Teachers/Staff
Santokh Singh Khalsa, D.C., Awareness Center Founder, Owner & Lead Trainer
Dr. Khalsa is the Lead Trainer to the Awareness Center. He has been practicing Kundalini yoga for over forty years. He and his wife, Suraj, were founders of the Awareness Center in 1974 and both have been teaching ever since. He is the lead teacher for the Level I and Level II Kundalini Yoga teacher training program. Dr. Khalsa also teaches the Wednesday, 7:00 P.M. Beginner’s Series once a quarter in January, April, July and October and has a thriving Chiropractic practice in Pasadena. www.khalsachiropracticpasadena.com
Suraj Kaur Khalsa - Awareness Center Co- Founder & Co-Owner
Suraj Kaur Khalsa began practicing Kundalini Yoga in 1974 and became a teacher in 1976. Her classes are a gentle yet invigorating combination of kriyas and breath work. Using inspiring Universal readings and teaching, she creates a soothing, uplifting environment that is healing to all; beginners and long time students alike.
Suraj teaches Mondays at 11am and Saturdays at 9am.
Atma Kaur, Gillian
Gillian (Atma Kaur) brings a warmth and light to her classes that allows one to reinvigorate, relax, and renew on many levels. In a class with Atma, enter the flow of true identity and acceptance of self by integrating mind, spirit, and body. Sharing awakenings through life's changes is built into the fabric of her classes, as is a supportive atmosphere.
Atma embraced the gentle power of Kundalini Yoga as a foundation for living while taking Santokh Singh Khalsa's beginners series in 1995. She became KRI certified in 1998 and teaches a variety of ages and abilities. All are welcome.
Atma teaches Saturdays at 11:00 am.
Nirmaljeet Kaur, Sheila
Sheila (Nirmaljeet Kaur) enjoys teaching all levels of students, from first-time beginners to practitioners with years (or decades) of experience. Her classes emphasize the Kundalini Yoga basics of breathing and postures that serve to ground students in a strong foundation for their practice.
Featuring a wonderful range of eclectic music such as Eastern, Chill out, World and a plethora of non-traditional music (Louis Prima, anyone?), you can learn in a comfortable, fun, and stress-free environment. Her classes work to bring passion, joy, enthusiasm, and humor into your life.
Nirmaljeet teaches Fridays at 9am for Breakfast Club Kundalini Yoga.
Yolanda
Yolanda (Teg Kirtan Kaur) focuses on releasing mental and physical blocks that could cause imbalances in your life. She guides you through powerful movements that will strengthen the core muscles while focusing your awareness inward.
Yolanda is Certified in Kundalini Yoga and Energy Balancing. She enjoys teaching her students to connect within and assists them through kriya techniques that encourage balance in their lives.
Yolanda teaches Tuesdays at 7pm.
Basia
I wonder if you wonder how wonderful your life is. You can expand into more peaceful and harmonious wonderfulness.
With 25 years of teaching Kundalini Yoga and Meditation, Basia’s yoga-bliss warmups focus on stretching your limbs and major muscle groups. The Kundalini yoga sets/kriyas, mantras/chanting, and going sound healing upgrade your aliveness by softening into your heart coherence, grace, and prosperity, strengthening the auric field to receive higher resonations of bounty, beauty, and bliss, and grounding that energy into all body systems and daily living.
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Basia subs as needed
Amanda Rose / Puran Tej Kaur
Amanda Rose is a lifelong yoga practitioner. She uses the yogic lifestyle as a means to a healthy body, a clear mind, and a lifted spirit. As a teenager, it healed her back issues. In adulthood, it influences her mental attention, liberates her spirit, and influences her career with animals.
She has been certified in Kundalini and Hatha Yoga. Her classes weave breathwork, physical postures, and philosophical teachings from the east. She aims to leave every student with a sense of peace, joy, and self-awareness. Every body at every level is invited to practice with her.
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Amanda teaches every Monday evening at 7 PM.
Ling O'Connor
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Dr. Ling O'Connor, professor of environmental science, mother, lover of Gaia.
She earned her Ph.D late in life after 15 years of raising four wonderful human beings with little resources. Why live? She asked herself early in life, as she grew up in the toxic aftermath of war. Searching for the answer has taken her on many paths from Siberian shamanism to conventional science. She is passionate about human/planetary health, and consciousness evolution.
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Ling teaches every Monday evening at 6:30-7:30 AM Tuesday Mornings and 9-10AM Sunday mornings.
Kat
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KAT FOUND HERSELF ON THE KUNDALINI PATH IN 2020, WITH THE PRACTICE SUPPORTING HER THROUGH SEVERAL MAJOR LIFE TRANSITIONS OVER THE NEXT 6 YEARS. SHE HAS TAKEN SURAJ AND SANTOKH'S BEGINNER'S SERIES AND IN MAY OF 2025, COMPLETED HER RYT200 TRAINING AT SOUL BODY IN OJAI WITH MEHTAB BENSON AND TARA MATTHEWS. KAT'S LOVE OF MANTRA, MOVEMENT, AND MEDITATION ARE A CORE COMPONENT OF HER CLASSES, COUPLED ALWAYS WITH A THOUGHTFULLY CURATED PLAYLIST AND DRAWING INSPIRATION FROM THE GENE KEYS. ALL LEVELS ARE WELCOME.
Kat teaches on Thursdays at 9:00 a.m.
Sat Darshan, Diana Novelo
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Diana's journey began at the Awareness Center when she attended the six weeks Kundalini Beginners series. She loved the overall experience so much that it inspired her to want to volunteer for such an amazing place and be part of the community. The classes, staff, and overall energy of the AC has positively impacted her to become the AC Event/Scheduling/Energy Exchange Coordinator and Marketing Director handling the newsletter, website, event coordinator, and social media. She utilizes her skills from her full time job and personal creativity to incorporate into her role. She is very grateful to be part of the AC family and work with the community who attends it.
Adele Guerra
Adele is registered with the Yoga Alliance at the E-500 level. Trained with Michelle Mazur in Iyengar, Restorative and Hatha yoga, she comes from a background working with special needs children and their families and found her calling in helping others heal their mind, heart and body. She is grateful to have been introduced to yoga through her chiropractor who treated her from an accident which fractured 2 vertebrae in her spine. She found yoga as a vital key to healing life and is committed to inspiring others to explore the healing elements of yoga!
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Adele teaches Wednesdays at 6pm.