Olga Laporte E-RYT 200, RYT 300, YCEP, CRMT, B.A.

Yoga Educator:

For over a decade I have taught yoga and offered spiritual tools that help people bring more awareness, meaning, and balance into their lives. I love to inspire the students to go beyond the practice of just postures and to explore the higher practices of yoga. Specific breathing, concentration, and meditation techniques are the practices that deepen the experience and the transformational process of yoga and reveal to us our own highest potential.

My approach to teaching draws from over a decade of practice and study in classical yoga. It is grounded in the Ashtanga Vinyasa and Kriya Yoga traditions, as well as in yoga philosophy and the spirit of Patanjali’s Yoga Sutras.

I began my journey with the Ashtanga Vinyasa method, which strongly influences my personal practice and teaching. Over the years I have extensively trained (and continue to train) with tradition’s many renowned teachers such as R. Sharath Jois, Tim Miller, Gregor Maehle and Monica Gaucci, and others. As a longtime student of yoga philosophy and meditation arts, my practice, studies and teaching have been deeply influenced by Goswami Kriyananda, Yukuhiro Takeshima, Paul and Suzee Grilley, and Gregor Maehle.

I have a deep passion for sharing yogic wisdom, and I strive to offer teachings that are intelligent, authentic, and full of insight, yet also warm and lighthearted. This makes the teachings easy to understand and, most importantly, to apply in practice and all aspects of daily life.

Ordained Teacher in the Kriya Yoga Lineage:

In 2014 I was ordained as a yogic swami (Swami Smrityananda) after completing a Kriya Yoga Seminary program offered by the Temple of Kriya Yoga  in Chicago. In my lineage the swamis are householders (rather than monks or nuns). They have families and actively participate in the world. A swami serves as a spiritual teacher and offers yoga instruction, guidance, and spiritual offerings in the community.

After finishing the program, which focused on meditation, philosophy, theology, scripture, and spiritual service, I felt inspired to offer practices and teachings to help people to better understand the spiritual process of yoga and to be able to bring the benefits of the practice into their daily life. Since then, in addition to teaching regular yoga classes, I offer accessible yet in-depth lectures for yoga students and teacher training programs. These lectures are conveniently available online and in-person, and they explore topics such as philosophy, history, scriptures, yogic meditation and esoteric teachings.

I also offer spiritual/yogic guidance to those seeking support in their practice or in their lives.

Master Reiki Practitioner & Teacher:

Reiki is a natural healing system that awakens and supports our own self-healing ability, which already resides within us. Based on over a decade of experience with energy healing, I believe that it is complementary to yoga practice as it creates balance and safe expansion within various levels of our being and contributes to positive states of mind.

As a Reiki facilitator, I offer individual healing sessions as well as training for aspiring practitioners. I continue to explore the depths of energy practice through an ongoing mentorship with my teacher, Romina Hoda , who has been a source of inspiration, guidance, and support in my life over the years.

I am very grateful to all those who have guided, shared their wisdom and inspired me to be of service to others by being an instrument of authentic teaching, healing, and guidance. I am also thankful to have practiced and studied yoga over the last several years side-by-side with my husband, Tim Laporte, who is also a devoted yoga practitioner, teacher, and writer. After several years of residing and teaching (and starting a family) in Idaho, we were called back to return to our yoga home base in Encinitas, California.

My yogic path enables me to blend a detailed understanding of physical practice with yoga's spiritual essence, higher meditative practices, philosophical inquiry, and energy medicine. These deeply spiritual teachings are grounded in real life and contribute to the unfolding of our greatest potential, highest joy and purpose!

I look forward to diving deep and exploring these ancient teachings with you…

Shanti,
Olga