Laura Ahrens

Laura Ahrens is a yoga teacher and scholar of Indian religion whose classes put philosophy at the centre of practice. She came to yoga after training in theatre, then studied Sanskrit and Indian thought for a master's degree at Rutgers, and she is now a doctoral candidate in religion at the University of Florida, where her research centres on yoga and Hindu traditions. Alongside that academic work she holds certification as a yoga therapist through the International Association of Yoga Therapists and has taught continuously for around fifteen years. For some years she ran The New School of Yogic Arts, a teacher training that leaned heavily on the classical texts.

Her teaching treats the mat as a mirror: posture, breath and meditation are used to see habits of mind clearly, and the texts are read slowly and in context rather than as slogans. She runs an online membership with monthly live classes and a large archive of recordings, and a yearlong immersion that works through the Yoga Sutras, the Bhagavad Gita and the Hatha Yoga Pradipika with practical application. She values community as a support for steady practice, and she leads weekend programmes at Kripalu and occasional in-person workshops and retreats in New England.