Our training faculty features primary trainers with decades of yogic practice who trained directly with the founder of ISHTA Yoga, Alan Finger; and guest faculty from around the world who are experts both in their fields of study and in inspiring others to share them!
Below is a primary list of our Berlin and European trainers. For a further list of our NYC and global trainers, visit ishtayoga.com/ourtrainers.
Julie Blumenthal
ERYT 500+, Training Director, Lead Trainer & Yogiraj, Berlin
(200 & 300 hour)
The founder of the ISHTA Berlin community and director of the ISHTA trainings, Julie has been teaching ISHTA Yoga since 2003, in Berlin since 2007. As the former administrator of the trainings in the ISHTA world headquarters in New York, as well as a co-creator of the current generation of trainings, she aims to inspire all her students with her passion for yoga and knowledge. As the former assistant to Kavi Yogiraj Alan Finger, her ISHTA roots are direct to the source. She has been guiding ISHTA trainings in Berlin since their inception in 2012. Other sources of inspiration include master teachers Angela Farmer, Kofi Busia, Glenn Black and Max Strom, as well as her kirtan teacher Jai Uttal. She is grateful every day for this beautiful practice and the opportunity to share it with others! www.julieblumenthal.com.
Saura Elise
ERYT 200, Junior Trainer / Co-presenter, Berlin (200 hour)
With nearly 800 hours of training in ISHTA, Hatha and Ashtanga yoga, Saura brings a well-rounded understanding of yoga practice to her teaching. In addition to her yoga expertise, Saura is trained in Thai Massage and recently pursued a gong training, allowing her to offer a more holistic approach to bodywork and sound healing. Saura’s teaching emphasizes alignment, safety, and a strong foundation of yogic anatomy. With a background as Musician, she has a special focus on the interaction of Yoga movement and sound atmosphere. She is committed to creating an accessible, queer friendly, inclusive environment, where every student can feel supported and curious. Since beginning her teaching path several years ago in Berlin, she has cultivated a space where students can explore their practice with confidence and care. In July 2024, Saura co-founded SVERA, a yoga studio on Ohmstraße in Berlin, alongside her colleague Dr. med Sven Briken, a psychiatrist and psychotherapist. Saura is currently teaching regularly at SVERA, HAR studio and INNER SOUND by HAR.
Imke Möhlmann
Apprentice Trainer (200 hour)
Imke discovered yoga in her early twenties and immediately fell in love with the peacefulness it brought her. After teaching friends she wanted to share her joy of yoga with more people and completed the 200&300 hour ISHTA teacher training with Julie from 2013 to 2015. In her classes, she tries to encourage students to feel confidence and strength from within, and combines a well rounded blend of a meditative flow and holding asanas, always working with the breath. When not on the mat, Imke is a student of horticulture, a passionate gardener and runs a tiny urban cut flower farm.
Detlev Alexander & Hans-Werner Klohe
Guest Faculty, Sanskrit (200 hour)
Detlev and Hans-Werner guide students with through workshops in Sanskrit with wisdom, humour and movement. They believe that the Sanskrit names of yoga asanas hold many hidden details and reveal the asanas’ deeper background and origins. Detlev practices hatha yoga and Tibetan Buddhism in the Shambhala Tradition. He became a yoga teacher in 2005 with the OM yoga center in New York City. Hans-Werner studied Asian Art History, Sanskrit and Tibetan at the Freie Universität Berlin and is an enthusiastic yogi. www.sunrise-yoga.de.
Lorna Neuber
Guest Faculty, Pre & Postnatal Yoga
(200 & 300 hour)
Lorna discovered Yoga in London in 1994, starting with athletic Astanga Vinyasa. She has since sampled a number of dynamic and calm forms of hatha yoga and developed her personal style of hatha yoga, informed by her love and knowledge of yogic philosophy, anatomy and Ayurveda. At Berlin studios Yoga Sky and Parvtiyoga, as well as in private sessions, Lorna holds regular classes and accompanies women before, during and after their pregnancies. Her classes include Yoga for Women, Prenatal Yoga and Yoga for Mothers and Babies. www.parvatiyoga.de.
Kristin Leal
Guest Faculty, Advanced Anatomy & Therapeutics (300 hour)
Soon after moving to New York City in 1993, Kristin was dragged by a friend to her first yoga class. While she had no idea what anyone was talking about, she immediately fell in love with the poetry of meditation in movement. Kristin holds certifications in Massage Therapy, Reiki, Thai massage and neuromuscular and myofascial release. In 2005, Kristin created the Kaya Yoga 200- and 300-Hour teacher trainings to share her passion for the miracle of the human body and the liberating potential of movement. In 2006, she met Kavi Yogiraj Alan Finger and has since helped him further translate his teachings and co-create the ISHTA Marma Therapy Course. www.kristinleal.com.
Emily Reed
Guest Faculty, Advanced Ayurveda (300 hour)
Emily discovered yoga in 2001 whilst searching for a remedy for her chronic insomnia and a practice to calm her mind. She later encountered the healing power of Ayurveda in Kerala in 2006. Little did she know that these ancient practices were to open up a deep chasm of intrigue, self-study and adventure which was to become a life path. Emily is continually inspired by nature – the great outdoors, the philosophies of yoga and Ayurveda and the approaches they offer to living life to the fullest. Today she practices enjoying the “simplicity” of life (as opposed to filling it with “stuff”) and the wonder of every moment. www.emilyreedyoga.com.
Miriam Datt
Guest Faculty, Bhagavad Gita (300 hour)
Since 2004 Miriam has taught classical Hatha yoga, children’s yoga, mediation and philosophy in the tradition of Swami Sivananda and Swami Vishnudevananda. She learned from her longtime life partner Stefan Datt and from other teachers, such as Shubhraji, Dinah Rodrigues, Pari, Mata Urmila Devi, Swami Mangalananda. Miriam Datt and her partner Stefan run the Yogastudio “Lernen in Bewegung e.V. in Berlin”, where she teaches most of the year. She regularly leads group trips to India or Europe, yoga weekends in the outskirts of Berlin, camps and weekend courses. Miriam feels that yoga accompanies her everyday and the silence that emerges between all of the words is her home, no matter where she is in this world. www.miriam-datt.de.
ISHTA Yoga Berlin 