About our Teacher

Carolyn Oberst began her practice of Hatha Yoga in New York City at the Indo-American Yoga-Vendanta Society with Swami Bua. She studied herbal healing and meditation techniques at the Harihar Yoga Center with Swami Harihar Das, author of the Healthy Body Handbook. After practicing for five years, she trained to teach yoga with Alan Bateman, of the Bateman Institute, in his intensive teacher training program. In addition, she studied metaphysics and healing techniques with Julie Winter, healer and psychic, for six and one-half years.

In the years since her yoga teacher’s training, Carolyn has studied with a variety of teachers in many styles including Iyenger, Jivamukti, Anasuara and Ashtanga. In the Summer of 1997, she went to Mysore, India to practice Ashtanga yoga with the master guru, Patahbi Jois and continues her daily practice of his style.

Carolyn has been running her own Yoga studio and teaching privately since 1981. In her private practice she has worked with people of all ages, people with back, shoulder, knee, elbow (etc.) injuries and various chronic ailments. She has also taught many pregnant and postpartum women.

While teaching classes and studying yoga, Carolyn is also an artist. It was as an art student that she became interested in meditation and yoga as methods of improving her concentration and stamina. She has had her most recent one-person show at the Margaret Bodell Gallery in June of 2000 and has been included in many group shows in various galleries over the years. Her work is in both corporate and private collections.

In the yoga room in her loft where she teaches, she has placed paintings that she has made that are aligned with the feeling of the yoga practice. Some are intricately detailed floral still lifes painted in dresser back frames which give them an "altar piece" feeling. While devoid of the usual Hindu iconography, they suggest the spiritual and make a fitting backdrop to the yoga practice they overlook. Over the years her students have enjoyed practicing in a room with artwork made by their teacher. (Photos) This adds to the feeling of personal attention that is a hallmark of her teaching style.