EP#5- Empowering Youth through Yoga with Lara Benusis, Founder of Namasteens and Doctoral Student at Columbia University

Lara Benusis is a yoga instructor, researcher, and mental health advocate. As the Founder and Creative Director of Namasteens, Lara has worked to develop an experiential and informed curriculum of children’s yoga with an emphasis on developmentally appropriate educational creative programs. Lara previously taught at Equinox, Pure Yoga, and House of Jai in New York City, and was certified to teach since 1996, being one of the youngest certified yoga teachers in the world. Lara's work has led her to teach and conduct research all over the world, from New York City to Tokyo. She was also the Manager of Yoga & Exercise Programs at Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center. where she conduced yoga interventions for research. Currently, Lara is studying at the Department of Biobehavioral Sciences at Columbia University, conducting research in Applied Physiology and Behavioural Sciences.