Our Teachers

RAM DAS KAUR
Ram Das Kaur (née Lise Latulippe) began practising yoga in the mid 90’s to help alleviate back stress. Not much yoga was being offered in Ottawa then, but she found a Hatha yoga class at the community centre near her home. She later tried Kripalu yoga, Power yoga, Ashtanga yoga, Bikram yoga and Sivananda yoga, and found each had something of value to offer. And then Kundalini Yoga found her in the spring of 1998, at the formerly teeny-tiny Rama Lotus yoga studio originally on Elgin Street. Says Ram Das, “It was love at first breath. Discovering this yoga was like coming home for me.”

Her Kundalini Teacher Training took place in 2000, and she has been teaching several classes a week, non-stop, ever since. For a time, she taught in school gyms & cafeterias, martial arts studios, the YMCA, and government offices. Finally, the Universe inspired her to open the Adi Shakti Yoga Centre in Orléans/Ottawa in 2003, a studio firmly committed to teaching the science and technology of Kundalini Yoga as instructed by Yogi Bhajan and the ancient yogis: undiluted, diverse, vast and beautiful.

Now, years later, having taught over 2000 Kundalini Yoga classes, she is still as passionate about her practice as ever. She has watched how this style of yoga has transformed her, her colleagues and her students. It combines a complete combination of challenging physical exercise, yogic breath patterns, meditation, lifestyle information, and philosophy.

In 2006, Ram Das Kaur initiated the first Women’s Kundalini Yoga Camp in the region. It is now an annual summer event hosted by the Adi Shakti off-site at a country retreat. This continues Yogi Bhajan’s tradition of holding specialized yoga and lifestyle training just for women.

Aside from teaching Yoga, Ram Das is also a Reiki Master and teaches the hands-on healing modality of Reiki (http://www.adishaktiyogacentre.com/reiki1.html). In fact she credits Reiki with being the spotlight that began illuminating her life’s path back in 1994, and awakened her to the power of unseen energy, and how it can be harnessed for healing & self-transformation. She has taught Reiki (Levels 1 & 2) to a multitude of students, and she has given some one thousand treatments to date, most during her seven years as a volunteer Reiki therapist at the Aids Committee of Ottawa.

Over the years, Ram Das has had the privilege of learning at the feet of senior Kundalini yoga teachers of note such as Gurucharan Singh (head of KY Teacher Training internationally), Gurmukh Khalsa (Los Angeles), GuruGanesha Singh (musician, teacher & founder of Spirit Voyage Music), Snatam Kaur (kirtan singer extraordinaire), Mata Mandir Singh (Master of Naad/Sound yoga), Sat Kartar Kaur (kirtan singer of 30+ years), Hari Nam Singh (Sat Nam Rasayan healing modality), GuruDev Singh (master of Sat Nam Rasayan), Krishna Kaur (30+ years teaching yoga to inner-city youth & inmates in USA), Shakta Kaur (women’s & Radiant Child yoga & author), Shakti Parwha Kaur (author & the earliest student of KY in the USA), GuruPrem Singh (KY posture master) as well as many, many others.

Since 2002, she has attended every Kundalini Yoga Summer Solstice gathering in the Jemez Mountains of New Mexico, where she continues to learn at the feet of yoga masters. Since 2001, she has participated in some 40 days of White Tantric Yoga meditation (White Tantric Yoga.com) in Canada, New Mexico & Florida.

Before Yoga beckoned, Ram Das Kaur travelled, lived and worked in India, Costa Rica, as well as Togo & Ghana (West Africa). At home, she is blessed with her very supportive husband of 20+ years, and the unconditional love of a highly affectionate furry dog-kid named Ginger-Spice (who does an awesome upward dog pose!!). All three of them love to hike and camp together as often as they can.


MUKANDE KAUR
From an early age, Mukande was surrounded by a myriad of holistic disciplines (Karate, dance, food as medicine) and devotional practices (transcendental meditation, ashtanga yoga etc.). She later graduated from Miri Piri Academy (MPA), a boarding high school in India. There she had the opportunity to practice, learn, live and breathe the teachings of Kundalini Yoga, meditation and martial arts. The blessing of integrating a practical yogic lifestyle into everyday life has given her the strength and caliber to pursue her highest destiny and goals.

MAHAN KAUR
Mahan Kaur {Lise Lachance} started Kundalini Yoga in January of 2002 under the teachings of Ram Das Kaur.  Mahan became a certified KRI teacher after completing the intensive Master''s Touch Level 1 Kundalini Yoga Teacher''s training at Ghost Ranch in Abiqui, New Mexico in 2006.  She has since been involved in teaching Kundalini yoga classes at her workplace and at various yoga facilities in the Orléans-Ottawa, Ontario area. 

MEHERBANI KAUR
Diane I. Desrochers (a.k.a. Meherbani Kaur) graduated from the University of Ottawa with a BA in Social Communications and from the University of Waterloo with a BA in Psychology.  In 2000, she was awarded a Master''s in the Applied Science of Nutrition from Edison Institute of Nutrition, where she completed her Bachelor''s in nutrition. Since then, she has embarked on the journey of completing her Naturopathic doctorate.
 
She is first and foremost a Kundalini Yoga teacher certified by the International Kundalini Yoga Teachers Association and a member of Yoga Alliance.
 
Meherbani has been practicing Kundalini yoga for over 12 years.
 
She says of Kundalini yoga: "Experience, experience, experience. By the Grace of the Guru, I have come to this technology with pain, anger, and sadness and have found joy, forgiveness and strength...all the treasures within."
"To serve well students and to share this science is my honour, my privilege, my responsibility and my joy. Sat Nam."
 
She believes that kundalini yoga is an essential part of all nutritional programs.
 
Nutrition and health has been her lifelong passion. Nutrition is more than the food you eat. Her goal is to provide the best possible person-centered plan for her clients. Equipped with that, they can make conscious choices and take actions to achieve their personal health goals. Ultimately her message is: Take charge of your health: it''s your body, it''s your call.
 
Diane has been offering orthomolecular health and nutrition consulting bilingual services and presenting seminars in her community for the past fifteen years. She has been specializing in Women''s health, stress management and addiction recovery. She is a long-standing certified member of the International Organization of Nutritional Consultants.

NAM SIMRAN KAUR (Magda Nached)
After completing her university degree, Magda (Nam Simran Kaur) decided to take yoga lessons and experience different types of yoga. She began her Kundalini Yoga practice about 4 years ago at the Adi Shakti Yoga Centre. It was “love at first sight” and she was sold on the virtues of KY immediately. She discovered the benefits not only for the body but also the spirit and soul. She deeply appreciates the meditative and spiritual side of Kundalini Yoga, and finds spontaneous enchantment in chanting mantras. While traveling in Nepal, she had the opportunity of practicing Buddhist meditation at the Schéchen monastery, and met some Buddhist Monks, such as Matthieu Ricard.

She recently completed the Level 1 Kundalini Teacher’s Training at the Rama Lotus Yoga Centre in Ottawa, and is certified by IKYTA. Nam Simran is so grateful for the Kundalini teachings brought from India by Yogi Bhajan that she wants to share the technology and awareness with others. They, in turn, will be able to benefit from these tools to deal with daily stresses, to reach inner peace, a neutral mind, a healthy lifestyle and to help them in their quest for happiness. Nam Simran is grateful to everyone who has supported her in this wonderful adventure. 

Ajaipal Kaur (Francine Fournier)
Ajaipal Kaur (Francine Fournier) started her Kundalini Yoga practice in 2003 under the teachings and guidance of Lise Ram Das Kaur Latulippe. She immediately fell in love with this more spiritual type of yoga, a discipline that goes beyond physical performances. And right from the initial "tuning in", she knew it was only the beginning of a journey that would gradually evolve into a lifestyle.
 
Ajaipal completed the Level 1 Kundalini Yoga Teacher Training program in 2009 at the Rama Lotus Yoga Centre in Ottawa, and is IKYTA certified.  She is also a Level 2 Reiki practitioner.  She keeps up by attending regular Kundalini yoga classes, Sadhanas, and various yogic workshops.  She teaches from the heart and considers it a great honor and privilege to be of service in sharing this sacred technology.     
 
At home, she enjoys a simple and quiet life with her husband of 40+ years.  And her greatest accomplishment remains her two children, who are now adults and have long left the nest, but remain very close.