Staff – The Samyoga Institute

Our Staff, Mentors, and Guest Lecturers

Carla (Sat Puran) Fox, E-RYT 500, C-IAYT, Ayurvedic Practitioner, Director
Carla became a kundalini yoga and meditation teacher when she was ready to start serving the needs of others. She did her 200 hour training, Kundalini Yoga, at Yoga West in Vancouver, BC. That piece of her journey expanded to specializing in prenatal/postpartum yoga completing Conscious Pregnancy teacher training and becoming a DONA trained doula. She has also completed the Kundalini 500 hour program.

Carla completed the Samyoga Institute’s 500 hour program in yoga and yoga therapy in 2014 with Janice George, Julia McSheffery, Barbara Newell and a host of other teachers. Her training has guided her to a passion for meditation and study of yogic history and philosophy. Carla obtained certification as an Ayurvedic Practitioner in 2016. She has had the honor of training with Dr. Vijay Jain, Dr. Shekar Annambhotla, Ann Douglas, Dr. Ray Long, Gurmukh Kaur Khalsa, Guru Dev Singh Khalsa among other amazing and humbling guides.

Since 2011, Carla has also been working as a transitional fitness trainer with an emphasis on Biomechanics, which applies directly to understanding and conveying understanding of asana.

The Columbus community has offered Sat Puran numerous opportunities to teach kundalini, chair yoga for seniors, individual yoga therapy, prenatal yoga and restorative yoga for a wide population. Carla believes everyone has the right to feel whole. As it turns out, feeling whole is an ongoing, dynamic journey with infinite paths available, and she feels Samyoga Institute’s programs offer the structure and guidance to explore that for oneself and to learn to facilitate it for others.

Janice George, LISW, E-RYT 500, Director
Janice has a Master’s Degree in Social Work and has taught yoga for 18 years. As one of the founders of Center for Wholeness, a non-profit organization, Janice has completed training not only at Kripalu and with Integrative Yoga Therapy in the Professional Yoga Therapist Program, she has also studied other schools of hatha yoga as well as other branches of yoga. Her teachers include Todd Norian, Stephen Cope, Mary Lou Weprin, Joseph LePage, Richard Miller, PhD., and Vijay Jain, M.D. Additionally, she is trained in Ayurveda and Polarity Therapy. Since 2000, she has facilitated a 200-hour Yoga Alliance-approved training program, and in 2005 she began offering an advanced 500-hour Yoga Alliance-approved therapeutic yoga program entitled ShivaShakti Synthesis; in 2014 the ShivaShakti Synthesis, LLC partners renamed the program the Samyoga Institute.

Stacie Stormer, LPC, RYT 200, Teaching Staff
Stacie Stormer started her practice of yoga in 2002 to “get a good stretch” and help her with her “bum neck”. Gradually, Stacie noticed how this yoga practice intertwined with her role as a counselor. The wholistic mind-body-spirit quality of this practice became undeniable and delightfully therapeutic for her. After having a fascinating experience of practicing yoga in the process of birthing her second daughter, she knew soon after she had to teach this practice to others. In 2015, Stacie completed the Samyoga Institute Teacher Training Program with Janice George. She has also been influenced by teachers such as Doug Keller and Anne Douglas. Stacie enjoys practicing and teaching many different styles of yoga and is currently teaching at an eating disorders treatment program. Stacie also practices as a counselor where she incorporates many of the somatic practices of yoga. She finds mentoring and training new teachers to be particularly satisfying as she gets to dive into the deep teachings of this ancient practice with others who are curious to learn more.

Connie Phillips, E-RYT 500, Executive Editor
Connie’s personal yoga practice began in 2000 with the goal of alleviating stress and lower back pain. Since then, she has practiced and taught various forms of hatha yoga, and in 2006, she completed the Integrative Yoga Therapy program with Janice George. Connie enjoys teaching yoga to small and large groups in Central Ohio, helping them understand that through the physical body and alignment, they can find deeper connections to their breath, energy, emotions, wisdom, and ultimately, their highest Self. It is Connie’s goal to help people of all ages and abilities understand the benefits of practicing yoga on and off the mat.

Sarah Pariser, Program Consultant and Teaching Staff
Sarah Pariser is the Director of Grants & Programs at The Women’s Fund of Central Ohio; first joining the organization in 2013 after two years as a volunteer. In her current role, she oversees the content work of The Women’s Fund mission. This includes providing leadership and vision for innovative grantmaking, community education and engagement forums, research, advocacy, and social enterprise development. This work leverages her passions to empower all voices to be heard, make meaningful connections, and build awareness to initiate change through organic and facilitated conversation.

After studying Spanish and Art History at the College of Charleston, Sarah started her career in the arts. She then followed her passion to invest her time in nonprofits working towards community systems change.

Sarah also demonstrates her belief in holistic care and value for leadership, community, and equity mentoring teacher trainees in the Samyoga yoga training program, serving on The Columbus Museum of Art’s Inclusion Diversity Equity and Access Committee, and as a member of the Columbus Women’s Commission Workplace Equity Committee.

A lifetime resident of Columbus, Sarah lives in Italian Village with her husband and dog.

Vijay Jain, MD, Consultant
Dr. Vijay Jain brings more than 40 years of experience in General Surgery and 18 years of focused study of integrative medicine to his work with Amrit Yoga Institute. His intention is to integrate traditional/Western medicine with ancient Indian medicine and well-tried systems of healing from different cultures. Dr. Jain graduated from All India Institute of Medical Sciences, a prestigious medical school in India in 1969. After finishing his Masters in General Surgery, he migrated to USA in 1974 to pursue excellence in Surgery. He started a private practice in General and Laparoscopic abdominal Surgery after finishing his residency in 1978. Following a successful practice in Surgery, he studied the Science of Ayurveda and Panchakarma from 1998-2002. He has studied mind/body medicine with Dr. Deepak Chopra, MD, Yoga Therapy from Vivekananda Research Center in Bangalore, India, courses in Ayurvedic medicine with Dr. Sunil Joshi, MD (Ayurvedic) in Nagpur, India and courses in Integrative Medicine with Dr. Andrew Weil in Tucson, AZ. He has studied Ayurveda and Panchakarma with Dr. Prerak Shah , MD (Ayurvedic) in Ahmadabad.

Dr. Jain lectures on Ayurvedic Principles and Practices, and how to create Optimal Health. Recently, he has become interested in the science of graceful aging as it relates to Ayurveda and its signature therapies of Panchakarma. Dr. Jain is the Medical Director of Amrit Ayurveda for Total Wellbeing in Salt Springs, Florida. To contact by email: gafy123@gmail.com or by phone: 270-566-1073

Mary Sinclair, LMT, RYT 500, Guest Lecturer
Mary Sinclair has studied with various local and nationally recognized teachers. She began her journey in 1997 while studying with Janice George and Racquel Graham. After obtaining a 200-hour Hatha yoga certification from Yoga on High in Columbus, OH, she went on to complete a certification in prenatal yoga from the Seattle Holistic Center in Seattle, Washington. In 2002, Mary came under the tutelage of Jean Couch, founder of the Balance Center in Palo Alto, California. She has since completed her certification in Balance, a system that explores the biomechanics of weight distribution in the body, and incorporates it into her every day life, practice and teaching. In 2007, Mary acquired a 500-hour certification in a therapeutic approach to yoga through the Samyoga Institute/SSS, LLC program in Columbus, OH. Mary presents a portion of the Balance program to the 200-hour and 500-hour teacher training program each year. In addition, Mary has studied Polarity Therapy at the Columbus Polarity Therapy Center with Suzanne Roberts and is a second degree Reiki practitioner. She currently teaches and heads the Balance and prenatal yoga programs at Yoga on High.

Anne Douglas, Guest Lecturer
Anne Douglas has been teaching yoga and meditation for over 30 years. She has a thriving yoga therapy practice in Banff, Alberta; has co-taught with Richard Miller, PhD; and offers yoga and iRest-Yoga Nidra trainings. Anne’s boundless enthusiasm for this work, depth of wisdom, compassion and gentle humor create fertile ground for inspired learning.

Samyoga Institute Mentors
Students in the Samyoga Institute programs are mentored throughout their education by hand-chosen graduates of the Samyoga Institute teacher training programs.