Yoga and the Healing Sciences
A 200-Hour Teacher Training Program
at Loyola Marymount University
LEAD FACULTY
Dr. Eden Goldman, D.C., C.Y.T., E-RYT is a wellness-based Chiropractor, certified Yoga therapist, physical rehabilitation specialist and owner of The Yoga Doctors Mandiram in West Los Angeles, CA. A Yoga instructor for almost a decade, Eden was raised in the Kriya Yoga tradition of Paramahansa Yogananda, author of Autobiography of a Yogi. His healing work integrates classical eastern Yoga therapeutics, Thai massage and myofascial release bodywork with western advancements in movement science, preventive medicine, peak performance personal training and chiropractic. An ambassador for Manduka Yoga mats, Eden has been featured in many forms of print, television media and books on Yoga and Yoga therapy.
Terra Gold, L.Ac., D.O.M. (FL), C.Y.T., E-RYT is a licensed Acupuncturist, a Doctor of Oriental Medicine, a clinical nutritionist, certified Yoga therapist and Bhakti Kirtan musician. Having grown up immersed in the spiritual and metaphysical traditions of Yoga, Buddhism, esoteric Christianity and Shamanism, Terra holds a graduate degree in Traditional Chinese Medicine/Acupuncture, a BA from UCLA in World Arts and Cultures and an allied professional degree in Integrative Body Psychotherapy. Founder of Terra Wellness, an acupuncture clinic in Santa Monica, Terra has been featured on the cover of LA Yoga Magazine and in the widely acclaimed books, Yoga For Dummies and Shakti, The Feminine Power of Yoga.
GUEST FACULTY
Robert Birnberg began practicing Yoga in the 1970s to heal a severe back injury and soon after founded the Community Yoga and Wellness Center in Los Angeles. Studying at the internationally regarded Krishnamacharya Healing Mandiram (KYM), a prestigious Yoga institution in South India, Robert became one a handful of students certified by T.K.V. Desikachar to train teachers. He specializes in the Yoga Sutras and Yoga for addiction and compulsive disorders. Robert has lectured at Harvard Medical school, taught at Promises Treatment Center in Malibu and designed the Yoga, meditation and spirituality programs for Clearview Treatment Centers in Southern California.
John Casey, Ph.D. has his doctorate in Asian and Comparative Philosophy and was one of the original co-founders of the Yoga Philosophy Certificate Program at LMU. Over the years, Dr. Casey has taught over 100 courses in Sanskrit, Buddhism and World Religions for various colleges in Southern California including Loyola Marymount University, UCLA, UC Irvine, CSU Long Beach and Soka University as well as at Yoga Works in their 200-hour and 500-hour teacher training programs.
Christopher Key Chapple, Ph.D. is the Navin and Pratima Doshi Professor of Indic and Comparative Theology at Loyola Marymount University. Professor Chapple’s research interests have focused on the renouncer religious traditions of India: Yoga, Jainism, and Buddhism. He has published several books, including Karma and Creativity (1986), a co-translation of the Yoga Sutras of Patanjali (1991) and Nonviolence to Animals, Earth, and Self in Asian Traditions (1993), Hinduism and Ecology (2000), a co-edited volume, Jainism and Ecology: Nonviolence in the Web of Life (2002) and Reconciling Yogas (2003).
Matthew Cohen is the founder of Sacred Energy Arts Center in Santa Monica. A 5th degree black belt in Shaolin Kung Fu, Matthew has been fully immersed in the study and application of Martial, Yogic and Healing Arts for over 30 years. His teachings are at once ancient, progressive, secular and sacred. He has attained the title of Guru of Kun Tao Silat under the masterful Willem de Thouars and is a highly sought after master teacher of Chi Kung and the most practiced martial arts in the world today, Tai Chi Chuan. His DVD, Qi Gong: Fire and Water, is available through Acacia lifestyle media.
Gita Desai has always viewed traditional Indian culture and art in all its manifestations with the utmost reverence. Together with her husband Mukesh, with no film background, they created the first full-length documentary about Yoga, Yoga Unveiled, which traces the roots of the yogic tradition from its beginnings to the present day. Featuring some of the world’s top old-school Yoga teachers, Yoga Unveiled is now internationally regarded as the best, most comprehensive film on the history of Yoga. Her second documentary, Raga Unveiled, explores the essence of North Indian classical music and both films illuminate the power of these traditions to liberate and transform mankind
Govindas is the co-founder and owner of California’s only Bhakti-based Yoga studio, Bhakti Yoga Shala. A kirtan wallah and masterful storyteller of Hindu mythology, Govindas practices Bhakti Yoga in the traditional sense as a healing artform and a manifestation/affirmation of dedication to God and Guru. This commitment to love, service, and devotion is the essence of what is reflected and transmitted through his teachings and music. Together with his wife, Radha, they have released 4 kirtan CDs and have more due to be released soon.
Reverend Tom Kelly spent 25 years as a monk in Paramahansa Yogananda’s Self Realization Fellowship Swami Order. Taking vows of simplicity, chastity and loyalty as well as being deeply involved in meditation and humanitarian service, Reverend Kelly traveled around the world teaching the sacred art of Raja Yoga. Now an inspirational speaker, workshop facilitator and retreat leader, he is co-owner of The Soul of Yoga Center in Encinitas, CA with his wife, Reverend Trisha Kelly. An ordained minister, Tom has a highly contagious sense of enthusiasm and a large heartedness that resonates with people of all religions.
Bryan Kest has been teaching Yoga for almost 30 years and owns the two most highly respected donation-based Yoga studios in Santa Monica, CA. Star of the Original Power Yoga Video Series, Bryan initially studied in Hawaii with David Williams, the first person to bring Ashtanga Yoga to America, and then studied in India with Sri Pattabhi Jois, the main proponent of Ashtanga Yoga. “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.”
Luke Ketterhagen graduated from Marquette University with a degree in Biomedical Sciences. He then immersed himself in the study of Yoga, Ayurveda and Tantra at the Himalayan Institute under the guidance of Pandit Rajmani Tigunait, Ph.D. Luke completed yoga teacher certification and began teaching classes and workshops specializing in hatha, meditation, nutrition and stress management. While in residence at the Himalayan Institute, Luke authored the Asana Basics column for Yoga International magazine and has been a model for many of Himalayan Institute’s publications. He currently teaches classes locally in Los Angeles and conducts yoga teacher training programs and weekend workshops throughout the U.S. For more information, visit LukeKetterhagen.com.
Larry Payne, Ph.D. is an internationally respected yoga teacher and back specialist. The L.A. Times named Dr. Payne “One of America’s most respected Yoga teachers.” He is co-author of Yoga Therapy Rx, The Business of Teaching Yoga and the best-selling book, Yoga for Dummies. Dr. Payne is founding president of the International Association of Yoga Therapists, founder of the corporate Yoga program at the J. Paul Getty Museum, the first Yoga teacher to offer Yoga classes at the World Economic Forum, co-founder of the yoga curriculum at The UCLA School of Medicine, and the founding director of the Yoga therapy certification program at Loyola Marymount University in Los Angeles.
Frances Rhodis, L.Ac., A.P. is an Acupuncture Physician, Reiki Master and Body Movement Therapist. Frances completed her work in the field of Acupuncture at the Atlantic Institute of Oriental Medicine and as a Yoga instructor for more than a decade she has specialized in Iyengar Yoga, Kids Yoga, Hoop Fitness and Gentle Therapeutics Yoga. She is a 500 hour registered yoga teacher with the Yoga Alliance and is also an interior design expert in incorporating Eastern Feng Shui space principles into Western designs.
Lorin Roche, Ph.D. has been exploring, researching and teaching meditation for over 40 years. His Doctoral dissertation was about the language meditators come up with to describe their experience and the maps they make to navigate their inner worlds. Both his Master’s and Doctoral research were based on an 8-year period in which he sought out meditators of all types: Zen, Christian, Buddhist, Vipassana, Kundalini, TM, Sikh, Hindu, Tibetan, Jewish, Kaballah, Wicca, Native American, Theosophist, Arcana, Agni Yoga, Hatha Yoga, Raja Yoga, Bhakti Yoga, Brain Wave Biofeedback, Autogenic Training, Neurolinguistic Programming, Ericksonian Hypnosis, Gestalt, Charltte Selver Sensory Awareness, Feldenkrais Awareness Through Movement, Shamanism and others. Dr. Roche is the highly respected author of multiple books including Meditation Made Easy, Breath Taking, Whole Body Meditations and The Radiance Sutras as well as the co-author of two others with his wife, Colleen Maurine, Meditation Secrets for Women and Meditation 24/7.
Steve Ross is the owner of Maha Yoga in Brentwood and has practiced various styles of yoga for his entire adult life. An instructor for over twenty years and author of the book, Happy Yoga, 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. Additionally, Steve is an accomplished Kirtan musician with two albums, Give Peace A Chants and Grace is the Name of the Game, and he is the well-known star of Inhale Yoga on the Oxygen Network.
Erich Schiffman is one of the most accomplished Yoga Masters in the world widely known for his award-winning video, Yoga Mind & Body, and his best-selling book, Moving into Stillness. He has been teaching yoga for more than twenty years and currently teaches a style of Yoga known as Freeform Yoga, which encourages the practitioner to find his/her natural movements and self-inspired sadhana. At age 18 Schiffmann sent a handwritten letter to Krishnamurti and was accepted to study with him in England. He deepened his practice of Yoga with the teachings of Self-Realization Fellowship, with T.K.V. Desikachar & B.K.S. Iyengar in India and with Dona Holleman and Vanda Scaravelli in Europe. Yoga Society president Leighanne Buchanan called Schiffmann one of the “innovators” in Yoga Journal’s fall 2000 issue. In addition, Erich has produced numerous yoga instructional videos and conducts yoga workshops and teacher training throughout the United States and internationally.
Guru Singh, D.D. is a yogi, teacher, musician, composer, and author with a Doctoral of Divinity degree. He maintained a daily personal practice for over 35 years with Kundalini Yoga Master, Yogi Bhajan, until Yogi-ji’s passing in 2004. The first Westerner to wear the turban, Guru Singh is the chairman of the International Council of Sikh Ministers, a founding director of the Miri Piri Academy (an international primary and secondary school in Amritsar, India), a Sahaj Shabd Sound Therapy practitioner and a researcher who did an extensive medical study on meditation & prayer’s effect on the brain with Dr. Andrew Newberg of the University of Pennsylvania School of Neuro-Medicine.
Felicia Tomasko, R.N. is President of the California Association of Ayurvedic Practitioners and the current editor-in-chief of LA YOGA Ayurveda and Health magazine. Practicing Yoga for over 20 years and teaching since 1997, Felicia was first introduced to Ayurveda through the writings of Dr. Deepak Chopra. Her studies include pancha karma therapy, Yoga therapy and Ayurvedic mother and baby care programs. She is on the board of directors of the National Ayurvedic Medical Association, the editorial board of Light on Ayurveda journal and maintains a private yoga therapy and Ayurveda practice in Santa Monica and Santa Barbara, CA.
Ricky Tran, B.B.A., C.Y.T., C.B.A. has a remarkable cross-cultural life story of survival, reinvention, and the transformational power of yoga. He went from a path of addiction and self-destruction to a path of self-realization in a few short years under the guidance of Yoga masters Srivatsa Ramaswami, David Williams, David Swenson and Dharma Mittra. Ricky is founder of the Yoga Breakfast Club and currently owns the Krama Yoga Center in Texas while leading workshops, teacher trainings and retreats throughout the United States.
Maria Villella is a teacher of traditional Ashtanga Yoga who graced the cover of Yoga Journal in November 2009. She studied in Mysore, India under the late Patthaboi Jois and also spent time with T.K.V. Desikachar and his students at the Krishnamacharya Yoga Mandiram (KYM) in Chennai, India. Currently pursuing a degree in Traditional Chinese Medicine at Emperor’s College, Maria teaches daily Mysore-style Ashtanga Yoga at Yoga Works in Santa Monica, CA.
Lisa Walford holds an Intermediate Senior Iyengar Yoga teaching certificate and has been teaching Yoga in Los Angeles since 1982. Author of two books, The Anti-Aging Plan and The Longevity Diet, Lisa is the curriculum director for the Teacher Training Program at Yoga Works and was instrumental in its development. She sits on the advisory board for the International Association of Yoga Therapists and continues her studies annually with the Iyengars in Pune, India. In her words: “Yoga brings us from the finite to the infinite, from pain to purpose and passion, and from disease to discriminative awareness.”