YogaJaya Workshops

Patrick Oancia

Patrick was born in Hong Kong in 1968 to a Spanish mother and a Romanian father. He was raised in Spain, and Canada, and has been based in Tokyo for 18 years. Patrick has been immersed in practicing raja yoga since 1996. He has traveled around the world attending advanced, intensive workshops and study in several countries. He has studied various hatha yoga asana traditions including Ashtanga, Iyengar, and Sivananda as well as regularly practicing meditation (Dhyana) and breathing techniques (Pranayama). He has also studied yoga, Indian, Taoist, Sufi and Buddhist philosophy. Patrick is certified as a RYT (Registered Yoga Teacher) under the International Yoga Alliance.

In addition to the yoga that Patrick teaches at YogaJaya public classes in Tokyo, he also develops curriculum based on a contemporary interpretation of yoga lifestyle, facilitates on teacher training programs, and holds workshops and retreats internationally.

Hikaru Brundtland Hikaru Brundtland

Hikaru began seriously studying Yoga in 2001.__After two years of continuous practice with different teachers in various Hatha traditions, Hikaru began teaching yoga to share her experience as a Yogini. She gained valuable insight from the close interactions with her students and continues to learn and expand in her own practice through this experience of sharing with others. Hikaru also holds a teaching certification in The sivananda yoga tradition, and holds specialzed workshops regularly

Jill Ainsworth

Jill Ainsworth is a native of New Orleans, Louisiana. She was raised on gumbo, jazz and Mardi Gras parades. Introduced to yoga while living in Los Angeles , she first studied Kundalini yoga with Yogi Bhajan and Gurmukh. After returning home to New Orleans, Jill delved deeply in to the Sivananda Yoga System visiting and training in ashrams in New York, the Bahamas & South India. She completed her advanced Sivananda training in Canada in 2002.

In 2000, Jill first traveled to India and met her Guruji Sri. K. Pattabhi Jois. She began her Ashtanga practice as a beginner in Mysore. Devoted to the system as taught by Jois, Jill has returned several times to study in Mysore & was authorized to teach by Pattabhi Jois & Sharath Rangaswamy in Feb. 2006.

Teaching since 2001, Jill has apprenticed and studied with several senior Ashtanga teachers including extensive with Richard Freeman completing his Teacher Training in 2004 and will attend his advanced teacher intensive in Nov. of this year. In New Orleans, Jill heads a project called YOGACARES which seeks to bring yoga to shelters, public schools and victims of Katrina.