Teachers/Staff
Santokh Singh Khalsa, D.C., Awareness Center Founder, Owner & Lead Trainer
Dr. Khalsa is the Lead Trainer to the Awareness Center. He has been practicing Kundalini yoga for over forty years. He and his wife, Suraj, were founders of the Awareness Center in 1974 and both have been teaching ever since. He is the lead teacher for the Level I and Level II Kundalini Yoga teacher training program. Dr. Khalsa also teaches the Wednesday, 7:00 P.M. Beginner’s Series once a quarter in January, April, July and October and has a thriving Chiropractic practice in Pasadena. www.khalsachiropracticpasadena.com
Suraj Kaur Khalsa - Awareness Center Co- Founder & Co-Owner
Suraj Kaur Khalsa began practicing Kundalini Yoga in 1974 and became a teacher in 1976. Her classes are a gentle yet invigorating combination of kriyas and breath work. Using inspiring Universal readings and teaching, she creates a soothing, uplifting environment that is healing to all; beginners and long time students alike.
Suraj teaches Mondays at 11am and Saturdays at 9am.
Atma Kaur, Gillian
Gillian (Atma Kaur) brings a warmth and light to her classes that allows one to reinvigorate, relax, and renew on many levels. In a class with Atma, enter the flow of true identity and acceptance of self by integrating mind, spirit, and body. Sharing awakenings through life's changes is built into the fabric of her classes, as is a supportive atmosphere.
Atma embraced the gentle power of Kundalini Yoga as a foundation for living while taking Santokh Singh Khalsa's beginners series in 1995. She became KRI certified in 1998 and teaches a variety of ages and abilities. All are welcome.
Atma teaches Saturdays at 11:00 am.
Nirmaljeet Kaur, Sheila
Sheila (Nirmaljeet Kaur) enjoys teaching all levels of students, from first-time beginners to practitioners with years (or decades) of experience. Her classes emphasize the Kundalini Yoga basics of breathing and postures that serve to ground students in a strong foundation for their practice.
Featuring a wonderful range of eclectic music such as Eastern, Chill out, World and a plethora of non-traditional music (Louis Prima, anyone?), you can learn in a comfortable, fun, and stress-free environment. Her classes work to bring passion, joy, enthusiasm, and humor into your life.
Nirmaljeet teaches Fridays at 9am for Breakfast Club Kundalini Yoga.
Yolanda
Yolanda (Teg Kirtan Kaur) focuses on releasing mental and physical blocks that could cause imbalances in your life. She guides you through powerful movements that will strengthen the core muscles while focusing your awareness inward.
Yolanda is Certified in Kundalini Yoga and Energy Balancing. She enjoys teaching her students to connect within and assists them through kriya techniques that encourage balance in their lives.
Yolanda teaches Tuesdays at 7pm.
Basia
I wonder if you wonder how wonderful your life is. You can expand into more peaceful and harmonious wonderfulness.
With 25 years of teaching Kundalini Yoga and Meditation, Basia’s yoga-bliss warmups focus on stretching your limbs and major muscle groups. The Kundalini yoga sets/kriyas, mantras/chanting, and going sound healing upgrade your aliveness by softening into your heart coherence, grace, and prosperity, strengthening the auric field to receive higher resonations of bounty, beauty, and bliss, and grounding that energy into all body systems and daily living.
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Basia teaches Wednesdays at 10am.
Diana Bohan
Diana is a certified Yin Yoga instructor, an Awareness Center certified Kundalini Yoga instructor and past Energy Exchange Student, and Myofascial Release Practitioner.
Diana has a profound appreciation for the human body and incorporates her anatomy based knowledge as a bodyworker into her yin yoga classes. She guides students into gentle stretching to release fascial restrictions seen in muscle tension, poor postural habits, and injury. She enjoys empowering others to heal their own body, mind and spirit through yoga, meditation and bodywork.
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Diana teaches every Thursday morning at 11 AM.
Courtnay Robbins
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Courtnay has been practicing yoga for more than 15 years and has been teaching since 2019, when she received her Yoga Alliance RYT500 certification. In 2023, she continued her training in Dharamshala, India where she received her second certification from the Himalayan Iyengar Yoga Centre. Her teaching style is focused on alignment, awareness and the body-mind-breath connection. She takes a healing approach to yoga, considering each student’s physical, mental and emotional needs so they can receive maximum benefit from the practice. Students will come away from her classes with an increased sense of stability and strength in their bodies and stillness in their mind.
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Courtany teaches every Friday morning at 11am.
Cara Torricelli
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A radiant and experienced Kundalini Yoga teacher with over 20 years of self-practice, Cara is now ready to share her light with others.
Studying under Guru Singh & Brett Larkin, she focused on the technology of Kundalini yoga and its ability to access stuck emotions so they can be transformed through movement (asana), breath (pranayam) & sound (mantra). She has a deep connection to nature and incorporates moon cycles within her teachings and classes.
With a compassionate heart and deep commitment to personal growth, Cara creates a safe space for all as she guides students of all levels on a journey of self-discovery, healing, and awakening.
Join her to tap into your divine potential and embrace more joy, purpose, and boundless possibilities.
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Cara teaches every Monday evening at 6 PM & Tuesday Mornings at 9 AM.
Thelma
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Thelma's curiosity and determination to heal, rebuild and expand her inner foundation has led her on a profound spiritual journey. Through life experience and training in different modalities she has acquired several tools and wisdom.
She hopes to inspire others to get curious about their own healing and support them in reconnecting and unlocking the healer within.
Sat Darshan Kaur, Diana Novelo
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Diana's journey began at the Awareness Center when she attended the six weeks Kundalini Beginners series. She loved the overall experience so much that it inspired her to want to volunteer for such an amazing place and be part of the community. The classes, staff, and overall energy of the AC has positively impacted her to become the AC Event/Scheduling/Energy Exchange Coordinator and Marketing Director handling the newsletter, website, event coordinator, and social media. She utilizes her skills from her full time job and personal creativity to incorporate into her role. She is very grateful to be part of the AC family and work with the community who attends it.
Adele Guerra
Adele is registered with the Yoga Alliance at the E-500 level. Trained with Michelle Mazur in Iyengar, Restorative and Hatha yoga, she comes from a background working with special needs children and their families and found her calling in helping others heal their mind, heart and body. She is grateful to have been introduced to yoga through her chiropractor who treated her from an accident which fractured 2 vertebrae in her spine. She found yoga as a vital key to healing life and is committed to inspiring others to explore the healing elements of yoga!
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Adele teaches Wednesdays at 6pm.