Ashwini Surpur
Ashwini Surpur (CIAYT, E-RYT, MA Sanskrit, BS in CS) is the Executive Director of Yoga Bharati. She has worked at Oracle as a Software Engineer for 15 years. She quit her job in 2010 to join Yoga Bharati as a full time volunteer staff. She is instrumental in starting Diploma in Yoga Therapy course for Yoga Bharati and accreditation of the course with International Association of Yoga Therapists. She is also instrumental in starting yoga therapy as a service offering at Yoga Bharati as well as in Summit Estate Rehabilitation Center.
She has spoken at various conferences on yoga and Hindu philosophy. She has conducted numerous Yoga and Health seminars at hospitals, blind center, community gatherings, and corporate settings. She writes articles for various magazines and news media on Yoga. She is passionate about literature and philosophy and composes poems in Kannada and English. She teaches Bhagavad Gita for children and adults.
Savita Joshi
Savita Joshi, C-IAYT, E-RYT 500, MBA (Finance), is the Executive Director of Dallas Yoga Bharati (Vyasa) chapter. She has served as a Treasurer for past 15 years and as Director of Yoga Therapy services for the past 7 years. She has a Diploma in Yoga Therapy from Vivekananda Yoga University (SVYASA), Bengaluru, India. Savita’s passion is women’s yoga, yoga therapy for various psychosomatic disorders, and children's yoga therapy. She has also worked at a traditional Sanskrit medium online school as an Executive Director for over 2 years. Savita is on the faculty for Yoga Teacher’s Training program at Yoga Bharati. She also guides yoga therapy students in training. Savita holds a Bachelor’s degree in Engineering from India and a Master’s degree in Business Administration from Cal State Hayward University. She has spoken at various retreats and conferences on the topic of yoga.
Shriram Sarvotham
Shriram Sarvotham, PhD, E-RYT-500 has been practicing yoga since childhood; he studied with his teacher Yogacharya Sri Subramanian in Channai, India, for 14 years. He received the Yoga Teacher Certification from Art of Living Foundation in 2001. He has conducted over 150 workshops and retreats on Yoga, Bhagavad Gita and Patanjali Yoga Sutras all over USA. A key element he brings to the Yoga Workshops is the art of personalizing the yoga practice based on Ayurvedic principles. Shriram recently completed intensive study of Nadi Pariksha and Marma Chikitsa under the guidance of the renowned Ayurveda Master Teacher Dr. Vasant Lad in Albuquerque NM.
Shriram has received the highest accreditation from the Yoga Alliance as an Experienced Yoga Teacher (ERYT500). He is the recipient of the Exemplary Service Award given by the Consulate General of India in June 2015, and the Yoga Service Award given by ISKCON in September 2009. Shriram holds a PhD degree in Electrical and Computer Engineering and works as a Senior Algorithms Engineer for Apple in Cupertino, CA.
Anil Surpur
Anil Surpur (C-IAYT, E-RYT-500, MS Yogic Science, MBA) is the President of Yoga Bharati. He has been a Yoga teacher for over 2 decades. He is instrumental in accrediting Yoga Bharati’s Yoga Teacher Training program (YTT) with Yoga Alliance and also has led yoga training courses for over 16 years. As a yoga therapist, he offers yoga therapy to an alcohol and drug rehab center and also runs a corporate yoga program at Yoga Bharati. He specializes in yoga therapy for ADHD and ADD.
Anil completed his Bachelor's in Electronic Engineering from India (Karnataka) and has an MBA from All India Management Association (AIMA). He is currently the Director of Engineering at Ooma Inc., in Palo Alto, CA.
Mona Shah (C-IAYT)
Mona Shah (C-IAYT) is a Certified Yoga Therapist and YB Faculty. She has been a yoga practitioner for over 25 years and has been teaching yoga since 2012. While she enjoys teaching group lessons, she is passionate about applying her yoga therapy knowledge in 1:1 Yoga Therapy sessions. Mona continues to develop curriculums and workshops relevant for enhancing the education experience for yoga students and practitioners. She is passionate about spreading the health benefits of yoga and yoga therapy for every child, young adult, and adult. Mona enjoys gardening, hiking, reading mostly Philosophy and about Health/Wellness. She has her BS in Biochemistry, MS in Computer Science, has worked in Healthcare companies in the Bay Area.
Shri N.V.Raghuram
Yogashree N.V.Raghuram is the Chairman and Spiritual Founder of Yoga Bharati and Professor of yoga philosophy in Swami Vivekananda Yoga Research Foundation (SVYASA), Bangalore India. Sri N.V Raghuram is trained under some of the most renowned exponents of yoga such as Prof Satyanarayana Sastry and has been practicing yoga since early childhood. He is instrumental in introducing yoga therapy in a neurological clinic in Germany and starting yoga therapy in hospitals in Italy, Turkey, and China. He has traveled to several countries in Asia, Europe and America, giving discourses and stress reduction programs based on yoga.
Dr. Nagarathnam Ram
Dr.R.Nagarathna, MBBS, MD, FRCP (Edinburgh), FICA (USA) is the Chief Yoga Therapy Consultant and Dean of the Division of Yoga and Life Sciences at Swami Vivekananda Yoga Research Foundation, SVYASA, Bengaluru. She combines her medical training along with her deep understanding of yoga in leading the health center. She heads the therapy division for asthma, diabetes, hypertension, heart disease, cancer and other ailments. Dr. Nagaratna serves as an adviser and guide for Ph.D students at SVYASA. For details regarding SVYASA, visit: http://svyasa.edu.in/
Chinmay Surpur
Chinmay Surpur (E-RYT, BS) is Yoga Bharati's Academic Developer and Research Development Lead. He did his yoga teacher training when he was a high school student and has since been teaching yoga for kids and now adults and youth as well. Having graduated from the University of California, Santa Barbara with a Bachelors of Science Degree in Biopsychology with High Honors (Magna Cum Laude), Chinmay is now pursuing PhD in Clinical Psychology at Saybrook University. Chinmay's main focus is to combine the teachings of yoga philosophy, specifically that of Patanjali and the Bhagavat Gita in providing his clients with a stronger basis for their mental, physical, emotional, and spiritual health. Check out more information about him at chinmaysurpur.com!
Rohini Garimalla (E-RYT)
Rohini Garimalla is a senior yoga teacher and faculty at Yoga Bharati. She is pursuing diploma in yoga therapy and has offered numerous yoga therapy sessions under senior yoga therapists at Yoga Bharati. Rohini has been practicing yoga for the last 8 years and teaching yoga for over 5 years. Her compassion-centered teaching style and training background focus on the whole student, health, and wellness at physical, emotional, and spiritual levels.
Kalpanadevi Thiyagarajan (RYT- 200)
After her software career, Kalpana has joined YB and is continuing to be a part of many programs. Currently, she enjoys teaching Yoga and training new students. She reads extensively with a primary interest in philosophy, history, and literature. She dabbles in art and also takes music classes - Devaram (Tamil devotional hymns).
Rima Shah (E-RYT)
Rima Shah is a senior yoga teacher and has Bachelors's in Physical Therapy and Masters in Public Health (San Jose University, San Jose, CA). She is currently pursuing a Diploma in Yoga Therapy towards becoming C-IAYT Yoga Therapist. Presently, she is a Yoga Teacher and Education Administrator at Yoga Bharati.
Rima has been part of various Yoga Teacher Training courses offered by Yoga Bharati and has also led Stop Diabetes Movement in collaboration with Sewa, Bay Area and Yoga Bharati. She began her yoga journey six years ago and has been teaching wellness yoga classes, prenatal yoga class and therapy yoga classes.
Preeti Joshi (RYT-200)
Preeti Joshi is an IT Professional working at Apple as Project Manager. She has completed yoga teacher training in 2020 and has special interest in teaching Yoga to Children and Special needs. She has been a yoga practitioner for the last 9 years. She has been a long term associate with Yoga Bharati and has actively participated and volunteered in many events and trainings arranged by Yoga Bharati. She has taken keen interests and courses in Yoga in Bhagavad Gita and Patanjali Yoga Sutra Philosophy as part of continuing education.
Amit Ghanghas, MS (Yoga)
Amit Ganghas (ERYT) is an experienced young yogi who has done two teachers trainings one from Sivananda Ashram and one from SVYASA Bangalore. He also has Masters in Yoga from SVYASA. He is now studying Kinesiology in West Valley college. Yoga has been his career and passion. He has taught in various studios in Delhi, India for the last 5 years and is in the Bay Area for further studies.