Southwest Yoga Conference
SYC Presenter

Robert Boustany

Robert Boustany is a physicist, who has been teaching yoga for 38 years. He is known for a details understanding of the anatomy of poses, and will often give energetic, and therapeutic reasons for alignments.  Classes are taught with lighthearted interludes between focused intense work. His background is primarily Ashtanga, Iyengar, and Forrest Yoga.  Though he has studied extensively many esoteric forms of yoga, qigong etc.  His philosophic basis is Advaita Vedanta

SYC Presenter

Nicki Doane

Nicki Doane began practicing yoga in 1988 and started teaching in 1992. She first studied with Sri K Pattabhi Jois in 1991 in Mysore, India and cites him, along with Eddie Modestini, Gabriella Giubilaro, and Tim Miller among her most influential teachers. Although rooted in Ashtanga yoga, Nicki's teaching goes beyond the traditional. Her vinyasa classes combine asana, pranayama, philosophy, and poetry. Nicki's emphasis is on awareness: creating integrity within each pose that can be carried beyond the mat into daily life. Nicki teaches at yoga studios and conferences across the globe and is featured in two Ashtanga Yoga DVD’s available through Gaiam Inc. Nicki co-directs Maya Yoga Studio on Maui, HI with her husband and teaching partner Eddie Modestini.

SYC Presenter

Alan Finger

Yogiraj Alan Finger, a pre-eminent Western Tantric yoga master who has been teaching for over 45 years, together with his father Mani and informed by their teachers Paramahansa Yogananda, Shuddhanand Bharati, Swami Venkatesananda and yogi Nishraisananda, founded the ISHTA lineage of yoga, melding asana, meditation, Ayurvedic principles and Tantric philosophy. He offers private and group classes at the ISHTA world headquarters in Manhattan and workshops at studios, conferences and retreats worldwide.

SYC Presenter

Lilias Folan

Recognized as the “First Lady of Yoga” since her ground breaking 1972 PBS television series, Lilias! Yoga and You, Lilias Folan is regarded as one of America’s most knowledgeable and beloved Master Yoga teachers. Steeped in many different yoga traditions, in recent years Lilias relies strongly on her own personal experience and intuition to influence her teaching. She has spent over forty years inspiring students and teachers throughout the USA with the benefits of yoga body, mind and spirit. Folan’s audience includes housewives, athletes, executives, seniors, Olympians, artists, members of Congress and a former President of the US. She’s taught internationally in Australia, Russia, Italy, Ireland, Germany, and for the British Wheel of Yoga. Lilias recently took part in the New York Times Speaker Series.

SYC Presenter

Sharon Gannon

Sharon Gannon teaches yoga as a path to enlightenment, through compassion for all beings, She is a pioneer in teaching yoga as spiritual activism and has been practicing yoga and meditation for over 35 years. She is the co-founder, with David Life, of the Jivamukti Yoga Method, which is taught in JY Schools worldwide, and is the author of many books and producer of and featured in music CDs and yoga DVDs. She is the recipient of the 2008 Compassionate Living Award from The Farm Sanctuary, and nominated by JANE Magazine as the Gutsiest Woman of the Year 1999.

SYC Presenter

Rich Goldstein

Rich (Raghurai) Goldstein is the Managing Partner of Yoga Yoga, in Austin, Texas, a group of 4 centers with over 350 classes weekly.  He combines an extensive background in business management, marketing and operations, with a deep respect for each individual’s commitment to living with a more heart-centered work experience.  He is a certified Kundalini Yoga Teacher and teaches regular weekly classes as well as workshops on The Business of Yoga and The Yogic Edge.

SYC Presenter

Jonny Kest

By way of breath, Jonny brings a beautiful balance of intensity and grace to each therapeutic class where he encourages the student to ‘get out of their own way’ and allow one’s own healing powers to inspire each practice.

SYC Presenter

Chris Kilham

Chris Kilham has been practicing yoga since 1970, and has taught in universities, jails, schools, hospitals and many diverse places. He is the author of the international best-seller The Five Tibetans, and offers a unique fusion of traditional hatha, kundalini, and Tibetans yogas, all delivered with humor.

SYC Presenter

Gary Kraftsow

Gary Kraftsow has been a pioneer in the transmission of yoga for health, healing and personal transformation for over 30 years. After beginning his study of yoga in India with T.K.V. Desikachar in 1974, Gary founded the American Viniyoga Institute in 1999. He developed, directs, and serves as senior teacher of AVI’s teacher and therapist certification programs. Gary is the author of two books and created two yoga therapy DVDs, using the unique Viniyoga approach of adaptation to suit the needs of the individual.

SYC Presenter

Misha Laird

Misha draws from the rigors of an architectural education, the rollercoaster ride of motherhood, and the vibrant charm of a mid-western girl, to sculpt a safe and nurturing space, where her students consistently get what they came for.  Misha demystifies yoga, welcoming all into that magical space by serving it straight from the heart.

SYC Presenter

David Life

David Life imbues his classes with metaphor, musicality and spirituality, spiced with humor, vigor and spontaneity. He is considered to be a “teacher’s teacher” and he is a respected, popular, and in-demand teacher around the globe. Together with Sharon Gannon, David Life has created the Jivamukti Yoga Method. The Jivamukti Yoga method is recognized by TIME magazine as one of the nine methods of hatha yoga taught in the world today. Jivamukti Yoga method emphasizes vinyasa, scriptural study, devotion, music, chanting and meditation as well as animal rights, veganism, environmentalism and political activism.

SYC Presenter

Vinnie Marino

One of L.A.'s most popular vinyasa teachers. Vinnie began practicing as a teenager in New York. After years of exploring different styles of yoga, he felt a deep connection to vinyasa flow. Vinnie teaches at yoga works in Santa Monica, Ca. were he completed the advanced teacher training program. Vinnie teaches a strong, physically challenging practice set to inspiring music from trance to rock. He is the featured model in the health section of the L.A. Times and leads workshops and retreats throughout the world.

SYC Presenter

Mehtab

Mehtab began teaching Kundalini Yoga in 1974 in San Rafael, California in public schools and drug rehabilitation programs. He is the recipient of the International Kundalini Yoga Teacher's Association "Building Communities in Yoga" award and president of the Yoga Care Foundation that provides yoga for disadvantaged populations. Mehtab is the author of ten books, including Gong Yoga: Healing and Enlightenment Through Sound. He is the founder of the Yoga Yoga studio group in Austin along with his wife Guru Karam Benton, also an established Kundalini Yoga teacher. Together they have nurtured the growth of their yoga community into one of the largest in the United States.

SYC Presenter

Mika

First a musician, Mika began a life of yoga by training daily for two years in Ashtanga Yoga with Master Baptiste Marceau. Mika also spent 3 years in India, primarily in the Gangotri cave area of Hymalayas, instructed by masters in the Agni (Fire) Yoga. Mika's interest is for each person to move at their own ability & energy level, for the body and breath to synchronize for peace of mind, and he often begins his classes with the primal sound of the didgeridoo to help take away the thinking. Today Mika teaches very popular yoga classes in Paris and private classes for a renowned clientele list. He also travels to conferences around the world.

SYC Presenter

Eddie Modestini

Eddie Modestini is what is known as a teacher's teacher. He has been a yogi since 1983 and has been teaching for that long as well. Eddie has been certified in Iyengar yoga and is now a student of Pattabhi Jois. He is well versed in both systems and has an amazing eye and holds the ability to read students' bodies and is a master of yoga therapy. "Through the experience of watching yoga heal me, I know that it has the capacity to heal the masses." Eddie co-directs Maya Yoga Studio on Maui, HI with his wife and teaching partner Nicki Doane.

SYC Presenter

Sharon Moon

Sharon has been a student of yoga for over 35 years. She began practicing Ashtanga Vinyasa Yoga in 1995 and it has taken her around the world to teach. She is grateful to David Swenson for first teaching her Ashtanga and to Guruji for making it all possible. Her teaching style is dedicated to the tradition of Ashtanga. It is direct and dynamic while maintaining playful heart awareness.

SYC Presenter

Steve Ross

Steve Ross has practiced various styles of yoga for nearly 30 years and has been an instructor for over twenty years.  He has explored the physical aspects of yoga as well as the philosophical and spiritual roots of yoga.  He spent four years as a monk in the Vedic tradition, and since that time, he has ceaselessly sought out and reveled in the presence of some of the most notable masters of our time - in India and elsewhere.  He is honored to have the opportunity to share his knowledge and experience with other spiritual seekers.  Steve combines upbeat, inspirational music with a relaxed, easy spirituality that make his classes at Maha Yoga some of the most popular in Los Angeles.  His events are ecstatic.  His sold out retreats are well known to produce a blissful state of being.

SYC Presenter

Matthew Sanford

Matthew Sanford is an Iyengar-style yoga teacher who is paralyzed from the chest down. He is the author of Waking: A Memoir of Trauma and Transcendence and founder of the non-profit Mind Body Solutions. He is a leading voice in the integrative health movement and won the national Volvo-for-Life Award in 2008.

SYC Presenter

Christina Sell

Christina Sell is a certified Anusara Yoga® teacher and author of the book Yoga from the Inside Out: Making Peace with your Body through Yoga. Christina’s classes are challenging, fun and inspiring. Dedicated to helping people of all ages and abilities experience the joy of yoga practice and conscious living, Christina maintains an active local and national teaching schedule. She lives outside of Austin, Texas with her husband and two retired greyhounds.

SYC Presenter

Priyanka Shanbag

Priyanka has been devoted to her daily yoga practice since she was a child, having never missed a morning practice. She has studied with teachers in India and the U.S. Along her journey; she realized that a daily yoga practice was a great way to relieve chronic back pain. Priyanka now teaches classes at the Jonny Kest Center for Yoga, specializing in Healthy Backs Yoga, which combines asana and breathing as an integral part of moving the spine in six different directions. Her aura of calmness, humility, compassion, sense of humor, and innovative teaching style draws students to her class.

SYC Presenter

Mark Uridel

Mark Uridel, MSPT, RMT, ERYT has 20 years of training and experience in Yoga. Member of the International Association of Yoga Therapists, he integrates his Physical Therapy expertise into his Yoga classes to provide an educational, healing and transformational experience. Mark teaches Anatomy of Movement for Yoga and Yoga Therapeutics nationally and provides Physical Therapy consultation and personalized Yoga programs for his patients. Mark has appeared in the Yoga Journal and presented at the Body-Mind-Spirit Educational Conference in Santa Clara, California and at the Texas Yoga Retreat. He describes Yoga as a process of moving toward wholeness and encourages his students to have acceptance, compassion and loving-kindness for themselves and others.

SYC Presenter

Rusty Wells

Rusty Wells is a San Francisco-based, world-traveled teacher of Bhakti Flow, a form of yoga wrapped in love and devotion. His teaching philosophy is based on the idea that through the practice of yoga, we can actually reduce suffering in this world, and at the heart of the individual yoga practice is the discovery of universal oneness. He has been inspired by many wonderful teachers including Shri Dharma Mittra, Pandit Rajmani Tigunait, Swami Sivananda, Baron Baptiste and pretty much everyone he gets to meet. Rusty, and his unique, challenging, vibrant style of yoga, has been featured in numerous publications, including Yoga Journal, Yogi Times, 7X7, Breathe Magazine, San Francisco Chronicle, Bay Guardian, and San Francisco Magazine, among others. 

SYC Presenter

Mark Whitwell

Having studied since 1973 in the home of Krishnamacharya “the teacher of our teachers” with his son TKV Desikachar, Mark Whitwell seeks to put back what has curiously been left out of western yoga education and practice, adapting Yoga to individual differences and remarrying Yoga to its Tantric origins. Mark is most interested in revealing authentic Yoga and how each person can easily, naturally and actually practice. Mark edited and contributed to Desikachar’s book The Heart of Yoga. His own book is Yoga of Heart: The Healing Power of Intimate Connection (Lantern Books).

SYC Presenter

Craig Williams

Craig Williams ( Shambhu-Das ) is a Clinical Herbalist and Acupuncturist in private practice specializing in Traditional Chinese Medicine, Ayurveda and Yoga. He holds a Master’ Degree in Oriental Medicine and is a Professional Member of the American Herbalist Guild. Craig is the recipient of the prestigious “Veda Kovid” title awarded by David Frawley and the American Institute of Vedic Studies recognizing extensive training in the Vedic Sciences of Ayurveda, Yoga, Jyotish, Tantra and Vedanta. He also holds a Bachelor’s Degree in Religious Studies with a focus on Hindu Studies and has studied Mantra therapy with Ashley Thomas- Farrand.

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