Andrey Lappa is one of the most qualified and influential masters and professional teachers of yoga in the all ex-soviet territory. All his life he traveled and lived a long time in eastern countries: Mongolia, India, Nepal, Burjatia, Siberia and others, where he developed skills with world known teachers, as well as learned from concealed from general attention but unusually vigorous ezotheric-practitioners. His books: “Dynamic practices in classical yoga” and “Yoga: Tradition of Unification” become best sellers in 1999-2000 in ex-soviet countries. Andrey is also a good computer programmer and he has designed programs for teaching yoga which have proven to be very useful for his many students.
I used to think that Yoga was something my parents did to embarrass me in front of my friends in junior high.. But 20 years ago, recovering from a back injury, I began practicing asana and discovered something I had been seeking for years: the manifestation of meditation through motion. Over the years, I developed a signature style which integrates the breath based flow of Ashtanga and precision of Iyengar into a deep, sweaty and transformative mind/body experience. Opening Kula was my attempt to bring a little California vibe to the mean streats of NYC. Abundant love and thanks to the Kula family who have mad this a REAL kula or intentional community – as well as the coolest hang out in the world for my three daughters, who will no doubt find my excruciatingly embarrassing in about 10 years.
Cyndi Lee is the first female Western yoga teacher to fully integrate yoga asana and Tibetan Buddhism in her practice and teaching. In 1998, she founded the OM yoga Center in NYC, which became a mecca for yogis worldwide. One of the most influential teachers in the U.S., Cyndi is known for her dynamic and contemplative classes, creative, safe and sane sequencing, smart and soulful teachings — all offered in a non-competitive environment of goodness.
Jonny Kest, one of the world’s foremost practitioners, came to yoga at an early age. When he was 12, his father suffered from debilitating back problems. After undergoing four unsuccessful back surgeries he was forced to go on disability. As fate would have it, a friend of his suggested he try yoga. The results were so dramatic he introduced his whole family to the practice, even going so far as to take them to India. Taking three months off from his junior year of high school, Jonny studied yoga and meditation with his father’s teacher’s teacher, the venerable Pattabhi Jois.
Kest has been teaching yoga since 1985. “My primary objective”, says Kest, “besides turning more and more people on to a healthier, more peaceful lifestyle that continually challenges them to grow, is to teach a system of exercise that fully integrates the body, mind, and spirit.
Tias is committed to teaching yoga as a contemplative path, leading to greater sensitivity, tolerance and deep understanding (prajna). Tias unique and skillful approach enables students to find greater depth of understanding and awareness in their practice, both on and off the mat. His approach to the practice is inter-disciplinary, passionate, intelligent, innovative and full of insight. Tias synthesizes years of study in classical yoga, Sanskrit, Buddhist studies, anatomy, massage, and trauma healing.
Known as a “teachers’ teacher,” Annie believes that Yoga practice (Hatha) is a remarkable method for learning to steady the attention on what is actually happening in the moment. From this place, compassion and radical acceptance naturally evolve. Old mindsets of the illusion of separation, of me and them, and self and other, dissolve into the knowledge of wholeness.