Meet Our Teachers!

RussaYogis who are taking their passion to the next level...
Casey Susan Sarah

Kisha Yannick Aurora

Elizabeth Carrie

Susan Todoroff
Ann Arbor, Michigan

Certified to Teach RussaYog Level 2

The first time I did RussaYog I knew I had found something special.  I have been practicing different types of yoga for ten years and teaching “YogaFit” classes for six.  I am also a Personal Trainer and teach Spinning classes, so teaching RussaYog fits right in with my profession in the fitness industry.
I love the physical aspects of RussaYog, but what really excites me about being certified is the philosophy behind it.  Unbounded optimism and letting go of ego are integral to a happy life, and I want to immerse myself in this philosophy and pass it on to others.  After a RussaYog session I feel like a weight has been lifted off of me – I feel happy and free.
I love using the rope to stretch and strengthen and play!  I love that the studio looks like a big playground.  I love the Indian music, which helps to set the mudra for the different components of the workout, and I love the uniqueness of this yoga.  My husband and two daughters have all practiced RussaYog and enjoy it too.
I was fortunate to attend the August, 2007 retreat in Santa Barbara, and there is nothing like doing RussaYog on the beach every morning watching the waves roll in with each breath. 
For now I hope to incorporate RussaYog into my personal training sessions and teach RussaYog classes.  In the future, I hope to help Jasprit and Teresa spread the RussaYog phenomenon across the country and, who knows, maybe around the world!
Jan. 08

Casey Stark

Certified to Teach RussaYog Level 2

The process of becoming certified to teach Russa Yog has been a wonderful experience and I’m thrilled to move on to the next part of this journey.  Jasprit and Teresa are wonderful teachers and I miss our class time together!
I am now teaching group classes at both the Russa Yog studio on State Street in Ann Arbor as well as at Vie Fitness on Ashley in Ann Arbor.  I am also available for one-on-one sessions at either studio or in individual homes or businesses.
My teaching experience so far has been regular Russa Yog sessions, low-impact sessions, and an individual sessions with a person who has MS.
In addition to strengthening, stretching, lengthening, & mind-focus benefits, I think that Russa Yog is perfect to help instill confidence and accomplishment in people who may not understand how powerful they are. 
I know that I feel calm, powerful, focused, confident and happy when I practice Russa Yog and I want to pass this gift on to others. 
I live in Ann Arbor with my husband, Tim, our dog Ricky and cats Mark and Mikey.  I can be reached via email at stark.casey@gmail.com.
Cheers!
updated May 08

Sarah McAllister
Ann Arbor, Michigan

Certified to Teach RussaYog Level 2

Wow, teacher training is coming soon--how exciting! I can’t wait to meet all of these wonderful people. I want to become a RussaYog instructor so I can continue to help people meet their fitness goals at any age or status of mobility. I also enjoy the balance between pushing and sweating to hold an asan then immediately switching to peaceful poses to recover. This practice in RussaYog helps me to find the quiet power in my hectic and stress-filled life. I’ve been performing RussaYog for
less than a year (Elizabeth brought me to my first class!), and I feel
so empowered by taking the next steps toward teaching. RussaYog is an
exercise that has such foundational concepts of exercise physiology,
interval training, and safe strengthening at its core. The poses are not overly complex- no one needs to be a pretzel. Bringing
self-awarness to your own tensions can further challenge or ease the
body. Plus it is adaptable for people with impaired mobility or postural imbalances. This style of yoga melds well with my training as a physical therapist. Personally, I find this to be an exciting match of East meets West for my own health and fitness pursuits. Now my husband and mom are also attending classes, rebuilding their strength and finding their peace as well. I’m so proud of them for trying something new and so glad for their support in this journey.
Jan. 08

Kisha Simmons
Atlanta, Georgia

In Process of Being Certified to Teach RussaYog to Adults

I started practicing RussaYog two years ago while studying for my qualifying exams as a history Ph.D. student. It was an extremely stressful time and I found yoga helped to reinvigorate me both physically and mentally. I love the physical challenge of RussaYog, and the mental strength that it builds. I decided to become a RussaYog Instructor in order to work with women who are interested in living healthier lifestyles. I have always been active. I began running track and field when I was eight years old. I still enjoy jogging in the mornings with my dog. I currently live and work in Atlanta, Georgia.
my website: girlfriendsyoga.com
Jan. '08

Yannick Smits
the Netherlands



Certified to Teach RussaYog Level 2

I’m a 28 year old Health IT-professional. Have been working as an entrepreneur since 2004. One of the most important reasons for being self-employed is my quest for freedom. In every aspect of my life I try to find freedom. Not being bound to or dependant on situations, people or activities. Not being distracted by past mind-stuff like expectations or identification with old community ideas. Everybody is worthy and trying their best with limited experience in life which for me is a reason to love and accept everybody and understand and thank them for their role in our dual world.

Thanks to my parents I got acquainted with freedom and alternative views on health also known as the holistic view. When I turned 20 I got to know a yogi that helped me for 5 years to understand and integrate many spiritual axioms into my daily life. Thanks to meditation and other techniques to achieve overall balance I became more and more aware of the game of life.

When Jason Blackman introduced me to Rope Yoga back in 2004 I was extremely enthusiastic about this new tool for getting into balance. My irregular but thorough practice of wave windsurfing and snowboarding requires me to have a strong body at all times. I’m very grateful that the opportunity has come to balance my professional life more by becoming a Rope Yoga teacher next to my consultancy work and work as a saxophone player.
my website: yannick.dse.nl

Aurora Losapio
Torino, Italy

Certified to Teach RussaYog Level 2

I was born in Torino in 1968 and before I learned to speak I had existential questions in my mind that nothing in the culture in which I was born was able to explain to me.
Growing up I was always attracted to everything about India and philosophy, feeling well just moving/using my body or painting or playing with my dog or stressing my parents with all my questions :-).
Financial independence is very important for me, so I took an office job.
I always loved yoga, but never found in Torino the right and professional place where to practice it.
When I was 30 I meet a Satyananda method teacher. And I felt at home.
1998-1999 I did intensive yoga teacher course with her, but not to became a teacher, I was to shy to think to can teach..., but just to know more about yoga. So I had my first 2 years full immersion in asana, pranayama, meditation.
This help me a lot in the following period. My mother's cancer... my divorce.... Without yoga I could be not able to survive to such pain and overcome sorrow.
For some kind of coincidences (do coincidences exist???) I became a REAL YOGA TEACHER! and this was an amazing experience that help me to be the REAL ME.
In the next years I took some other diplomas:
(see Aurora's full cv)
But my first love, the Satyananda method, was what I continue to teach from the 1999.
Finally for another series of coicidences (!!!) in the 2005 I meet Yannick and he introduced me (THANK YOU Y!!!) to Teresa and Jasprit Singh.
A new world was open in front of me. And finally I found the way and the opportunity to grow again.
2005 Santa Barbara (CALIFORNIA), Russa Yog summer retreat at Singh Family ashram. With Yannick Smits and Jason Blackman.

For somebody that grow up in such a "normal/traditional" Italian culture was not easy let my dream growing up, my search... but this is strong in me and I cannot stop it, everything could happen in my life.
I'm lucky in such a kind of material world (also in yoga business) to meet some honest and lovefull people as Jasprit, Teresa, Yannick and (last but not least) Jason, and during the last year, all the staff of the ayurvedic centre where I teach yoga. They always stay connected with my heart/soul and give me the force.
2008 cannot wait to be in Santa Barbara again!!!
BIG HUG!

Elizabeth Cross

I come to RussaYog as a life long health care professional who has always believed in the blending of traditional and non-traditional, the east with the west therapies and philosophies within the western medical model.    Having lived in multiple places in the USA I have had tremendous opportunities to meet people from all over the world who have shared their practices with me, thus helping me to be an eclectic practitioner. (I have worked some incredible facilities to learn a variety of skills i.e., The Rehabilitation Institute in Chicago, The Children’s Hospital and Charity Hospital in New Orleans, Johns Hopkins, The University of Maryland and Kennedy Krieger Institute in Baltimore, and Mott Children’s Hospital in Ann Arbor, to name a few).  My goal has been to pioneer new therapeutic interventions for children and to bring physical therapeutic techniques to youth with physical or socio-economic limitations in order to include them in programs offered for all children.  I am currently working with the Yoga Tree with several of my pediatric clients and they love the tree!  I usually cannot get them off of it!  RussaYog offers people of all ages a user friendly, fun, and athletic way of strengthening, stretching and balancing the mind, body, and soul and it is a perfect fit for the professions I work within.

Along with my background in Physical Therapy I utilize my Social Work degree while working with the families and children I encounter and I plan to bring RussaYog to the public health programs I am currently working on with grant funding.  I have begun a program at George Washington University for work on a Masters in Public Health to create programs for children in the less fortunate communities in our inner cities as well as children with special needs. 

My love of yoga has evolved over the years and stems from a strong physically active background.  My involvement in multiple sports has provided me with a healthy physical base, but it has been my immersion into RussaYog that has provided me with a natural blend of the mind, body, and spirit.  RussaYog embodies the perfect blend of my love of yoga with my work and my personal growth.

I am a very passionate person in my work and my play and am fortunate to have the opportunity to work with children and their families as they achieve their maximal potential physically, psychologically, and spiritually. RussaYog allows them to achieve their potential as well as permitting me the stress relief from the intensity of my work.  It is a calming force in my day and a wonderful way to re-energize.  RussaYog permits one to contemplate how your body is feeling and where you may need to place some attention, thus providing an opportunity for prevention of injury.  It has provided me with a unique tool to share with the children I work with and I hope to share this with adults as well, as I work toward health and injury-prevention with friends, family and clients.

I have a tremendous need to continually learn new skills and I love RussaYog for the never-ending variety of routines/tools it provides me for working with my own body as well as my clients.  I feel that the more in touch with oneself we are, the more we can connect with others without walls of fear, but with “unbounded optimism” and the joy of sharing with others.  I am reminded of one of my favorite quotes when I think of the opportunity that RussaYog has provided me…”be the change you wish to see in the world…” Gandhi.  I have been seeking a way to share my joy and love of yoga with children around the world and I have finally found it in RussaYog.  What an incredible opportunity I have in working with such wonderful mentors/teachers as Teresa and Jasprit.  I am honored to participate in their dream of sharing their gift of RussaYog with each of us.

Carrie Pew

After attending the retreat in February 2008 and well on my way to Teacher Certification, I have decided to open my own RussaYog Studio in Ann Arbor, in the Nickels Arcade. I have created brochures, business cards and other marketing materials for my new venture!

The motivation to open my own studio occurred when I came back from the retreat, a sudden epiphany if you will. I want to practice RussaYog with women who are keen to rediscover or discover their mind-body connection through one-on-one teacher- client attention. I want every woman who walks into my studio to feel special, to feel strong and beautiful. RussaYog opens the door to these strengths we often forget about or neglect.
Upon a first visit, every client will receive a pair of yoga ToeSox and a wonderful, organic spa kit! Clients will leave my studio feeling refreshed and energized, ready to impress the world around them with their confidence and beauty!
My official website is under construction at this time, but will be up by the end of April, 2008.
I will keep you updated through russayog.com!
In Chardi Kala,
my website: laughingtigerhypnotherapy.com
updated April '08

What does the certification process involve?