Our Teachers

AnandAshvattha has been utilizing Qi Energy for healing since 2013. Born in Japan, she spent her childhood in the rural north island Hokkaido, surrounded by nature. Her first teacher of energy work was her mother, Kimiko, who is a master of Qi Energy. Later, she learned from the SEITAI Association how to heal using the Symbiotic Body and Mind. For many years, Ashvattha enjoyed a successful career as a designer, performer, and music producer in both Japan and the United States. Then, in 2013, her life took an unexpected turn: She spontaneously experienced a spiritual awakening and realized, “I am not a musician. I am not my name. I am not even a woman. I am the True-Self, where there is True Freedom, Peace, Joy, and the Real Love that I have been looking for…”  
After her awakening, she began a life of service, devoted to  helping others relieve their suffering (known as Mushi No Houshi in Japan, and as Karma Yoga in India) and created a healing technique she called ???? Jitai-Chiyu (Self Body Healing). Currently based in New York City, Ashvattha guides people to meet The True-Self (self-realization) through Satsang, Meditation, Jitai-Chiyu, Hatha Yoga, and Tabidachi (Departure-A Simulated Experience of Death).

Gabrielle Casper has been teaching yoga in New York for 20 years.  Over that time, her teaching has evolved, and she now offers an emotionally-based practice through a hatha-vinyasa style class. Influenced by the teachings of Iyengar, Integral Yoga, Jivamukti, Rodney Yee, and ultimately her own training as a psychotherapist, Gabrielle’s heart-based classes explore how the emotional body is housed in the physical, inviting students to go deeper through a slow and investigative yoga practice

Leigh Evans (500 E-RYT) is the founder and director of Yoga Sukhavati Teacher Training Programs. Yoga Sukhavati’s seasonal vinyasa classes are infused with Ayurveda, Buddhism, and women’s healing practices. Passionate yogini and explorer, Leigh is a senior yoga teacher based in Brooklyn, NY. Leigh has over 25 years of experience teaching creative alignment based yoga classes. She is a go-to resource for seasonal yoga and wellness practices. From the study of Yoga and Ayurveda in India to Thai massage in Chiang Mai, Leigh’s breadth of knowledge gives her the tools to teach practical applications that can change student’s everyday lives. Leigh teaches festivals, teacher trainings, retreats, and workshops nationally and internationally.

Steven “Paz” Prestianni, a.k.a. Anandabhairava, began studying under the guidance of Sadguru Sri Mahayogi Paramahamsa, founder of the Mahayogi Yoga Mission, in 1996. He also had a definitive meeting with Swami Satchidananda, founder of The Integral Yoga Institute, in 1988. Both schools profess the knowledge of Raja Yoga, the 8-limbed royal path, utilizing a classical form of Hatha Yoga for the third limb, asana (postures). He instructs classes as he learned from Mahayogi, holding each posture for an extended period of time, focusing on the exact alignment for each individual dependent upon their present physical capabilities, focusing on a specific rhythmic breathing pattern, and focusing attentively with the eyes in each posture to acutely increase one’s ability to concentrate. Every pose is then alternated with repose in savasana, the corpse, or rest pose.