Anjali Sunita, RYT,
Director of Baltimore Yoga Village, Traditional Hatha Yoga (Sivananda) instructor
Anjali admits that while most people enter into the study of yoga through practice of yoga postures, she began her study as a moody teenager through philosophy. Her favorite theater teacher gave her authors to read like Emerson and Thoreau and fostered her search for the meaning of life and death through extenstial and transcendental philosophy, which later grew into study of Buddhism and a continuing meditation practice. Her first encounter with traditional Indian yoga was through music. She briefly studied North Indian Classical music under "Aunty-ji", Guru-ji Hasu Patel at Oberlin College, who encouraged her to practice deep breathing, meditation, and concentration on the chakras. At age nineteen, she was reading vedanta philosophy extensively and traveled to the South of India to experience the sacred silence of a traditional ashram. In 2005, Anjali traveled for the fourth time to India to visit her grandmother and to study yoga at another ashram, the Sivananda Yoga Dhanwantari Ashram in Kerela. This program, created by Swami Vishnu Devananda (disciple of Guru-ji Swami Sivananda) teaches meditation, chanting, clean diet, simple living, and four hours of yogic breathing and postures every day. From there, Anjali became involved as a teacher and volunteer at the Sivananda centers in New Delhi and then Canada, and assisted a teacher training at the Sivananda Yoga Camp in Val Morin Quebec. Native to Baltimore, she takes great joy in bringing traditional yoga home and gradually refining her life to a yogic lifestyle. She began teaching at many of the asana studios like Charm City and Ojas, health centers like Your Prescription for Health, public schools, and private homes in Baltimore before purchasing the location of Ahimsa Yoga Center, now renamed the Baltimore Yoga Village. This location has taken on a new life as a yoga and cultural arts center, which is welcoming and inclusive of people entering into a yoga practice from any juncture in their lives, whether it be through a need for physical or emotional therapy, the search for a calming family activity or enriching cultural event, practice of self expression, or simply a disciplined and consistent traditional hatha practice - we offer a wide variety of approaches to yoga and cater to the needs of beginner students as well as seasoned aspirants. For this reason, Baltimore Yoga Village has a reputation as the "non-hipster" yoga center and draws students from infancy to elderly. Anjali is honored to be the director of Baltimore Yoga Village, a place for people in all life conditions, which promotes peace in our hearts and in our city.

Deborah Quirk, RYT, Vinyasa Flow MA, ADTR ,CPT, RYT.

Certified through Ahimsa Yoga Teacher Training Program - 2001. Deborah is a registered dance/movement therapist, certified poetry therapist and registered yoga teacher. She has devoted her artistic and professional careers to the study of dance, yoga, the body and expressive psychotherapies. In 1982 she began studying Iyengar yoga with Sonja Zarek while CO-directing and performing with Chrysalis Repertory Dance Company in Houston ,TX. Deborah's teaching style weaves together elements of dance, Kripalu and Vinyasa Flow yoga resulting in a class that balances strength and flexibility with creative self-exploration. Deborah studies Vinyasa Flow yoga with Shiva Rea and at OM Yoga in Manhattan. In addition to teaching yoga, Deborah is adjunct faculty in the Wellness Dept. at the Community College Baltimore County, Essex campus and in the Dance Dept. at Goucher College . She is a dance/movement therapist at Spring Grove Hospital Center and on the Retreat at Sheppard Pratt.

Bhagti Singh Kalsa, Kundalini Yoga, All Levels
Bhagti was introduced to hatha yoga by his mother in the early 1970’s, and he began teaching Kundalini yoga in 1978. He has taught for the Philadelphia school system, healthcare and health club facilities, drug and alcohol rehabilitation centers, and regional 3HO foundation yoga centers in Philadelphia, Washington, DC, and Virginia. A nationally certified body worker practicing Yogic Neuromuscular Therapy, he is also a professional acupuncturist. Practicing and teaching Kundalini yoga for twenty years, he integrates his training and experience in the healing arts with kundalini yoga, the science of self-healing. Kundalini yoga, the yoga of awareness, generates and circulates energy throughout the body (body/mind) to promote strength, stamina, concentration and flexibility. Each class includes pranya-yams (breath work), warm-up exercises, a yoga kriya (set), and meditation. This is a beautiful opportunity to uplift and strengthen yourself. Every class is guaranteed to make the world a little brighter.

Lisa Hartjen, RYT200, Tantra Yoga, Intro to Meditation
Certified in the Anusara Tradition through Willow Street Yoga and currently pursuing her advanced training with Rod Stryker in the Pure Yoga style, Lisa combines the teachings of Anusara and Pure Yoga with her deep love of Yoga, her compassionate heart and joyful spirit in creatively sequenced classes designed to help students align with the true meaning of Yoga: where body, mind and spirit are joined as one.

Roya Golpira, RYT, Ahimsa Yoga, All Levels
Certified through the Ahimsa Teacher Training Program, Roya Golpira has been a student of hatha yoga for ten years and a teacher for six. She teaches a flowing, vinyasa-style class that blends her training as a certified Ahimsa Yoga Teacher along with other yogic traditions that have inspired her including Kripalu and Tantra Yoga. Her gentle approach focuses on self-awareness and is appropriate for students of all levels.

Nilajah Brown, Prenatal Yoga
Reclaiming pregnancy/childbirth as a sacred rite of passage is Nilajah's life work and passion. She has been serving women and families as a Sacred-birthing consultant for over 10 years. She brings a wealth of traditional birthing wisdom from African, Caribbean and Native American midwives. She is a professionally trained mother, pregnancy yoga therapist, childbirth educator, doula, reiki practitioner, and lactation consultant. Her focus is on supporting women in tuning into their innate wisdom as they transition from pregnancy through labor and into motherhood. She is currently working on her first book Birthing in the Spirit.

Kim Lange, Massage
Kim Lange is a Nationally and State Certified Massage Therapist. A graduate of the Baltimore School of Massage, Kim specializes in the use of Deep Tissue, Myofascial Release, and assisted stretching in order to ease the muscle soreness and chronic pain of her clients. Kim also offers Swedish massage, Hot Stones, and Aromatherapy to clients who wish to maintain an overall state of relaxation and well-being.