Guest Presenters

Eternity Road features Ajaya Davidson on keyboard and mrdangam, Upendra Wrinkle on flute and other bay area musicians. Ajaya has studied Indian percussion and all forms of piano music throughout his life.  His Kirtan compositions are rooted in deep Bhakti and the experience of Shiva awareness. He has played kirtan in ashrams and yoga studios in the Bay Area.  He also plays with Astrud and the Cosmic Caravan.

Ananda Rasa (the bliss of Divine rapture, the nectar of bliss) Kirtan is led by vocalist and multi-instrumentalist David Estes who is currently based in the San Francisco Bay Area. David grew up in India, has studied music since childhood and spent several years completely immersed in the practices of kirtan, swadhyaya chanting and meditation as a resident in daily ashram life. Ananda Rasa Kirtan is rooted in traditional Sanskrit chants sung to original melody compositions in light classical Indian ragas. Additional musical influences include Qawwali and reggae. The power, energy and vibration of the kirtan is experienced through chanting in call and response with the audience.

Dr. Andrea Deerheart is the passionate founder of the HeartWay, a non-profit foundation dedicated to Embracing life and Honoring Death. Using wisdom gathered from decades of guiding the living and dying; physically, emotionally, and spiritually, Deerheart has provided care and healing on the journey conscious living and dying for more than 20 years. With a doctorate in Depth Psychology, her primary work focuses on issues relating to aging, cultural mythology , death and dying, as well as grief and loss. Deerheart is also a RYT 500 yoga teacher and a certified classical Yoga Nidra Instructor. She is also the author / narrator of the recording, Yoga Nidra: Graceful Transitions.

Our working group name is Anhad Naad (Unstruck Sound)
Core members of this group are:
Divya Vyas – classically trained Indian singer with love for sufi music. member of Five Elements poetry music group.

Ashutosh Vyas – poetry reading, sanskrit recitation, translation of sufi poetry, member of Five Elements poetry music group, organizer of Kaavya Connection World Poetry.

Ryan Melnick- Soundcloud id Rtistr. digital and natural drums. DJ and electronic music.

Nicholas Soter – Guitarist member of Astrud Castillo’s Cosmic Caravan

Jun Ishimuro -flute and keyboard, student of Hindustani classical music, member of Astrud and Cosmic Caravan, music production under the name QB-MODA-JAZZ

Antonio Sausys, MA, IGT, CMT, RYT is a somatic psychotherapist and yoga instructor specializing in one-on-one yoga therapy for people with chronic and acute medical conditions as well as emotional imbalance.
He studied with Yoga masters and teachers such as Indra Devi, Swami Shankaradevananda and Larry Payne and has continued his professional development with training in Integrative Grief Therapy with Lyn Prashant, Foot Reflexology, Swedish Therapeutic Massage and Reiki.
Antonio’s work has been or is presented periodically at U.C. Berkeley, California Institute of Integral Studies, Kripalu, is a member of the World Yoga Council, the International Association of Yoga Therapists, a TV Host for YogiViews and the founder and Executive Director of ‘Yoga for Health’ the International Yoga Therapy Conference. He is the author of ‘Yoga for Grief Relief: Simple Practices for Transforming Your Grieving Mind and Body’ (New Harbinger).

Arturo Peal, Founder of Body Studies, has spent over 20 years inspiring and educating yoga teachers, body workers, and movement specialists across the globe through his classes in Anatomy, Kinesiology, and Therapeutic Touch. With a unique gift for translating complex scientific concepts into tangible, applicable teachings for his students, he raises awareness of how their own bodies work. His trainings have been held at world-class training centers including Integral Yoga Institute (NYC & SF), Savina Atai Yoga (Slovenia), Yogaville (Virginia), White Lotus Foundation (CA), and Rainbow Kids Yoga (worldwide).

Aryahi is a Usui / Karuna-Holy Fire II reiki master certified under the International Center for Reiki Training, with training in Japanese, Tibetan and the new “Holy Fire” reiki. She has also studied various forms of meditation, aromatherapy, and sound healing, and has completed the 200-hour yoga teacher training at Integral Yoga Institute. She is a member of Susila Budhi Dharma (Subud) and part of the Subud International Health Association (SIHA) network. In addition to reiki, her healing practice integrates intuitive energy movement and clearing, intuitive visualization methods, chakra balancing, and sound healing. She has extensive experience working with clients with issues of stress and trauma, including immigrants and survivors of domestic abuse and political violence. Aryahi was born in Tokyo, Japan and grew up in Honolulu, Hawaii before attending college and graduate school in California and New York. Prior to becoming a reiki master she worked in the United States, Africa, Asia, Latin America and Brazil as a human rights lawyer and a photographer; she speaks fluent English, Spanish and Japanese, and conversational Portuguese and French.

Swami Asokananda, E-RYT 500, a monk since 1973, is one of Integral Yoga’s foremost teachers—known for his warmth, intelligence, and good humor. His teaching comes out of his own practice and experience, having absorbed the wisdom of his Guru, Sri Swami Satchidananda.

While he enjoys sharing the practical wisdom of yogic philosophy (especially the great Indian scripture, the Bhagavad Gita), he also loves his practice of Hatha Yoga. He is one of Yogaville’s primary instructors for intermediate and advanced Hatha Yoga teacher trainings.

He presently serves as president at the Integral Yoga Institute in New York City. Before this position, he served as the President of Satchidananda Ashram–Yogaville and Integral Yoga International.Integral Yoga Institute.

Astrud has been teaching yoga since 2001 and sharing Kirtan internationally for the last 10 years.
She trained in NYC at Laughing Lotus, currently known as Body and soul Yoga collective and is a senior teacher and teacher trainer. She has studied the basics of yoga therapeutics and Vedic chanting with T.K.V. Desikachar in India. Her teaching has been inspired by her mentor and friend Mark Whitwell over the last 20 years. Astrud’s classes are warm, welcoming and all inclusive.
Her love and relationship to Bhakti Yoga, the yoga of devotion, is always illuminated in her teaching. There is always chanting in Astrud’s classes, awareness around the breath and mindful movement.
Astrud leads annual pilgrimages to India, teaches Bhakti yoga with teachers in training and currently lives at the IYI in SF.
Her slow flow class weaves together poses in a creative and mindful way using the breath as the bridge to deepen and explore the balance between effort and surrender and focus the mind.

Astrud Castillo is inspired by the practice of Nada Yoga, the deep inner listening and exploration of the unstruck sound. From this exploration, the inner and outer vibration and expression of Kirtan arises. Astrud brings with her a host of talented musicians from the Bay Area with whom she is honored to play. The band is a caravan of Bhakti Yogis who love to sing in the key of “We”. They create a safe and playful space in which hearts can begin to unfold like the lotus emerging from the mud. Kirtan is a way to express gratitude and joy, pain and sorrow and celebrate the gods and goddesses in all their forms. It is through the devotional practice of call and response, and repeating their names, that our hearts awaken and our barriers dissolve. Through this, kirtan enables us to experience wholeness and union, Yoga.

Ausra Duverge, C-IAYT, RYT-500, is an Ayurvedic Health Counselor and Certified Yoga Therapist. She uses Yoga techniques and practices: movement, breathing, relaxation, meditation, yoga philosophy, and Ayurvedic nutrition and lifestyle recommendations to help safely manage existing health conditions, restore balance and vitality, and to prevent disease.
Ausra offers yoga classes for the aging population, and workplace stress management. She works with clients one-on-one, virtually and in-person, with a variety of health conditions: Musculo-skeletal issues, spinal misalignment, anxiety and depression, menopause.

Baxter Bell, MD, C-IAYT, eRYT500 and co-founder of Yoga for Healthy Aging blog, specializes in yoga for healthy aging, therapeutic uses of yoga, and is co-author of the book Yoga for Healthy Aging with Nina Zolotow. To order Yoga for Healthy Aging: A Guide to Lifelong Well-Being, go to Shambhala, or Indie Bound, or other online sellers. Follow Baxter Bell, MD on YouTube, Facebook, and Instagram. For upcoming workshops and retreats see Baxter’s Workshops and for info on Baxter see baxterbell.com.

Fascinated by the mystery of life and beckoned towards her depths since childhood, Carly spent her formative years looking for spiritual sovereignty. The discovery of eastern wisdom traditions was one of deep and abiding recognition and the embodied practices of yoga and meditation have been her daily refuge ever since. Her studies of spiritual psychology, reverence for poetry, dedication to self-inquiry, and the reciprocity and respect she feels for the natural world have also left deep impressions and informed her practice. Her teachings constellate around the central task of supporting others to wholly inhabit their lives: to embrace the full spectrum of their humanity and skillfully greet the paradox of life.

Since taking part in her first meditation training in 2002, she has continued to sit on regular retreats in both the Theravadin and Tibetan Buddhist traditions, and to study closely with her primary teacher, Sarah Powers. In addition to completing an 18-month Mindfulness Yoga and Meditation Training at Spirit Rock Meditation Center, she graduated from a two-year intensive training with the Insight Yoga Institute in California and since 2013 has been training with the International Institute of Medical Qi Qong.

Nourished by the consistent teachings of her mentors and rooted in the solid ground of her eighteen-year personal practice, she has guided thousands of students through foundational practices and focused trainings over the past fifteen years, including Moksha Yoga’s advanced teacher training in Nosara, Costa Rica.

An endorsed Insight Yoga Teacher and mentor, Carly has also trained in psychology and community counselling and has a private energy medicine practice. She offers pre-registered classes, workshops, retreats, and teacher trainings locally and abroad, and advises and support individuals around the world as they grow in their practice and their teaching.

Carly was the Yin and mindfulness teacher to the Canadian National Women’s 7s Rugby Team, winners of the Bronze Medal at the 2016 Olympics in Rio, Brazil. She lives on a farm near Victoria, BC on Southern Vancouver Island and is honored to live and work on the traditional territories of the Lkwungen (Esquimalt and Songhees) and W̱SÁNEĆ (Pauquachin, Tsartlip, Tsawout, Tseycum) peoples. She extends immeasurable gratitude to her principal teachers, Sarah Powers and Jennifer Welwood.

Cheri Clampett, CYT, ERYT-500, is a certified yoga therapist with over 20 years of teaching experience. She is the founder and director of the Therapeutic Yoga Training Program. She has also co-led the Integrative Yoga Therapy Teacher Training and has presented Therapeutic Yoga at the White Lotus Foundation Teacher Training, Beth Israel Medical Center, and the Rusk Institute at NYU Medical Center.

Cheri currently teaches yoga at the Cancer Center of Santa Barbara, where she founded the yoga program for cancer patients in 1999. She also teaches monthly workshops at the Santa Barbara Yoga Center, and brings Therapeutic Yoga to the Santa Barbara Healing Sanctuary. Cheri focuses on the healing aspects of yoga: freeing the body, breath, and flow of energy through practicing with awareness, compassion, and love.

Cheri is the co-author of the Therapeutic Yoga Kit, published in January 2009 by Inner Traditions, and available on Amazon and at your local bookseller.

The essence of Chinnamasta is her heart-felt and loving presence attained during many years of deep study and practice with gifted Master Teachers in Europe, India and the U.S. While sitting next to these teachers, she received abundant blessings that led to the healing of her Self, blessings she now shares with others. Chinnamasta’s true gift is that she has the capacity to assess the root cause of a disease due to physical, emotional, mental or karmic imbalances and understand how these lead to health issues and deep suffering. With a loving and understanding attitude she helps students become proactive on their spiritual healing path, which leads to a deeply rooted connection to the Yoni Mudra (the Inner Source), resulting in long-term restored vitality and well being.

chidananda

Swami Chidananda is a monastic and a longtime disciple of Sri Swami Satchidananda and has managed the finances for Integral Yoga’s ashrams, institutes, and teaching centers for decades. He teaches Hatha Yoga and leads study groups on Yoga and Buddhist teachings and philosophy. Swami Chidananda also conducts spiritual pilgrimages to India and Nepal.

Claudia Bartsch, E-500CYT, C-IAYT, has been teaching yoga for 17 years. With over 1,500 hours of training she offers an in-depth understanding of yogic practices and techniques and how to apply them for healing, integration and transformation. In 2011 she bridged her interest in Western psychology and the yogic path and became a certified Phoenix Rising Yoga Therapist. Additionally, Claudia is a certified Stress Management Educator and a trained Shiatsu Practitioner.
In her work she offers a unique blend of the various branches of yoga, hands-on body and energy work empowering her clients to move towards greater resilience, well-being and health.
Please visit her website for more information: http://claudiabartsch.com

Dawn Summers has been teaching yoga since 1985 and is a certified Yoga Therapist in the Viniyoga tradition. She has also trained yoga teachers and yoga therapists.
Dawn has considerable experience working therapeutically with individual students to develop an appropriate yoga practice. She also has trained yoga and aerobics instructors, and is most grateful to her teachers – Swami Satchidananda (1985 IYI certification) and Swami Asokananda (Advanced IYI Certification); Gary Kraftsow (certified 1992, 2000), T.K.V. Desikachar (1994, Chennai India). She has assisted with training yoga teachers at Yogaville and was Teacher Training Coordinator for American Viniyoga Institute (AVI). She has also been a Senior Faculty training yoga therapists with AVI. She teaches in San Francisco and Pacifica.

Dayalan David Clark, HHP, CMT, though originally from Kansas, is a long-time Californian, having resided in San Diego for 22 years before relocating to San Francisco in January 2012. David is a certified Yoga Instructor of “Deep Yoga”, a hatha-style yoga featuring asana, pranayama & meditation. He studied under Bhava Ram and Laura Plumb at DYSHA, The Deep Yoga School of Healing Arts in San Diego. David is also a certified Integral Yoga Instructor, having completed the Basic TT, Meditation TT and Therapeutic Yoga TT. He currently teaches Mixed-level hatha yoga at the Integral Yoga Institute San Francisco where he is a resident, and also serves as Head of Reception. “Dayalan” means compassion, and was received through IYISF in 2013.

David attended IPSB, The International Professional School of Bodywork in San Diego, attaining the HHP, Holistic Health Practitioner certification, with a specialization in Traditional Thai Massage. He is also a CMT, CA certified Massage Therapist. His business, 4d Bliss, is located in the beautiful Castro neighborhood of San Francisco, and offers a focus of Traditional Thai Massage, Deep Tissue & Swedish Massage, as well as Yoga Therapy. David offers yoga, meditation and traditional thai massage in retreat settings at different locales throughout California.
www.4dbliss.com

Dean Ornish, M.D., is the founder and president of the non-profit Preventive Medicine Research Institute and Clinical Professor of Medicine at the University of California, San Francisco. For over 35 years, Dr. Ornish has directed clinical research demonstrating, for the first time, that comprehensive lifestyle changes may begin to reverse even severe coronary heart disease, without drugs or surgery. Recently, Medicare agreed to provide coverage for this program, the first time that Medicare has covered a program of comprehensive lifestyle changes. He directed the first randomized controlled trial demonstrating that comprehensive lifestyle changes may stop or reverse the progression of early-stage prostate cancer. His current research showed that comprehensive lifestyle changes affect gene expression, “turning on” disease-preventing genes and “turning off” genes that promote cancer and heart disease, as well as increasing telomerase, an enzyme that lengthens telomeres, the ends of our chromosomes which control aging (in collaboration with Dr. Elizabeth Blackburn, who was awarded the Nobel Prize in Medicine in 2009).

He is the author of six books, all national bestsellers, including: Dr. Dean Ornish’s Program for Reversing Heart Disease; Eat More, Weigh Less; Love & Survival; and his most recent book, The Spectrum.

Diana Meltsner, E-RYT 500, YACEP, C-IAYT, YACEP, has been teaching Yoga since 2001. Her focus is on healing aspects of Yoga ranging from stress reduction to injury recovery as well as personal and spiritual awakening. She is a certified Yoga Therapist and offers individual therapeutic sessions as well as group sessions. She offers classes and health education workshops for Kaiser Permanente. Diana is a lead trainer for 200-hour Yoga Teacher Trainings and a Meditation Teacher Training at Integral Yoga Institute San Francisco, where she serves on the Board of Directors and also provides continuing education.
Diana has recently started writing poetry and a personal blog focused on meditation and understanding of the mind. www.dianameltsner.com

Swami Divyananda is one of Integral Yoga’s senior monastics and foremost teachers. Over the years she served as director at the Integral Yoga Institutes in Los Angeles, San Francisco, and Coimbatore, India and as the Ashram Manager in Yogaville. Presently she teaches and conducts trainings in the US and around the world, and leads an annual tour to the sacred temples and ashrams of India.

David Newman’s greatest gift is his willingness to listen to his inner voice and open his heart to be of service to others. David guides and inspires fellow travelers on their paths, through his uplifting music and the valuable insights that he shares through his writings and teachings.

David’s life took a dramatic change in direction when after graduating law school in 1992, he decided to open a yoga center in his hometown of Philadelphia. The center, Yoga on Main, was one of the first of its kind, and created a new awareness of Yoga in his community. Shortly thereafter, David, a lifelong musician, discovered an ancient form of healing chant music known as Kirtan and began to apply his musical gifts to this powerful practice and to share it with others.

As a result of his immersion into Kirtan coupled with his long history as a songwriter, David began a new journey and in early 2003, recorded his first album entitled Soul Freedom Two years later, a second CD followed. The album, Lotus Feet, received critical acclaim and was featured on NPR’s ‘All Things Considered’. David’s music spread rapidly within the worldwide conscious community and caught the attention of yoga enthusiast Terry McBride, who also happened to be the founder of Nettwerk Records, Canada’s largest record label and home to such artists as Sarah Mclachlan, Barenaked Ladies and Passenger. David signed with Nettwerk in 2008. Since then David has gone on to release numerous recordings and has toured throughout the world. David, acknowledged for bridging the gap between contemporary western music and meditative mantras, has been an integral part of the spiritual or yogic music movement and is a frequent headliner in many yoga and music festivals and conferences that take place around the globe.

In addition to his heart opening music, David has touched and inspired others through his teachings on loving unconditionally, both as a way of life and as a means toward spiritual awakening. David shared his own personal story of awakening in his best-selling book, The Timebound Traveler, released in 2014.

David has also devoted himself to charitable, and humanitarian causes. He launched The Stay Strong Project in 2011 in which he released two singles and videos featuring luminaries from the yoga and music community in partnership with Global Green USA. The proceeds of the releases have gone to support such environmental causes as the Gulf oil spill cleanup of 2010, and the building of green schools. David also released Song for Nepal in May 2015 to support the Seva Foundation’s Nepal Earthquake relief and rehabilitation fund.

David’s strongest desire is to bring joy to others through his music, teachings and personal connections. He continues to express his passion and inspiration in creative and groundbreaking ways, and sees his life’s work simply as ‘spreading the love.’

David records and often travels with his wife Mira, a celebrated devotional singer, and percussionist. David and Mira live with their darling daughter, Tulsi, just outside of Philadelphia.

Gary Kissiah was introduced to Eastern philosophy in college when he discovered the writings of Alan Watts which led to Zen. He found yoga in 2000 and has been studying and practicing yoga since that time. Gary has a Certificate of Yoga Philosophy from the California Institute of Integral Studies. He has studied yoga at Esalen Institute, Big Sur California; Parmarth Niketan Ashram, Rishikesh, India; and Satchidananda Ashram-Yogaville, Virginia. He has led spiritual trips to Nepal, India and Tibet.
Gary is the author of “The Yoga Sutras of Patanjali-Illuminated” which uses images to illuminate the inner meaning of the Yoga Sutras.
Gary is also a lawyer and teaches workshops on yoga philosophy, ethics and law for teacher training programs. Gary has been a frequent speaker for Yoga Alliance and has been on the Board of Directors of the Integral Yoga Institute-San Francisco.

Swami Jyotirmayananda was initiated into the Holy Order of Paramahamsa Sannyasa by His Holiness Sri Swami Satchidananda in 1986 at Satchidananda Ashram-Yogaville. She has served at the Ashram since then in various capacities:

  • Designed and installed displays in the Light Of Truth Universal Shrine (LOTUS) All Faith’s Hall, LOTUS Display Hall, Guru Bhavan and Sivananda Hall Saints and Sages Gallery
  • Served as Ashram Residential Services Vice President for 5 years
  • Served as Satsangs and Special Events Coordinator for a total of 18 years
  • Currently serves as LOTUS Center for World Faiths (LCWF) Coordinator and is a member of the Interfaith Cooperation Circle in Charlottesville, VA
  • is commencing to serve as Vice President for the Office of Spiritual Development at the Ashram.

Before coming to Yogaville, Swami Jyotirmayananda spent 10 years in the pre-school and after school care fields, where she began her children’s book Sparkling Together: Starbright and His Earthling Friends published in 2004 under the name of Jyoti Ma.

Swami Karunananda has had over 40 years experience teaching all aspects of Yoga. Today, she specializes in programs that focus on the science of meditation, the philosophy of Yoga, yogic breathing techniques for better health and healing, personal transformation, and attuning to Divine guidance. In 1989 she developed a Raja Yoga Teacher Training program and in 1991, a Meditation Teacher Training program and has since conducted many courses training students to skillfully impart these teachings.

Kelly Devi Swails, (RPYT, CCCE, CLC) is an Integral Yoga teacher with certifications in general hatha, prenatal, postnatal, yoga for labor & delivery and restorative yoga. She is also a doula, childbirth educator, lactation counselor, and mom of three. Kelly has worked with pregnant women and couples for the past decade, and has mentored and trained new prenatal yoga teachers for the past five years. It is Kelly’s strong passion to help women connect with the sacredness of pregnancy and labor by developing trust in the body’s ability to give birth.

Durga Leela, Founder of Yoga for Recovery, B.A., C.A.S., holds the RYT-500 qualification, having completed both the Sivananda Yoga teacher training course and an advanced Yoga training. She is also extensively trained in meditation and Vedanta. Durga is a clinical Ayurvedic and Pancha Karma specialist, trained in both the United States and India, and has served as the director of the Ayurveda programs at the Yoga Farm, in California, since 2003. She is a professional member of and speaker for the National Ayurvedic Medical Association (NAMA) and International Association of Yoga Therapists (IAYT) and a member of Yoga Alliance. She provides trainees with a wealth of Ayurvedic knowledge to help heal and balance those with autism.

Eric Gustafson, RYT-500. More than 20 years ago I embarked on a yoga journey. Little did I realize that it would lead to a foundation from which my life thrives and serves. After 500 hours of certified trainings and a solid practice to draw from. I look forward to share the teachings and any personal experience that serves to inspire and inform. And a bit of silliness is never far behind.

Dr. Eric Ruben has been teaching Reiki and helping people live in their bodies with more ease and awareness since 1994. He is a senior instructor at the San Francisco School of Massage and is also a graduate of the CPMC’s Integrated Bodyworks Program as well as Life Chiropractic College West. In addition to maintaining a diverse chiropractic and bodywork practice in San Francisco, Eric has years of healing experience working in hospitals and clinical settings. He has a special passion for serving families and the pediatric population.