Yoga Faculty
Hawaii is their island of choice, Kalani is their home and they will share their love for yoga with you.
Kathy Elder
Kathy is a Certified Yoga Teacher and Master of Yoga Education, and has completed the 500 hour certification for the Yoga Alliance. She has been teaching the mind-body-breath union and the spiritual connection since the late 1970's. "Yoga shows us the way to develop a greater understanding of ourselves and to the world around us. Yoga makes everything better," Kathy says. Her life's experiences have led her on the path of a deep and committed yoga practice.
Kathy feels that it is her destiny to teach, and she travels to India frequently to deepen her understanding of the ancient science of yoga. "Yoga is perfect and when practiced with devotion and under the guidance of an informed teacher, you will develop practice that will last a lifetime".
Kathy's first encounter with yoga was the Ashtanga Mysore practice. She had the opportunity to study with several well-known teachers, including Guriji Pattabhi Jois, from this school and other popular schools of modern yoga.
"The teacher who opened my heart to the meaning of yoga and took me to the next level was Dr. V.S. Rao. He guided me through my yoga master's education with the study of Raja Yoga and the Yoga Sutras," Kathy adds. Influenced by both the Iyengar and Ashtanga schools, Kathy teaches authentic, classical, non-denominational Hatha Yoga, incorporating the 8 limbs of yoga, understanding of the breath and the flow of prana in all the classical asanas.
As the senior yoga teacher at Kalani, she has been devoting her time and energy to several yoga programs here. Hundreds of guests, volunteers and community members have attended her classes, and many have deepened their practice through her Yoga Teacher's Training Certification program.
Jared Owen Sam
Jared is an avid hatha yoga student who first discovered his resonance with the practice twelve years ago through the classic Ashtanga tradition. He now teaches vinyasa yoga, linking the asanas into waves of continuous flow connected with the breath. His series of sequences are inspired by the primary and secondary series, and the traditional hatha practice.
Jared received his teaching certification in the fall of 2001 through Kalani's Yoga Teacher Training program, and his sequences have been most recently inspired through an intensive Teacher Training with world-renowned master yoga teacher Shiva Rea. Jared has been teaching multi-level classes (including yin, gentle, restorative and vinyasa flow) for more than eight years on the Big Island of Hawaii as well as in Portland, Oregon.
Jared believes that "yoga in its essence teaches us to listen to the wisdom of our own bodies". His gentle, warm approach to the asanas creates a safe, focused and intuitive class."
David Sanders
David began his personal yoga practice in 1976. He has studied at a variety of locations in Los Angeles, including Billy Porter's Urban Yoga Workout, and Yoga Works, Santa Monica. David has been deepening his practice at Kalani for the last six years. A Kalani teacher for the past three years, David graduated from Kalani's Yoga Teacher Training in April of 2002. While at Kalani, he has had the opportunity to study with visiting teachers, including Shiva Rea, Lynne Minton, Saul David Raye and Duncan Wong.
Kimberly Dark
Kimberly Dark has been teaching for the past six years and practicing for nearly 15 years. She apprenticed for two years with Sherry Henderson at The Heart of Yoga, an Iyengar-style studio in San Diego, where she continues to teach when she is on the mainland. This training helped her to develop asana modifications for a variety of body types. She also received teaching certification in 2002 through Kalani's Yoga Teacher Training Program and continues to be Kathy Elder's grateful student.
Kimberly believes that "yoga is for the body you have today. Not the body you had 10 years ago, or the one you wish you had! With diligence, the yoga student gains strength, balance, flexibility in the asana practice. Ultimately however, yoga brings dignity back into the body and allows us to connect mind body and spirit toward yoga's real goal: a cessation of the fluctuation of the mind and an ability to know peace."
Paul Squassoni
Paul’s teaching of Tantra stems from several yogas, training with Tias Little, massage certification, working with a yogi for three years, and learning Tandava from Daniel Odier. He has just published a new book on tantra yoga called Sex and Quantum Physics Volume 1: Tantric Yogi Tells All, a book which ranges from beginner tantra yoga exercises to the deep wisdom of the tantric body-centered approach to energy flow. For more information, visit www.SexandQuantumPhysics.com.
Individual and group sessions available upon request.
Omkar
Omkar has been inspired by yoga ever since his grandmother introduced him to it in the early 70’s. In the mid-90’s yoga helped him overcome debilitating back problems caused by stress. After retiring from corporate America in 1997, yoga became an integral part of Omkar's daily life.
Omkar completed the Yoga Alliance certified Sivananda teacher training in 2005, and made pilgrimages to India in 2006 & 2007 to expand and intensify his knowledge of yoga.
He teaches Kundalini, Restorative Yin, and Alignment-based Hatha yoga practices. He is also studying the Anusara Yoga Universal Principles of Alignment and associated Kashmir Shaivism Tantric philosophies.
Omkar is passionate about all types of yoga and is available for private sessions upon request.
