MEET OUR TEACHERS
AMRITANANDA
Sannyasi Amritananda started practising yoga in Rome in 1983 and shortly after moved to London. There she found Satyananda Yoga and felt that she didn’t need to look any further. She attended the first teacher training course conducted by Swami Pragyamurti and started teaching in 1989. She has been to Rikkia to meet Swami Satyananda and has received Diksha from Swami Niranjan.
Over the years Amritananda has been teaching general yoga classes ranging from beginners to intermediate and advanced, adult education and private organisations. She has conducted yoga classes for people living with HIV, chair-based yoga for the elderly and yoga for pregnancy. She has led yoga workshops in Rome and London and is a certified assessor for qualifying Satyananda Yoga teachers. amezzera@talktalk.net
BRAHMANANDA
Sannyasi Brahmananda was initiated into karma sannyasa by Parmahamsa Satyananda in 1988, in Munger, India. Since then he has returned to the ashrams in Munger and Rikhia many times to deepen his studies and experiences, attend programmes and immerse himself in karma yoga and seva. He spent many years as director and course coordinator of the Satyananda Yoga Academy Europe.
He lives in London where he has been teaching for 12 years, offering general and private classes in many different environments: adult education, children and adults with special needs, autistic children, mental health, as well as running day programmes and courses in meditation, yoga psychology and yantra drawing for those who wish to take their experience of yoga deeper. His guru’s teachings continue to inspire him to ensure yoga and its valuable tools are made accessible to all.
To learn about Brahmananda’s current offerings, email him at brahmananda108@gmail.com
KATYAYANI
Katyayni has been practising Satyananda Yoga since 1998. In 2001 she joined the four-month certificate course in the ashram, which inspired her to become a Satyananda Yoga teacher. She completed her training with Swami Vedantananda in 2003. Keen to integrate her art teaching and yoga she completed the BWY Yoga for Children module with Swami Vedantananda and she currently runs yoga and art workshops in a primary school.
She also took the BWY Pregnancy Module with Wendy Teasdale 2007-8. She has delivered classes in various settings to a wide range of people: school teachers, general group classes at the Satyananda Centre, 1:1, workshops in primary and secondary schools, special needs and mental health, pregnancy classes, teens and children. katyayaniyoga@gmail.com
LILAMURTI
Lilamurti has been practising Satyananda Yoga since 1995, teaching yoga since 2000 and teaching gentle yoga and kids yoga classes at the centre since then. She trained with Swami Vedantananda and also completed the BWY Yoga for Children module with her. lilamurti108@gmail.com
MAHESH
Mahesh has been studying and practising yoga since 2005. After completing three modules of Yogic Studies training with the Satyananda Yoga Academy (2007-2010), he began teaching in London. Between late 2011 and early 2015 he lived and trained in the ashram of the Bihar School of Yoga in India under the direct guidance of his guru, Swami Niranjanananda Saraswati, followed by a 14-month Yoga Propagation Course 2017-2018.
At the moment, he is running a series of online courses, workshops and other regular events. mahesh.yoga@protonmail.com
SWAMI NIRMAL
Swami Nirmal has taught yoga continuously since 1985. She had been trained as a teacher by Swami Pragyamurti. She had spent a year in Bihar School of Yoga practising under the direct guidance of Swami Satyananda Saraswati.
Over the years Swami Nirmal has given many seminars and days of yoga focusing on subjects such as chakras, mudras, prana and pranayama, mantra and yoga of sound. She has also conducted many six-month courses for teachers training them in the practice of yoga nidra. nirmalyoga@hotmail.com
YAGNAMURTI
Yagnamurti is originally from Uruguay. He started practising yoga in 1986 at the Satyananda Yoga centre in Montevideo. He has been a regular student at the London centre since 1992 and in 1995 he completed a two-year teacher training course with Swami Pragyamurti.
In Uruguay he ran regular classes at the Satyananda centre, led pranayama and meditation tuition for the teacher training courses, as well as in-service training workshops and retreats for instructors.
His main interest as a teacher is to encourage students to incorporate yoga in their day-to-day lives and to develop a sound practice based on awareness and understanding. yagnamurti@gmail.com