Daysha ~ Yoga

Thank you all for voting! I am so grateful to all of my students; it is all of you that make teaching so worthwhile.  Thank you for the nomination.

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*** Daysha's recent international ngo endeavor: 

SMART- Connection

 "Uniting body and mind with breath to restore peace after trauma" www.smartconnectionprogram.com_______________________________________________________________

*** Check out my updated teaching schedule ~ by clicking on the schedule link on the left sidebar of this centerpage.  

Namaste & Hari Om,

Thank you for your interest in my training,  world experiences & path to teaching yoga and meditation.  I completed my training at Yoga Vidya Gurukul, an affiliate of the Bihar School of Yoga, which complies fully with U.S. Yoga Alliance 200 hr RYT standards in Nasik, India in July/August of 2007.  I also took a week long Ayurveda course at Yoga Vidya Gurukul. I spent nine months on my trip through India.  My main goals were to complete my yoga training, a silent meditation course & attend the Dalai Lama's teachings.    I cannot say for certain how many different teachers I explored and yoga classes I attended on my travels through India, from the deep south of Kerala & Tamil Nadu to Rajasthan, while living with a family in Mumbai for over a month, to Rishikesh & the Himalayas.  I plan to go back to India to finish my advanced yoga course & certification.  A few years before my trip to India, I lived in Thailand, where I met one of my closest teachers, Dr. Chatree, a venerable Thai Buddhist Monk, who has opened four meditation centers in Thailand and others around the world.  He is currently opening centers in Russia & often speaks at UN conferences and at the Annual International Buddhism Conference.   I took his meditation courses, studied with him personally in his monasteries & returned this last year to his Abbot's monastery in Thailand to complete a 2 week silent monastic meditation retreat with the intent of being prepared to teach Vipassana & other forms of meditation while exploring the monastic lifestyle.  I correspond regularly with Dr. Chatree, Guru G, Gandar G & other teachers from Yoga Vidya Gurukul, Dr. Yardi (the Ayurvedic doctor whose course I completed in India), Amaro (one of my first teachers, an old Rajasthan yogi), Surindar, a great yogi in Rishikesh, & other yoga teachers from India.  Often they offer me advice in regards to my private students & private meditation classes.  I have also stayed in contact with many monks, laypeople & Dorges that I met during the 3 weeks I spent with the Dalai Lama in Dharamsala where I completed his 14th Annual Spring Teachings and took my Bodhisattva vows .  During his teachings, I also took nightly courses with Dorge Dumdul, the Dalai Lama's main English translator.

Having moved to Washington, DC from Boston nearly two years ago, I feel so lucky to be intergrated into the DC yoga community. Just before my arrival in DC, I had been teaching yoga full-time in Boston & Cambridge, MA.  While taking a graduate semester at Harvard University, I was able to teach yoga in the area though Spotfire/Tibco Corp, Hult International Business School, Centro Corp., Cambridge After School Program, Art & Soul Studio, Healthworks, & many wonderful private clients.  You can see my original teaching schedule in Boston by clicking on the Schedule link at the right of this page. I still work with private clients in Boston and with my lifelong Sadhaka, with whom I do meditation classes over Skype.  In Boston, I also practiced with Patricia Walden, B.K.S. Iyengar's Master Teacher, for some months through her classes for yoga teachers.  I still train with Patricia when my schedule allows. 

Prior to Boston, I first expanded my yoga teaching in Idaho Falls, ID for approximately one year.  I returned to Idaho Falls to be with my family after my intensive training in India.  During this year teaching yoga, I held & instructed 3 yoga workshops: Exploring the Yoga Path (focused on the eight limbs of yoga) & the Joyful Lotus Yoga Workshop (focused on advancing one's asana & meditation practices).  The last workshop, The India Workshop,  I was asked to put on by the Apple Athletic Club for all of their yoga instructors; this workshop was mainly focused on Sanskrit, mudras, bundhas & chanting.  The workshops have been a great joy.  In Idaho, I taught classes for kids at the Apple Athletic Club (8-12 years old) while also teaching a Gentle Yoga for Healing class at Namaste Yoga Studio to a group of women aged 50 and older.  I also taught classes mainly done in chairs for seniors at Lincoln Court Retirement Center.  I enjoyed instructing an array of drop-in classes at the studio, three of which were held in the park during lunch time in the summer months.  I was blessed to work with many wonderful private yoga & meditation clients.  Testimonies from my many private clients can be read by clicking on the link on the left hand column of this page.

While I was teaching in Idaho, I managed Namaste Yoga Studio where I organized charity events and Open Houses to introduce the new teachers.

As a relatively new teacher to DC, I am delighted to meet people from the yoga community and become involved in any way I am able.  Having recently completed my MA in International Development degree, I am now fully integrated in yoga and combining these two passions through SolYoga and various other worthwhile endeavors.  Please don't hesitate to contact me if you have a yoga interest.  To set up an initial meeting to discuss desires & goals for private lessons or go over some different paths private lessons can start down, please visit the Contact Daysha page.  Thank you kindly for taking the time to become acquainted with my experience & offerings as a teacher.  Please have a wonderful day and take time to see the life in motion and in stillness around you as you begin down or continue upon your yoga path.

Namaste & Loving Kindness,

Hari Om Tat Sat

Daysha Hampton