PRANA MANDIR Yoga
"The inherent freedom of being is spontaneously, primordially present."
- Nyoshul Khenpo
Our Four Legs
1. Yoga Practice
Working with students to personalize and refine their approach for self-mastery through yoga classes, one-on-one sessions and Yoga therapy for holistic recovery.
Each month has new themes and unique events.
2. Teacher Training and Higher Education
Mentoring, and training for teachers is a key intention. Certifications in Vinyasa Yoga and an advanced education course, Agni: A Kundalini Kriya Intensive. PRANA MANDIR periodically hosts Ayurvedic Yoga Teacher Trainings, through partnership with Dinacharya Institute, the highest level of education available outside of India.
3. Community Service
PRANA MANDIR has been dedicated to extending the harmonious work of yoga to individuals and communities in need. Since its inception, through Manhattan fieldwork PRANA MANDIR was on the cutting edge of discovering the benefits of complementing modern medicine with yoga, with classes at Beth Israel Continuum Center, case studies in Yoga for Stroke patients at St. Lukes Hospital, classes for HIV out patients and Women In Need. Benefits for such organizations Amnesty International, Doctors Without Borders.
4. Art and Culture
Art and culture are a rich and inseparable part of a joyous lifestyle and elevate mind and spirit. Past programs have included Kirtans, sacred chanting, music and dance concerts, film screenings, photo and painting exhibits.
Ayurvedic Teacher
Training Faculty
Dr. Bhaswati Bhattacharya
Healer, Teacher Trainer in Ayurveda and True Medicine
A practitioner and teacher of holistic family medicine emphasizing Ayurveda, Dr. Bhas divides her time between Manhattan and Benaras. In Manhattan, she serves as Clinical Assistant Professor of Family Medicine at Weill Cornell Medical College and runs The DINacharya Institute. She completed a PhD in Herbometallics and Ayurvedic pharmaceutics from Banaras Hindu University.
She is a Harvard-trained physician-educator, working over 20 years to bridge Ayurveda with mainstream medicine. Her trainings in public health, preventive medicine, nutrition and pharmaceutics interface with her clinical practice, helping patients through difficult diseases using medicines from around the world. She has trained in holistic health counseling, yoga, homeopathy and nutrition. She was awarded as a 2013 senior Fulbright Scholar. A documentary film on her work, Healers: Journey into Ayurveda is shown on The Discovery Channel. Her first book Everyday Ayurveda, was published in 2015 by Penguin Random House.
Retreat Teachers
Nidhi Adhiya Huba
Retreat Co-Host
Wisdom Yoga Mama, Light seeker, Creative Channel, Spirit Spinner and Chanting Culinary Siren. She forges Practice with all the reasons why, who, what & when to help bring change in the DNA pattern and lineage.
Nidhi helps with tools of yoga, energy healing, counseling, hypnosis, EFT, Crystal therapy to instill Grace & Ease in her clients lives. Her tattwa power is also the water and she is happiest chanting on H20 and creating Flow or all who seek her. She has studied and practiced the Vedic Sciences since a child, learning from her matriarchal lineage in India and from the many wise Masters she has met on her Path.
Vinyasa Yoga
Teacher Training
“The true posture
is the posture of the heart.”
- The Shiva Sutras.
Personal study, individual guidance and practicum teaching throughout the six month course. Lea guides this certification from a fundamental love for yoga practice rooted in a total approach to yoga encompassing self-investigation, pranayama, attunement with breath for inner rhythm, self-knowledge and meditation.
Deepen your skills and learn to teach joyful, intelligent Vinyasa Yoga and live a non-violent crusade of compassion.
-
Yogic Lifestyle and daily rituals including but not limited to thought, diet, sleep, environment, relationships, and right inspiration for rich, personal practice.
-
History and Philosophy of yoga in its relevancy to our own time and lives.
-
Inner and Outer Asana Alignment for the mental, emotional, physical and spiritual bodies.
-
Understanding the biodynamics and psycho-spiritual energetics of postures and sequences for health, healing and vitality.
-
(In-person training and Retreats) Hands-on postural enhancements from light to strong touch in honor of the energy and breath of each student. A beautiful compoment of Yoga practice is the transmission of energy from the teacher's hands and hearts.
-
The specifics of constructing Vinyasa classes to challenge, elevate and motivate each student, learning with respect and delight.
-
Holistic Anatomy studies the bones and muscles up to the wholeness of the human being.
-
Pranayama and Meditation are essential to the art of yoga for a healthy mind and balanced life. When our senses are clean, the mind can hold bliss, when this reality is practiced daily, Yoga's true nature arises!
A Deeper View of Vinyasa Yoga
Vinyasa is a flow, the movement between actions. Vinyasa Yoga moves dynamically from asana to asana with constant attention to breath. In this way Yogis research the flow of life, that which appears, is sustained, and re-dissolves back into the universe (i.e. the human body). Learn to teach through inner and outer alignment with an emphasis on balance, power, fluidity and flexibility.
By understanding the correct method for yogic breath your students will grow to know their minds more closely, and may realize a desire to know the self more deeply.
Vinyasa Yoga begins with and is sustained on the composition of the Surya Namskar, a Sun Salutation. Brought to the West from the classical practice of Ashtanga Yoga composed of asana series paired with Ujjayi, majestic breath. The form is from Mysore, India where Sri K. Pattabhi Jois taught from his small studio kula for decades.
AGNI:
Kundalini Kriya Yoga Intensive and Online Teacher Training
In Yoga As Therapy
See full course curriculum, info and application:
AGNI is for Yoga teachers and healers of all lineages, and experienced practitioners who desire to enrich their personal practice and knowledge of Yoga.
Concentration is on the power of Prana and the grace of Sri Kundalini. AGNI presents Kundalini Kriya Yoga series, Meditations and a catalogue of Hatha and Vinyasa Yoga sequences and Guided Meditations.
AGNI is a rare Teacher Training forum for higher wisdom & learning; for those souls who wish to dive deeper into the principals of transformation and healing.
An Exploration Into the Self
1. Physical Alignment and Inner Asana
2. Holistic Anatomy
3. The Pranic body
4. The Nadis and the Subtle Body
5. Traditional Chinese Medicine and Meridian System
6. Chakras
7. The Mind and Soul.
In 2022, the Intensive is offered online and is Self-Paced. Seek the inner flame through consistent inner inquiry, self-effort, focused attention, and love.
This form gained popularity as Kundalini Yoga came from the Sikh mystic lineage known as Shabd Kriya Yoga, centered around the Punjab, in North India.
About the Director
Lea Kraemer
Lea Kraemer, director at PRANA MANDIR Yoga, teaches Ashtanga, Ayurveda, Energy Healing, Hatha, (Kundalini) Kriya and Vinyasa Yoga, Meditation, Pranayama/Breathwork and Partnering Yoga. A Teacher Trainer since 2001, she developed her certification courses to reflect the joy and depth of a complete Yoga practice, and is a guest Trainer at studios all around the world.
Lea's private sessions in Ayurvedic Yoga for Healing and private Yoga classes to refine and deepen personal practice, are sought after by teachers and students in the US and internationally .
She began as a modern dancer and choreographer in NYC in 1987, studying at Peridance Center, the Limon Institute, and Martha Graham School of Dance. From 1986 to 1997 her choreography was presented in NYC and surrounding areas at curated venues like DIA Center for the Arts. From 1987 to 1995, Lea danced for modern choreographers, performing at the Joyce Theatre, La Mama, etc., and internationally in Asia.
Lea is grateful to have been a student of some of the most prophetic modern masters. Her early influences were from Jivamukti Yoga and Sri Dharma Mittra. Lea received Tibetan Buddhist teachings through the Nechung Monastery in NYC starting 1989 and later in Dharamsala, India in the mid 1990's, where she took the Bodhisattva vow. She was first certified to teach the gem-like system of Kundalini Kriya Yoga in 1994 with Ravi Singh, a teacher's teacher. Again, through KRI (Kundalini Research Institute) in 1995 and 1997, she completed certifications.
In the lineage of Sri Krsnamacharya, Lea studied Ashtanga Yoga with Sri K. Pattabhi Jois in Mysore, India, first in 1997. She was certified again in classical Hatha yoga in 2002 at a major International Ashram where she became a teacher on staff as well.
In 2001, Lea began giving AGNI, an intensive Yoga as therapy course for teachers, health practitioners and healers of all lineages. In 2004, she developed PRANA MANDIR’s Vinyasa Yoga Teacher Training, held first in NYC, then in Missoula, Montana, Echo Park and Pasadena, California and now online! Each certifications is a vibrant investigation into the mind, body, senses and Being.
Lea founded PRANA MANDIR Yoga in 2002, with a NYC studio that ran for nine years. It was the first center in the U.S. to present Ayurvedic practitioner training & certification from India directly, through Kerala Ayurveda. PRANA MANDIR Yoga’s outreach involved research into the application and effects of yoga for chronic and life threatening illness. Lea mentored teachers, lead group and private instruction at Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center, Beth Israel Continuum Center for Health and Healing and St. Lukes Hospital, developing a Diabetes Prevention program.
Having studied classical Ayurveda since 2006 through Kerala Ayurveda, AYU, and as a student and faculty member at the DINacharya Institute under the direction of Dr. Bhaswati Bhattacharya, Lea is an avid practitioner and uses this knowledge in illumination and integration with energy work and Kriya Yoga for healing sessions.
Lea lives in Altadena, California with her husky, Tulsi and two rabbits, Serena and Jojo. Her daily meditation practice is in the tradition of her Guru. She feels blessed to share pure Yoga and Wisdom teachings everyday, passionate about offering alignment principles for the physical body as well as the inner most Self.
