Faculty
Meghan Hogan, E-RYT 500, Lead Teacher
Meghan Hogan is an educator and caregiver sharing through the modalities of yoga, meditation, speech-language therapy and intentional presence. She is the founder of the Move with Maitri Group Mentorship Program for yoga teachers and is Lead Faculty of the Yoga Vidya School Teacher Training and In-Depth Studies 200hr Program.
Meghan completed her 200hr and 340hr advanced studies certifications with Lauren Toolin in Albany, NY. She is trained in prenatal yoga through Deb Flashenberg and the Prenatal Yoga Center in NYC.
Compassionate individualized guidance, a holistic lens, and inspiring students toward remembrance of their innate ability to breathe fully, rest deeply and experience joy in the unfoldment of life are cornerstones of Meghan’s approach.
Meghan’s mission is to guide people home to their own hearts, trusting that cultivating this inner relationship fosters uplifted connections in homes and communities.
The classes Meghan teaches weekly qualify toward the number of classes teacher trainees are required to participate in throughout the course of the program.
Lauren has a Virtual Yoga Studio. All classes count toward a Yoga Vidya teacher trainee’s required classes while enrolled in the program.
Lauren Toolin, E-RYT 500, C-IAYT, AyPr, Director of Yoga Vidya
Saumya Lauren Toolin is a teacher, mentor, mother and a full-time goddess who is devoted to living a life infused with Yoga and spiritual connection. She was drawn to the practice of yoga at age 14 as a means of navigating a tumultuous childhood. It has been a guiding force in her life for more than forty years.
Continuing to develop herself through personal study and steady practice, Lauren’s yogic path evolved in the early 90s to teaching yoga classes infused with body-mind alignment and philosophical and spiritual integration.
In 2004, she created her first teacher training program, sharing the powerfully catalyzing process of yoga through the lens of teaching.
Over the years, thousands of students have been able to refine themselves, their lives, and their style of teaching through Lauren’s loving, personalized and powerful approach. Meditation, self-awareness, pranayama and advanced hatha techniques that are integral to her unique style.
Preeti Bavdekar, PT, Anatomy Teacher
Much like her teacher Lauren Toolin, Preeti finds the uniqueness of Yoga Vidya in being able to impart freedom from dogma while staying grounded in the purity and essence of the yoga teachings. In this freedom lies the potential for each individual of a thousand petaled lotus. Only then can a practice serve with utmost safety the medical, physical, mental, emotional needs of an individual and help them shift to grow towards deeper healing and lasting wellness; from surviving to thriving in this beautiful creation to create more beauty. Preeti feels the blessing hand of the lineage whenever she teaches.
Preeti completed her 200-hr Yoga teacher Training through Yoga Vidya in 2012 and was shortly thereafter invited by Lauren to teach Anatomy for the 200 and 300 hr teacher training programs. Preeti is beyond delighted to integrate her passion in her profession of physical therapy and her adoration of her yoga practice to present Anatomy in the trainings. Preeti is also faculty in Yoga Vidya’s ancillary programs –Yoga for Young Ones and Trauma Informed Yoga – providing expertise in neurodevelopmental science and its practical application as it relates to yoga.
Nadia El-Fawal, Teaching Assistant
A yoga practitioner since 2009, Nadia earned her certification from Yoga Vidya School Teacher Training and In-Depth Studies 200hr Program in the spring of 2017.
She embraces the idea that yoga is for all bodies and all people. It is her passion to teach her students that everyone can find an expression of asana (physical postures) that best suits them and learn to utilize the many tools and gifts that yoga offers beyond asana to serve them where they are presently in their lives. While maintaining a judgement-free, and encouraging environment she invites students to compassionately cultivate curiosity about themselves while challenging themselves to grow.
She is the creator of the Yoga for Ample Bodies series, she enjoys teaching beginners, and helping more experienced students expand their experience of yoga. Nadia seeks to foster inclusive and accessible spaces where students can practice and explore yoga as a transformative tool for their personal lives and for their communities.
Karen Bona, Teaching Assistant
Karen came to be a yoga instructor by persistently heeding the call to live into her personal vow to embody a love both tender and fierce. She knew that to live this way, she needed to learn to love her own body, her own whole Self.
Karen cultivates a personal practice filled with maitri – unconditional friendliness toward the self – which she pours into the yoga classes she offers. Karen received her 200 yoga teacher certification in 2021 from the Yoga Vidya Academy, and has also received certificates from Yoga Vidya Trauma-informed and Restorative yoga. She was ordained as an Interfaith/Interspiritual Minister in 2020 and is also a Reiki Master Teacher. She lives in Glenville with her 2 teenagers and 3 cats.
Guests
Chris Darby-King, CYT 200, Chair Yoga Teacher
Chris is a retired Occupational Therapist and has been a longtime student of yoga, having started in college many years ago.
After going through treatment for breast cancer, she decided to dive in to become a yoga teacher, taking her 200 hr training with Yoga Vidya and Lauren Toolin, becoming a certified yoga teacher. She continued training with a variety of other practitioners and is now a certified Accessible Yoga instructor and a senior fitness instructor.
She currently teaches Gentle Hatha yoga classes both in-person and on Zoom as well as Chair Yoga at local Senior Centers and Senior living communities, which she finds greatly rewarding.
Prachi Mondaiyka, CYT 200, Sanskrit & Mantra Teacher
