Paramahamsa Yogacharya Maha Yogi

Born in Adana, 1975, Pelin Evrensel graduated from Yildiz Technical University, Chemical Engineering Department. After studying English in London, She completed her master’s degree of Business Administration in Switzerland. She first began her career at Shell in Switzerland. She worked at her own profession for 6 years at Clariant Turkey. She met yoga for the first time in 2001. She completed Reiki 1 & 2 trainings. In 2003, by exploring YOGA classes of Paramahamsa Yogacharya Maha Yogi Akif Manaf, she has found the answers she has been searching throughout her life and all her search ended. She continued to her Yoga Instructor mission which began in 2005 at Yoga Academy with increased motivation in 2006 after leaving the company she had been working for. In January 2008, she has opened the first branch of Yoga Academy, Yoga Academy Etiler. She aims to spread Yoga Academy branches all over the world in order to share with the humanity benefits of the Original Yoga System which she experienced in her own life. She teaches Beginner Yoga, Meditation, Breathing Techniques and other lessons at Yoga Academy branches, particularly at Etiler Branch.

Burcu Gokcek was born in Istanbul in 1977. In 1998, she started working as an assistant manager in various companies.

In 2005 she started practicing yoga, attending yoga sessions in several places. The physical and spiritual changes she went through, caused her to study and explore the yoga philosophy more deeply.

Between 2006 – 2010, Burcu attended ‘‘Hatha Yoga, Integral Yoga, Integral Yogapranayama, Yoga Kriya, Meditation’’ sessions at ‘‘Kaivalya Yoga Ashram’’ in Istanbul, Turkey.

In 2008, after attending a month long program in New York at ‘‘The International Sivananda Yoga Vedanta Centre’’ she received her instructor certificate.

In 2009, Burcu Gokcek started to practice ORIGINAL YOGA SYSTEM with Paramahamsa Yogacharya Maha Yogi and she received an instructor certificate from ‘‘Yoga Academy’’ in Istanbul, Turkey.
She found the unity she had been looking for a long time in THE ORIGINAL YOGA SYSTEM. With the peace of finding the results she was looking for, she terminated all of her searches.

Her biggest goal is spreading out the branches of Yoga Academy to the world for to share the experiences and teaching the Original Yoga System, which is the road that goes to filling the emptiness inside our souls and the way of living a happy, peaceful life and reaching out to others

In December 2010 she opened the first branch of the Yoga Academy in USA. She gives Elementary- Intermediary Yoga, Meditation, Breathing Techniques and other classes at Yoga Academy Chicago Branch.

She was born in 1982, in Canakkale. After graduating from Gazi University Public Administration Department, during nearly five years, she worked as an expert in the health sector on import, export and procurement. Currently, she is working as an administrator at Europe’s second largest renewable energy company. At her very young ages, due to the interest of her family, she began to explore spiritual issues and examined many religion, spiritual leader, doctrine and scientific approach but until she met the Original Yoga System, she never had the complete answers to her questions. During her research on the internet, she has found Paramahamsa Yogacharya Maha Yogi and all the answers she has been looking for. From the first day she met with the Original Yoga System, she continues her practices at Yoga Academy uninterruptedly. She will no longer spend her energy for searches but to make the Original Yoga System reach more people.

Selva Ari was born in Illinois, in 1979, and she graduated from the Bilkent University with a Bachelor of Arts from the Department of Interior Architecture and Environmental Design in 2002. During this time she trained intensively in child psychology and took active part in voluntary projects with the United Nations, ILO, and UNICEF. The main goals were to improve living standards of children working the streets and provide art classes for them. While attending university, Selva participated in numerous workshops provided by “Love Yoga” and it was through these that she had found her design concept of ‘Diversity in Unity’. Between 2002 and 2010, Selva has worked respectively for Ethan Allen Interiors as a design consultant, MAI Marsh & Associates, Inc. as a custom millwork designer, and the Home Depot as a kitchen & bath designer. Most recently, Selva dedicated all of her time to the intensive care of a family member and she came to the realization and understanding of the importance of health in body, mind, and spirit, as well as the value of each individual breath we take. In her quest for a Master, she participated in a three day workshop – ‘6 Different Chakra Practices’, led by one of the most accomplished Yogis in the West – Paramahamsa Yogacharya Maha Yogi Akif Manaf, founder and head instructor of the Yoga Academy. Under his guidance, the aim is to provide the Original Yoga System in a scientific way to humanity. Yoga Academy branches will be opened in every city in the world to accomplish this goal effectively. Selva aspires to bring the Original Yoga System to California, to the World, to those in search of a healthier, more balance lifestyle in body, mind, and spirit. She offers a large variety of classes including but not limited to Beginner Yoga, Yoga for Prenatal, Meditation, and Breathing Techniques.

Amanda Smith was born in California in 1986. She has lived in various cities in the US and has always been on a mission to find more fulfillment and wholeness in her life. Since the early 2000s, she became involved in health and nutrition and the benefits that were possible for the body, mind and spirit when one pays adequate attention to one’s health. Since 2008 she became particularly involved with Raw, living foods and felt a strong sense of devotion to healing herself and helping others through dietary changes. In 2011, while working in a raw food restaurant in Chicago, she began working with Burcu Gokcek, an instructor of the Yoga Academy in Chicago, IL. During this time she began regular practice of the Original Yoga System under Burcu’s instruction and began to experience the powerful effects of such a system, particularly when combined with her current lifestyle. It was then that she realized the next step in her pursuit toward wholeness and ultimate well-being is to become an instructor of the Original Yoga System so that she may eventually share her experience with others and spread the knowledge of this complete system of Yoga. By learning The Original Yoga System, Amanda hopes to incorporate yoga with her knowledge of improving nutrition and health to further heal her life and find more fulfillment while continuing to reach out and help those who seek to heal themselves