Teacher training team

“We’ve given the Sama Yoga Teacher Training programs since 2007 and I must say it’s been an amazing journey! It’s been a great pleasure and joy sharing my heart, and passion for yoga, seeing the many students bloom and become great teachers. I too have grown a lot and continue to find better ways of conveying the Yoga teachings, mostly by being a devoted student of yoga in all aspects of my life.”

/SKY

Core Team

All three main teachers of this training (Sky, Sanna & Anna) are devoted to a life of yoga, making every aspect of their modern life a sadhana for growth. Previous students often comment “they walk their talk”. Apart from their extensive experience and education in many aspects of yoga, they all are based in the same teachings of “Traditional Advaita Vedanta”, in the lineage of Shri Pujya Swāmi Dayānanda Saraswati,

For the past 10-20 years they have spent at least 6 months every year living with and in daily classes with their teachers Shri Swami Vagishanandaji and Shri Radhaji, as well as many courses in Swami Dayanandajis ashrams when he was still alive. They have  been given their blessings to teach to carry this tradition forward. Currently they are taking part in a 3,5 yr residential Vedanta course with Radhaji, which continues for 5-12 weeks every year.

 

A little more about their teachers:

  • Shri Swami Vagishanandaji is a sanyasi, vedanta scholar and chanting master for the past 40 years (he participated in five 3,5yr residential courses with Swami Dayanandaji!). He lives like a monk, devoted to hindu dharma (universal values) and traditions.
  • Shri Radhaji, Dr Carol Whitfield, is a vedanta teacher and sanskrit scholar, teacher at the CIIS University in San Fransisco as well as an accomplished therapist and PhD in psychology. She studied with Swami Dayanandaji since the 1970s and was for many years the manager of one of his ashrams.Both of them have the rare combination of understanding both the eastern teachings as well as psychology and the needs of a modern mind and the western mind.
  • Shri Pujya Swāmi Dayānanda Saraswati – words fall short to describe our revered Guru Pujya Swamiji. He completely revived the tradition of Vedanta and Hindu Dharma and has impacted millions of peoples lives world wide.

 

To be so close with our teachers is a profound blessing.
Om Shri Gurubhyo Namah
Om Shantih

Sky

Sky Akasha found a passion for yoga in 1991 and has taught several styles of yoga since year 2000, always coming back to the simple and deep principles in the tradition of Hatha Yoga. Gracefully incorporating wisdom from Qigong, Ayurveda and Bhagavad Gita (yoga shastra) into his classes gives his delivery a certain integrity and well-rounded approach.

His dedicated studies in Vedanta for the past 20+ years as well as a 1 year residential course in Ayurveda with Dr Lad, has given a good grounding in the purpose and practices of Yoga as a way of achieving balance, harmony and total fulfillment in this life. His classes are always spontaneous and deeply honoring of his students.

As he says, “I’m like the milkman, I just deliver the milk, fulfilling the sacred and even unspoken orders of the students”. Taught with relaxed passion, humour and clear understanding of the poses and their benefits, one finds his unique classes inspiring and rewarding. 

Sky is the founder of Sama Yoga and since 2001 he has taught full time on courses, teacher trainings, festivals as well as weekly classes in many parts of the world. Since 2007 he is a registered “Experienced Teacher” in the Yoga Alliance.

 

Sky is the main teacher during the education and teaches about 70 % of the classes, teaching Yoga Asanas, Ayurveda, Teaching skills, Chanting, Puja, Meditation and Yoga Lifestyle wisdom.

Sanna Akasha-Tobias

Sanna Akasha-Tobias found meditation and yoga at the age of 16 and has been committed to a daily practice since then. She often says it felt like coming home. Her interest spans over all the aspects of yoga including Advaita Vedanta (self knowledge, what gives happiness and peace), Sanskrit, traditional Chanting & Ceremony as well as Yoga shāstra (yoga as a lifestyle committed to personal growth).

Her name is very appropriate, it means “truth”, which has been her motivation and goal for as long as she can remember. She radiates an honesty and openness that invites immediate comfort and trust in all her students and clients. On the teacher training she offers classes in vedanta, sanskrit, ceremony, chanting as well as personal guidance.

Sanna brings a cheerful and dedicated presence to the courses which really supports everyone, especially the students in their processes. From her diverse background, which has included mindfulness, engineering, animals, physically challenged children, sports competition and extensive travels among other things, she has gained a deep humility and respect for each individuals journey and the ability to inspire and uplift whoever she meets.

Together with her husband, Sky, Sanna teaches on retreats, teacher trainings and festival around the world, as well as online classes in Vedanta and Sanskrit. She also leads company development and leadership workshops based in the yogic practices merged with modern research.

During the course she teaches Vedanta & Yoga Shastra, Lifestyle wisdom & Psychology, Sanskrit, Chanting, Meditation and Puja as well as personal coaching support.

Ananyaa

Anna Sunesson is devoted to yoga life, teaching and maintaining a steady practice, self-reflection and exploring her passion to grow. At the Sama TT she brings in elements from the yin & restorative yoga, special knowledge on how to teach beginners, as well as extensive experience of how to run classes & retreats. Anna keeps contact with students before and during course, and takes care of holding space for the group and giving personal support at the steps. It’s her you’ll be in contact with for questions and application.

Anna’s heart is at home in the earth, offering her home-grown foods and her knowledge of nature is a deep part of who she is. She truly values non-injury (ahimsa) and lives in harmony with nature with her feet in the earth. Anna has great organizational skills and ideas plus the ability to implement them in course form. She has started up the yoga travel company “Yatra Yoga resor” where she gives retreats around the world as well as teaching weekly classes in her home town. Among others, Anna has followed these valuable trainings:

-Yin and Restorative Teacher Trainings with Magdalena Mcweld
-Swastha Yoga Theraphy Training with Dr Ganesh Mohan
-Sama Yoga Teacher Training with Sky
 
During the course she teaches Yin/Restorative, Teaching skills, Puja and practical tips around giving courses and stepping into the role of a Yoga teacher. She also gives personal coaching support. 
Guest Teachers
Swami Vagishananda Saraswati

Swami Vagishananda Saraswati – a Sannyasi and Vedic chanting master. Totally dedicated to understanding reality and the vedic/yogic teachings since the age of 19 (over 45 years!). Not only does he understand with full clarity the vision of vedanta – the answer to the question “Who am I” and “what brings a sense of wholeness and freedom from suffering to a human being?”, he also knows how to convey this truth to his students.

He’s been through five(!) 3,5 year residential courses with his teacher Śrī Pujya Swāmi Dayānanda Saraswati. Swamiji shares with incredible passion and humor, bringing the Vedic teachings alive and into our hearts in a very unique and beautiful way. From Swamiji we get the connection to tradition, as it has been passed down from teacher to student for thousands of years. He gives us a richer sense of what yoga is really about and how to bring it into your everyday life. Meeting Swamiji is often a lifechanging experience for the sincere seeker, giving a sense that the search is finally over. Listen to class examples here.

Swamiji will give live talks online from his home in Bali. There will also be chances to ask questions. 

Petra Parvati Kalla

Petra works as a physiotherapist in a stress & pain rehabilitation clinic in Stockholm. She is also a C-IAYT yoga therapist. She has 20 years of experience with traditional Hatha yoga and teaching, more than 1000 hours of yoga training and Advaita Vedanta studies, she has a deep experiential yogic knowledge that she infuses in her approach to western physiology. She loves to see yogic empirical wisdom confirmed, explained and understood by western science. To know where the insights of both systems connect can pofoundly enrich how you practice and teach yoga. Learn more about the intelligent inner workings of the body-mind, and let it support you on your yogic path to true health.

Petra will teach Anatomy & Physiology, Alignment, Asana technique and Safe adjustment. She will also touch on the topics of Yoga Therapy and Special Needs.

Read more about Petra here

Inga-Lill Tellskog

Inga-Lill will share how we can teach in trauma-informed way keeping in mind that each yoga student has a nervous system and an unconscious mind where there may be trauma stored. How do the traumas store in the body and how can we use Yoga Asanas to heal? 

Read some words from Inga-Lill in our blog

Assistant
Malin Nauchman

Malin assists on the course, taking care of practical details so the teachers can focus on teaching on being with the group. She also guides the volunteer team as well as shares her sincere care and sweetness, she’s a much appreciated extra resource to all the students and team. 

Malin began early to seek knowledge of the human psyche and has studied NLP,  massage, meditation, yoga, bodyworks, energywork, and craniosacral knowledge. Since many years she has worked with children with a passion to introduce them to the magic of nature.

Devoted to self awareness and how we can grow as human beings, in Sama Yoga Malin found playfulness, softness, flow, wisdom of Vedanta, the challenge and skills to grow and very importantly – the reminder of the presense of the heart in all we do and are. 

Musician
Johan Bysell

Johan is a musician who plays several kinds of instruments. He creates a heartfelt and inspiring ambience through his acoustic and electronic live tones. He has a spiritual heart and has studied vedanta for many years, which brings depth and meaning to his expression through music. During his visit to the course, Johan will pop in and play live music during Sky’s yoga, as well as offer musical enhancement in other ways during part of the training.  Here is a short taste.