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.
Swami Bodhananda is highly respected in America and India as an accomplished teacher of Vedanta and meditation. Originally from Kerala, India, he did his undergraduation in economics, and then joined the Saraswati order — one of ten sannyasa orders established by Adi Shankaracharya. Presently, Swamiji is the Spiritual Founder and Director of The Sambodh Society in America and 11 other organizations of Sambodh Foundation in India. Swami Bodhananda is the author of several books on vedanta and yoga. For details visit: https://sambodh.org
Prasad has been an advisor and coach focusing on innovation and leadership since 1990 for about 120 C-level executives in Global Fortune 500 companies. Prasad coaches them to channel their creativity to come up with innovative decisions, products, and services. He assists clients in becoming effective in managing people as well as oneself (personal mastery) in exploring innovative, and strategic decisions. He has deep exposure to Hindu spiritual literature like Vedas, Upanishads and brings this rich eastern value into the business world. Dr. Kaipa conducts Practical Vedanta sessions in the San Francisco Bay Area. For details visit: https://www.prasadkaipa.com
Anil Surpur, B.E (E&C), M.S (Yoga), MBA, E-RYT500, YACEP, C-IAYT, is a founding member and the President of Yoga Bharati; he is Senior Faculty and Yoga Teacher at Yoga Bharati. Anil's interest is in Yoga research in addition to teaching yoga. Anil is on the Board of Directors of Yoga Bharati and Vyasa USA. He is holding a position as Director of Engineering in Ooma Inc., Sunnyvale, CA.
Ashwini Surpur, BS (CS), MA(Sanskrit), ERYT-500, CIAYT, is the Executive Director of Yoga Bharati and a Senior Yoga Therapist. She has worked at Oracle as a Software Engineer for 15 years and quit her job in 2010 to join Yoga Bharati as a full-time volunteer staff. She provides yoga therapy to clients with various disorders and specializes in cancer and terminally ill patients. She has spoken at various conferences on yoga and Hindu philosophy. She writes articles for various magazines and news media on Yoga. She is passionate about literature and philosophy and has an MA in Sanskrit. She writes poems and articles in her free time.
Savita Joshi, C-IAYT, E-RYT 500, MBA (Finance), is the Executive Director of the Dallas chapter of Yoga Bharati. She has previously served Yoga Bharati as a Treasurer and Director of Yoga Therapy services. 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 as an Executive Director at a traditional Sanskrit medium online school for a couple of years. She lives with her family, husband, and 2 teenage daughters in Frisco, Dallas, Texas. Savita is on the faculty for the 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.
Shailesh Basani (MS, ERYT, C-IAYT) has been a yoga practitioner for more than thirty years. He holds official certifications in yoga and yoga therapy from Yoga Bharati, Vivekananda Yoga University (VYASA), Yoga Alliance and The International Association of Yoga Therapists (IAYT). He has been trained under world-renowned gurus such as YogaShri N.V.RaghuramJi, Dr. Nagarathna, Swami Bodhananda Saraswati etc. As an active Yoga Bharati volunteer for over 15 years, he has taught hundreds of classes on yoga, yoga therapy, stress management, Patanjali yoga sutras in the Bay Area and beyond. He also has been a faculty member of yoga teacher training and yoga therapy teacher training programs. He also has started to spread yoga in rural schools in Telangana (India). He holds a B.Tech in Computer Science and Engineering from NIT, Warangal and M.S. in Engineering Management from Santa Clara University. He currently works as Director in the Reliability Engineering Division at Adobe Systems and has recently relocated with his family (Supriya, Karthik and Kavya) to Austin after being in the SF Bay Area for over 20 years.
Padmashree Dr. Nagendra is the chancellor of Swami Vivekananda Yoga Research Foundation (SVYASA), Bengaluru,India. He quit his high profile career at NASA USA and returned to India and founded SVYASA university — from engineering to human engineering “in search of truth.” SVYASA has published more than 300 research papers on yoga and its applications. Apart from being a unique Yoga Therapy Health Center and a Yoga University training students in the field of yoga, SVYASA also has Ayurveda and Naturopathy degree programs. For details, visit: http://svyasa.edu.in/
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/
Sharad Dandekar is on the board of Advisors of Yoga Bharati. Engineer by profession he retired in 2003 from Xerox Corporation. After retiring he completed Yoga Instructor Course (YIC) in 2004. Since then he is actively engaged in promoting ‘Yoga for Positive Health – an Integrated Approach’. He is a registered member of Yoga Alliance at RYT200 level. In 2014 Sharad completed training in ‘Stop Diabetes Movement’ (SDM) program and conducted two camps. Sharad is one of the founding members of the Los Angeles Chapter of Yoga Bharati. Besides having on going Yoga classes the chapter conducts Yoga Instructor Course and Sun Salutation Marathon annually. Chapter also maintains library of books on Yoga and conducts monthly meeting of members Yoga Teachers’ Alumni.
