years, Barbara’s own practice and understanding of yoga has changed and deepened as she has come to understand the Yoga of Krishnamacharya, both through her dear friend Mark Whitwell and her teachers A.G. and Indra Mohan of Svastha Yoga & Ayurveda, Chennai, India.
Barbara is the director of Svastha Yoga New Zealand located in Mt Eden, Auckland where she teaches a range of classes and presents an IYA registered 200 hour Teacher Training program. Barbara has a deep interest in Yoga Therapy particularly in the area of women’s health.
Contact Barbara:
a : Svastha Yoga New Zealand, 1A Kelly Street, Mt Eden, Auckland, New Zealand
w : svasthayoga.co.nz
m : barbara@svastha.co.nz
t : +649-630-0962 or +64-21-170-2640
Anna de Zeeuw
South Island, New Zealand
Anna was introduced to yoga in 1998 and subsequently practiced and trained as a teacher in several of the contemporary styles. However, meeting Mark in 2006 and feeling the resonance of the ancient and timeless teachings that he shares, deeply touched Anna and completely transformed her Yoga. Mark now visits the South Island of New Zealand often, where Anna lives with her partner Steve and daughter Charlotte. What has grown beautifully over these years are nourishing communities that come together and practice, and individuals who lovingly embrace their home practice.
Contact Anna:
w : pureyoga.co.nz
m : anna@pureyoga.co.nz
t : +64-3-942-711 or +64-27-545-9283
Steve White
Auckland, New Zealand
Steve’s yoga journey started in the late 70s when everyone was illuminated by BKS Iyengar’s book “Light on Yoga”. In the late 90’s he embraced K Pattabhi Jois’s Ashtanga Vinyasa Yoga and finally found his path when a friend invited him to join a Shiva Rea Yoga Flow Retreat in Greece in 2005.
He is a Registered 200 hr Yoga Alliance Teacher but has gone on to complete over 550 hours of Teacher Training mainly in Ubud, Los Angeles, Santorini, Fiji and Costa Rica. He is continually amazed at how much he doesn’t know.
His honoured personal gurus are Mark Whitwell, Shiva Rea, Daniel Aaron, Edward Clark, Simon Borg-Olivier, Kathy Budig and Emil Wendel… his deities are Ganesha, Shiva and Lakshmi.
Steve discovered the Yoga Sanctuary in 2009 and liked it so much that he bought into it in 2010. He describes his style as “moving meditation with breath and a smile” or more seriously as Krishnamacharya Prana Vinyasa (Flow) but he honours all styles and all teachers of Yoga.
Contact Steve:
a : The Yoga Sanctuary NZ, Auckland, NEW ZEALAND
w : yogatech.co.nz
m : surgeblanco@hotmail.com
t : +64-21-665-556
Nick Wilson
Auckland, New Zealand
“Nick has unearthed the essence of yoga practice. In his commitment to teaching an authentic yoga, he has explored and investigated various avenues including the sincere students of the great Krishnamacharya; TKV Desikachar, AG Mohan and Srivatsa Ramaswami. His work in developing “The Heart of Yoga Teaching Manual” provided the basis for the technical section in my book. He really cares about people and understands how to apply yoga practice to each individual. He can help you, no matter your situation, practice an authentic, pleasurable yoga.” — Mark Whitwell, Founder of Heart of Yoga Association & author of Yoga of Heart: The Healing Power of Intimate Connection.
Contact Nick:
w : yogaforhealing.co.nz
m : yogaforhealing@gmail.com
Minami Takashima
Nelson, New Zealand
Minami is a Tantra Yoga Teacher born in Japan and presently living in Nelson, New Zealand. After burning out in the Japanese work-obsessed culture, she discovered the Heart of Yoga as a means of healing and restoration. Minami has completed further hatha teacher training in Rishikesh and is passionate about sharing Yoga for intimacy with self and with a chosen other, the Tantra of the union of opposites within and without. She teaches in both English and Japanese, and offers traditional teacher training home residencies and workshops, as well as online sessions. Teaching small groups and one-to-one is her favoured approach so yoga can be personalised to the individual.
Contact Minami:
ig : @yogawithminami
NORWAY
Arne Brekke
Bergen, Norway
Dette er en praksis som tar tilbake den enkle og virkningsfulle yogaen. Det er fokus på at yoga skal tilpasses den enkelte og ikke at den enkelte skal måtte tilpasse seg yogaen. Yoga er for alle uansett forutsettinger, alder, fysisk form og så videre. Kroppen ledes av din egen pust i dynamiske og statiske stillinger (asana). Ofte så undervurderes styrken en har i sin egen pust, den tilfører ny energi til kroppen samtidig som den også renser hele kroppen. Om du er usikker på pusteteknikk så vil du få god og kyndig hjelp i timen til å lære grunnleggende pusteteknikken. Timen vil foregå i et rolig tempo og ha gjerne et smil på lur.
Du vil kunne oppleve forening av kropp, pust og sinn gjennom fysiske stillinger – rolig kontrollert pust – som vil kunne lede deg til stillhet (meditasjon).
Arne, offers classes private tuition, and teacher training in Norway.
Contact Arne:
e : post@heartofyoga.no
w : heartofyoga.no
f : facebook.com/HeartOfYogaNO
ig : @heartofyoga.no
SINGAPORE
Bryan Moe
“For more than 10 years, I equated yoga with exercise; the more difficult and sweaty the practice was, the more “benefits” I believed I was getting out of my practice. This somehow also became synonymous with thinking that the more yoga I did, the better a person I would become, as though there was something deficient in me to begin with.
During the pandemic, I had the good fortune to be introduced to Mark and Rosalind, and started learning Yoga as it was taught in the method of TKV Desikachar, and grounded in the non-seeking way of life of UG Krishnamurti. This became the start of discovering a new relationship with myself through my breath, body and mind. I no longer made Yoga the means of getting fit (I have gymnastics, ballet and bouldering for that now) and Yoga became the instrument through which I could inhabit what is already there : a deep and profound blossoming intelligence called life, that is already in non-conflicted relatedness with the world as it is.
In other words, Yoga enables me to relax more. I learned to soften and be open to love, and when I learned to accept myself, I could then in turn accept others too as they are.
I’ve been fortunate to teach yoga on the side of my corporate job in Singapore's central business district. My other passions include studying traditional Japanese martial arts, learning ballet, south Indian gastronomy, and nerding out over comparative world mythologies and mysteries. I would be happy to adapt the breathing principles to you and your background.”
Contact: bryan.moe@gmail.com
SLOVENIA
Maja Dakskobler
Ljubljana, Slovenia
“I have been in a state of survival mode for several years. As many others, me and my family had come from intense cycles of generational trauma, where feelings like fear, guilt and shame were easily adopted. I carried those to most areas of my life including my early yoga teachings, where I taught yoga through the arbitrary patterns or yoga styles popular in the Western yoga industry. Being under constant pressure that I need to become something, constantly prove myself and succeed, led me to burnout.
It was not until I met Mark and Heart of Yoga community that I was able to finally relax, and accept myself and my patterns. For the first time someone told me that I am enough, so I could embrace my reality and stop working on myself. Mark taught me beautiful principles that his teacher Krishnamacharya brought forth and showed me this loving breath centered yogic practice.
My personal daily yoga practice is helping me to recognize all those parts where my life is not flowing in the direction of my choice. It is slowly and tenderly disolving the patterns that are not serving my nature. Yoga practice is teaching me that I am not a work in progress but I am complete in my natural state. And all of this is happening at this very moment, not at the end of some puzzling process. From here I can work, rest, care and do everything that needs to be done.”
Maja is available for private lessons, emphasising on individuals battling burnout and who want to step out of work-obsessed culture. Listen to the podcast with Mark and Maja here.
Contact Maja:
e : maja@dakskobler.net
ig : @majadakskobler
SPAIN
Mili Lazcano
Madrid, Spain
Mili started practicing yoga while she was going through a deep personal transformation, and yoga was the way of reconnecting with herself while going through this rebirth.
She started practicing with Mark and took various trainings with him. During a workshop Mark was holding in Mili’s home town Madrid, Mark initiated Mili as a Teacher, inviting her to lead part of the class and since then she has been teaching regular and private classes.
She continues to explore yoga and dance with teachers including Tom Morley, Gabrielle Roth and Vinn Arjuna Marti amongst others, and has become a certified Esalen massage partitioner as well.
Mili works with intuition. Each class is based on the different rhythms of each moment. Encouraging her students that each one of them breathes at different rhythms and therefore they have their own yoga connected to their heart, she guides them to learn how to flow with it.
For Mili, to do yoga is like reuniting with someone you love unconditionally and you haven’t seen in a long time.
Contact Mili:
a : Shambala Yoga Urbano, Madrid, SPAIN
w : shambalayogaurbano.com
e : mili@shambalayogaurbano.com
t : +34 687491948
Carla Luna Martinez Valero
Madrid/Formentera, Spain
After 5 years practicing different “yoga styles” Carla Luna hurt herself while practicing so she clearly felt she needed to change her practice and stop the struggle. She started to just breathe, chant and move her body intuitively and pleasure during the practice started to arise. In that process of rediscovering new ways to participate in her body and heart she read the principles of Heart of Yoga and had an “Eureka!” moment. “When reading those words I started to dance and jump around the room!! Finally, what I felt Yoga was, was put into words!! It was so simple. No more looking, just living. Thank you!” She started to practice and study Heart of Yoga with Mark Whitwell and other teachers from this tradition.
The joy and pleasure felt in her Life and relationships made her naturally start to share the practice with friends and family. Organically, Life brought her different opportunities to share these teachings in workshops and retreats around Spain, as well as regular online classes in Spanish and English. Madrid is her home-base now and she teaches there in-person with groups and one-on-one in a friendship relationship of mutual caring and love.
“Sharing this to daily honor our bodies as nature, to link the mind to the heart by the breath so they are experienced as what they are: One ; to just enjoy the Life, Love and Freedom we are and our relationships with all beings in this world. Let's play!"
She and her dad combine Yoga and Music and offer Heart of Yoga classes with live music. Coming from a dance and artistic background she also shares intuitive movement practices inspired by Earth and nature and guided by the breath and music.
Contact Carla Luna:
e : heartofyogaspain@gmail.com
t : +34 626495708
ig : @carlalunayoga
SWEDEN
Ann Wackelin
Skövde, Sweden
Ann was over 50 when she did yoga for the very first time! She is a MediYoga therapist and teacher (a therapeutic form of Kundalini yoga) with a background as a psychiatric nurse.
Ann found Mark in 2012 and through working with him over Skype, her life and yogic path totally changed. She bought his books and videos, watched every single YouTube video with him that she could find, and started to practice at home. In June 2014, she celebrated her 60th birthday by going to Esalen in Big Sur, California to study with Mark in person. This was such a profound experience. His teachings touched her deeply and she felt that this is the way yoga is meant to be.
There is something in this yoga for everyBody and it can be adapted to the person, not the other way around. So no matter your age or size, you can do yoga! As Mark says: if you can breath you can do yoga!
Contact Ann:
a : Studio LetGo, Varnhemsgatan 16 A, Skövde, SWEDEN
w : letgoyoga.se & annwackelin.se
e : info@letgoyoga.se
t : +46703342144
Shirin Ghoreishi
Sweden
Shirin first encountered the Heart of Yoga when she attended an advanced training for existing teachers in Shanghai, where she was living. Born in Sweden of Iranian descent, and living in China for many years, she now lives back in Sweden with her son Ailoo and teaches Yoga and dance. Shirin preserves the absolute honest friendship between teacher and student, without pretence or hierarchy. She teaches in Swedish and English
Contact Shirin:
e : Alttitude.s@hotmail.com
SWITZERLAND
Susanne Daeppen
Nidau, Switzerland
Offers Retreats in Italy and Switzerland and classes / teacher training in Biel.
Susanne is a Heart of Yoga Teacher, Dancer and Choreographer in Switzerland. She has studied as a dancer and choreographer in Switzerland, New York and Japan and has performed nationally and internationally since 1986 with her solo- and company-work, Dakini Dance Projects. She has dedicated herself to slow motion through the inspiration of Japanese Butoh dance.
Susanne was searching for the origins of yoga when she encounted Mark Whitwell and the Heart of Yoga. Since meeting Mark, Susanne felt surrounded and “home” after a long journey: the natural and original way of breathing asanas, that form is made of breath, fits for Susanne with her research in slow-motion dance and as a Dakini. The Dakini brings the female energy into Yoga. As a mother giving natural birth at home to two daughters, Susanne experienced the power of breath and meeting pain with a welcoming state of being.
In New York, Susanne did her Teacher Training with Mark Whitwell, and is now teaching the Heart of Yoga throughout Switzerland, Italy, Germany and Iceland. She also teaches slowmotion workshops and Performances in collaboration with her partner Christoph Lauener.
Susanne is author of “The Nature of Yoga / Die Natur des Yoga.”
Contact Susanne:
a : Dakini Dance Space, Egliweg 10, CH-2560, Nidau, Switzerland
w : dakini-dance.ch
m : info@dakini-dance.ch
t : +41-32-331-3275
Stefan Tittman
Eastern Switzerland, St.Gallen
More than 10 years ago, when a friend took me to my first Heart-of-Yoga-Session with Susanne Daeppen, I found what I did not even know I was searching for. Following a profound pilgrimage to Mount Kailash through Tibet with Mark, Rosalind, Leslie and other fellows in 2019, moved me further, to follow the Teacher Training with Susanne.
All these experiences are gifts I received, and I really appreciate passing them on, wherever I am and whatever I’m doing. This now takes the form of offering regular weekly and monthly sessions in the studio as well „Stubenyoga“, where I come to your place to teach yoga according to your needs.
Contact Stefan:
m : stefan.tittmann@bluewin.ch
w : https://www.movingstudio.ch/heart-of-yoga-mit-stefan-tittmann/
Leslie Piatti
Eastern Switzerland
Leslie first completed teacher training at the Heart of Yoga ashram in Fiji, and later made the historic pilgrimage around Mt Kailash in 2019.
Contact Leslie:
m : Leslie.piatti@sunrise.ch
UGANDA
Lawrence Mupere and Stuart Etou
Kampala, Uganda
(in Uganda, written Mupere Lawrence and Etou Stuart)
Lawrence and Stuart trained in the Heart of Yoga with Emma Warmington and Mark Whitwell in Thailand and share Yoga with their home communities in Kampala, Uganda.
Contact Lawrence and Stuart:
t : +256-703686104 or +256-706500265
w : https://heartofyogaafrica.wixsite.com/mysite-1
United Kingdom
Claire Graham
Greater Liverpool area, England
Claire started CG Yoga & Wellness (cgyoga.org.uk) in 2016 and shares her knowledge and love of yoga and holistic medicine with everyone. She’s passionate about holistic health & wellbeing and making that accessible to all. She finally got to meet Mark and Rosalind in London in 2018 after coming across their workshops in Shanghai where she previously lived. Since the pandemic took hold, she has immersed herself in these teachings, which are a breath of fresh air and have had a profound effect on her own practice and life: reconnecting to our breath, hearts, and bodies so we can be in the flow of life, whatever comes up for us, whatever we may face.
She is a BANT certified Naturopathic Nutritional Therapist via the College of Naturopathic Medicine in London and Nutritional therapy had played a major part of her personal health journey. Claire works with people to get the full picture and story to find the individual’s path back to health and wellbeing, which is the integration of mind, body and spirit. She teaches in and around the UK, mostly in the North West or online.
Contact Claire:
w : CGYoga.org.uk
e : claire@cgyoga.org.uk
ig : @CGYogaandwellness
Emma Warmington
Belfast, Northern Ireland
Emma has been embodying the principles of the Heart of Yoga since dissolving into a puddle of tears upon first practicing with Mark Whitwell back in 2010. A long term traveling yoga teacher and teacher trainer, Emma has shared the Heart of Yoga practice with hundreds of students and teachers from all over the world.
For Emma, the Heart of Yoga principles were the key to unlocking the true experience of yoga she had always been seeking and they now provide the foundation for all her practice and teachings.
Emma has taught alongside Mark on teacher trainings in Fiji and Thailand and is on a mission to continue spreading the teachings of the Heart of Yoga and to pass along this lineage. You can practice with Emma online through Yoga Anytime on The Heart of Yoga - Season 2, or come to a class or private session in Belfast and surrounding areas. She also hosts a FB teaching programme for those fallen out of the yoga industrial system.
Contact Emma:
w : jivaniyoga.com
Wendy McGregor
Northern Ireland
Wendy is a Yogini and Yoga teacher, a mother of two beautiful grown boys, and a nurse and healthcare worker. She is deeply grounded in the lineage of Krishnamacharya, studying with AG and Indra Mohan, Srivatsa Ramaswami, and completing teacher training with Mark Whitwell in California in 2017.
Contact Wendy:
ig : @wrmcgregor
Bruce White
Belfast, Northern Ireland
Yoga practitioner and teacher, artist and explorer.
Contact Bruce:
ig : @bruceyoga108
USA
CALIFORNIA
Frederic Champagne Ballario
Santa Cruz, CA
Frederic is a viticulturalist, yogi and student of Tea and dance. He lives in Santa Cruz and may be available for private lesson. Listen to the podcast with Mark and Frederic here.
Contact Frederic:
ig : @liquidsungod
Ingrid Boulting
Ojai, CA
Ingrid is the owner of Sacred Space Studio. She is a Registered Yoga Teacher [RYT] who began her practice in 1972. A devoted student of the healing arts, Ingrid has taught yoga since 1988. She is inspired by Mark Whitwell’s teachings and especially to share the Heart of Yoga breathing with her students.
Contact Ingrid:
a : 410 Bryant Circle, Suite A, Ojai, CALIFORNIA, CA, 93023
w : sacredspacestudio.com
e : sacredspacestudio@gmail.com
t : 805-646-6761
Astrud Castillo
San Francisco, CA
“As a devoted student of Mark Whitwell’s for over 8 years and all the great teaching of yoga, I have come to be reminded that we are not trying to get ‘from here to there, but rather from there to here.’ The breath is the most profound vehicle. It is our guide, a source of inspiration and that which initiates movement both inside and out. The breath and movement of the body are not ways to find god but to express it! ‘The most beautiful thing we can experience is the mysterious.’ – Albert Einstein”
Contact Astrud:
a : Laughing Lotus, San Francisco, CALIFORNIA
e : astrudcastillo@mac.com
t : 646-373-8798
Lily Dulan
Los Angeles, CA
Lily took her first Yoga class with Patricia Gray in Kansas City around 1998. She moved to Los Angeles in 1999 and soon began exploring the many popularized forms of Yoga. Still, there was something missing. She was always searching for the next best teacher. Lily met Mark about six years ago on retreat with Ram Dass and there was an instant connection. Her searching ceased. As Mark led the class through a simple set of asanas, she was connected to her body and breath in a way she had never been before. She said to herself, “Aha! This is what yoga is all about!” Mark’s teaching empowers all of us to find our own Yoga from the source. Through studying with Mark she has learned to trust her own breath, her own body, and her own voice. She is proud to be a part of the Heart of Yoga Teacher’s Community.
Contact Lily:
e : LilyDulan@msn.com
Janet Marshall
Newport Beach, CA
Janet is a lifelong yoga student, devotee and teacher whose practice blends classical spirituality with practical healing therapies. She has completed nearly 1,000 hours of training and certification with major teachers in leading traditions.
Her early training with John Childers of Full-Spectrum Yoga grounded her asana practice in the philosophical origins of the sutras. She then trained with Naader Shagagi, founder of Yoga Kingdom in Pasadena, whose wholehearted embrace of Eastern and Western mysticism illumines yoga as a devotional path. Janet is currently studying yoga therapy with Juris Zinberg and Gary Krafstow, and is completing the three year Yoga Therapy Program through The Viniyoga Institute.
She is a longtime student and friend of Mark Whitwell and, as a result, is deeply rooted in the yoga practice and principles of Krishnamacharya. Janet has years of experience as a social worker and worked in many schools and agencies serving children and families in stress.
Janet is currently teaching and training in various locations in Southern and Northern California and lives in Newport Beach, California where she teaches private and semi-private classes in yoga and yoga theraputics.
Contact Janet:
e : janet@heartofyoga.com
Cheri Rae Russell
Los Angeles, CA
Cheri Rae ice skated professionally from age 11 to 36. At 17 she critically injured her knee landing a jump and was introduced to yoga as physical therapy. When it completely rehabilitated her, yoga became her passion.
Cheri studied under Frank White and Pattabhi Jois, among others. She has been teaching for 21 years.
Cheri Rae has taught in India, Thailand, as well as a 6 month residence at The Yoga Barn in Bali before returning to Los Angeles to create the downtown radical sanctuary that is peace yoga gallery.
Contact Cheri:
a : Peace Yoga Gallery, 903 South Main Street, Los Angeles, CALIFORNIA, 90015
w : peaceyogagallery.com
e : info@peaceyogagallery.com
t : 213-500-5007
Indira Shekerjian
Santa Monica, CA
Indira met and began her studies with Mark Whitwell in 1998, she continues to study with him whenever he’s in LA. She is fascinated with the breath and its healing properties. She is interested in incorporating yoga into everyday life and often leads inspiring classes that are centered around a particular theme.
Contact Indira:
a : Santa Monica Yoga, Los Angeles, CALIFORNIA
w : thumbprintyoga.com
e : ilovedepeche@hotmail.com
Richard Wegman (Mahadeva-Das)
Venice, CA
“Explore Yoga by connecting to your source through your breath. We will use the 5 elements to explore intimacy with ourselves, with others and with our planet the Mother through the practice of Asanas Mudras, Bandhas and Pranayama.
Rooted in traditional ha-tha yoga and certified by his first teacher Raghavan; a student of Swami Vishnu Devananda. Teachers include Mark Whitwell, Saul David Raye, and Erich Schiffmann. On the path for 23 (Teaching for 13) years he brings an unquenchable desire for sharing breath, knowledge and healing.
Yoga is a path on this earth we travel together exploring, learning and deepening our practice on the journey.”
“By meditating on the glorious power that gives us life, we ask that our minds and hearts be illuminated” — Gayatri Mantra
Friend, healer, consultant
OM Shanti
Contact Richard:
a : 253 5th Ave., Venice (Santa Monica), 90291
t : 310-402-7800
COLORADO
Jessica Patterson, M.A.
Boulder, CO
Jessica has been practicing and discovering yoga for over nineteen years, during which time she has had the great privilege of exploring many methods, approaches, and teachers. Her formal training as a teacher began with a 200-hour program in Colorado Springs. As her own yoga practice deepened, so too did her understanding of its profound transformative and regenerative power. She sought out more opportunities to learn and grow as a practitioner and teacher, and her dedication and commitment to nonviolence led her to the Jivamukti Yoga method, which bridges ancient teachings and modern lifestyles in a challenging, uplifting, and deeply compassionate practice. In April 2008, she completed the month-long 300-hour Jivamukti training in NY to become the only Certified Jivamukti Teacher in Colorado Springs and a 500-hour E-RYT with Yoga Alliance, indicating 2000+ hours of teaching.
While her Jivamukti roots run deep, Jessica has also broadened and deepened her roots and counts Mark Whitwell among her most formative teachers. Under Mark’s gentle guidance, Jessica has reconnected with (and remembered) the heart of yoga as “the direct participation with life—as life itself.” She teaches yoga as a technology/practice that facilitates the re-cognition (and embodiment) of oneself as divine expression—whole and complete.
Contact Jessica:
a : Playoga, Colorado, USA
w : rootdownandgrow.com
e : jessica@rootdownandgrow.com
t : 719-209-2108
CONNECTICUT
Barbara Tomaszek Templeton, MS, E-RYT (500)
Connecticut
Barbara provides peace and power to individuals through yoga‚ more peace, more power. Author of the Complete Idiots Guide to Stretching and Editor and contributor of the book Yoga of Heart, The Healing Power of Intimate Connection. Barbara has studied with many renowned yoga masters. She takes these teachings to her public classes and private students to help them connect with the deeper aspects of yoga. Templeton received her formal yoga teacher certification from the famed Kripalu Center, the largest site for yoga and holistic health in the United States and she is a certified Vinyasa Krama teacher. She is a member of the Yoga Alliance and the International Association of Yoga Therapists.
Contact Barbara:
a : Breathing Yoga, CONNECTICUT
w : breathingyoga.com
e : barbara@breathingyoga.com
t : 949-338-3793
FLORIDA
Joseph Lauricella
The Yoga Bus Project (on the move)
Joseph Lauricella is an author, life & wellness coach, Yoga & meditation teacher.
“I am passionate about helping people raise their vibration with time tested principles of breathwork, movement, meditation and daily practices. I have dedicated my life to serving others, raising consciousness and expanding possibilities for life… helping people remove everything that stands in the way of feeling and experiencing their own inherent wisdom and love.”
Contact Joseph:
e : josephsyoga@gmail.com
w : josephlauricella.com/
Justin Kaye
Orlando and Tampa Bay, FL
Justin started his journey in wellness as a personal fitness trainer and bodybuilder. He was always intrigued by the fusion of philosophy and physical fitness that yoga seemed to promise. Around the age of 20, Justin initiated himself into the path of Yoga. He took a few classes over the years, although he mainly tried to explore on his own, studying various paths such as Karma, Bhakti, and Kundalini. Then while studying yoga and bodywork at the Kripalu Center in Massachusetts, he was befriended by Mark Whitwell. Mr. Whitwell simultaneously helped demystify the practice of hatha yoga as well as shine a light on its depths. Justin has delved into many traditions for Divine inspiration, from Tantra to the Egyptian Mystery Schools, and is a massage therapist, yoga teacher and personal trainer.
Contact Justin:
e : loveisthelaw20042004@yahoo.com
t : 407-310-2646
HAWAI'I
Ben Redman
Kaua'i, HI
Ben is a heart-centered teacher and a practicing Thai Yoga Therapist with an authentic approach to Yoga. “Enlightenment isn’t something we seek but something we remember. This remembrance occurs when we link our breath and body together with movement. Union of the body, breath and movement is Yoga.” The accessibility of Ben’s teaching allows students to discover their own intrinsic power while giving a safe framework to discover their edges. With focus on breath-guided movement he leads a practice for all levels. Ben teaches Yoga for the Soul and is extremely humbled to share asana, pranayama and meditation from his heart. Much gratitude to Mark for giving Ben the opportunity to promote the Heart of Yoga through the spirit of Aloha.
Contact Ben:
e : yogaisyou@gmail.com
t : 808-346-9864
MASSACHUSSETTS
Jared A. Hirsch
Boston, MA
Jared, “Jahvocado,” draws his practice from a diverse and eclectic background that incorporate a number of Yoga traditions. The foundation of Jared’s teaching is steeped in the ancient wisdom of T. Krishnamacharya and his son T.K.V. Desikachar. Jared has studied and mentored with some of Krishnamacharya’s better-known students including Mark Whitwell, of whom he continues to study closely with. Jared’s teaching empowers the individual to question basic assumptions in regards to practice. He is not interested in teaching just any Yoga, but the Yoga that is right for the individual. Jared’s dynamic and thoughtfully guided sequencing allow the individual to adapt the practice in a way that is right for them.
Contact Jared:
a : Down Under Yoga, Boston, Massachussetts
w : jahvocado.com
e : jared@jahvocado.com
t : 917-572-3708
MICHIGAN
Dave Tomaszewski & Abby Bechek Hoot
Berkley, MI
Abby (Certified Jivamukti Yoga Teacher, RYT, E-RYT) was introduced to yoga through chanting and meditation at age eleven. At eighteen, She was invited to Encinitas, California where she spent several days chanting and meditating with Gurumayi Chidvilasananda, who had walked the path under the guidance of Guru Swami Baba Muktananda. As an adult Abby was introduced to asana practice and fell in love with the Ashtanga method. After completing her first teacher training in 2003, Abby continued to study the Jivamukti Method with founders David Life and Sharon Gannon in New York. Abby received blessings from David and Sharon as a certified Jivamukti Yoga teacher in 2005.
Dave (RYT, E-RYT) has been practicing yoga since 1998. He believes that the ultimate goal of yoga is self realization and increased strength and flexibility are simply the natural results of consistent practice. The physical practice is a means to greater health and balance, eventually leading to an exploration of the more subtle aspects of yoga as taught in the yoga sutras. Dave completed his first teacher training in 2002 and a second teacher training in 2005.
Abby and Dave are both E-RYTs, (Experienced Yoga Teachers registered with Yoga Alliance) each with over 5000 hours of yoga teaching experience. Together they opened House of Yoga in January 2006, where they teach classes, workshops, trainings, and play music as “Vishnu Blue.”
Contact Dave Tomaszewski:
a : House Of Yoga, 2965 W. 12 Mile Rd., Suite 100, Berkley, MICHIGAN, 48072, United States
w : vishnublue.com & houseofyoga.net
t : 248-556-0992
NEVADA
Anne Schadler
Las Vegas, NV
Anne is a teacher of yoga and Ayurveda, has been sharing her passion and knowledge of yoga with the Las Vegas community for many years. Her experience encompasses a wide range of styles and teachings in both the physical and spiritual disciplines of yoga. Anne uses whatever style and tools she believes will best reach her students and help them on their path of healing and transformation. Her approach to teaching is holistic and personalized, creating a safe, nurturing and supportive environment for one to explore hers or his infinite potential.
In 2006, she established the Healing Yoga and Meditation for People Living with Cancer program for the Nevada Cancer Institute in Las Vegas, Nevada. Anne is a 200-hour Registered Yoga Teacher with Yoga Alliance. In 2006, she completed an intensive Ayurveda home study program with the Ayurveda Institute in Albuquerque, N.M. and in 2002, completed a two year Advanced Yoga Studies Program with Yoga Mandala in Berkeley, CA. Anne’s love and passion for the sacred teachings of yoga and Ayurveda is apparent in her enthusiastic, creative and caring approach to yoga as a healing practice.
Contact Anne:
e : ayendrek@aol.com
t : 702-743-5594
NEW YORK
Karen Williams
Karen Williams is a producer, model, advocate and passionate spokesperson for age-positive diverse representation. A student and teacher of Yoga, Qi Gong and healing modalities, she completed teacher training with Mark Whitwell in Ojai, California in 2018. Listen to the podcast episode with Mark and Karen here.
Contact Karen:
ig : @ksewilliams
Anne Ribolow
New York City, NY
Anne had the good fortune to meet Mark Whitwell in 1995 after practising and teaching Astanga yoga for five years. This meeting totally transformed and personalized her yoga into a daily practise, one of absolute absorption through the breath into the profundity of life as it is already given.
Mark also became the teacher of Anne’s two sons, Douglas and Bill Drummond, with Douglas now also teaching yoga.
Anne is the creator of ‘Spirit Quest' and is a compassionate and devoted transformational guide drawing from a plethora of deep spiritual and shamanic work, body work and movement in which your personalized Heart of Yoga practise plays a pivotal role in aligning the body with the soul.
Anne is available for private, one-on-one sessions.
Contact Anne:
e : yogannie@live.com
t : 212-369-9055
Douglas R. W. Drummond
Manhattan, NY
Douglas has been practicing yoga with his family teacher and friend, Mark Whitwell, since he was a 16yrs old. Introduced to Yoga and Mark Whitwell through his Mother, Anne Ribolow, Douglas has been embracing his family’s long-standing passion for Heart of Yoga’s direction with full-hearted devotion and integrity. Douglas continually looks to share his deep gratitude and devotion for the practice on and off the mat wherever he travels. Douglas is also a consummate professional in the wellness and spa industries, working with the development of holistic & luxury health resorts and retreats worldwide.
Contact Douglas:
e : drwdrummond@gmail.com
t : 917-842-5752
Melissa Forbes
Upstate New York
For the last 23 years, Melissa Forbes has been a student and teacher of Hatha Yoga. Her interest in yoga became more singularly focused after finding inspiration in the tradition of scholar and yogi Shri T. Krishnamacharya (1888-1989). Beginning in 1990, she had the opportunity to study directly with both his student K. Pattabhi Jois (1915-2009) and his son T. K. V. Desikachar in Mysore and Madras, India, respectively. Both Desikachar and Jois are credited with fueling the resurgence of Hatha Yoga in the Western hemisphere in recent decades. Jois, in particular, was instrumental in popularizing Ashtanga Vinyasa Yoga, from which the PowerYoga and Vinyasa Flow styles are derived.
As an instructor, Melissa Forbes began her career teaching Desikachar style yoga in 1997. She later became a co-founder and certified yoga instructor of the internationally renowned Heart of Yoga. She also has taught yoga in numerous schools throughout the United States, including the Omega Institute in upstate New York and the Olive Leaf Wholeness Center in New York City, where she worked closely with Dr. Rudolph Ballentine, a student of Swami Rama, founder of the Himalayan Institute. From 2002 to 2007, Melissa Forbes had the privilege to travel with the Indian sage UG Krishnamurti (1918-2007) throughout the last five years of his life. Painting and design, along with dance and movement, have always been her passion and preferred expression. She completed formal studies in textile design at the Moore College of Art, enjoyed a full scholarship in printmaking at the National Academy of Design, and pursued an independent study of Vedic yantras. She has received many awards including the Pollock-Krasner Grant. She maintained a studio for many years in New York City while traveling and painting in special locations around the world, including India, New Zealand, Italy, and Switzerland. Her art has been exhibited at galleries in New York City, Philadelphia, and the United Nations.
Most recently Melissa Forbes' vibrational yantra art was featured in the book Karttikeyan Yogic Method, published by GatherInsight.com. She currently lives in the southern Adirondack mountains and teaches as an Adjunct Professor at the University of New Haven, Connecticut. Melissa Forbes continues her development in the disciplines and practices of yoga and art, as an avid student, teacher, and painter. Learn more about her work and her books at GatherInsight.com or MelissaForbes.net.
Contact Melissa:
w : MelissaForbes.net
e : reachm@yahoo.com
Lourdes Roa
Rochester, NY
Lourdes Roa began formally practicing Yoga in 2000. Her journey in the healing arts, including Reiki and Mindfulness meditation, led her to retreat in Fiji with Mark Whitwell and a wonderful cast of Yoginis from across the globe in the summer of 2013. There she received her Heart of Yoga Teacher Training.
As a life-long educator, Lourdes shares her knowledge of body, mind, breath and movement with a diverse community of students and colleagues. Her passion for teaching has evolved beyond the school walls to birth a wellness endeavor she calls “Wellness Begins Within”. This venture allows Lourdes to guide individuals and small groups to integrate wellness into their lives through Yoga, Reiki, Meditation, Relationships, Thoughts, Emotions, Communication, Spirituality, Nutrition and Nature.
Lourdes teaches in English and Spanish. Her Cuban roots and life-long travel experiences across the globe have taught her a unique sensitivity to meet diverse needs of ALL people, of varied backgrounds. Mark Whitwell says, “Asana practice allows intimacy with self and others. Yoga is union; full intimacy with all of life.” Lourdes lives her Yoga in all aspects of her life.
Contact Lourdes:
a : 286 North Drive, Rochester, NY, 14612
t : (585)451-4265
NORTH CAROLINA
Allison Dennis
Carrboro, NC
From Raleigh, NC. Allison discovered Yoga while feeling burnt out and bruised from performing. Completed 500 hours of yoga teacher training at Sivananda Yoga Ashrams. Certified Jivamukti YogaInstructor. Received the teachings of Krishnamacharya from Mark Whitwell. 500 hour course focusing on Patanjali’s Sutras with Swami Swaroopananda. Nada Yoga from K. Sridhar. Ashtanga with Patthabhi Jois. Multiple hugs and blessings from Amma.
Currently a licensed massage therapist in Durham, NC with a daily chanting, asana and pranayama practice, leading several yoga teacher trainings around NC and SC through Heart of Yoga School and Veda Vinyasa RYS 500.
I teach what I see in myself and in nature using song, text, and storytelling in my classes. I teach yoga as direct intimacy between you and reality.
Contact Allison:
a : Heart of Yoga School, 209 Lloyd Street Suite 210, Carrboro, NORTH CAROLINA, 27510
w : heartofyogaschool.com & AllisonDennis.com
e : ombluesky@gmail.com
t : (919) 929 8961
Oklahoma
Anna Berry
Tulsa, Oklahoma
Anna started practicing yoga at the ripe age of 12 from a Rodney Yee VHS she bought at the local health food store in her hometown of Oklahoma. It eased her childhood anxiety and helped instill a daily practice of learning and participating with her body, breath and life. Having studied many forms of yoga over the years; like Iyengar, Bikram, Anusara and other forms of Hatha Yoga, she was lucky enough to find Mark Whitwell while dancing through the hip and trendy yoga studios of Los Angeles. Mark and his teachings hit a resonating chord with Ana and she has been practicing, studying and living his teachings in her life for the past 6 years.
She attended a retreat with Mark to India for a two week yoga intensive and a sacred pilgrimage to the Kumbha Mela. She was initiated by Mark right along the banks of the Ganges River as the holy procession greeted them all day into the night. From then, she has dedicated her life to teaching the Heart of Yoga to all she meets and all willing to listen. From the gardener, the check out clerk or friends who want a dose of bliss…Ana is there to teach Mark’s promise. Ana currently lives and teaches in New York City. Donation based only. All ages, races, religions and languages welcomed.
Contact Anna:
w : strengthreceiving.blogspot.com/
e : iamannaberry@gmail.com
t : 310-409-6283
IG : @wholebodyprayer
ON THE MOVE (NO LOCATION)
Rosalind Atkinson
Rosalind met Mark in 2017 at Fiji teacher training after hunting him down to argue about some points in his book, ‘Yoga of Heart.’ They have been together ever since and Rosalind has attended, facilitated, or co-taught at every training around the world since then. Rosalind is a writer who collaborated with Mark and her friend Andrew Raba on the latest book, God and Sex: Now We Get Both. She teaches in the Heart of Yoga Online studio and on trainings / retreats.
IG @rosalind.lucy
Tom Roos
Bali/Switzerland/Sumatra
Tom is a surfer and semi-pro snowboarder, photographer, Yoga teacher and lover of life. He teaches in spontaneous gatherings in his travels, if you can find him.
Contact Tom:
ig : @ton.roos [not a typo]
t : +41794545317
George Gustafsson
Born in New Zealand, George teaches in the Heart of Yoga online studio whilst travelling the world. He is available for private yoga or surfing lessons.
Contact George:
ig : @georgegustafssson_