Yoga Teacher Training Program

Smt. Geetha Shankar

Senior Faculty , Senior Yoga Therapist Consultant & Certified Healing Chants Teacher , KYM – Chennai

Mrs. Geetha Shankar, is the one of the senior most faculty of the Krishnamacharya Yoga Mandiram (KYM). She is a Yoga Therapist Consultant and a certified Healing Chants Teacher at KYM – Chennai. She had the blessings of learning under Yogacharya Shri T.K.V. Desikachar and completed her Teacher Training about 20 years ago. For over 20 years she learnt important texts in Yoga and application of Yoga for illnesses and spirituality. She headed the department of Yoga Studies for more than 10 years and had conducted number of Yoga programs involving theory, practice, application and philosophy of Yoga for Indian and International students. Her teaching career includes Consultations and Classes of Yoga for Therapy, covering number of health conditions at physical and mental levels and has been successful in providing relief. She has been a faculty for many yoga courses and certificate programs for the Indian and International students in India and abroad. She has anchored special programmes combining the ancient Indian rituals in the modern context from the Yoga point of view. She has led number of Yoga Workshops Seminars and Conferences at KYM and other yoga institutions. She has also been a part of Yoga Teacher Training Program for the Chinese students and has participated in Yoga Festivals held at China. She functioned as a Nodal Officer for yoga programs conducted under Ministry of AYUSH Government of India for over three years.

Smt. Sangeetha Kannan

Senior Yoga Teacher, KYM Chennai

She came to the Mandiram with no knowledge of Yoga and my experience here made her want to pursue this for life. Her first memory of KYM is that of hearing Sir’s chant; She was very mesmerised by his voice. There has been no turning back since then.

Ms. Mimi Partha Sarathy

Founder Senior Yoga Teacher and Managing Trustee of Krishna Wellness, Yoga and Cultural Centre

Born and brought up in the beautiful city of Bangalore hailing from a family which has always loved and supported Indian Art and Culture, Mimi set up Sri Krishna Wellness, Yoga and Cultural Centre with a vision to promote and preserve the rich heritage of Indian Dance, Music Art and Culture. With a strong educational background in Finance, Marketing and Accounting as well as being a well-known classical Bharatnatyam Dancer and Senior Yoga Teacher.

Dr. Madhumita Krishnan

Ayurveda Teacher, Ayurvedic Pediatrician and Certified Childbirth Educator

Dr. Madhumitha Krishnan, BAMS, MD (Ayurveda), is a dedicated Ayurveda teacher and pediatrician with a special interest in educating mothers about the benefits of Ayurvedic techniques in newborn care. With over a decade of experience, she has successfully assisted numerous expectant mothers and young children, promoting positive natural birthing experiences. Dr. Krishnan is particularly skilled in helping children with cerebral palsy improve their motor capabilities and manage other disorders. A CAPPA-certified birth educator, she is passionate about sharing her extensive knowledge of Ayurveda. With over five years of teaching experience, Dr. Krishnan has engaged with diverse global audiences, spreading the wisdom of Ayurveda far and wide.

Smt. Poornima Kavlekar

Yoga Teacher & Healing Chants Faculty – KYM Chennai

Mrs.Poornima Kavlekar is a Senior Yoga Teacher and Therapist who has been with Krishnamacharya Yoga Mandiram for more than 15 years and is an expert in classical Yogasana techniques, she holds a Post Graduate Diploma in Yoga & Professional degree in Business Journalism. An expert teacher, she has been a part of many yoga trainings and group classes in India and abroad also. She is strong in Classical Vinyasa and she has taught many international groups at KYM. Besides being a great practitioner, she has participated and conducted Yoga Sessions regularly at all yoga workshops and seminars at KYM and outside. She has also been a Regular faculty for corporate Yoga programs. She is a certified Healing Chants teacher and has a keen interest in teaching yoga to the children with special needs. She is also proficient in many languages.

Smt. Geetha Sateesh

Yoga Teacher, KYM Chennai

Smt. Geetha Sateesh, is a yoga instructor, yoga teacher and yoga therapist trained with Krishnamacharya Yoga Mandiram and has been with KYM as a yoga teacher for more than seven years and is an expert in Classical Yogasana techniques especially in Classical Vinyasa in teaching, demonstration and examining. . She holds Post Graduate Diploma in Yoga, Teacher Training Program, Yoga Therapist Training Certificate and MSc in Botany and a Diploma in Nutrition & Dietetics.

Smt. Nirmala Devi

Senior Yoga Teacher, KYM Chennai

Smt. Nirmala Devi has been with Krishnamacharya Yoga Mandiram for more than fifteen years and is an expert in Yogasana Classical Techniques especially in Classical Vinyasa. She possesses degree in science and education followed by Post graduation in Yoga besides completing Yoga Teachers Training from KYM. Besides being a great practitioner, she is also an expert Yoga Therapy teacher and provides Yoga Therapy to care seekers who visit KYM for their health needs.

Mrs. Sai Kripa Vaidyanathan

Yoga Teacher & Therapist – KYM Chennai

Ms. Sai Kripa has been with Krishnamacharya Yoga Mandiram for more than six years and is an expert in Classical Yogasana techniques. She holds a Post Graduate Degree in Mass Communications and a Post Graduate Diploma in Yoga. An expert teacher, she has been part of many yoga trainings at KYM and trained many trainees in theory and practice. Strong in Classical Vinyasa, she has taught many international groups at KYM. She has also been a regular faculty for corporate yoga programs. Besides being a great practitioner, she has participated and conducted Yoga Sessions regularly at all yoga workshops and seminars at KYM and outside. She is also a certified Healing Chant Teacher and is a faculty in international healing chant programs. Proficient in many languages and a classical music enthusiast, she is happily married and her family practices Yoga.

Mrs. Vasumathi

Yoga Teacher & Healing Chants Faculty – KYM Chennai

Ms. Vasumathi has been with Krishnamacharya Yoga Mandiram for more than five years and is an expert in Yoga Philosophy and Classical Yogasana techniques. She holds a Graduate Degree in English Literature and a Post Graduate Diploma in Yoga. An expert teacher, she has been part of many yoga trainings at KYM and trained many groups. Strong in Yoga Philosophy she has taught many international groups at KYM and outside KYM. She has also been a regular faculty for corporate yoga programs. She is also a certified Healing Chants Teacher. Her liking is towards teaching yoga to children as she believes Yoga can alone groom children towards physical, mental and spiritual discipline and is well liked by all children. Besides being a great practitioner, she has participated and conducted Yoga Sessions regularly at all yoga workshops and seminars at KYM and outside.

Smt. Nrithya Jagannathan

Director – KYM Institute of Yoga Studies, Senior Yoga teacher and Yoga Therapy consultant, & Faculty of the Department of Healing Chants – KYM Chennai

Mrs. Nrithya Jagannathan is a Madras University top ranker with a Masters Degree in Communication. She also holds a Diploma in Yoga from Krishnamacharya Yoga Mandiram, a pre-eminent Institute of Yoga and Yoga Studies in Chennai. She has over 16 years of experience as a Yoga teacher and Yoga Therapy consultant at Krishnamacharya Yoga Mandiram.

She is currently the Director of the KYM Institute of Yoga Studies which conducts short-term and long-term certificate courses in Yoga and allied subjects for both Indian and international students. She is a guest faculty for yoga at the Kalakshetra Foundation, Chennai.

Nrithya is also on the Faculty of the Department of Healing Chants at KYM and has had over eleven years of experience teaching chanting to individuals and groups. She has travelled extensively around the world, teaching yoga and chanting, as part of many programs for Krishnamacharya Yoga Mandiram.

Nrithya conducted a workshop on “Management of Digestive Disorders” under the auspices of Morarji Desai National Institute of Yoga(MDNIY), New Delhi in February 2010. Further she has also presented papers on various aspects of yoga at the Sri Ramakrishna Sports University, Coimbatore, at the annual yoga festival organised by ICYER, Pondicherry, Stella Maris College for Women, Chennai, Meenakshi College for Women, Chennai, Seethalakshmi Ramaswamy college, Trichy and at the International Confluence of Humanity, Power and Spirituality, Kolkatta. She has also conducted a one-day international workshop on “Application of Yoga in the Management of Stress Disorders” at the Mangalore University.

Nrithya Jaganathan is also a professional Bharathanatyam artiste and is currently doing her Ph.D on “Yoga and Natya,” at SCSVMV University, Kanchipuram. Nrithya currently heads the KYM-Media department at KYM which focuses on publishing scholarly works on various aspects of Yoga in multiple media formats. In this capacity she has edited and given the commentary on T Krishnamacharya’s work on yoga, “Yoganjalisaram,” published by Krishnamacharya Yoga Mandiram.

Shri VM Janakiraman

Director-Yoga Therapy – KYM Chennai

Mr V.M. Janakiraman is a senior yoga expert at Krishnamacharya Yoga Mandiram with over 15 years of yoga experience. Leaving his lucrative senior position at Central Government Organization, he took yoga as his future in the year 2000. He is an expert not only in Asanas, but also in Yoga Therapy and in the diverse philosophy of Yoga. He has extensively taught all the aspects of Yoga to many International and Indian students. He has presented papers on Yoga at many International Seminars& workshops at India and abroad. Besides being an experienced Yoga Teacher he is also an expert in vedic chanting.

He is one of the examiners under QCI India for yoga certification and he was also one of the experts in the expert committee, invited by Government of India to discuss about the common yoga practice that was given to all participants on International Day of Yoga.

Shri V Srinivasan

Executive Director & Senior Yoga Teacher Trainer, Therapist and Healing Chants Faculty – KYM Chennai

Mr. V Srinivasan is the one of the senior faculty of the Krishnamacharya Yoga Mandiram (KYM). A Yoga Therapist Consultant and Teacher Trainer he served KYM as the Executive Director, for more than 5 years. He had the rare blessings of learning under Yogacharya Shri T.K.V. Desikachar as a student of Teacher Training Program at KYM and learnt the nuances of Yoga in theory and practice. For over 15 years he was exposed to all the important texts in Yoga and application of Yoga for illnesses and spirituality. He holds a Master’s Degree in Yoga from Tamilnadu Sports and Physical Education University Chennai. He also learnt Vedic Chanting and functions as a Healing Chant Teacher also. His teaching career includes Consultations and Classes of Yoga for Therapy, class room teaching of all aspects of Yoga to Indian and International students in India and abroad. He represented KYM many times in China including First Indo China Yoga Festival, Chengdu and at India Yoga Festival at Hangzhou China. He has given talks in all forums on Yoga including MDNIY New Delhi, and at all Yoga events. He was also a member of Diabetes Protocol Committee under Ministry of AYUSH and is also a QCI (Quality Council of India) Examiner for Yoga Certification. His other interests include Carnatic Music.

Dr. Latha Satish

Trustee & Senior Mentor, KYM Chennai

Dr. Latha Satish, having served in the Board for more than a decade, demitted the office of Trustees and has assumed the charges as Chairperson of KYM Research Council. She has been invited by the Ministry of AYUSH, Government of India, to speak at International Conference on Yoga for Public Healthcare. She will present a paper on Yoga for Mental Health.

Shri S. Sridharan

Former Managing Trustee, Advisor & Senior Most Mentor, & Senior Yoga Therapist Consultant – KYM Chennai

Sri. S. Sridharan, 74 years old, is the senior most teacher of the Krishnamacharya Yoga Mandiram (KYM). He is presently the Advisor, Senior Yoga Therapist Consultant and Mentor at KYM. He had a successful career as a Merchant Banker in a Public-Sector Bank for 28 years. He became a student of T.K.V. Desikachar in 1980s and learnt the nuances of Yoga in the ‘Gurukula’ style directly for over 3 decades during which time, he was exposed to all the important texts in Yoga and application of Yoga for illnesses and spirituality. He also learnt Vedic Chanting in the traditional style under his teacher. During this period, he had to divide his time between a banking career and learning and teaching Yoga under the tutelage of Desikachar. Drawn by the desire to fully devote his time to Yoga, he gave up his position as a Merchant Banker and took to Yoga on full time basis in 1998. In 2002, he was directed to take the position of Managing Trustee of KYM, which was held by Desikachar for 25 years from the inception. In this position, he had to lead the KYM as the administrative and technical head. He held this position for about 8 years. This brought him to limelight in the world of Yoga.

He represented KYM in all the forums, conferences, seminars, etc. His career as Managing Trustee includes the distinction of getting ISO Certification for KYM and moving to its own building. His teaching career includes Consultations and Classes of Yoga for Therapy, classroom teaching of all aspects of Yoga to Indian and International students in India and abroad. He has anchored special programmes combining the ancient Indian rituals in the modern context from the Yoga point of view.

From 2010 to 2015 he served as a member of the Governing Body, Governing Council of the Morarji Desai National Institute of Yoga (MDNIY), the apex body for Yoga of the Ministry of AYUSH, Government of India. This gave an opportunity for him to spread the teaching of the tradition of KYM. He represents KYM in the Indian Yoga Association (IYA) as one of the founding members. He is the Vice President, Executive Council, and a Lifetime Member of IYA. He is a Member of the Governing Body of the Central Council for Research in Yoga and Naturopathy (CCRYN).

He is a Member of the Yoga Certification Board set up by the Ministry of AYUSH, which is active in bringing certification for Yoga Teachers. He served as Yoga Expert in WHO Technical Review meeting for developing m-Yoga mobile application.

He was awarded the title ‘Dronācārya’ by the Rotary Club of Madras East. On the occasion of the celebration of Yoga Mahotsav for the 8th International Day of Yoga 2022, he was awarded “Lifetime Achievement Award” by Sri Balaji Vidyapeeth, Pondicherry. Widely travelled, he has represented India in the World Yoga Festivals in China and UK. He has authored a book which gives the biographical sketch of T. Krishnamacharya in Tamil. His other interests include Carnatic Music.