Hari Om
My name is Karuna DiLibero. I have been an avid, dedicated student, practitioner and instructor of Yoga for 2 decades. My formal training began with a private, 6 month Yoga Teacher Training with my first Yoga Instructor, Ela McDaniel, in Bend, Oregon. It was Ela who recognized something within me and encouraged me to teach Yoga. I was in my early twenties, depressed, reckless and partying quite heavily at the time and thought, "This lady is crazy!" But I loved Yoga (and am still completely passionate about it) and kept practicing. My interest in Yoga was drawn to the Ashtanga Yoga tradition. I loved everything about it; the sequence, the way I felt after I practiced, and of course I fell in love with Guruji!
I first met Guruji, Sri K. Pattabhi Jois, on the island of Maui in the year 2000, when he was on his “very last tour” and practiced with him in a basketball court for 2 weeks as he called out the primary sequence in Sanskrit. I was devoted to him that first day, as I was impressed by the power, vigor and energy of the then, 87 year old Brahmin. Plus, he gave me an adjustment that got me into marichyasana D for my first time! I had no comprehension of Indian etiquette back then but after only 3 days of practicing in Guruji’s presence, I found myself waiting in a long line of other devotees, to bow down to touch this man’s feet with love and respect!
It was also during the year 2000 that I took a 200 hour Ashtanga Yoga Teacher Training at It’s Yoga in San Francisco, CA and opened Shanti Yoga Studio in Bend, Oregon. I helped build an amazing community of super yogis there! They are still going strong to this day! While running this business, I started my Yoga modeling career, learned to give Traditional Thai Massage, Reiki and I completed 3 Yoga Teacher Trainings with Doug Swenson. It was an incredible learning and growing experience! It was during this time that I was given the name “Karuna”, meaning compassion, by my meditation teacher, Didi Kamalika. What an epic time that was! People still talk about Shanti Yoga Studio when I return to teach in Bend with love and nostalgia!
Each year Guruji returned to the USA for his “very last tours”, I was there. In 2003, I went to India to live in Mysore to study under his guidance and that of the Jois family. While living there, I had the good fortune to study pranayama, meditation, Sanskrit, Vedic chanting, and Advaita Vedanta with people who are currently living these ancient traditions. I also lived in a Sivananda ashram on the banks of the Ganges River in a small village in north India. These experiences planted seeds within me that I continue to nurture in my daily sadhana. (spiritual practice)
Upon returning from India, I closed my Yoga school in Bend, Oregon and moved to Santa Fe, New Mexico to continue my Yogic studies. It was here that I met my spiritual teacher, Shubhraji, and deepened my understanding of Advaita Vedanta. I studied Vedic Chanting and Yoga Sutras with Sonia Nelson, a direct student of my guru’s guru, the reknown Krishnamarcharya, and Sanskrit with Nicolai Bachman. While teaching Yoga at Yoga Source, I had the privilege to study 150 hour Yoga Teacher Training, countless hours of anatomical aspect of asana with Tias and Surya Little, and Pre/Post Natal Yoga Teacher Training with Linda Spackman.
I ventured in the Tantric waters of Anusara Yoga with Wendy Borger, Senior Anusara Instructor and Ayurvedic Specialist when I taught as a Senior Yoga Instructor at the former Spandarama Yoga Studio in Santa Fe, New Mexico. Under the tutelage of Wendy, I completed a 200 hour Anusara Yoga Teacher Training, a 108 hour Anusara Intensive Immersion Course, an Art of Adjustments Course and an Anusara Therapeutic Benefits of Yoga course. Wendy also inspired me to study Ayurveda as well.
I took my first Ayurvedic Spa training course at the Ayurvedic Institute in Albuquerque, New Mexico in 2010. Ayurveda has been a sister science to Yoga for thousands of years and now I know why! I am passionate about living a conscious, healthy, sustainable, joyful life! Yoga and Ayurveda are the tools that help me live in an optimal way.
I graduated from SAMA (Sacred Stone Academy of Massage & Ayurveda) as an Ayurvedic Health Counselor in late 2015 and look forward to continuing to share more knowledge with others. I am devoted to being a living example to prove how transformative this practice and lifestyle can be. The mysteries and benefits of Yoga & Ayurveda continue to unfold for me on a daily basis.
A Transcendental Meditation course was gifted to me, which I am so grateful for, that has given me a completely new understanding of what meditation is and how it can be. What was once dreaded, has now become a daily welcomed gift to myself.
After a “run in with the law”, in 2010, I was drawn to take James Fox’s Prison Yoga Project Teacher Training. I have always been an advocate for the “underdog”, so I combined my passions of Yoga + Art + Poetry + Photography to create a series of books. The first is self published, called RADIANCE: Particles of Silence. This is a timeless, unique, coffee table, Yoga look book that weaves sparse sutra like phrases throughout the pages, inviting the reader to immerse into their own silence to discover their own inner radiance. The other 2 books are still currently in the works!
I feel it is my calling to share with people the underbelly, the shadow side of life and teach tools for dealing with and ultimately overcoming trauma and depression. Having known depression quite intimately myself, and surviving my own personal traumas, I humbly and honestly share my experience with students in the most loving way I know how, through food as our first means of establishing health, Yoga and Ayurvedic dinacharya (daily rituals) practices and doTerra's essential oils. I also spoke on the radio about the topic of Yoga and Depression on Santa Fe’s “Om Zone”.
I love to travel the world, experiencing the unknown, meeting new friends in far away places, teaching what I love! I have been leading Yoga retreats in stunningly beautiful places since 2006! I have been stoking the fires of my travel addiction fully since 2012. After all, that year was a huge marker for change! “The End of Days”, according to the Mayans. So naturally, I found myself in Tulum, Mexico on winter solstice that year! I have been returning to teach in Tulum each winter since then to live and teach, making Mexico my home half of the year!
As a Wellness Advocate for doTerra, I creatively combine aromatherapy with asana and meditation practice. These bottled magic potions have a profound impact on my life and the more I work with them the more amazed I am by hearing other peoples stories. Please check out my doTerra website: www.mydoterra.com/karunadilibero
I love getting my hands dirty, digging deep in the soil to plant, cultivate and harvest food! Growing and using natural remedies reminds me of the ways of our ancestors and I like to feel this intimate connection as I learn to care for myself and others. My passion is to serve others and to teach natural modalities for creating true health and wellness.
I teach in the Classical manner with a lightness, sense of humor and innate joy that is infused in each class which I tailor to the students level. Over the course of my Yogic “career”, I have opened and run a Yoga studio in Bend, Oregon, fostered Yoga communities worldwide, mentored high school students to teach Yoga, taught meditation to people with terminal illnesses, instructed Yoga classes for the professional dancers of the Aspen/Santa Fe Ballet, the staff at Outside Magazine and in corporate businesses. I designed a Yoga Teacher Training program upon the request of my students, as well as Corporate Wellness Plans. I have lead workshops, retreats and Yogic adventures worldwide and guide individuals and groups through Ayurvedic cleanses and detoxes.
I am grateful to all of my teachers who have blessed my path. It is because of their guidance and inspiration that I have a deep desire to share what I have learned and what I love with others. I am so grateful to the people who practice with me! I am honored to share ancient knowledge that is totally applicable to our lives today!
“Let the beauty of what you love be what you do.” Rumi
May ALL experience peace!
Om Shanti, Shanti, Shantih
www.karunadilibero.com