FACULTY

Yogacharya Ellen Grace O'Brian, MA, is the founder and Spiritual Director of the Center for Spiritual Enlightenment (CSE), and the founder and president of Meru Institute. She was ordained to teach in 1982 by Roy Eugene Davis, a direct disciple of Paramahansa Yogananda who brought Kriya Yoga from India to the West. Yogacharya O’Brian has taught throughout the US and internationally for over three decades. She is the author of several books on spiritual practice including Living the Eternal Way: Spiritual Meaning and Practice for Daily Life; the Editor of Enlightenment Journal, a quarterly yoga magazine; and host of The Yoga Hour, a weekly radio program. www.CSEcenter.org  

Rev. Sundari Jensen, BS, MDiv, RYT, serves as a Senior Kriya Yoga Teacher at CSE where she has studied with her teacher, Yogacharya O’Brian, since 1992. Sundari has over 30 years teaching experience including serving as faculty at Mills College, JFK University, and Meru Institute. She is a regular contributor for the Enlightenment Journal, and has taught yoga and meditation at UC Berkeley, West Valley College and at various conferences and seminars. She is a member of Yoga Alliance (YA), International Association of Yoga Therapists (IAYT), National Ayurvedic Medical Association (NAMA), and CAAM (California Association of Ayurvedic Medicine).

Anil Surpur, ERYT, MBA, BE, is President and co-founder of Yoga Bharati. He received BKS Iyengar yoga training, Chennai, in 1986 and has been practicing Yoga since. He completed Yoga Teacher Training (YICC, VYASA) in 2003 and is on the faculty for Yoga Bharati YICC and Meru Institute YTT. Anil is a registered Experienced Yoga Teacher (ERYT) with Yoga Alliance (YA). www.YogaBharati.org 

Ashwini Surpur, ERYT, has a Diploma in Yoga Therapy from Vivekananda Yoga University (SVYASA), Bangalore, India and is Director of Yoga Education at Yoga Bharati. After 15 years as a software engineer, Ashwini retired in order to support Yoga Bharati full-time. She has spoken at various conferences on Yoga and Hindu philosophy. She writes articles for various magazines and news media on Yoga. Ashwini is pursuing her MA in Sanskrit and composes poems in her free time.  www.YogaBharati.org

Savitha Nanjangud, B.Tech, MS, RYT, has been a Yoga teacher with Yoga Bharati since 2009 and is currently a faculty member for Yoga Bharati's Hatha Yoga Instructors Course (YIC). She enjoys teaching Yoga asana, meditation, and philosophy. To further her passion of bringing the healing qualities of yoga into people's lives, she is working towards her Post Graduate Diploma in Yoga Therapy (PGDYT). Savitha holds a Bachelor’s degree in engineering from Indian Institute of Technology, Madras and a Master’s degree from Penn State University. She worked as an engineer in the semiconductor industry for fifteen years before finding her true passion in Yoga. www.yogabharati.org 

Marty Wuttke is a pioneer in developing Neurofeedback therapy and has over 30 years of research and application in both neuroscience and the yogic science of consciousness. Marty was affiliated with Ridgecrest Hospital and Woodridge Psychiatric Hospital from 1984 – 1995, where he designed and directed the first inpatient Neurofeedback program in the US. He then went on to implement meditation and Neurotherapy programs on a larger scale, eventually leading to the establishment of The Wuttke Institute of NeuroTherapy with affiliated centers in the USA and Europe. His offices are in Carpinteria, California, where he is in private practice treating clients, conducting research on the brain and consciousness, and leading Kriya Yoga meditation groups. www.wuttkeinstitute.com 

Savita Joshi, ERYT, MBA is a passionate yoga teacher and presently Director of Therapy Services at Yoga Bharati in collaboration of Yogaksema. Savita has more than eight years of yoga therapy teaching experience in areas including women's yoga such as Prenatal, Postnatal, Fertility, and many other various psychosomatic ailments. She has completed training in Diploma in Yoga therapy and has conducted various workshops and spoken at retreats and conferences. Savita is also a faculty for yoga foundation course and yoga therapy training at Yoga Bharati. She holds a Bachelor’s degree in Engineering and Master’s degree in Business Administration with double majors. www.YogaBharati.org

Carol Parvati Knight, BS, RYT500, has over 40 years of teaching experience. She served on the faculty at West Valley College from 1982-2014 where she taught Hatha Yoga, hiking, and coached volleyball. She has been practicing and studying yoga since 1991 and sharing the teachings of hatha yoga since 1999. Parvati is a Yoga Alliance certified instructor at the 500 hour level and has a BS in Kinesiology. She has served on Meru Faculty since 2007 and taught in CSE’s Yoga Teacher Training programs.

Rev. Laurel Prema Trujillo, MD, obtained her Bachelor’s degree in Biology-Chemistry from University of the Pacific, her MD from University of California San Francisco, residency training in Primary Care Internal Medicine at UCLA Medical Center, and completed a fellowship in the California Health Care Foundation’s Health Care Leadership Program. She worked at the Palo Alto Medical Foundation (PAMF) from 1995-2014, serving as PAMF’s Medical Director of Quality from 2010-2014.  Dr. Trujillo began studying Kriya Yoga philosophy and meditation at The Center for Spiritual Enlightenment in 2002.  She served on CSE’s Board of Directors for nine years and as President of the Board from 2013-2014.  Ordained in the Kriya tradition by Yogacharya Ellen Grace O’Brian in November, 2014, she currently serves on the faculty of Meru Institute and as a regular guest host for the online radio program, The Yoga Hour.

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