Swami Kashi
I want to tell you a little bit about myself to give you some idea about my background and why I have decided to do this Project
I was born in Israel in 1972 and was brought up in a very normal Israeli family. When I was 25 years old I happen to visit the Sivananda Yoga Center in Tel-Aviv and took a Yoga class. This was a turning point in my life. I started practicing Yoga very regularly, began studying the philosophy of Yoga and the spiritual aspect of yogic life. In 1998, I took the Sivananda Teacher Training Course in the Sivananda Ashram Yoga Retreat in the Bahamas. After this course, yoga became the center of my life. In 1999, I decided to become a Brahmachari (monk), and I joined the Sivananda Yoga Center in Tel-Aviv as a staff. During my mantra initiation I was named Shankar. In the year 2000, I completed my BA degree in Computer Science and Management and moved to India. There I had the unbelievable fortune to live very closely and learn from Swami Chaitanyananda, who is a direct disciple of Swami Sivananda of Rishikesh. Swami Chaitanyananda (Swamiji) lived in the Himalayan town Uttarkashi, which is located about 165 km North of Rishikesh. For the next three years, I lived with him and learned English, Sanskrit, Hindi, and Vedanta philosophy from him. Above all, I learned from his day-to-day dealing with people and from his infinite love. After Swamiji left his body in 2003, I returned to Israel and from there moved to the Bahamas. I could not stay away too long from the Himalayas. I started coming back to Uttarkashi every year for a few months. Now I am spending half of my time in India and the other half in the West. While in India, I mostly stay in Uttarkashi and continue my studies with amazing teachers. When I am in the Bahamas, I live in the Sivananda Ashram Yoga Retreat where I teach yoga philosophy and Sanskrit. I like to travel, teach philosophy, tell stories, and meet new people. Therefore, I have decided to combine all of these passions and (with the help of good friends) to initiate this project of bringing people to see the places and meet the people who shaped my life in an extraordinary way. I have also decided to record an online course on the Bhagavad Gita and other important scriptures of Hinduism to make them approachable to people like you. In July 2014 I was initiated into the order of Sannyasa and received a new name, Swami Kashi Muktananda Sarasvati, or in short Swami Kashi.
I want to tell you a little bit about myself to give you some idea about my background and why I have decided to do this Project
I was born in Israel in 1972 and was brought up in a very normal Israeli family. When I was 25 years old I happen to visit the Sivananda Yoga Center in Tel-Aviv and took a Yoga class. This was a turning point in my life. I started practicing Yoga very regularly, began studying the philosophy of Yoga and the spiritual aspect of yogic life. In 1998, I took the Sivananda Teacher Training Course in the Sivananda Ashram Yoga Retreat in the Bahamas. After this course, yoga became the center of my life. In 1999, I decided to become a Brahmachari (monk), and I joined the Sivananda Yoga Center in Tel-Aviv as a staff. During my mantra initiation I was named Shankar. In the year 2000, I completed my BA degree in Computer Science and Management and moved to India. There I had the unbelievable fortune to live very closely and learn from Swami Chaitanyananda, who is a direct disciple of Swami Sivananda of Rishikesh. Swami Chaitanyananda (Swamiji) lived in the Himalayan town Uttarkashi, which is located about 165 km North of Rishikesh. For the next three years, I lived with him and learned English, Sanskrit, Hindi, and Vedanta philosophy from him. Above all, I learned from his day-to-day dealing with people and from his infinite love. After Swamiji left his body in 2003, I returned to Israel and from there moved to the Bahamas. I could not stay away too long from the Himalayas. I started coming back to Uttarkashi every year for a few months. Now I am spending half of my time in India and the other half in the West. While in India, I mostly stay in Uttarkashi and continue my studies with amazing teachers. When I am in the Bahamas, I live in the Sivananda Ashram Yoga Retreat where I teach yoga philosophy and Sanskrit. I like to travel, teach philosophy, tell stories, and meet new people. Therefore, I have decided to combine all of these passions and (with the help of good friends) to initiate this project of bringing people to see the places and meet the people who shaped my life in an extraordinary way. I have also decided to record an online course on the Bhagavad Gita and other important scriptures of Hinduism to make them approachable to people like you. In July 2014 I was initiated into the order of Sannyasa and received a new name, Swami Kashi Muktananda Sarasvati, or in short Swami Kashi.
Molly Birkholm
Molly Birkholm is the founder of Healing River Yoga, an organization that leads worldwide retreats on Yoga for Trauma and Yoga Nidra and also produces yoga and meditation multi-media, including Molly’s four iRest Yoga Nidra CDs and upcoming yoga DVDs. She is the co-founder and director of the Yoga Center of Key Biscayne, an affiliated Sivananda Yoga Vedanta Center in Key Biscayne, Florida. She is also one of the co-founders and lead instructors of Warriors at Ease, a non-profit organization that trains and certifies yoga and meditation teachers to teach in military communities. She taught yoga and meditation for four years at the US Department of Veterans Affairs to over 1,000 war veterans and still supports military and veteran communities. Her research at the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) received the Department of Defense’s first ever Center of Excellence grant for mind-body medicine. She regularly teaches traumatized individuals and communities, including those recovering from war, natural disasters, substance abuse dependencies, as well as traumas caused by accidents, death of a loved-one, terrorist attacks, domestic violence, sexual trauma and many other types of violence and trauma. All of her programs seek to unite clinically proven yoga and meditation techniques with ancient yogic philosophy.
Molly began practicing yoga and meditation after a near-death car accident in Manhattan. She eventually left her career in investment banking and as an art gallery owner for travels and studies throughout Asia and eventually for her yoga teacher training at the Sivananda Ashram in Kerala, India. She graduated from her Advanced Teacher Training at the Sivananda Yoga Retreat in the Bahamas. She is also a certified iRest Yoga Nidra teacher through the Integrative Restoration Institute. Molly now lives in Fort Lauderdale, Florida with her husband, Edgar, their four-year old son, Santiago, and their yellow Labrador, Cleo.
Molly Birkholm is the founder of Healing River Yoga, an organization that leads worldwide retreats on Yoga for Trauma and Yoga Nidra and also produces yoga and meditation multi-media, including Molly’s four iRest Yoga Nidra CDs and upcoming yoga DVDs. She is the co-founder and director of the Yoga Center of Key Biscayne, an affiliated Sivananda Yoga Vedanta Center in Key Biscayne, Florida. She is also one of the co-founders and lead instructors of Warriors at Ease, a non-profit organization that trains and certifies yoga and meditation teachers to teach in military communities. She taught yoga and meditation for four years at the US Department of Veterans Affairs to over 1,000 war veterans and still supports military and veteran communities. Her research at the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) received the Department of Defense’s first ever Center of Excellence grant for mind-body medicine. She regularly teaches traumatized individuals and communities, including those recovering from war, natural disasters, substance abuse dependencies, as well as traumas caused by accidents, death of a loved-one, terrorist attacks, domestic violence, sexual trauma and many other types of violence and trauma. All of her programs seek to unite clinically proven yoga and meditation techniques with ancient yogic philosophy.
Molly began practicing yoga and meditation after a near-death car accident in Manhattan. She eventually left her career in investment banking and as an art gallery owner for travels and studies throughout Asia and eventually for her yoga teacher training at the Sivananda Ashram in Kerala, India. She graduated from her Advanced Teacher Training at the Sivananda Yoga Retreat in the Bahamas. She is also a certified iRest Yoga Nidra teacher through the Integrative Restoration Institute. Molly now lives in Fort Lauderdale, Florida with her husband, Edgar, their four-year old son, Santiago, and their yellow Labrador, Cleo.
Piyush Banuni
Piyush is a 28 years old Yoga teacher from Uttarkashi. He was born and brought up in a traditional Himalayan village farm-house near Uttarkashi. Son to a family of brahmin priests Piyush was exposed from infancy to the Hindu orthodox tradition. In 2010 Piyush took the Sivananda Yoga Teacher Training Course in Neyar Dam, Kerala, South India. In 2013 he served for a year in the Sivananda Ashram Yoga Retreat in the Bahamas. He is a very gifted Yoga teacher and an expert cook of Indian cuisine. Piyush is one of the organizers of the Himalayan Yatra of Heart Pilgrim. During the Yatra Piyush will take care of all the logistics and will teach us Yoga classes. He is very enthusiastic about it, and he is planning to organize a Yoga Camp of his own next year.
Piyush is a 28 years old Yoga teacher from Uttarkashi. He was born and brought up in a traditional Himalayan village farm-house near Uttarkashi. Son to a family of brahmin priests Piyush was exposed from infancy to the Hindu orthodox tradition. In 2010 Piyush took the Sivananda Yoga Teacher Training Course in Neyar Dam, Kerala, South India. In 2013 he served for a year in the Sivananda Ashram Yoga Retreat in the Bahamas. He is a very gifted Yoga teacher and an expert cook of Indian cuisine. Piyush is one of the organizers of the Himalayan Yatra of Heart Pilgrim. During the Yatra Piyush will take care of all the logistics and will teach us Yoga classes. He is very enthusiastic about it, and he is planning to organize a Yoga Camp of his own next year.