Eowyn Ahlstrom - Yoga Instructor
Eowyn Ahlstrom is a long-time student of yoga and meditation, whose primary interest is in teaching awareness of and compassion for the body. Eowyn completed her 200 hour yoga teacher training here at Karuna, is a certified massage therapist, and a dedicated practitioner of buddhadharma.

Leigh Bailey - Yoga Instructor
Leigh Bailey is a certified yoga teacher. She was introduced to yoga thirty years ago and has practiced Iyengar yoga intensively since 1995. In addition to her training with Eileen Muir, she studied for two years at Unity Woods in Washington DC, and for five years at the Iyengar Yoga Center of Paris.

Janelle Cornwell - Yoga Instructor
Before coming to Karuna, Janelle had studied a variety of yoga styles for eight years. She has been a student of Eileen Muir's for two and a half years and recently completed the 200 hour yoga teacher training at Karuna. She is a PhD student in human geography at the University of Massachusetts. Janelle brings boundless joy and vitality to her classes.

Susan Yard Harris - Yoga Instructor
Susan Yard Harris is a graduate of the Karuna Yoga Teacher Training Program and a student of Eileen Muir. She is a mother, artist, and writer and loves sharing the benefits of health, strength, peace, and joy that Iyengar yoga can bring us as we age.

Michele Morales - Yoga Instructor
Michele Morales is a certified yoga instructor and has trained with Eileen Muir. She brings over 10 years of Iyengar yoga practice to her classes. She is also a mother, childbirth doula, Esalen trained masseuse, and Feldenkrais practitioner.

Doug Raneri - Yoga Instructor
Doug Raneri , a certified yoga instructor, has been practicing yoga since 1987. Having studied Hatha Yoga in depth, Doug also seeks to bring in the spiritual teachings of the great realized masters (Jnani Yogis) such as Ramana Maharshi and Sri Nisargadatta Maharaj.

Jo Schneiderman - Yoga Instructor
Jo Schneiderman is a experienced registered yoga teacher who has taught since 1973. She integrates her 30-year experience with yoga and movement into the Iyengar method of teaching. Jo believes that we discover our true self through the equanimity developed in the study of alignment of the physical and spiritual body in the asana practice.

Shubalananda (Larry Kopp) - Kirtan Devotional Singing
Shubalananda (Larry Kopp) has been a professional musician for many years. He began the study of kirtan through teachers such as Sai Baba, Ammachee, Karunamayi, Shree Maa, and Neem Karoli Baba.

Kirtan here every Tuesday night at 7:40pm

Eileen Muir: - Principal Instructor / Director
Eileen Muir began her yoga training in 1969 at the age of 13, and her studies led her to India, China, and Japan. She has been devoted to studying and teaching the Iyengar method since 1983 and is a 20-year practitioner of Vipassana meditation. In addition to being a Yoga Alliance certified teacher, Eileen is also an AOBTA-certified instructor of Shiatsu therapy and she teaches a year-long 200-hour teacher training program and a 300-hour advanced teacher training. Eileen's teaching is infused with the passion and understanding that comes from her commitment to yoga as a spiritual path to relieve suffering. Each class is an exploration into stillness, moving from gross to subtle while gently penetrating the layers of our being. She brings compassion and vitality to her classes along with close attention to every student. A native of Scotland, Eileen also brings a lively Celtic spirit and humor to her teaching.

Edwin Bryant - Yoga Sutras of Patanjali
Edwin Bryant received his Ph.D in Indic languages and Cultures from Columbia University. He taught Hinduism at Harvard University for three years, and is presently the professor of Hinduism at Rutgers University where he teaches courses on Hindu philosophy and religion. He has received numerous awards and fellowships, published six books and authored a number of articles on Vedic history, yoga, and the Krishna tradition. In addition to his academic work for the scholarly community, Edwin's Penguin World Classics translation of the Srimad Bhagavata Purana, the traditional source for the story of Krishna's incarnation, is both for Indology specialists as well as students and those interested in Hinduism from the general reading public and the yoga community.

As a personal practitioner of yoga for 28 years, a number of them spent in India studying with traditional teachers, where he returns yearly, Edwin strives to combine academic scholarship and rigor with sensitivity towards traditional knowledge systems. In addition to his academiccourse load, Edwin currently teaches workshops on the Yoga Sutras, Bhagavad Gita, and Hindu Philosophy at yoga studios and teacher training courses throughout the country. His translation of and commentary on the Yoga Sutras of Patanjali (North Point Press, a division of Farrar, Straus & Giroux, 2009) is specifically dedicated to contributing to the growing body of literature on yoga by providing insights from the major pre-modern commentaries on the text with a view to grounding the teachings in their traditional context.

Qurban Khalsa - Yoga Philosophy
Qurban Khalsa has been studying, practicing and teaching yoga for over 30 years. He spent 20 years living in an ashram, where he practiced Bhakti yoga, Karma yoga, and Jnana yoga. He believes yoga asana is too often taught with no real understanding of the goal of yoga, and he is passionate about integrating the eight limbs of yoga as both an ancient mystical path and as a practical guide for modern living. Qurban has a degree in psychology, an MBA, and has completed teacher training at Karuna.

Megan Frazier - Experiential Anatomy
Megan Frazier has always loved the exploration of the body, both as a dancer and as an anatomist. She holds an MS in physical therapy as well as an MFA in Dance and a BS in biology. She currently practices physical therapy in both pediatric and geriatric settings, and is an adjunct neuroanatomy instructor at Springfield College. Megan was first introduced to yoga in high school by her modern dance teacher, and finds that yoga practice deeply enhances her anatomical exploration.

Mark Hart - Insight Meditation
Mark Hart has practiced Insight Meditation since 1981, studying primarily at Insight Meditation Society in Barre, Massachusetts. Since 2000 has also studied with teachers of non-dual awareness, including Adyashanti, and has incorporated that into his teaching. He is guiding teacher of the Bodhisara Dharma Community in Amherst, Massachusetts, on the teacherŐs council at Insight Pioneer Valley in Easthampton, and is the adjunct religious advisor to Buddhist students at Amherst College. Mark holds a Ph.D. in theology and an MA in counseling and has a private practice of psychotherapy in Amherst.

Eileen Muir - Director and Principal Teacher
From 1982 - 1984 Eileen studied at the Ohashi Shiatsu Institute in New York City. After graduating from the Institute, she traveled to Japan in 1984 to study and live there for a year and a half. She studied privately with two different Shiatsu teachers. Her teachers had very different styles. One teacher was Susuki Sensei of the Masanaga School of Tokyo and the other was a little old man named Yamamoto Sensei. Yamamoto Sensei taught and practiced in the Namikoshi style. Eileen graduated from the Swedish Institute of New York City in 1987, where she taught Shiatsu levels one through advanced from 1987 - 1995. She developed a Shiatsu / Yoga Curriculum for the New York Open Center and taught there from 1989 - 1995. Eileen volunteered at the Gay Men's Health Crisis and worked extensively with HIV and cancer patients for several years. She has a private Shiatsu practice since 1983.
In addition to Shiatsu, Eileen is devoted to the practice and study of yoga. She began her yoga training in 1969 at the age of 13, and her studies led her to India, China and Japan. She has been devoted to studying and teaching the Iyengar method since 1983. Since 1997, she has been leading yoga teacher trainings. She has also been a practitioner of Vipassana meditation for over 20 years. Eileen brings serenity to her shiatsu training program through the combined influence of her yoga and meditation practices.

Jennifer Tongren - MAOM, LIC Ac
Jennifer Tongren is a licensed acupuncturist and certified herbalist in the state of Massachusetts from the Massachusetts Board of Medicine. She has a Bachelor of Arts in Sociology from Vassar College in Poughkeepsie, New York and a Masters degree in Acupuncture and Oriental Medicine from the New England School of Acupuncture in Boston, Massachusetts. Jennifer graduated from the New England School of Acupuncture in 2005. In 2000, Jennifer studied Shiatsu levels I-III with Ann Ramsay at the Vermont School of Asian Body Therapy located in Burlington, Vermont. Being a lifelong learner, she has continued her studies of Chinese medicine, both in China and at home. She maintains a private practice in Amherst at White Pine Healing Arts.

Megan Frazier - MFA, MA, PT
Megan Frazier has always loved the exploration of the body, both as a dancer and as an anatomist. She holds an MS in physical therapy as well as an MFA in Dance and a BS in biology. She currently practices physical therapy in both pediatric and geriatric settings, and is an adjunct neuroanatomy instructor at Springfield College. Megan was first introduced to yoga in high school by her modern dance teacher, and finds that yoga practice deeply enhances her anatomical exploration.

Chris Belskis - LMT, ABT
Chris graduated from Kiku Miyazaki's Boston School of Shiatsu in 1996. He later became an instructor for the School and taught there until it closed in 2004. Since then he has continued to teach Shiatsu, Sotai, and Tui-Na massage at various schools in Massachusetts. Chris is currently the Oriental Bodywork Instructor for the New England School of Acupuncture, a position he has held for five years. He also has an extensive background in Traditional Chinese Medicine, Five Element Theory and the energetics of food. Chris currently practices Shiatsu and Massage therapy in Northampton and Greenfield, Massachusetts.

Paul Coombs - Insight Meditation
For the past 21 years, the Northampton Insight Meditation Community has greeted one another, has meditated together, and has heard the words of Dhamma from teachers in the Theravada and other Buddhist and Non-dual lineages. For most of those years, Karuna Center has been our home, thanks to the great generosity of Eileen Muir. We continue to gather each Sunday from 7 PM to 9 PM to broaden and deepen both the friendliness and compassion of our hearts and also our understanding of the nature of reality, "the way of things just as they are". Thousands of people have participated with us over the years, creating "ripples on the pond of life" that may have reached far farther than any of us can imagine. Metta and Blessings to you.
Every Sunday 7-9PM at Karuna