MEET YOUR HOSTS
We are Bethany Bechtel and Stewart Thomas, residents of
Gainesville, Florida, and your hosts for your AshramIndia
Yoga Intensive and Tour 2008. We are leading this tour
because of our personal connections to India and the
people.
We have lived in Bangalore, worked professionally with the researchers and staff at Prshanti, and know them as our personal friends. We look forward to introducing you to these remarkable people as they share their knowledge, experience and enthusiasm.
To contact us:
email: palmstone@gmail.com
write: 229 SE 8th Street, Gainesville, FL, USA 32601
call: 352-222-3816
We have lived in Bangalore, worked professionally with the researchers and staff at Prshanti, and know them as our personal friends. We look forward to introducing you to these remarkable people as they share their knowledge, experience and enthusiasm.
To contact us:
email: palmstone@gmail.com
write: 229 SE 8th Street, Gainesville, FL, USA 32601
call: 352-222-3816
Clinical Yoga Intensive Course
All Inclusive Yoga Course and South India Tour
Biographical Sketches
Dr. Bethany Bechtel and Stewart Thomas serve as program coordinators. In collaboration with researchers and staff at sVYASA they have developed this unique program designed to meet the specific needs of health care professionals. The medical school at the University of Florida is now offering this program as a for-credit elective in integrated medicine. Input has been received from those in a wide range of healing professions: nurses, physicians, massage therapists, acupuncturists, and chiropractors.
_____________________
Stewart Thomas lived in the Middle East and South Asia for nearly twenty years and brings personal knowledge of Asian history, art, religion and language into his work as an artist and teacher. A practitioner of yoga and tai chi, Stewart has particular interests in art, architecture, and the symbolic patterns of South India. Stewart has spent many a happy time sketching and doing watercolours at Prshanti and the Mudemallai Wildlife Refuge. Some of his art may be viewed at Palmstone.com.
Dr. Bethany Bechtel combines her interest in consciousness with twenty years of work in biomedical research. Recipient of two Fulbright Fellowships to India, she maintains collaboration with the Vivekenanda Yoga Research Foundation and sVYASA University. Dr. Bechtel holds a Ph.D. in Biophysics from the University of Pennsylvania, has hosted collaborative research on yoga techniques at sVYASA and the University of Florida (UF), and holds a position at the Chemistry Department at UF. In addition she holds degrees in Acupuncture and Oriental Medicine, as well undergraduate majors in Molecular Biology and French Literature. She maintains her own medical practice at Harmony Point Acupuncture in Gainesville, Florida where she leads weekly yoga classes for her patients.
Yoga is a powerful tool towards health that people can use for themselves. Bethany provides weekly classes for her acupuncture patients so that they have the chance to integrate yoga techniques into their daily lives. Yoga can also be used clinically for the treatment of ailments. Patients can then take these practices home with them in order to maintain wellness. It is our experience that the full integration of the various components of yoga are best learned in India. It is this experience that we hope to share with you and the reason why we are leading this group. In addition we have a true love of the people and places of India. During our stay we hope to offer you a glimpse of the cultural and natural treasures of South India.