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 teaches Wednesdays at 10am.
Amanda Rose / Puran Tej Kaur
Amanda Rose found Kundalini Yoga in 2020. With 14 years of experience on the mat practicing Hatha Yoga, she was ready to fully dive into the Kundalini practice and complete teacher training. She has 200 hours in Kundalini Teacher Training and is midway through a 200-hour Hatha Teacher Training with Yoga Alliance.
She teaches kriyas that loosen the physical body and open up the lungs to prepare students for a deep meditation. The practices she teaches can be inserted into daily life and help form your personal Sadhana. Her classes are open to beginners and experienced practitioners alike.
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Amanda teaches every Monday evening at 7 PM.
Courtnay Robbins
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Courtnay has been practicing yoga for more than 15 years and has been teaching since 2019, when she received her Yoga Alliance RYT500 certification. In 2023, she continued her training in Dharamshala, India where she received her second certification from the Himalayan Iyengar Yoga Centre. Her teaching style is focused on alignment, awareness and the body-mind-breath connection. She takes a healing approach to yoga, considering each student’s physical, mental and emotional needs so they can receive maximum benefit from the practice. Students will come away from her classes with an increased sense of stability and strength in their bodies and stillness in their mind.
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Courtany teaches every Friday morning at 11am.
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.
Reina Prado
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Reina Prado (ell/they) is a yoga teacher and holistic energy practitioner who facilitates a blend of gentle Hatha flow, Yin yoga, and mindful breathwork to support nervous system balance and deep rest. Their approach is grounding, accessible, and heart-centered, encouraging students to move at their own pace and listen inward. With a background in Reiki and earth-based healing traditions, Reina creates grounding, accessible practices that support both strength and deep rest. Students can expect thoughtful pacing, clear options, and a welcoming space for all levels.
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Reina teaches every Wednesday at 9-10:15 AM.
Rebecca
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Rebecca is a yoga instructor who guides students through movement to cultivate physical alignment, self-awareness, and a sense of care and responsibility toward the world. Her teaching supports the development of an attentive and informed relationship with the body, using movement to promote physical health, mental clarity, and emotional balance.
Rebecca teaches Yin Yoga at the Awareness Center and welcomes all levels of experience. The gentle, deliberate pace of her classes makes them especially accessible for beginners, while emphasizing stillness, nervous system regulation, and deep tissue release. Students often leave class feeling grounded, calm, and physically at ease, with a clearer sense of bodily awareness and mental spaciousness.
Yin Yoga on Thursdays at 5:30 p.m.
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.
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.
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.