With a shared commitment to the practice and teaching of Yoga as it has been handed down by our teachers, all our team members and visiting faculty have their unique style, focus area and approach.

The core teaching team is consciously formed for each Yoga Teacher Training Course to deliver our 200 hour Yoga Alliance certified trainings. Visiting faculty from all over India and other parts of the world are joining us for any of our activities to create a balanced, wholesome learning experience for you in all aspects of the practice and lifestyle of Yoga.

Mani RAman

Mani Raman is a dynamic, inspirational teacher of Yoga and meditation from India. He took to the practice of Yoga at the age of 12 and has devoted himself full-time to yoga since 1996.

For two decades, Mani has been studying and teaching in the tradition of Swami Sivananda and Swami Vishnudevananda, guiding thousands of graduates in international Sivananda Yoga Teacher Training Courses and Advanced Teacher Training Courses in India, while travelling extensively worldwide for courses and workshops in North America and Asia. For more than 12 years, he directed yoga centres in New Delhi, Tokyo/Japan and Bangkok/Thailand.

Mani teaches Hatha Yoga and meditation, and gives inspiring discourses on Vedanta philosophy and the Bhagavad Gita. Holding a M.Sc. in Western Psychology, and having studied many systems of Eastern philosophy, meditation and Ayurveda, Mani responds to each student's individual condition with profound understanding and insight. Mani's unique strength lies in fusing the traditional yogic teachings with practical examples from modern life to allow his students to access the ancient messages with ease and incorporate them into their daily lives.

In 2016, he founded Yoga Vana, a growing Yoga learning community in India, and continues training teachers and guiding seekers in international Yoga Teacher Training Courses, workshops and retreats in India, Europe, the Middle East and throughout Asia.

Contact Mani Raman at mani@yogavana.in. More information at www.maniraman.org.

Kerstin Graebner Yoga Vana — Kerstin

Yoga Vana Co-Founder & Emotional Intelligence Trainer

Kerstin - Savitri

Kerstin was born and raised in Germany and was first introduced to the practice of Yoga in the tradition of Swami Sivananda in India in 2007.

After completing a degree in International Cultural and Business Studies, she left Germany for India in 2011 and completed her Sivananda Yoga Teacher Training in 2012. She has been teaching in India, Thailand and Germany since then. Kerstin specializes in making Yoga accessible for beginners looking for relaxation, inspiration and meaning in their busy lives.

Kerstin is a professional certified coach (PCC, ICF) and a practitioner of Nonviolent Communication (NVC), supporting individuals in living with their lives with more presence, purpose and impact. She also facilitates learning sessions for organizations on emotional and cultural agility.

More information at www.home-within.com.

DAyananda

Dayananda is inspired by Swami Vivekananda’s teachings and has been sharing the ancient knowledge of Yoga for more than 20 years in and outside of India. Born and brought up in South India, Dayananda started practising asanas in school and has been dedicating his life full-time to the practice and teaching of yoga for the last 20 years, studying systematically with some of India’s traditional Yoga schools.

He obtained a diploma in Yoga and Naturopathy and a Bachelor and Master degree in Yoga (Bsc, Msc) from Swami Vivekananda Yoga Anusandana Smsthana (SVYASA) in Bangalore, India. He served as a faculty at the same institute for more than eight years, training thousands of yoga instructors.

Having studied from different Yogic traditions, including Sivananda, Astanga Vinyasa and Iyengar, Dayananda specialises in making Yoga accessible for everyone irrespective of their physical ability and health conditions, teaching classes in different Yoga styles in Bangalore and travelling internationally for workshops and trainings.

ARul

Arul, coming from a pharmaceutical background, moved to Yoga and completed his Teacher Training and Advanced Teacher Training in the Sivananda tradition. Convinced about the healing effects of Yoga therapy, he joined the Krihnamacharya Yoga Mandiram founded by Desikacharya, the son of legend Krishnamacharya, in Chennai, India.

He now is a senior teacher at KYM in Chennai, India, and conducts regular classes there. With his in-depth knowledge and many years of teaching experience, he travels around the globe to train teachers. Passionate about sustainable living, he still finds time for hiking in the Himalayas.

JOSEPH

Joseph asked the deep questions about life from an early age. Decades ago he left his secure, high-paying job in order to know Life and its mysteries after meeting his master Guru Nitya Chaitanya Yati. The little spark of his seeking became a wild fire.

Walking with his master, he learned the importance of living a life of simplicity and remaining a student of life always. He doesn't believe in formal teachings of any subject. Rather, he gains knowledge and wisdom from communicating with people and nature.

To this date, he continuously travels throughout India from the Himalayas to Kanyakumari without a permanent address or a guaranteed place to spend the night. Wherever he goes, he conquers the hearts of fellow travellers and leaves them inspired and uplifted.