My training and background…
My 200- and 300-hour trainings in Hatha Tantra Yoga led me to the Himalayan Institute, in Honesdale, PA where I continue to study yoga philosophy and meditation with HI’s spiritual head Pandit Rajmani Tigunait, as well as Ishan Tigunait, Shari Friedrichsen, Rolf Sovik, Sandra Anderson and other HI senior teachers. (I have also had the privilege to study with Yoganand Michael Carroll and Dharma Mittra.)
In 2016, I completed the Trauma Center Trauma Sensitive Yoga 300-hour certification program. I have taught in the Substance Abuse Day Program at the Errera Center, part of the West Haven VA, as well as for the Stonington Institute in North Stonington, CT as part of the Veterans’ Yoga Project.
I am a certified Vishoka Meditation® teacher through the Himalayan Institute. Vishoka Meditation® embodies everything that yoga has to offer humankind. I consider it a blessing and a privilege to have it in my life and to be able to share it with others. I continue to study regularly at HI, enjoying many courses in philosophy, meditation and yogic lifestyle. In October 2025 I will join other HI students for three weeks, participating the six-month Maha Sri Yaga practice at the Himalayan Institute’s campus in Allahabad in northeast India.
Where you can study with me…
I teach Slow & Steady, a gentle Intermediate level class that links yoga philosophy and the sacred texts to asana practice. Class is held Wednesdays, 6:00-7:15pm at Yoga at the Commons, 1253 Whitney Avenue, Hamden..
Since 2018, I’ve been teaching yoga and meditation for the Integrative Medicine department at Smilow Cancer Center at Yale New Haven Hospital. as well as providing Reiki to in-patients at Smilow for stress reduction. I frequently work with YNHH social workers who lead support groups to offer relaxation and breath awareness sessions to their patients.
I have led self-care and resiliency sessions for staff in the Yale New Haven Psychiatric Department and the Lifestyle Psychiatry program at the Yale School of Medicine, as well as for elementary school psychologists and social workers in the Hamden Public Schools system. I’ve had the privilege of presenting the trauma sensitive yoga module for the Breathing Deeply Yoga Therapy teacher training program in Northampton, MA.
What yoga has brought to my life and what it can bring to yours…
It is no exaggeration that yoga changes your life. That doesn’t mean that there won’t be obstacles, aggravations and sorrows, but yoga enables us to find the “grace and grit” (as Shari Friedrichsen expresses it) to get through it all. I’ve observed students dealing with cancer, grief, loss, severe depression and anxiety, and major health issues grab on to yoga practice like a life raft and navigate through unimaginable challenges, keeping their dignity and courage fully intact. Personally, it has sustained me through some dark times and enabled me to learn from and process what might otherwise have stopped me in my tracks. Have confidence that yoga will do this–and more–for you if, as written in the Yoga Sutras, you commit to practicing regularly, over a long period of time and with devotion. Maybe that sounds daunting, but I assure you that the more you devote yourself to yoga, the more you will love it until the discipline becomes a joy and you realize you’ve returned to your true, authentic Self.
Ellen McNally, E-RYT500, CVMT
