Core Faculty  

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Ellen Z. Anderson, PT, PhD, GCS, E-RYT has been a physical therapist for 40 years and a yogi for half of that. She has a PhD in health sciences and is a professor emerita of physical therapy from Rutgers University with a strong background in therapeutic exercise. Ellen has written a book, several articles, and many several chapters on the use of mindful and complementary therapies in rehabilitation. She is a certified and registered yoga teacher with Yoga Alliance and enjoys teaching classes for persons new to yoga or those wanting to practice yoga in ways that can address their physical and mental well-being. She teaches anatomy for yoga teacher trainings and is highly regarded for her incorporation of yoga into plans of care for people with mental health concerns.

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Lori S. Zucker, PT, DPT, MA, CYT has been a physical therapist for over 35 years and a dedicated yogi since 2001. She completed her 300-hour teacher training in 2011. Lori has been integrating yoga into her private physical therapy practice for over 20 years. She is highly regarded for her ability to assess patients and clients through a perspective of yoga and then recommend plans of care that combine Western and Eastern approaches for recovery and health.  She has been blessed with the opportunity to teach yoga and anatomy in various places within the US and internationally in the UK, Sudan, Spain, Costa Rica, Norway, India, and Israel.  Lori is also an adjunct professor in the Rutgers University’s Doctor of Physical Therapy program.

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Faculty Advisors 

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​Sunil Desai, CYT was formally trained in southeast India, is a certified yoga teacher and therapist in the tradition of T. Krishnamacharya, one of the most prolific yoga luminaries of the 20th century, and the teacher of T.K.V. Desikachar, B.K.S. Iyengar, Pattabhi Jois, and Indra Devi. formally trained in southeast India, Sunil Desai Sunil’s nearly decade-long study of yoga includes a three-year yoga teacher training (2011-2013) and a three-year yoga therapist training (2016-2018) from the ISO-certified Krishnamacharya Yoga Mandiram in Madras, as well as annual trips to Rishikesh since 2014 for continued studies with senior teachers in the lineage. In addition, he completed a US-based, Yoga Alliance-recognized teacher training in 2011. In his teaching, Sunil emphasizes an understanding of classical yoga philosophy, the principles of Ayurveda, as well as the practical and therapeutic application of the tools of yoga. Based in Miami, Florida, Sunil has been invited to teach in yoga teacher training programs, workshops, and retreats around the country and internationally.

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Paul Steinberg, CYT came to yoga in 2005 near the end of a 20-year career as a lawyer and law firm manager. After exploring several other styles of yoga practice, he found Jivamukti Yoga and its creators, Sharon Gannon and David Life, who became his teachers. In 2008 he became a certified Jivamukti Yoga teacher, and since then he has immersed himself full-time in the teachings and practice of yoga and meditation. For 6 years, he worked closely with his teachers as their editor and advisor, which enabled him to deepen his understanding and commitment to the practice of yoga and its goal, the realization of deep and lasting peace and contentment. Paul has also practiced meditation since he learned to meditate when he was 14. He is skilled at Transcendental meditation, Vipassana meditation, and several other meditation techniques. In 2012, he met Linda Clair, a meditation teacher who has realized enlightenment, and studying with her has both deepened his own practice and infused a profoundly expanded understanding of spirituality and the spiritual path into his teachings. Paul teaches yoga philosophy, ethics for yoga teachers, meditation, and Sanskrit pronunciation in teacher trainings and in a stand alone workshop format. You can read more about Paul and enjoy his teachings on his website (https://www.fullbodyfreedom.net/about-me).  Paul’s teachings are grounded in a broad understanding of yoga philosophy and the results of personal practice and are light-hearted, fun, practical, and accessible to all.