Meet Hansa
Hansa, C-IAYT and APD provider, E-RYT500, YACEP, LMT, KCYT, BS
In 1988, Hansa left the corporate world and received her Massage Therapy and Yoga Teacher certifications. Continuing to study, she explores Vedic Chanting, Ayurveda, Yoga Therapy, and anything Yoga!
Thanks to the diverse teachers she has had the opportunity to study with, Hansa has developed a keen insight into the collaboration of the Body, Mind, and Spirit. She has integrated diverse body-oriented therapies through studying Kripalu Yoga, Yoga Therapy, Therapeutic Bodywork, Body Reading, Health Education, Homeopathy, and Ministry to facilitate Spirit connection.
Yoga changed her life. She wants to continue sharing more than āsana. Her goal is to teach yoga on and off the mat integrating body, mind and Spirit. Through the philosophy, we can learn “why yoga works.” Through yoga tools beyond āsana, we expand the tool box so we have tools for every occasion. Her maturing teaching is reflecting her personal goal of passing on yoga wisdom that is more than āsana.
Hansa is active in the yoga community. Her associations with yoga organizations over many years often resulted in serving on their boards: International Association of Yoga Therapy, Unity of Yoga (the precursor to Yoga Alliance), past president of Yoga Alliance and Yoga Teachers of Colorado. She is currently on the Board of Sanga, an educational non-profit organization and the International Association of Yoga Therapy. Hansa is the owner of Gentle Touch Body Mind and Spirit Connection and PranaYoga and Ayurveda Mandala. She is a Holistic Lifestyle Facilitator and her therapeutic work integrates Yoga Therapy and Massage.
Meet Swami Kripalu, Hansa’s Guru
Swami Kripalu (1913—1981), Kripalvananda, was a Kundalini yoga master and teacher. He was the inspiration for Kripalu yoga and the Kripalu Yoga Center, which were founded by Swami Kripalu’s student, Amrit Desai. Swami Kripalu was known for the intensity of his spiritual practice (sadhana), meditating for 10 hours each day and maintaining a practice of social silence.
Swami Kripalu spent the last four years of his life at the Kripalu Center, at that time located in Pennsylvania. He returned to India shortly before his death in 1981.
The depth of his sadhana did not limit Swami Kripalu. He was a musician and a writer with a sense of humor. He made the ancient teachings relevant to contemporary life. His teachings were based on the eight-limbed path as described by Patanjali in The Yoga Sutras. He was a bhakti yogi, encouraging devotees to walk the Path of Love. He was eternally devoted to his teacher, Lord Lakulish, the 28th incarnation of Lord Śiva.
Babuji, as he is affectionately called, emphasized a personalized, daily yoga practice for each individual. The practice became a meditation in motion. It guided students to explore their path of love through developing loving relationships, first by loving their own inner Divine Self. He encouraged a healthy lifestyle, and through loving compassion to discover “self-observation without judgment” and practice service.
Kripalu Hatha yoga integrates breath guiding movement. It focuses on meditation, āsana, prānāyāma, relaxation, self-acceptance, and has tools to activate prāna, internal life force energy.
Master Acarya in Longmont: Ongoing Mentor and Inspiration to Hansa
Yogacharya Dharmananda, fondly known as Swamiji, is a preeminent scholar and teacher of the Science of Yoga, Hindu Philosophy, and Comparative Religion. As the former Director of the International Vishwaguru Yoga and Meditation Institute (Rishikesh, India), he has given these teachings to students from all over the world for more than 25 years. He is the direct disciple of the late Guru, Shri Vishwaguruji Maharaj. Swami’s lectures – especially his mode of presentation with humor, stories and anecdotes – has earned him wide acclaim.
You may contact him directly: sdharmananda@yahoo.co.in
See his website here: www.swamidharmananda.com & on Facebook: www.facebook.com/yogacharya.dharmananda
Swamiji’s photos are courtesy of Valerie Meadows, Meadows Photography
In Honor of Hansa’s Beloved Friend and Colleague
Patricia M. Hansen, MA, E-CYT500 (1944 – 2023) was a Yoga therapist, Certified Ayurvedic Practitioner and Lifestyle Consultant, and both a National and International Yoga Teacher and Lecturer. She introduced Hansa to the ideas of yoga and āyurveda in the early 1980’s. They maintained and grew their relationship for around fifty years! Hansa called Patricia the “keeper of her heart,” always there with presence and wisdom to share.
Patricia has a special history with yoga. She started teaching at the local YMCA in 1967 and at the Jewish Community Center in 1969. She developed the first prenatal yoga classes in the early 1970’s. Patricia established the first academic yoga classes in America through Metropolitan State College and the University of Denver. She received her Master Degree in Religious Studies from the University of Denver and her certification as an Ayurvedic Practitioner and Lifestyle Consultant from the Ayurvedic Institute under the direction of Dr. Vasant Lad.
Patricia is so loved in the yoga community. Hansa continually gets calls asking about her. Or, people coming to the studio and saying that Patricia introduced them to yoga. Her presence remains guiding us through her continual essence living within each person who met her.
