Yoga Day

MUSICAL OFFERING:

Yuval Ron is an internationally renowned World Music artist, composer, educator, peace activist, and record producer. Graduating Cum Laude as a Film Scoring Major at Berklee College of Music in Boston, he has continuously researched various ethnic musical traditions and spiritual paths worldwide. Among his many honors, he composed the songs and score for the Oscar-winning film West Bank Story in 2007, was the featured artist in the Gala Concert for the Dalai Lama’s initiative Seeds of Compassion in the Seattle Opera Hall in 2008 and has collaborated with the Sufi leader Pir Zia Inayat Khan since 2006. His awards include the Los Angeles Treasures Award in 2004 and prestigious grants from the National Endowment for the Arts, American Composers Forum, California Council for the Humanities and the Rockefeller Foundation.

Under his leadership, the internationally renowned music and dance group, The Yuval Ron Ensemble, has been actively involved in creating musical bridges between people of the Jewish, Muslim and Christian faiths and has been featured on CNN, National Geographic, and in the international press and media, performing at The United Nations International Day of Peace Concert in 2019. Yuval Ron has produced field recordings in the Sinai Desert with the Bedouins, archival preservation recordings of the sacred Yemenite, Moroccan and Andalusian Jewish traditions, and the album of master musician Omar Faruk Tekbilek titled, One Truth – A Window into the Divine Passion and Poetry of Sufism.

@yuvalronmusic

www.yuvalronmusic.com

SESSION LEADERS AND PANELISTS:

Marley Ralph, known as Namaste Marley Rae, is a 500-hour yoga certified instructor and a driving force behind WalkGood LA, her family-founded nonprofit. As COO and Director of Health and Wellness, she oversees programming at The WalkGood Yard, leads community yoga classes, and curates wellness experiences worldwide. Marley is also a co-founder of Umah Retreats and is pursuing an MA in Yoga Studies at Loyola Marymount University, deepening her commitment to holistic well-being and community. 

@namastemarleyrae

www.heymarleyrae.com

Sathu Jois is an Ashtanga Yoga teacher and dancer from Encinitas, California. Trained by her father, Manju Jois, son of yoga guru Sri K. Pattabhi Jois, she has assisted him on tours across 34 countries. A dancer since age two, she trained in multiple styles and earned a BA in Dance with honors from Loyola Marymount University in 2024. She is pursuing an MA in Yoga Therapy and Philosophy while teaching with compassion and joy. Sathu blends yoga, dance, and activism to create a holistic, expressive practice where students feel valued and free to grow.

Kari Ross-Berry, M.A., M.S., C-IAYT

Kari has traveled to India, Nepal, and Bhutan to study the philosophy, cultures, and stories surrounding the traditions of yoga. It has been a joy to see yoga come to life in the lives and practices of those she has met along the way. An interest in the connection between yoga and art defines her explorations abroad.

Kari teaches classes in yoga philosophy, asana, pranayama, and guided meditation to help students understand their unique mind-body complex, enabling them to overcome obstacles in life. All classes merge the essence of breath, movement, and mantra. Here, the approach to asana is through compassion, aiming to relax and restore the sense of divine wisdom to our bodies. It also compassionately helps others expand their mental and physical well-being, including stress reduction and mind-body acuity.  Designing and delivering courses, classes, and workshops from an Ayurvedic point of view, and actively striving to meet students where they are at, whether in a group or private setting.  In this manner, enabling others to think and act creatively from an authentic sense of self through the practice of Yoga.

Kari holds a master’s degree in yoga arts from Loyola Marymount University as well as a post-graduate yoga therapy certification. She is certified C-IAYT as well as YACEP, E-RYT 200, & RYT 500 through the Yoga Alliance.  Currently, she teaches yoga full-time as an associate professor at Southwestern College in Chula Vista, CA.

Dr. Eden Goldman, D.C., C-IAYT, E-RYT500, YACEP is an international Yoga, mindfulness, and wellness lifestyle expert. A Los Angeles Sports Chiropractor, former LA Yoga Magazine contributor, and IAYT-Certified Yoga Therapist, Dr. Goldman is a Yoga and Mind-Body Health Professor at The University Of Southern California and Director of USC’s Yoga And The Healing Sciences Teacher Training. He is co-author of Yoga Therapy and Integrative Medicine: Where Ancient Science Meets Modern Medicine and author of The Secret Art of Yoga Assists. Dr.

Goldman has successfully treated thousands of patients in the Los Angeles area and his work has been featured in many forms of media including ABC News, CBS News, Good Morning LALA Land, The Desert Sun, Miami New Times, AM Northwest, Yoga Journal, Yoga Mind Body Spirit, Enlightened Practice Magazine, and the top-selling book, Yoga for Dummies.

@dr.edengoldman

Maureen Shannon-Chapple, M.S., has been a practitioner of yoga and meditation since her teenage years. Her career as an educator has found its expression in programs that span classroom teaching, parenting courses, community college and university teaching. Nurturing responsive, empathetic community is central to her work. A 2008 graduate of Spirit Rock Meditation Center’s Community Dharma Leader Training, Maureen has led groups including InsightLA’s Family Program, mindfulness classes, and a weekly community practice group, which currently meets online. Maureen has co-led three iterations of InsightLA’s Facilitator Training Program. She teaches in the Mindful USC program, LMU’s Yoga, Mindfulness and Social Change training and at other community sites. She is also one of the team of teachers anchoring the weekly Mindful of Whiteness: Anit-Racism Practices for White People at InsightLA.

SatSiri (Rachel Dougherty)

SatSiri is a former ballerina with the Australian Ballet and has been teaching kundalini yoga for 22 twenty years. She is described as a trail-blazing, next-generation yoga teacher and trainer. She has been the Lead Teacher trainer for KRI (Kundalini Research Institute) for the past 10 years, training new teachers and mentoring Trainers. She brings the practical benefits of Kundalini Yoga to all people, helping them relieve anxiety and overwhelm, and bringing them closer to their truth and Sat Nam, True Identity, which brings her great joy.

She travels the world teaching Kundalini Yoga in places like Bali, Maui, Mexico, and India. She practiced Iyengar Yoga, Vipassana Meditation, and many other modalities before finding Kundalini Yoga. 

@SatSiri

Mukta Ghookal is a practitioner and meditation trainer with Heartfulness Institute. Mukta began her meditation journey in South Africa at 16 years when she met and developed a close association with Parthasarthi Rajagopalachari, the 3^rd Guru of Heartfulness, at the time. The current guide is Kamlesh. D. Patel.  Her association with the guru and personal transformative experiences inspired her to attend meditation seminars globally. Since then, she has shared her experiences through informal discussions, written articles, mentoring individuals, supporting training & development, offering strategy, and facilitating meditation workshops. Her journey spans over 30+ years. 

Please join me to share my experience in line with the theme and participate in a Heartfulness Meditation session so that you can understand the role of the heart and its guiding light. 

If you have any questions or would like to further your experience of Heartfulness with me individually or as a group or organization, please feel free to contact me at muktaghookal@yahoo.com

Dan Ward leads classes that are slow, deliberate and precise. They prioritize learning. They fulfill the promise of yoga sutra 2.46 Sthira sukham asanam which challenges us to create steadiness and ease in yoga posture. With only silence and breath as soundtrack, Dan brings over 30 years of yoga experience to bear on the art form that is the modern vinyasa yoga class.

His manner is disarming and will bring a smile to your face as you develop the skill set to experience the poses with intelligence and depth. Dan offers his uniquely insightful perspective on yoga to all students ready to learn and who are interested in the work via classes, private sessions, workshops, retreats, and teacher trainings. He makes his home in Venice with his wife and daughters.

@danwarddog

Tasheena Medina Chavez is a performer, choreographer, and educator based in Los Angeles with over 18 years of experience teaching dance, yoga, and movement for well-being. Currently completing her Master’s in Yoga Studies at Loyola Marymount University, her work bridges movement and mindfulness through a trauma-informed, embodied approach.

She is the creator of Intuitive Dance Meditation, a practice housed under The Embodied Way—her movement and mindfulness platform and blog dedicated to exploring embodied living, self-awareness, and healing through creative expression. Tasheena’s teaching integrates yoga philosophy, somatic awareness, and creative exploration to help students reconnect with the body as a guide toward balance and wholeness.

Her background includes performing and choreographing for stage and television (including FOX’s Brooklyn Nine-Nine and NBC’s Parks and Recreation), as well as leading wellness and embodiment workshops throughout Los Angeles. Tasheena’s mission is to make mindful movement accessible for all—honoring both the physical and spiritual journey of coming home to oneself.

PANELISTS:

Dr. Zoë Slatoff has a PhD in Religion and Philosophy from Lancaster University, in the UK, and an MA and BA in Asian Languages and Cultures from Columbia University. Her work centers around translations of Sanskrit texts on Yoga Philosophy, particularly as it relates to Advaita Vedānta, Sāṃkhya, Jainism, and Buddhism. She is the Clinical Professor of Sanskrit at Loyola Marymount University in Los Angeles, where she teaches Sanskrit and Yoga Philosophy courses in the Yoga Studies MA program, of which she is Associate Director, as well as undergraduate courses through the Department of Theological Studies. 

Dr. Slatoff is the author of Yogāvatāraṇaṃ: The Translation of Yoga, a Sanskrit textbook based on classic yoga texts, from which she teaches, that uses extracts from classical yoga texts to integrate traditional and academic methods of learning the language. She has also been practicing yoga for over twenty-five years and teaching for nearly as long. She had a flourishing Ashtanga Yoga studio in her hometown of New York City for twelve years.

Christopher Key-Chapple is Doshi Distinguished Professor of Indic and Comparative Theology and Founding Director of the Master of Arts in Yoga Studies at Loyola Marymount University. He trained in Yoga under the guidance of Gurani Anjali of Yoga Anand Ashram from 1972 until her passing in 2001. He has published more than two dozen books including Living Landscapes: Meditations on the Five Elements in Hindu, Buddhist, and Jain Yogas (2020), The Samkhya System (2024), Embodied Ecology: Yoga and the Environment (2025) and the forthcoming Sourcebook for Yoga Philosophy and Practice (2025). 

Paul Bramadat is Professor of Religion, Culture, and Society, and Director Emeritus of the Centre for Studies in Religion and Society at the University of Victoria. He is author of Yogalands: In Search of Practice on the Mat and in the World (2025), and the principal investigator and co-editor of Religion at the Edge: Nature, Spirituality, and Secularity in the Pacific Northwest (2022) as well as Urban Religious Events: Public Spirituality in Contested Spaces (2022). He continues to explore different forms of postural yoga in North America and beyond. He both practices and teaches Ashtanga yoga in Victoria, British Columbia. 

Anya Foxen is a historian and comparativist scholar of religion. She is currently an Associate Professor of Religious Studies at California Polytechnic State University, San Luis Obispo, and a Research Associate at the Center for the Study of World Religions at Harvard University. Her scholarly research focuses on the intersection of South Asian yogic and tantric traditions with Western esotericism and metaphysical spiritualities, and she is the author of several books, including, most recently, The Serpent’s Tale: Kundalini, Yoga, and the history of an experience. She is also a yoga teacher and long-time practitioner.

Dr. Judith Pinn Carlisle began practicing yoga with her grandmother when she was a young child. Judith completed the MA in Yoga Studies in 2020 with a thesis focusing on yoga philosophy and death and teaches as an adjunct professor in the program. Previously, she taught computer information systems and computer science focusing on issues of ethics, epistemology, and linguistics. Drawing from her years in information systems, where she examined philosophical and ethical considerations of computer-based information technologies, she now questions how computer, information, and yoga technologies can be combined to create a good life. 

Farah Godrej’s areas of research and teaching include Indian political thought, Gandhi’s political thought, cosmopolitanism, globalization and comparative political theory.  She also studies contemporary issues such as environmental justice, food politics and mass incarceration, with an emphasis on the intersection of scholarship and activism. Her research appears in journals such as American Political Science Review, Political Theory, Political Research Quarterly, Theory & Event, The Review of Politics, and Polity, among others She is the Co-Founding Director of UCR's path-breaking LIFTED program, which offers a BA degree to incarcerated students.

Nirinjan Kaur Khalsa-Baker is a Sikh kirtan musician, scholar and practitioner. She is currently Senior Instructor Theological Studies at Loyola Marymount University, where she also served as Clinical Professor Jain and Sikh Studies and Acting Director Graduate Yoga Studies. Her ethnographic research and publications investigate Sikh kirtan through a decolonial lens to explore diversity in Sikh identity, pedagogy and practice. Throughout her scholarship, teaching, and music, Nirinjan highlights the importance of embodied practices to cultivate ethical action in daily life. She currently serves as co-chair Sikh Studies Unit at the American Academy of Religion, is part of various interfaith initiatives, and recently toured the country sharing ancestral music and wisdom to cultivate communities and courageous hearts as part of the Revolutionary Love Tour. Her CV and publications can be found at https://lmu.academia.edu/NirinjanKaurKhalsaBaker  

Amanda Lucia is Professor of Religious Studies at the University of California-Riverside. Her research engages the global exportation, appropriation, and circulation of Hinduism. She is author of White Utopias: The Religious Exoticism ofTransformational Festivals (2020), which investigates the intersections of whiteness and religious exoticism among the “spiritual, but not religious” at transformational festivals, such as Bhakti Fest, Wanderlust, Lightning in a Bottle, and Burning Man, with a particular focus on yoga practice. Her previous publications include Reflections of Amma: Devotees in a Global Embrace (2014), and numerous book chapters and articles, including “Flooding the Web: Absence-Presence and the Media Strategies of Nithyananda’s Digital Empire,” “Persistent Fictions: Race and the Global Gurus of the Long Twentieth Century,” “Guru Sex: Charisma, Proxemic Desire, and the Haptic Logics of the Guru Disciple Relationship,” and “Hinduism without Religion: Amma’s Movement in America.” She was also the Principal Investigator for the Religion & Sexual Abuse Project (2019-2025),  www.religionandsexualabuseproject.org. Her current research focuses on celebrity gurus, and negotiations between religious authority and the law.

Purushottama Bilimoria specializes in Indian & Cross-Cultural Philosophy, Global Critical Philosophies of Religion and Law. A teaching faculty with the University of San Francisco; Principal Fellow in the University of Melbourne (Australia); an Editor-in-Chief of Sophia, he is inducted member of European Academy of Arts and Sciences. A recipient of distinguished fellowships of US-India Fulbright Program, John Templeton Foundation, Indian Council for Philosophical Research , and Harvard Divinity School (CSWR). Recent publications include Routledge History of Indian Philosophy (2019); Contemplative Studies and Hinduism (2021); Companion to Indian Ethics: Women, Justice Bioethics and Ecology (2024); Engaging Philosophies of Religion: Thinking Across Borders (2025), and maybe a dozen articles in the same period.

Stuart Ray Sarbacker is Professor of Comparative Religion and Indian Philosophy in the School of History, Philosophy, and Religion at Oregon State University (USA). His work centers on relationships between the religious and philosophical traditions of Hinduism, Buddhism, and Jainism, especially with respect to mind-body discipline (yoga) and the interface between religion, philosophy, and technology. He has written and co-authored three books, including Samādhi: The Numinous and Cessative in Indo-Tibetan Yoga (SUNY Press), The Eight Limbs of Yoga: A Handbook for Living Yoga Philosophy (Farrar, Straus, and Giroux), and Tracing the Path of Yoga: The History and Philosophy of Indian Mind-Body Discipline (SUNY Press). He is the co-founder, with Christopher Key Chapple, of the American Academy of Religion’s Yoga in Theory and Practice unit.