PANDIT ANANTA SHARMA, M.A.,
RYT 500
Pandit Ananta is the spiritual director of The Meditation Center.
He has worked with both Swami Rama and Swami Veda for the
past 30 years. He is a highly trained yoga and meditation
teacher. Pandit Ananta holds a master's degree in management
specializing in non-profit organizations, a master's degree in
education and one in holistic philosophy. He joined the
Dhyana-mandiram (Meditation Center) Ashram in 1970. Pandit Ananta
has helped teach many yoga and meditation teachers in the past 25
years. He has led silence retreats throughout the world on behalf
of the institute and lives at the ashram. He is a registered yoga
teacher through Yoga Alliance. Pandit Ananta is very
knowledgeable of the techniques and practices of hatha yoga, pranayama,
and of subtle hatha yoga.
Back to
Top of PagePAT LAYTON M.A., C.A.S. RYT 500
Pat Layton is the executive director of
The Meditation Center in Minneapolis, Minnesota., and has studied yoga
in the Himalayan
Tradition for over 30
years. She earned an M.A. in Integral Health Studies from the
California Institute of Integral Studies, is a former faculty
member at the California College
of Ayurveda, the Iyengar Yoga Institute's teacher training program
(Physiology for Yoga Teachers) and San Francisco State
University. She has traveled
to India several times to further her studies in Ayurveda and
Yoga. Currently, besides teaching at The Meditation Center, she
is a faculty member at the Kanyakumari
Ayurveda School in Milwaukee. Pat is both a knowledgeable and
very entertaining speaker. Back to
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MAYA MARGO BALOG, RYT-500
Maya Balog is a former nurse and an internationally recognized Hatha
Yoga instructor in Edmonton, Canada. Since 1962 she has studied
yoga (meditation, traditional hatha and the Iyengar system), theosophy
and the healing arts of naturopathy, homeopathy and Ayurveda in Europe,
Canada, India, and the USA. She has been teaching classes,
teacher training, workshops and retreats for over 20 years. Since
1981, she has been a student of the Himalayan Tradition and was
initiated in 1983. Each year since 1998 she has been studying and
teaching in India and the USA. She established the East-West
Society of Himalayan Yoga and Meditation.
Back to
Top of PageASHUTOSH SHARMA
Ashutosh Sharma is an
expert hatha
yoga instructor, who can teach both beginners and advanced students. He
was born 1972 in Rishikesh, India. and has been practicing and teaching
Yoga for many years. He studied asanas, pranayama and
relaxation techniques in different schools within Rishikesh. In 1992,
he met Swami Rama of the Himalayas and was sent by him to Swami Veda
Bharati to learn meditation and to intensify his practices in the
Himalayan Tradition. Since 1996 he has been sent to Europe (Germany,
Italy, Spain and Holland), Southeast Asia and North America regularly
by Swami Veda to teach Hatha Yoga and for cultural exchange. Presently
he lives in Berlin, Germany, with his wife Andrea Sharma. He continues
to visit his master Swami Veda Bharati yearly in Rishikesh/India for
further studies in Yoga and meditation. "Ashu" is a skilled and
gentle teacher.
Back to
Top of PageJIM NELSON M.A.
Jim Nelson is a faculty member of the International Himalayan Yoga Teachers Association who has taught yoga for 30 years. He helps emotionally disturbed youth at the Anoka-Hennipen School District and has a private counseling practice. Jim has master's degrees in education and counseling. He served five terms on the Blaine, Minnesota city council and taught social studies and coached tennis at the high school. He was a consulting psychologist for the Family Life Mental Health Center in Anoka for more than 10 years. Jim has lectured throughout the Midwest on social and mental health topics. Back to Top of Page