Prior to teaching yoga, Sandi worked for many years in international media production as well as in Hollywood, Bollywood, and independent films, with an emphasis on the arts and culture of the South Asian diaspora and the creation of cross-cultural dialogue. As a yoga teacher, she continues to expand awareness and appreciation of the cultural heritage of yoga's roots as well as the integral, and often overlooked, connections between yoga and environmental sustainability.
Since 2004, her personal yoga practice has been grounded in the Ashtanga Vinyasa tradition from Mysore, South India, as well as the Nada Yoga traditions of North Indian music and dance. Sandi has studied Ashtanga Yoga directly with lineage fountainheads Sharath Jois and Saraswati Jois, as well as with other senior and less orthodox yoga teachers around the world. She has also studied directly with Tibetan meditation masters and luminary Indian musicians, gaining insight into both visual and sonic approaches to samadhi.
Sandi has an innovative and creative drive that values bringing flow to stagnation, dismantling stereotypes, cultivating equanimity, and realizing wholeness - healing.
As a yoga teacher, she has adapted traditional approaches to yoga practice into non-traditional contexts, such as creating the first Aqua Yoga program at NYC Parks and producing "Yo Yo Yo Urban Yogis" to unite yoga practice and Indian classical music and dance for inner-city community. While living in Colorado, Sandi created and taught the first Outdoor Yoga and Meditative Hiking program for the national historic landmark of the Colorado Chautauqua.
Sandi infuses her yoga classes with insights from Patanjali Yoga, Buddhism, Traditional Chinese Medicine, Environmental Science, Shaiva-Shakta Tantra, Sufism, and Vedanta. She aims to help her students find freedom in the here and now while growing together in a spirit of service and compassion in action.
Her formal teacher trainings include:
2013: The Shala Yoga House (Ashtanga, Vinyasa & Restorative Yoga) with Kristin Leigh & Barbara Verrochi (RYS 200)
2014: Rainbow Kids and Family Yoga with Nayeli Nateras (50 Hours)
2018: The Yoga Workshop (Advanced Ashtanga Yoga Teacher Intensive) with Richard Freeman and Mary Taylor (200 Hours)
2021: Inner Power Yoga (Yoga Psychology and Tantra Mythology) with Shakti Redding, PhD (RYS 300)
2022: Meridian Yoga Technique (Science of Self Hatha Yoga with Acupressure and Traditional Chinese Medicine) with Dr. Rose Erin Vaughan and Melissa Soong (50 Hours)
ॐ पूर्णमदः पूर्णमिदं पूर्णात्पूर्णमुदच्यते ।
पूर्णस्य पूर्णमादाय पूर्णमेवावशिष्यते ॥
ॐ शान्तिः शान्तिः शान्तिः ॥
Om Puurnnam-Adah Puurnnam-Idam Puurnnaat-Puurnnam-Udacyate |
Puurnnasya Puurnnam-Aadaaya Puurnnam-Eva-Avashissyate ||
Om Shaantih Shaantih Shaantih ||