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Jaya Devi Bhagavati, RYT is the executive director
and spiritual director of Kashi Atlanta. She has a BFA
from the Atlanta College of Art and has studied yoga,
meditation and healing in depth since 1985. The focus
of her training has been in Hatha, Kundalini and Kali
yogas. She is a Registered Yoga Teacher with the Yoga
Alliance at their highest 500 hour level, a Certified
Yoga Teacher through The Kundalini Research Institute,
3HO International Kundalini Yoga Teachers Association,
Amrit Yoga Institute, as well as a senior teacher of
Kali Yoga. Jaya Devi is an ordained minister and monk
in the lineage of Ma Jaya Sati Bhagavati and the Kashi
Foundation. She continues her training as a close student
of Ma Jaya Sati Bhagavati at Kashi Ashram in Sebastian,
Florida.
Jaya Devi began teaching yoga in 1992. She has taught
yoga all over Atlanta, from corporations to hospitals,
meditation centers to yoga studios. Her well-rounded
classical style is approachable while still maintaining
the great depth of an authentic practice. She teaches
meditation and pranayama (breathwork), as well as yoga
for all levels. She also does spiritual counseling sessions,
offering her insight and years of spiritual practice
to help individuals work through their own personal
struggles. She initiated and taught the Immune Yoga
for AIDS and HIV at Grady Hospital Infectious Diseases
Clinic. Jaya Devi is very committed to educating the
public in compassion, self-healing and how to serve
without burning out - she teaches both staff and clientele
at organizations such as Georgia Parents Support Network,
AIDS Survival Project, Common Ground AIDS Facility and
Skyland Trail Mental Health Facility.
Jaya Devi is the initiator of Kashi Atlantas Street
Meals Program for feeding and assisting Atlanta's homeless
and hungry. She is the co-founder of the Kashi Atlanta
Care Team. Jaya Devi's teaching style emphasizes love,
compassion, open-heartedness, and selfless service.
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Jaya Das has been a Kashi Atlanta teacher for
2 years. He graduated from the first Kashi Classical
Yoga Teacher's training in 2004. Jaya Das is also on
the Kashi Atlanta Board of Directors and a Kashi resident.
He has helped run Kashi Atlanta as the CFO. Jaya Das
teaches the Saturday morning Yoga Sculpt class.
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After many years of seeking, Candika finally
met her Beloved Teacher, Jaya Devi Bhagavati of Kashi
Atlanta, and began studying how to live the authentic
yogic life that she had always longed for. Through Jaya
Devi, she eventually met her Guru, Ma Jaya Sati Bhagavati.
The love that Candika has for her Teacher and her Guru
is her inspiration to live fearlessly and with compassion.
In 2003, she decided to deepen her yoga practice and
graduated from Kashi Atlanta's first 200 hour level
Classical Yoga Teacher Training. The experience changed
her life and has led to the opportunity for her to teach
the anatomy portion of the Teacher Training every year.
In 2004, Candika became a Kashi Atlanta resident, choosing
to live in an intentional spiritual community, and dedicate
her life to serving others. Besides teaching all levels
of yoga at Kashi Atlanta, Candika is also one of the
teachers involved in Kashi Atlanta's Prison Yoga Program.
In this program, one of the various community service
programs provided by Kashi Atlanta, women in a nearby
jail are taught yoga and share in its blessings each
week.
In addition to being a RYT, Candika is also a licensed
massage therapist at Kashi Atlanta and has her massage
space in the Ashram. In her work, and with more than
twenty years of experience, she uses an intuitive blend
of various healing and massage techniques intended to
simply promote wholeness and peace. She is available
by appointment and can be reached at 678-640-2613.
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Kim Alford has been a student of Yoga since 1994.
She teaches at Kashi Atlanta in the lineage of her guru,
Ma Jaya Sati Bhagavati. Kim graduated from Kashi Atlanta's
first Classical Yoga teacher's Training in 2004. Her
style of teaching is compassionate, grounded and heart-centered.
She believes in being a student first and a teacher
second. Just as her beloved teacher Jaya Devi Bhagavati
taught her, Kim emphasizes that Yoga is about raising
your consciousness and being present within the moment,
not how easily you can touch your toes. Kim is continually
grateful for the gift of Yoga and wants nothing more
than to share it.
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Iswari Verre has been a teacher at Kashi for
2 years. She graduated from the first Kashi Classical
Yoga Teacher's training in 2004. Iswari's intense passion
for yoga lead her to take the teachers training 2 more
times in order to go deeper into her discipline. Iswari
teaches Kashi Atlanta's Power Yoga classes.
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S. 'Anasuya' Taylor has been practicing yoga
since 1998 and has been teaching since 2003. She has
studied with a variety of local instructors including
Margaret Pierce and Graham Fowler, as well as her own
beloved teacher, Jaya Devi Bhagavati. Since finding
Kashi Atlanta in 2001, Anasuya has committed herself
to the practice of yoga in all areas of her life, and
continues to learn and grow as both student and teacher.
She was in the first graduating class of Kashi Atlanta’s
teacher training program, and followed that by spending
a year as a Kashi Atlanta apprentice. She is currently
a certified yoga teacher at the 200-hour level.
As a teacher, Anasuya strives to create a feeling of
warmth and nurturing in her classes, using asana, meditation
and focus on the breath to tap into the essence of the
feminine divine within each of us. Her specialties include
slow-flow vinyasa yoga, prenatal and postnatal yoga,
and yoga for kids.
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Heather Havey has practiced yoga for over 10
years. She has trained with Jaya Devi for over two years
and graduated from the Classical Yoga Teachers Training
in 2004. Since 2003 she has been teaching Gentle Yoga
& Hatha Yoga. For Heather, yoga is an interfaith spiritual
practice that enhances mind-body health as well as our
connection with nature, with each other, with ourselves
and with divinity. Through diverse practices, this path
teaches peace, wholeness, health, & love. For more information:
www.yourlifeisadream.com.
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Ty Mahadev Bittner has been a student of Jaya
Devi's for 7 years. A certified instructor, he teaches
yoga classes, workshops and substitutes for instructors.
Seva (selfless-service) has been his life's path, with
25 years as a teacher of the blind. Ty Mahadev helped
to develop our Street Meals, Kid's Art, Care Team and
Ashram seva programs. These programs are supported by
Kashi Atlanta student donations.
Ty Mahadev says," Service is a major component
of this teaching. It is an opportunity for our students
to stretch beyond themselves and experience our oneness
with others through active compassion."
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Hila Kerekesh's first step in the path of Yoga
was taken during her B.A. (2001), while studying Sanskrit
and East-Asian philosophy and literature. Ever since,
she has been practicing more and more, exploring the
depth of this unique and beautiful practice, which is
constantly changing, healing, revealing. She graduated
from Kashi Atlanta’s Classical Yoga Teachers Training
in March 2005 and has been teaching in Atlanta since.
In her teaching she shares her own practice and understanding
of the path to balance and harmony through the body.
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Skanda has been studying yoga for over five years
and completed the Classical Yoga Teachers Training in
both 2004 and 2005 at Kashi Atlanta. His foundation
of yoga is classically based, infusing Kali, Hatha,
Kundalini, and Ashtanga Yoga styles. He has been chela
to Ma Jaya Sati Bhagavati and student of Jaya Devi Bhagavati
for five years and currently resides in the Kashi Atlanta
Ashram. He is an avid student of Kali Natha Yoga as
taught by Ma Jaya. He has also studied yoga with Mukanda
Stiles, Structural Yoga Therapist.
Skanda Jaya is a very active participant in the Twelve
Steps of Recovery. He sponsors and guides others in
their healing of addictions and is currently teaching
Yoga for Addictions.
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Susan Voelker is one of our Kids Yoga teachers.
She graduated from the first Kashi Classical Yoga Teacher's
training in 2004. Susan's caring, fun and comapssionate
teaching style makes her great with kids. Being a very
creative artist enhances the kids yoga experience.
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Ganesh Giri has been practicing yoga and meditation
since 1998, and has studied with Jaya Devi Bhagavati
and Ma Jaya Sati Bhagavati for the past six years. In
2000, he was introduced to kirtan, a form of spiritual
practice using melodic chanting, by his teacher, Jaya
Devi. He's performed and recorded with Arlo Guthrie,
Bhagavan Das, Arjuna (Dave) Stringer and Wynne Paris,
and yoga workshops with Jaya Devi Bhagavati and Acharya
Swami Krishnapriya of Kashi Ashram in Sebastian, FL.
Ganesh Giri also leads kirtan at Kashi Atlanta, and
is a freelance musician in the Atlanta area.
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Frani Green (Shakti) has been studying yoga since
1985 and teaching for nine years. she is a certified
Yoga Instructor through the International Yoga Institute,
the American Aerobic Association International, and
the International Sports Medicine Association.
Shakti has studied with Jaya Devi Bhagavati, Shiva Rea,
David Life, and Mukta Khalsa, as well as studying at
the Kripalu Yoga Institute. Her background includes
studies in Kundalini Yoga, Hatha Yoga, Kripalu, Ashtanga
Yoga, and Bikram style. She has taught classes that
include Beginners Yoga, Basic Yoga, Advanced Yoga,
Restorative Yoga, Kids Yoga, Kundalini Yoga, Meditation,
Pregnancy Yoga, Yoga for Sports, and Immune Yoga.
Shakti enjoys teaching yoga because it helps mental
focus, cleanses the mind, builds a strong spine, and
promotes good health. I like to share this gift
with people because I know it makes them feel better.
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Jennifer Keller teaches our children's yoga classes.
She holds a Bachelor of Arts degree in Dance and Elementary
Education and has been teaching children for the past
eleven years. She taught Kindergarten in Tampa, Florida
for three years and moved to Atlanta in 1996 to continue
teaching elementary school and begin an after school
dance program.
Jen began her yoga practice at Jaya Devi Yoga Studio
under the guidance of Gerry Mitchell (Durga Das) and
began to blend yoga practice into her classroom curriculum.
Positive student and parent response inspired her to
take a teacher's intensive training in New York city
with Alison West, the founder of Yoga Union. She is
currently teaching first grade at Fernbank Elementary
School and many of her former Fernbank students take
the Kashi children's yoga classes.
"Teaching children's yoga has completely changed
my practice. It adds a dimension of playfulness to yoga
that I find really beautiful".
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Renee Carlson has been studying yoga since 1995.
Her studies have included Iyengar, Hatha, Tibetan Dream
Yoga, Ashtanga and others. She enjoys bringing the influences
of all her studies into her class. The most important
element she brings into the class is fun and pure enjoyment
of this wonderful art of yoga. She successfully completed
David Swensons Teacher Training course studying
Ashtangas first series. Her 200-hour level yoga
alliance certification in the practices of Hatha Yoga
was awarded from Peachtree Yogas certification
program.
Renees classes focus on raising heat (prana),
increase body awareness, and reconnecting with the bodys
natural energetic resources. Raising heat internally
by following thru poses (asana) with breath (vinyasa),
facilitates deeper stretching, as well as strengthening
the immune system, mind, and body. The concentration
on mental focus increases concentration, and overall
body awareness.
Yoga has changed Renees life, and continues to
guide her path through life as a single mother. Her
yogic journeys have presented her the path of combining
yoga and medicine. She is currently in school to become
a Registered Nurse. Her studies will continue with-in
the realm of Holistic Nursing as well as Ayrvedic medicine.
Renees goal is the fulfillment of her sanculpa
(spiritual inspiration), which is To heal myself
through healing others.
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Agni Ma has studied yoga, meditation and spiritual
growth in depth with Ma Jaya and Jaya Devi since 1999.
She has been teaching yoga at Kashi Atlanta for over
three years, and assists in coordinating Kashi Atlanta’s
Certified Yoga Teachers Training course. Agni Ma is
a member of the Board of Directors and is a resident
of one of the Ashram houses. She is also a lawyer at
Atlanta Legal Aid Society, and has worked as a poverty
and civil rights lawyer for over a decade.
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Ma Sodashi is one of Kashi Atlanta's Gentle Yoga
teachers. She graduated from the first Kashi Classical
Yoga Teacher's training in 2004. Ma Sodashi also teaches
Senior's Yoga at Senior's Centers in the Atlanta area.
Through her soft and gentle approach, she leads students
through a restorative practice that calms the mind,
heals the body and expands the heart.
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Allison
Goolsby has been a student at Kashi Atlanta for 6
years. She graduated from the CYTT class of 2005, and
also holds a degree in nutrition from Georgia State University.
She is currently combining her knowlege of yoga and nutrition
into an ongoing Yoga for Weight Loss workshop. Giri Devi's
teaching style is very practical and individualized. She
enjoys helping people reach their goals and helping them
keep their sense of humor throughout. The Street Meals
program at Kashi Atlanta is very dear to her, and you
will see her making sandwiches every Tuesday in the kitchen. |
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Since
1998, childbirth studies, holistic health and yoga have
been a passion and integral part of Mukti’s
development as a yoga practitioner and instructor. Mukti
is a recent graduate of Kashi Atlanta’s teacher
training and has been a dedicated student of Ma Jaya
and Jaya Devi for 3 years. Recently, her yoga and massage
studies have grown to include a focus on creating and
maintaining reproductive health before, during, and
after pregnancy through holistic, non-invasive practices
of massage, yoga asana, and meditative visualization.
Her combined knowledge and experience of meditation,
yoga asana, childbirth education, herbalism, and massage
therapy as well as her work as a labor birth doula,
provide a well-rounded breadth of knowledge available
to participants in her pre-natal classes.
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Copyright
2007, Kashi Atlanta, Inc. All rights reserved.
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Kashi Atlanta
Urban Yoga Ashram
1681 McLendon Avenue
Atlanta, GA 30307
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