Certified Teachers

Rita Salamone

Rita has been a seeker all her life, as well as a student & practitioner of meditation, Yoga, Tai Chi, QiGong, Vedanta, and ancient wisdom traditions. Ever so grateful for the transformative, healing impact that Vishoka Meditation has had on her own life, Rita’s mission, now that she is retired, is to be of service. By partnering with local yoga studios and elder community centers, she hopes to empower others with the tools for cultivating a connection to their own intrinsic inner luminosity, a connection to who they are at the core of their being.

Rita is excited and honored to introduce the beautiful practice of Vishoka Meditation to friends, family, and the ever widening circle of meditators. She looks forward to sharing Vishoka Meditation, furthering the worldwide mission of the global Himalayan Institute community.

Contact:

[email protected]
(724) 494-0672

Robyn DeGraff

Robyn DeGraff found her way to Yoga in 1992. She has been studying at the Himalayan Institute since 2010 which has included the opportunity for study in India. She felt a strong calling to become a yoga teacher and received her 200 HR Yoga Teacher Certification from the Himalayan Institute in 2019. She has been a Certified Vishoka Meditation Teacher since May 2021. Robyn is a Certified Healing Touch Practitioner (for over 15 years) and facilitates circles, energy medicine and nutrition.

Contact:

[email protected]

Shanti Nolen

Shanti has been practicing meditation for 28 years and has been teaching meditation and yoga asana for 20 years. Contemplation, meditation, and pranayama have been the main focus in her personal practice as well as in how and what she offers as a teacher. She has trained in Ashtanga Yoga, and received her 500hr training from the Himalayan Institute. Due to a number of physical injuries and surgeries, she has a special skill in working with meditation and breathing for healing and overcoming pain. Her life long passion for a higher consciousness infuses every aspect of her life and teaching. Shanti is honored to have been trained and certified to teach Vishoka Meditation through the Himalayan Institute. She is the owner of Keller Yoga studio and leads teacher trainings, workshops and classes to uplift and enrich the lives of everyone seeking to come into a deeper understanding of their Self through yoga.

Contact:

Keller Yoga
http://www.kelleryoga.com/
[email protected]
(817) 591-1702

Shauna Gilsdorf

Shauna discovered her passion for the spiritual discipline of meditation and yoga at a young age. Born into a family who believed in the power of the mind/body/spirit connection, she was intrigued and compelled to learn all she could. Shauna became a yoga teacher over a decade ago and has since received her 500hr training from the Himalayan Institute. Dedicated to a life of service, Shauna is a Mental Health Professional and works on an adolescent inpatient psychiatric unit where teaches yoga and meditation to youth in crisis. This work led her to take additional trainings in yoga for trauma, which led her to teaching meditation to recovering addicts in long term residential treatment. Shauna also leads teacher trainings, yoga classes, and workshops while teaching from her heart. Constantly inspired by her teachers and students, Shauna continues her study of yoga and believes the best teachers remain lifelong students.

Contact:

[email protected]
(419) 376-4793

Shelly Craigo

Shelly Craigo, a lifelong seeker, is a student of Pandit Rajmani Tigunait. A resident of the Himalayan Institute for 20+ years, she has been engaged in the study and practice of yoga, meditation, tantra and Sri Vidya. She is a 500 RYT and has a BS in Biomedical Communications, MS in Preventive Medicine.

A spiritual activist at heart, Shelly frontruns in the yoga community group practice initiatives for constructive change in collective consciousness, personal transformation, and the rebalancing of nature especially in these challenging times. During her tenure, she has led the Himalayan Institute’s spiritual excursions, Pandit Tigunait’s national book and lecture tours, and taught hatha yoga and meditation. In an assisting role to Pandit Tigunait, she continues to work in service to students and members of the Himalayan Institute.

On-the-ground exposure to indigenous communities in Colombia, Uganda, Cameroon, Nepal, Tibet, China, and India with Panditji’s revealing insights inspired Shelly’s supportive engagement in the Himalayan Institute’s humanitarian work worldwide. While furthering her socio-anthropological interests in cultures of the Himalayas and Asia, she maintains her earliest promptings as a pilgrim to the shrines sacred to the Tradition.

Contact:

[email protected]
(570) 290-1778

Shona MacLeod

Shona came to yoga over a decade ago and was introduced to the Himalayan Institute and to Vishoka Meditation by one of her teachers, Jackie Le Broc, to whom she is grateful. The systematic techniques of Vishoka Meditation appealed to Shona’s practical and logical nature. Meditation finally made sense and transformed her life and her teaching. Shona also experienced the benefits that come with establishing a consistent practice and even uncovered a creative side to her practical nature.

Shona feels fortunate to have the opportunity to study remotely with the Himalayan Institute faculty and is grateful for their wonderful teaching and support throughout her Vishoka Meditation journey.

Shona is looking forward to continuing her studies with the Himalayan Institute and is inspired to share the wisdom and transformative power of Vishoka Meditation with others.

Shona completed her Teacher Training with Yoga Scotland, receiving her 500 HR Teaching Diploma in 2015. Her practice supported her through some really tough times as she navigated the challenges of raising 3 kids on her own.

Contact:

[email protected]

Sondra Harper

Sondra is a 200-hour RYT and a Feng Shui practitioner. Living and teaching in Colorado for nine years, she has taught Feng Shui courses and meditations as well as led satsangs. Sondra has been training with the Himalayan Institute since 2010—her primary teacher being Pandit Rajmani Tigunait. She has also studied with many other teachers from living traditions such as Liu Ming Taoist monk, Puma Quispe Singnoa from Peru, and Alex Stark. These extraordinary teachers have all contributed to instilling in Sondra the value of personal practice, personal devotion, and personal love for life.

Sondra is a passionate student, teacher, and leader, empowering those around her to live powerful, purposeful lives. She is actively involved in her community through the chamber of commerce, and the Body, Earth Soul women’s group, as well as many other professional affiliations. She can occasionally be found teaching at the Hidden Yoga studio in Niwot, CO.

Contact:

[email protected]
(720) 985-0061

Stephanie Barea

Stephanie Chee Barea is a creator, educator and entrepreneur. She is the founder of Her Festival and founder/owner of Mela.Yoga, an award-winning sacred learning space in the San Francisco Bay Area. With a background in Biology and over 20 years of teaching experience, she is both a practitioner and educator of the science and philosophy of Tantric Hatha Yoga and the Sri Vidya Tradition. Stephanie holds a brave space for spiritual awakening + self-transformation by guiding others in the practices of yoga, mantra and meditation and adventuring with them into the joyful, playful spirit of the natural world.

Contact:

[email protected]
https://www.stephaniecheebarea.com/

Susan Neal

Susan began her yoga journey in 1973 whilst at Sheffield University studying Materials Science. In 2007, she qualified as a Yoga Scotland teacher and in 2012 she qualified to teach Yoga for Healthy Lower Backs.

Susan previously studied Buddhist meditation at a Tibetan Buddhist monastery. She also practises Qigong, noticing its parallels to yoga with the emphasis on breath, movement and awareness of life energy. Susan gained the Qigong TAUK teaching certification in 2011.

Susan now follows the teachings of the Himalayan tradition.

Suzanne Manafort

Suzanne is the Founder and Director of Mindful Yoga Therapy. For at least a decade, Suzanne has worked with veterans who suffer from Post Traumatic Stress. This work led her to study and learn the practical aspects of what benefits Veterans in a yoga program receive. Her experiences along the way have taught her that teachers require additional training tailored to the specific needs of Veterans and others recovering from Trauma.

At the Himalayan Institute, Suzanne has attended the Living Tantra program and the Sage Program taught by Pandit Rajmani Tigunait. She has studied extensively with Beryl Bender Birch at The Hard and The Soft Yoga Institute and with Patty Townsend in the Embodyoga Teacher Training programs, and is now on faculty at both schools where she teaches in teacher training programs.

Suzanne co-authored a book, the Mindful Yoga Therapy Practice Guide. She also produced two CDs—Yoga Nidra by Suzanne Manafort and “Breathe In Breathe Out”, a group of short breathing practices designed for Veterans with Post Traumatic Stress.

Contact:

Mindful Yoga Therapy
http://Mindfulyogatherapy.org
[email protected]
(860) 712-4448

Tania Ashworth

Tania is a seeker and a student first. The practices of Hatha yoga, yoga nidra, and meditation have been consistently the transformative edge and anchor points of her inner and outer life for 30+ years. She holds great respect and trust in these systematic processes for accessing and listening to your own inner wisdom: that place that guides you in finding peace, joy, and resilience through the timeless wisdom gifted to us in the philosophies passed down by the sages. In the Yoga Sutras, Patanjali writes in Sutra 1:36, of ‘the heart and the light beyond all sorrow’: Vishoka. In 2020, through the loving instruction and guidance of both Pandit Rajmani Tigunait and Ishan Tigunait, Tania experienced and continues to embody the profound practice of Vishoka Meditation. Now as a teacher, she humbly offers others the same opportunity, making the commitment to honor the tradition of the Himalayan Masters to the best of her ability.

Contact:

http://www.kaviyoga.com.au
[email protected]

Tina Stephens

Based in Australia, Tina has been sharing the teachings and her experience of yoga since 2013. She feels deep gratitude that yoga is in her life and that she is a part of a supportive yoga community, being guided by Yoga Masters and Senior Teachers.

Tina endeavors to share the true message of yoga and specializes in Ayurvedic Panchakarma Retreats, where she is blessed to collaborate with a 4th generation Ayurvedic Doctor from Kerala.

Contact:

[email protected]

Tom Barry

Exploring ways to improve his health and alleviate recurring back pain, Tom started practicing Tai Chi. The slow, mindful flowing movements not only helped his back and physical health but also had a calming, stress-relieving effect that was a needed counterbalance to the high intensity and stress of his job. This led to Tom exploring and practicing several forms of meditation and later yoga. Tom is a CYT 500 yoga teacher and currently teaches hatha yoga and yin yoga & meditation classes. Tom is co-creator and teacher of the “Heart of Yoga” enrichment studies program. The study of Vishoka Meditation has had a profound impact on Tom’s practice and teaching and he is grateful for the opportunity to share this traditional wisdom.

Contact:

[email protected]

Trudy Citovic

Trudy fell in love with yoga asana and meditation in 2004! Her natural flexibility and strength connected her to asana which ignited her curiosity about the power of mental focus, energetic awareness, and intention.

Trudy completed her 200-HR hot yoga teacher training in Portland, OR in 2011; in 2020, she successfully completed a 365-day meditation program, followed by the Vishoka Meditation Course, a 40-Day Vishoka Sadhana, and an 11-day Vishoka Meditation immersion at the Himalayan Institute.

In the spring of 2021, Trudy embarked on a year-long journey to become a Certified Vishoka Meditation Teacher (CVMT) through The Himalayan Institute, receiving her certification in April of 2022. Today, Trudy offers Zoom Vishoka Meditation three mornings a week and offers the full 12-week Vishoka Meditation Course twice a year at Fire Station Yoga, the studio she owns with her husband on the Oregon Coast.

Contact:

Fire Station Yoga
https://www.thefirestation.yoga/
[email protected]

Victoria Greene

Life has always been about movement for Victoria and she considers teaching to be an art form that by necessity must evolve to meet the needs of the modern-day seeker. Victoria enjoys leading visualization practices to help fan the flame of creativity for life’s choices and is highly committed to lead people in meditation to help them uncover the simple joyful state of being.

Victoria, is a yoga teacher for Pure Yoga Studio in NYC, Equinox Sports Clubs and The Yoga Room in Astoria. Victoria leads classes, events and retreats under Victoria Greene Yoga.

Contact:

Victoria Greene Yoga Inc
https://www.victoriagreeneyoga.com/
[email protected]

Winnie Man

Winnie passionately believes that anyone can meditate – with the right tools, techniques, and support; and Winnie inspires this belief in others. Vishoka Meditation is a system of practice that has transformed her own practice and she is ready to share this gift with others. Having experienced and recovered from burnout, and the realities of operating in demanding cultures, Winnie is practical and adept at helping busy executives find ways to weave meditation into their lives.

Winnie is an eternal student and seeker; a student of the Himalayan Tradition for a dozen years, studying with its teachers including Pandit Rajmani Tigunait, Ishan Tigunait, Shari Friedrichsen, Sandra Anderson, Rod Stryker, and Judy Moulton.

As a Certified Vishoka Meditation Teacher Winnie has found a relatable, accessible system of practice – breathing, relaxation, and meditation. Winnie uses this system to enable her students to find a quiet space within, and to connect with the inner teacher that guides and illuminates our path.

After 25 years in finance and consulting, Winnie now teaches meditation while she retrains as a psychotherapist. Her goal is to meet her students’ needs with a holistic approach across different modalities.

Contact:

[email protected]

Zach Ketterhagen

The Himalayan Tradition and Vishoka Meditation is at the heart of Zach’s personal practice and study, a practice and study that continues to unfold as Zach turns over a new leaf and transitions from being a relentless student to becoming a Vishoka Meditation coach and guide. Zach Ketterhagen is a self-leadership & high performance coach, small business consultant, writer, meditation teacher and healthcare strategist.

The heart of Zach’s purpose is to discover and accelerate what makes us thrive. For the past 15+ years, Zach has studied and practiced with world renowned leaders of yoga, meditation, tantra, total wellbeing, business, systems thinking and more. Zach heads corporate leadership retreats, self-leadership and higher performance coaching, small business consulting, Vishoka retreats and more. Zach lived at the Himalayan Institute for 8+ years after college where he met his wife, Crystal and now lives with his wife and two sons in Sun Prairie, Wisconsin.

Contact:

[email protected]
(608) 421-2182
https://zachketterhagen.com/