Team.

A simple but very true saying: together we are strong! Here we are letting you know who the original team is.

Samira Radsi

Samira is a film director and yoga teacher living in Berlin, Germany. One Saturday morning after a long night with little sleep she was counting milk bubbles in her Cappuccino when the idea for World Yoga Day popped out of nowhere. When the fabulous Sandra, Bjoern and Lei joined her the idea started to walk. The milk bubble count was 6844.

Bjoern Wyrich

Björn, an IT professional, is also living in Berlin, his favorite city in Germany. He did his very best to set up this accessible website for Samiras great idea of a WORLD YOGA DAY for charity and and kept it running for seven years. None of WYD would have ever happened without him.

Sonja Eigenbrod

Sonja Eigenbrod is also living in Berlin. She has studied different yoga traditions and is a freelance yoga teacher and bodyworker. Sonja is supporting and coordinating the project from the first hour with a lot of passion for practicing yoga in all its aspects and with many years of work experience as an Office Manager.

Contact Sonja by email: sonja [at] worldyogaday [dot] net

Benjamin Ruff

Another IT-professional from Berlin. Benjamin has been a great help with our website-relaunch and is now maintaining the website and its CMS.

You can find his website here: www.rubaff.de / www.leanlabs.de

WYD Region coordinators

Region coordinators will support you in your reason and language with questions or ideas you want to bring to the table.

Alex Grant - coordinator for Australia

Alex discovered yoga in 1996 at the Integral Yoga Institute in New York City. He went to Mysore in 2002 and 2008 to practice Ashtanga with Sherath at the Ashtanga Yoga research Institute.

He completed his teacher training in 2002 at Yoga Arts in Byron Bay and taught at various yoga schools in Sydney for 5 years before moving to Byron Bay where he continues to teach. His teaching combines the Ashtanga Vinyasa system with more traditional Hatha yoga poses. He believes that yoga does not have to be serious, and thinks that having a strong home practice is very important.

Contact Alex by email: alex [at] findyoga [dot] com [dot] au

Rossella Baroncini - coordinator for Italy

Rossella Baroncini was born and lives in Florence where she was trained as a yoga teacher. She has been teaching classes, private lessons, workshops in Italy and abroad from 1987. Rossella is a direct long time student of Vanda Scaravelli (author of Awakening the Spine, 1991) she started to study with her in 1983 at the age of 26 having individual lessons until 1999. Now Rossella continues to explore the teachings she has received from Vanda maintaining his simplicity and freedom. She likes to share the beauty of a practice that reaches you in a natural way.

Contact Rossella by email: rossellabaroncini [at] yahoo [dot] it

Marek Bednarski - coordinator for Poland

World Yoga Day coordinator Marek BednarskiYoga teacher from Wrocław (West of Poland) who's got an international certificate for the level Introductory II. His inspiration and master is legendary yoga teacher B.K.S. Iyengar (the founder of Iyengar Yoga). That's why his first steps in this magic world of yoga were connected with „Light on Yoga” - famous Iyengar's book. Marek started practicing yoga in 1992, but soon discovered that more interesting than asans are for him the meditation's methods. 2005 he began his career as yoga teacher. Natural therapy is also one of his interests. 2002-2006 he participated in rei-ki course, which he graduated getting the titul of master in natural therapy. 2004 he began with job as a teacher of meditation in Natural Therapy Center in Wrocław. Marek is still participating in different yoga courses to improve his talent and develop his yoga method. He was taught by different teachers from abroad (Gabriella Giublilaro - Italy, Corine Biria - France, Lois Steinberg – USA). 2008 he opened his own yoga center – Fabryka Energii in Wrocław - where he teaches and helps people with his yoga therapy. If you have any problems with your spine – he will help you practicing yoga.

Contact Marek by email: marekbednarski [at] fabrykaenergii [dot] pl

Chompreeya Baiphowongse (Aoy) - coordinator for Thailand

World Yoga Day coordinator Brooke Riglin

Aoy has started practicing yoga since 2003 and has tried various styles of yoga before she discovered Ashtanga in early 2010. She is a student of Paul Dallaghan and has since continued to visit yearly to attend special advanced training courses on Yoga Philosophy, Pranayama and Asana with him, Sri O.P. Tiwari, and Prof. Nagaraja Rao.

A very dedicated Ashtanga practitioner - her main focus in teaching is to create an appropriate form of practice that could bridge the dynamic form of Ashtanga to each individual so that students can practice at their own level.

Currently, she is also working as a financial analyst full-time yet continued with her yoga passion in assisting the Daily Mysore class. She is now teaching Ashtanga-based vinyasa class in Bangkok. Besides, she is also studying with a Health Institute and is in-training to be a health-coach and have vast interest in health & wellness area.

Email: ecb0205 [at] gmail [dot] com

JENA PATEL - Coordinator for the UK

Jena was born and raised in the UK (London) and has been practicing various forms of Hatha yoga since 2003. She has recently completed a MA in Human Rights for which she conducted research on the impact of natural disasters on violence against women in Bangladesh. She has spent time living, working, studying and travelling in the United States, Southern Africa, Western Europe, Thailand and South Asia where she has also enjoyed practicing a diverse range of yoga styles. Wanting to direct her energy towards working psychologically with those who have experienced human rights violations both at home and abroad, Jena is currently training to be a therapeutic counsellor in London. Once she qualifies she hopes to incorporate yoga and movement therapy in her approach to effecting positive psychological change.

Contact Jena by email jena [dot] patel [at] yahoo [dot] com

US Coordinator

Michelle was raised in a multi-ethic background; her mother is Korean, and her father is Colombian.   She has been an active yoga practicioner since 2010, and frequently practices various forms of Hot Hatha, Vinyasa, Ashtanga yoga and Pranayam.  Living in Colombia for part of her childhood gave her the opportunity to learn numerous invaluable lessons that motivated her to become an advocate of social change and an active volunteer for local nonprofits such as Memorial Hermann Hospital and international humanitarian organizations such as People to People International since 2006.   Being exposed to three different cultures, and having to speak three languages (Spanish, English and Korean) allowed her to discover and pursue her passion to learn more about different cultures, and integrate this passion to her active and professional life.  Michelle currently has a Bachelor's Degree in Communications, and a Cultural Anthropology minor from the University of Massachusetts Amherst. After becoming an active yoga practicioner since 2010, and learning about World Yoga Day, she was finally able to coordinate the first World Yoga Day in Texas in 2013 and continue the tradition in 2014. Now she looks forward to connecting with other studios around the United States to continue to carry out and become a practical resource to organize this outstanding humanitarian movement.

Contact Michelle Moreno-Lee by email: michelle [dot] moreno [at] gmail [dot] com