Lea Kraemer, founder and creative director of Prana Mandir Yoga Studio, is in love with the daily practice of yoga. As a teacher, she is passionate about offering alignment principles for the physical body as well as for the inner most self. Her classes are dynamic and flowing, encouraging each students' personal practice as a wise and joyful path to the self.

Lea has taught Kundalini Yoga as taught by Yogi Bhajan, and Vinyasa Yoga for well over a decade, yet never ceases to be amazed at the beauty and depth of the yoga teachings. Each fall, she gives an Intensive in Kundalini Yoga, "Agni" for teachers and experienced practitioners who wish to deepen their personal practice. Lea is a Siddha Yoga devotee.

Through Prana Mandir Yoga Studio, she promotes self-expansion through community service and encourages teachers to reach out to their communities with yoga classes at wellness centers and hospitals. These services are part of an outreach program, in partnership with local hospitals, and often involve research in the application and effects of yoga. In private practice Lea works with clients with chronic and life threatening illness.

Mostly, she feels gratitude for being part of the growth of an amazing community of kind souls.

Alyssa received her KRI Certified Kundalini Yoga Certification and her Vinyasa Teachers Certification through the Prana Mandir teachers training programs. She is also the Director of Studio Business Operations of Prana Mandir Yoga Studio.

Alyssa has been studying and practicing yoga for 8 years and believes the power of yoga - with the union of the mind using mantra, the body using physical asana and the soul using pranayama - is a clear and blissful path to living a balanced, happy and inspired life. She believes, and has learned through her personal experience that yoga and meditation can heal the physical and emotional bodies and is humbled daily by the power of a steady sadhana.

Alyssa has been teaching yoga for 4 years and her classes are challenging and uplifting and will help you to become more aware of your spiritual nature as it applies to your daily life.

www.mindbodysoulyoga.com/

Danielle Dwyer is amazed at the transformative qualities of a daily yoga practice and is especially interested in using both Yoga and Ayurveda as a healing modality for both minor and major health issues and general well being. She comes from a fine arts background and continues to be immersed in the arts. Danielle is thrilled to share her enthusiasm as both a student and teacher and offers a gentle heart centered approach to the challenging Ashtanga sequence.

Danielle first sought out yoga for self-healing. She has been practicing yoga for ten years and has studied a variety of different forms. Most recently, she completed Vinyasa Teacher Training with Lea Kraemer at Prana Mandir.

Danielle is also currently studying to become a certified Ayurvedic Practitioner, also through Prana Mandir.

Paula is a second-generation registered yoga instructor. Her yoga practice started in Northern California where she remembers going to yoga classes with her mother when she was very young. 15 years ago, Paula finally decided to check it out for herself in San Francisco and was instantly hooked. She has been a full-time teacher for over 7 years in Washington DC, and has just recently moved to NYC.

Her training started with Iyengar, next came Anusara, she veered into Vinyasa and Ashtanga. She now enjoys traveling extensively to study with her mother in Integrative Yoga with the International Yoga College several times a year. She has accumulated over 500 hours of training and is certified at the highest level. As often as she can she attends workshops/trainings and classes to keep learning. Paula is a public speaker on the topic of eating disorders and body image, a free-lance writer, and enjoyed most being a "professor of yoga" at George Washington University. A self-deemed "yoga-holic", Paula is the perfect example of how a profound passion for yoga can change everything about a person's thinking and life for the better.

Matt Porter

Matt Porter, blessed by Yogi Bhajan with the spiritual name Meherban Singh (lion who is very kind),  has been a student of Kundalini and Hatha Yoga for 9 years, and has been teaching on a regular basis for 6.  His studies have taken him as far as Kashmir and Bangalore, and his life has been graced by the guiding light of several Masters.  Matt is committed to a daily personal yoga and meditation sadhana and community service seva, convinced that these are some of the surest and fastest ways to realizing our Infinite Nature during this lifetime.  

Matt is also a NYS licensed clinical psychologist, and is constantly refining his approach to blending the most effective practices from Eastern and Western wellness traditions according to the needs of all who seek him out.  He thanks Lea from his heart for the opportunity to conduct spiritually focused, mind/body psychotherapy and to teach energy work and meditation in the blessed space of Prana Mandir.  Above all, he is grateful to all true teachers of Spirit who have helped him stay lifted to the best of his ability, in this crazy city, our home.

Shari

Shari is honored and excited to be teaching again at Prana Mandir.

A student of the traditional lineage of Siddha Yoga, while on retreat in 1999 she was introduced to Hatha Yoga by John Friend the founder of Anusara Yoga. She then began studying and completing trainings with John and his senior teachers. She was affiliated in 2003 and currently teaches Anusara-inspired yoga.

At the end of 2005 Shari had the rare opportunity to study and teach yoga in India at Gurudev Siddha Peeth the mother ashram of Siddha Yoga.

She received her bachelors of science at SUNY Cortland with a concentration in health and nutrition. Working in the Garment Industry in Textile Sales, Shari explores her interest in health, fitness, Ayurveda, Reiki, art, and yoga philosophy. She also has received a certification in Kundalini Yoga.

Shari has gained valuable experience and understanding on how to live from the space of the peaceful and loving heart.