Shailesh Basani, President
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 13 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 relocated with his family (Supriya, Karthik and Kavya) to Austin in 2021 after being in the Bay Area for over 20 years.
Giribabu Bikki - Director of Education
Giribabu Bikki has been practicing Yoga for last 10 years and he thinks it does wonders to him. In 2018, he decided to pursue Yoga certification to learn yoga as pristine and holistic as possible and was so fortunate to find Yoga Bharathi as his destination. While Ashtanga Yoga fascinated him, he has been exploring the science of chakras and art of awakening them using little subtle movements of hands and fingers (Mudras), which also amazes him. He holds BE in University college of engineering, Osmania university and works in VMware as an architect. He relocated to Austin after living in bay area for 14 years.
Shubha Prashanth - Director of Events and Community Classes
Shubha Prashanth’s journey into yoga began as a personal passion which eventually led her to complete a comprehensive 500-hour teacher training course at Yoga with Srinatha in the spiritual city of Mysore. This rigorous training equipped her with a profound understanding of various yoga techniques, as well as the wisdom to guide others in their practice. She is actively involved in volunteering for various Non-Profit activities. Her passion for the arts and decor work shines through as she is a talented artist and director, actively engaged in drama and other cultural activities. She strives to promote a healthier, more harmonious way of life through yoga and enriches her community through her involvement in volunteering and cultural activities.
Sowmya Srinivasaiah, Director of Events and Community Classes
Sowmya Srinivasaiah started yoga around 15 years ago to address a back pain and has been practicing yoga since then. She started Yoga teacher training with Yoga Bharati in 2023 and working towards its completion. She is a Software engineering manager by profession, working at Dell. She lives in Leander with her husband, daughter, and 2 pets (a cat and a dog).
Surya Siva Shanmugan Kondapalli - Director of Technology and Administration
Shanmugan Kondapalli is an Entrepreneur and Digital Transformation leader with over 21 years of experience in the Tech Industry. Using BPM for Healthcare and Finance Domains, he has been involved in the transformation of large-scale CRM initiatives into Digital space in the areas of case Management, AI and Robotic Process Automation in different capacities. He is passionate in building processes and connecting people with technology. He volunteers and contributes his time to YogiFi (a Revolutionary AI MAT) and Yoga Bharathi in IT / Technology space.
Director of Technology and Administration
Kiran Vedere has been practicing yoga and meditation for several years. Besides the obvious physical benefits of a regular yoga practice, it helps him maintain his inner balance and calm. His hobbies include hiking, gardening and biking. He holds a Bachelor’s in Computer Science from Jawaharlal Technological University and Masters from University of Massachusetts Lowell. He relocated to Austin in 2020 from Massachusetts and lives with wife Pavani and two daughters, Siri and Aarvi.
Tamara Kondapi - Director of Social Entrepreneurship
Tamara Kondapi has been practicing yoga for the past 20+ years and did so in nine different countries she lived in. She learned Yoga from various Yoga Studios but was never consistent in her practice and able to stick to any one of them because they didn’t offer the inner transformative experience she was looking for. She came across the Yoga Bharathi Teacher Training Program and was impressed with its holistic approach of not just teaching the various asanas, pranayama and meditation techniques but also the core yoga philosophy of self realization/self transformation as imparted by various ancient scriptures. She is currently undergoing her Yoga Teaching Training to be certified Yoga instructor. Outside Yoga, she has volunteered and helped fundraising for various non-profit organizations related to children and senior citizens. Her hobbies include studying languages, travelling with family, reading and learning more about nutrition. She lives in Austin with her husband and 2 kids.
Sreedevi Thiyagarajan, Director of Finance and Marketing
Sree Thiyagarajan started as a self-learner of Yoga in college dorm with a few friends. She never took a formal training until 2014, when after several years of clinical research work at Stanford and publishing papers, she realized that learning and teaching others how to balance the physical health and inner peace through Yoga has benefits beyond the evidence based modern clinical science. Researcher and statistician by profession, a lifelong learner of all sciences, Sree has completed Yoga teacher training (YTT) from Yoga Bharati in 2014, and has been teaching community classes since then. Her recent practice is focused mostly on teaching Yoga off-the-mat and how to use various breathing, relaxation and meditation techniques for real-life stressors. Her philosophy is that if you teach people how to manage their health, peace, and balance through Yoga, you are saving their lives as well as lives of their loved ones.
Karthik Basani
Karthik Basani is a junior at Vandegrift High School. He moved to Austin two years ago from California. Karthik has been practicing yoga for last 10+ years. Karthik started his Yoga Teacher Training Certification and expects to be a certified yoga teacher soon. Karthik currently focuses on kid’s yoga classes and teen mental health. He loves playing/watching sports and playing piano in his free time.
Ananthakumaran Srinivasan
Ananthakumaran has been yoga practitioner for many years. He started his Yoga Teacher Training with Yogabharati in 2023 and plans to complete his certification very soon. Ananth has been a regular practitioner of meditation and has seen many benefits over the years. He is an avid sports fan and represented school, college and district in Basketball and Cricket while he was in India . Ananth hails from Tamil Nadu, India and moved to USA to join Amazon in 2014. He then relocated to Austin in 2021 and has been living here since them with his wife Raji and son Tharunkumar
Radhika Kandhari has been a Yoga practitioner for over 10 years with physical fitness as a primary goal. The practice led her to understand deeper aspects of mind - body connection and the spiritual and mental benefits of the practice. As a practitioner, she has experience with all styles of Yoga such as Hatha, Vinyasa, Ashtanga and Bikram and has a deep appreciation for all the different nuances.
In 2022, she completed a 200 hr Yoga teacher training (Vinyasa) with Jason Crandell School of Yoga to further deepen her knowledge and carve the ability to share the gift with others. She has been volunteering at various non-profits and teaching online since then.
She got married and moved to Austin in April 2023 from London where she lived for 4 years, working in Tech sales. She’s a cybersecurity enthusiast and is currently setting up a Tech startup with her husband.