About Haris
Haris (Harini) Lender is a certified Integral Yoga teacher. She teaches Yoga classes in St. Petersburg, Florida, where she lives with her daughters. Highly creative and an expert camper and outdoorsperson, she runs Camp Yogaville in Virginia every summer. Among her many accomplishments are completing an Outward Bound course in North Carolina, studying with the National Outdoor Leadership School in Kenya, Africa, where she lived with Masai warriors, running the outing club at the University of North Carolina (hiking, canoeing, rock climbing, etc.), and serving as a Brownie Troop leader. Haris - In her own words
My first Hatha Yoga class was in someone's basement in the mid 80's. Don somebody-or-other taught it...a very nice guy but my guess is that he learned everything he knew from a book or another Yoga class. I hurt my back and years later rediscovered Hatha Yoga to fix it - go figure! Ever since then I have been a stickler about certification and really learning my stuff.I attended a prenatal Yoga class when I was pregnant with my first daughter, Raquel, in 1991, and had a very sporadic Yoga practice for years after that. The Yoga helped so much though, and the bonding with so many other pregnant women was wonderful!
After a series of family crisis in my life during 1999, I turned to Yoga. I used to go to class and do a pose and rest in Savasana, do a pose and rest. I was so in need of being in that room, I didn't even care how many Asanas I did. I needed the music, the chill time, the breathing and the rest. I decided to go to Yogaville in the year 2000, for my training as an Integral Yoga teacher. This style resonated with me because it focuses on all of the aspects of the Science of Yoga: Karma, Bhakti, Hatha, Raja, Japa, Jnana. Training at an Ashram was the best thing I could have ever done. Truly living that yogic life, getting up at 5:15 to meditate, attending daily Yoga classes, studying the Sutras (yogic scriptures), learning the teachings of my Guru Swami Satchidananda (www.satchidananda.org), walking in the woods, eating healthy vegetarian food, etc. It was a life changing experience. When I came home everyone asked me, "What happened to you?" When I left I was a bundle of anxiety, and when I came back I had the tools to deal with the stress in my life.
 My home away from home, Yurtananda |
Since becoming a certified Yoga teacher in 2000, I have been working on my skills as a Yoga teacher to the gentle Yogi, children of all ages, pregnant women and just regular folks. I believe Yoga is for every BODY. You just have to find the right teacher, the right space and the right style to suit you!
Yoga has changed my life in so many ways that I'd have to write a book to share it with you...hey there's an original idea, I'll write a book about Yoga!
When I was a Hebrew school teacher, I used Hatha Yoga to help teach the holidays to my students. There's so much that can be done with this 5,000 year old science it amazes me!
If you are reading this and you haven't yet experienced the benefits of the science of Yoga, I encourage you to take a class - with me or with another qualified teacher. And I highly encourage you to try lots of different styles and teachers until you find the one that suits you. Yoga is something you practice all day, standing in line at Publix in Mountain Pose (Hatha), taking deep 3-part Yogic breaths before you honk your horn at the guy in front of you (Pranayama), chanting in the park as you walk your dog (Bhakti), stopping to pick up a piece of garbage as you rush off to your next appointment (Karma), reading Yogic scriptures while waiting at the doctor's office (Raja), etc. It's all Yoga, it's all good.
See you in class!
Om Shanti,
Haris "Harini" Lender
