teachers

For over 2 decades, her principal teachers have been the incomparable meditation/tantric philosophy master, Sally Kempton and the wildly brilliant yoga/philosophy master Richard Freeman.  Elizabeth credits Sally Kempton as her primary influence and mentor and honors her teachings, along with Richard Freeman’s, as the foundation of what she offers in her classes.  She respectfully acknowledges each of them, along with teacher, Mary Taylor (one of the yoga world’s genuine gems and Richard’s teaching partner) for giving her the model of what it means to teach with the highest of integrity in the now Information Age when the subject of truth is a matter of great debate.

Since the pandemic lockdown of March 2020, Elizabeth miraculously found herself supported by the Village Zendo in her home city of NYC.  Logging on twice daily, she sat zazen virtually with the founding Roshis of the Village Zendo, Enkyo and Joshin, along with their brilliant and compassionate Sangha.  As time passed, her interest in koan study and liturgy led her to commit to several on-line retreats with the Village Zendo, and eventually, a commitment to Jukai in the Summer of 2022.  After an intensive period of time which required sewing her own rakusu, Elizabeth was given the dharma name Kodo, on August 7th, 2022 by Roshi Pat Enkyo O’Hara, Abbot of the Village Zendo.  Elizabeth has found her on-going practice and study of Zen Buddhism with the Village Zendo sangha to be a lifeline in this ever-changing world and an anchor to humanity.

In tandem to her practice/study of Zen, Elizabeth was granted private guidance of Vedic chanting master teacher, Radha Sundararjan in 2019.  In weekly private lessons, they met over Skype through Radha’s passing in May 2021 (due to the Covid outbreak in India).  Elizabeth has since continued her private lessons with Helen Macpherson, Radha’s long time protege, in addition to private and group Indian philosophy study with Nrithya Jagannathan, director of the Krishnamacharya Yoga Mandiram (KYM) in Chennai, India, where Elizabeth has traveled for in person intensives in both February of 2024 and 2025.  Currently, Elizabeth is a part of a two year teacher training certification program in Healing Vedic Chanting with the faculty of KYM.

Further training and certification credentials include Richard Freeman and Mary Taylor’s month-long Ashtanga Teacher Training at their Yoga Workshop and subsequent, yearly advanced intensives; Two year-long “ Transformative Journey” courses with Sally Kempton, including her 2007 Meditation Teacher Training;  Kundalini Yoga with Guru Singh as taught by Yogi Bhajan at Yoga West, LA; Reiki Mastership through Wendy Miner of Memorial Sloane-Kettering’s Integrative Medicine Center; extensive silent retreat experience and Self-Inquiry practice with Adyashanti, Tibetan Buddhist philosophical study with Robert Thurman and Iyengar yoga with the exquisite NYC teacher, Genny Kapuler.

With immense gratitude she bows to Ram Dass as the teacher who opened the gates to an ever-unfolding devotional love.  His teachings of his direct experience with Neem Karoli Baba intimately shifted Elizabeth’s perspective of what it is “to be here now” and more acutely to be “still here.” 

Elizabeth is committed to an on-going depth of study which the on-line realm has offered her, and therefore, the classes/practices she offers are also in the on-line realm.  An intimacy has emerged in this kind of space which has continued to probe into the reality of our interconnectedness.  She teaches all limbs of yoga, with a special focus on meditation and chanting.  In 2023, Elizabeth challenged herself to offer a “90 Day Meditation Challenge”, meeting every day for 90 straight days with a group, offering real time guidance, “by donation”.  This Summer of 2025 marked the 5th consecutive challenge, which allows anyone to join in what is a powerful shifting of daily priorities without the strict transactional boundaries.  Each year, there are two 90 Day Meditation Challenges, one beginning on the Spring Equinox. ending on the Summer Solstice, and the second, beginning on the Autumn Equinox, ending on the Winter Solstice.

Chanting circles are offered as a gift each month on both the New and Full Moons.  The Moon chants have allowed people from all over the world to come together to bridge in the felt sense of our interconnected, mysterious existence through sounding out the ancient, sacred sound syllables of Sanskrit.  These chanting circles are free events, serving as an extension of a variety of community inspired collaborations with artist Leo Villareal over the last 15 years

These community inspired collaborations are now best viewed on a new website which was recently launched in June,2025: Laboratory of the Self

The Laboratory of the Self refers to the mysterious unfolding of our lives, a pulsing experiment of incessantly weaving in and out as we find our way, not-knowing.

The Laboratory has a specific commitment to experimentation in bringing the ancient healing potential of the mantra-s to western collectives through music.

The full length mantra music album  CHAMUNDA (completed in 2017) was finally shared publicly on YouTube in June of 2025.  A further release to streaming platforms, along with additional video content, live interactive performances are in the works for 2025-2026.  Sally Kempton, who passed from this Earth in July 2023, is the inspirational teaching force of the Chamunda mantra which resulted in the emergence of this musical effort.  Sally’s specific direction to Elizabeth was to share this music with the world. 

The Laboratory’s short mantra film, GANAPATAYE which won an award at the Non-Violent Film Festival can also be viewed on the Laboratory of the Self’s YouTube channel.

New collaborative experiments are already under way with friends in Chennai, India. 

Currently living in New York City, Ylfa is a life time professional actress, musician, writer and visual artist.  Welcome to her Tuesday 12pm Simply Meditation class!