{Featured in Yoga Chicago} This Week's Teacher: Lisa Gniady

See original article in Yoga Chicago here

Lisa Gniady (aka Manjeet Kaur) has taught yoga for over 16 years. She is a E-RYT 200-Hatha yoga teacher, a 500-hour Certified Level 2 Practitioner in Kundalini Yoga as taught by Yogi Bhajan, and a registered Children’s Yoga Teacher. Lisa is a Reiki healer, Quantum Touch Practitioner, and Gong Sound Healer and leads retreats and gong events that incorporate Soul Reflection readings. See her website for upcoming gong events and retreats as well as her debut CD, “Simply Gong,” are available on her website YogaGong4Life.com. Photo by Karen Vaisman Photography.

1. Describe your teaching style in five words. Intuitive, Heart-felt, eclectic, creative, inspirational

2. How has yoga changed your life? Taught me to embrace the world with wonder and a sense of adventure and exploration.

3. What is the philosophy you try to instill in your students? Your experience on the mat is an awakening to yourself. What you learn about yourself on the mat translates into your everyday life. Be kind to yourself, experience everything fully, don’t judge. Accept yourself with all your assets and limitations. Yoga can teach you to be a better person and to love life.

4. What was one of your most profound moments in teaching? I facilitated a retreat last year in Lake Geneva and saw the transformational effects a weekend of Kundalini yoga had on the participants, some who had never practiced it before. At the closing class there was not a dry eye, many shared they had a “Life Changing experience.”

5. What do you see influencing or affecting yoga teachers and students in the next five years?  Technology and the Internet will continue to grow in importance for sharing information to both teachers and students. Benefits from instant access to information and teachings must be balanced with regular personal practice. Technology is a fabulous tool to get teachings to the masses. Let’s not forget the roots of this practice.