Sandra Petra Pintaric
Founder of Dharma Yoga Zagreb & Croatia since 2011. Founder and program director of The House of Dharma Ltd. - Dharma Yoga Center Zagreb & Zagreb Yoga School RYT 200&500.
Sandra Petra Pintaric has devoted almost her whole life to yoga, which she has been practicing regularly since 2001. Since then, she has gained her knowledge of yoga directly from most eminent world spiritual and yoga teachers Sri Sri Ravi Shankar, Sri Dharma Mittra, Sacinandana Swami, Dhanurdhara Swami, as well as many other great teachers she met over the years and her husband Kakudmi das.
She is practicing and teaching traditional Hatha-Raja Yoga, in the lineage of legendary Yoga Master Sri Dharma Mitra since 2011, with a strong influence of Bhakti Yoga which he has been studying and practicing since 2009, as well she is regularly practicing some of the breathing techniques and kriyas she learned from Art of Living at the beginning of her yoga journey.
Since her early youth, she has been exploring various forms of creativity, as well esotery, astrology, spirituality, new age and ancient knowledge and symbolism as well bhakti yoga. Inspired by all that knowledge, in 2001, she decided to resign from her job in media and publishing where she had been successfully working for over 10 years. This allowed her to dedicate all her time and energy to creative work and spirituality as a realization of her life dream.
In 2002, she met Dalai Lama and soon after that the members of the Art of Living Foundation and after completing the initial workshops, for about ten years she continued practicing various techniques and following the spiritual teachings of Sri Sri Ravi Shankar, whom she considers as her first yoga teacher. Sandra also participated in many of the Art of Living’s basic and advanced yoga retreats and workshops in pranayama, kriya and meditation, both in Croatia and abroad. In 2005, she was introduced to Ashtanga Vinyasa Yoga practiced regularly along with her Art of Living practice. In 2007, she enrolled into the first Croatian-American Yoga Teacher School Nava, the RYT200 Programme, where she also discovered other yoga styles such as Power Vinyasa, Vinyasa Flow, Restorative Yoga, with renowned teachers such as Nikki Colon and Steve Leibs. She worked as a Yoga Teacher in Nava Studio until it closed in 2009. Searching for a place where she could continue teaching yoga, she met Petra Carmichael (Ashtanga Vinyasa Yoga & Ayurveda) and together they opened Divya Yoga Center and School, one of the first yoga schools in Zagreb. Over the period of very rich nine years, she was entirely devoted to teaching students, facilitating various workshops and classes, and yoga retreats. She trained more than 30 generations of yoga teachers in Croatia and wider through her Teacher Training Programes RYT200 and RYT500. She is very grateful for this wonderful opportunity. While still at Divya, over a period of five years, she intensively studied yoga in the lineage of legendary Yoga Master Tirumalai Krishnamacharya. She also attended various workshops with famous world yoga teachers: Vinyasa with Sean Corn, Ashtanga with Richard Freeman, Power and Yin with Bryan Kest, Jivamukti with Shanon Gannon, David Life, Petros Haffenrichter, Gabrijela Bozic, Heart of Yoga with Mark Whitwell, and other teachers of Iyegenar and Kundalini Yoga, as well as Mindfulness and Vipassana Meditation in Croatia and abroad. She also attended Ayurveda and Thai massage workshops.
In 2009, she met the followers of Bhakti Yoga, Sacinandana Swami and Kristijan Kolega (Kakudmi Das) and under their inspiring influence she soon became the follower of Bhakti Yoga. Since then, she has been attending various programmes and lectures as part of her self-development. In 2010, she met Dhanurdhara Swami from New York City, with whom she also continued learning about Bhakti Yoga.
She is practicing and teaching traditional Hatha-Raja Yoga, in the lineage of legendary Yoga Master Sri Dharma Mitra since 2011, with a strong influence of Bhakti Yoga which he has been studying and practicing since 2009, as well she is regularly practicing some of the breathing techniques and kriyas she learned from Art of Living at the beginning of her yoga journey.
Since her early youth, she has been exploring various forms of creativity, as well esotery, astrology, spirituality, new age and ancient knowledge and symbolism as well bhakti yoga. Inspired by all that knowledge, in 2001, she decided to resign from her job in media and publishing where she had been successfully working for over 10 years. This allowed her to dedicate all her time and energy to creative work and spirituality as a realization of her life dream.
In 2002, she met Dalai Lama and soon after that the members of the Art of Living Foundation and after completing the initial workshops, for about ten years she continued practicing various techniques and following the spiritual teachings of Sri Sri Ravi Shankar, whom she considers as her first yoga teacher. Sandra also participated in many of the Art of Living’s basic and advanced yoga retreats and workshops in pranayama, kriya and meditation, both in Croatia and abroad. In 2005, she was introduced to Ashtanga Vinyasa Yoga practiced regularly along with her Art of Living practice. In 2007, she enrolled into the first Croatian-American Yoga Teacher School Nava, the RYT200 Programme, where she also discovered other yoga styles such as Power Vinyasa, Vinyasa Flow, Restorative Yoga, with renowned teachers such as Nikki Colon and Steve Leibs. She worked as a Yoga Teacher in Nava Studio until it closed in 2009. Searching for a place where she could continue teaching yoga, she met Petra Carmichael (Ashtanga Vinyasa Yoga & Ayurveda) and together they opened Divya Yoga Center and School, one of the first yoga schools in Zagreb. Over the period of very rich nine years, she was entirely devoted to teaching students, facilitating various workshops and classes, and yoga retreats. She trained more than 30 generations of yoga teachers in Croatia and wider through her Teacher Training Programes RYT200 and RYT500. She is very grateful for this wonderful opportunity. While still at Divya, over a period of five years, she intensively studied yoga in the lineage of legendary Yoga Master Tirumalai Krishnamacharya. She also attended various workshops with famous world yoga teachers: Vinyasa with Sean Corn, Ashtanga with Richard Freeman, Power and Yin with Bryan Kest, Jivamukti with Shanon Gannon, David Life, Petros Haffenrichter, Gabrijela Bozic, Heart of Yoga with Mark Whitwell, and other teachers of Iyegenar and Kundalini Yoga, as well as Mindfulness and Vipassana Meditation in Croatia and abroad. She also attended Ayurveda and Thai massage workshops.
In 2009, she met the followers of Bhakti Yoga, Sacinandana Swami and Kristijan Kolega (Kakudmi Das) and under their inspiring influence she soon became the follower of Bhakti Yoga. Since then, she has been attending various programmes and lectures as part of her self-development. In 2010, she met Dhanurdhara Swami from New York City, with whom she also continued learning about Bhakti Yoga.
|
In January 2011, she travelled to New York City to continue her education as a Yoga Teacher with legendary Yoga Master, Sri Dharma Mittra at “Life of a Yogi” Teacher Training 500h. Highly impressed by Dharma Mittra, a true yogi, and his teaching skills, she chose him as her Master Teacher of Hatha-Raja Yoga. She became the first Dharma Yoga teacher in Croatia, she founded Dharma Yoga Zagreb and wider, and soon became internationally recognized as a Senior Dharma Yoga Teacher. In 2015 she continued her education for the next level “Life of a Yogi” Teacher Training 800h with Sri Dharma Mittra in New York City. At the end of 2020, she is attending advanced training “Life of a Yogi” Teacher Training 1000h. She was passing through various workshops in Europe, with Senior Dharma Yoga Teachers (Mark Kan, Andrei Ram, Yiannis Andritsos, Yoshio Hama, Tj Jackson, Amitai Cohen), who she also invited to Zagreb to share their invaluable knowledge among her students as well.
In 2017, she was honoured to be invited to the first Dharma Yoga Global Conference in New York City, as one of the four Senior Dharma Yoga Teachers from around the world, who delivered presentations and facilitated various yoga sessions during the four-day conference. The conference was not only a very rewarding experience, but also some sort of culmination of Sandra’s work on gradually building her knowledge and reputation as internationally recognized Dharma Yoga Senior Teacher. As a matter of fact, since 2011, she has been regularly travelling to New York City to Sri Dharma Mittra and continue learning from him at the Dharma Yoga Center in New York City, the “home” of Dharma Yoga. Among other invaluable knowledge that she acquired there, she also discovered the benefits of the raw food diet, which she has been exploring since 2011. |
For Sandra, yoga is a life choice, the path of self-discipline and self-realization. Throughout her many years of practicing various yoga traditions, she had the opportunity to meet various yoga practitioners and teachers. However, she considers her personal practice (Sadhana) and the continuous learning and serving others as the most important things on her yoga path. A further blessing is to be able to be accompanied by inspiring yoga teachers and yoga soul mates who help her advance on this path.
She was initiated in the following techniques: Sudarshan Kriya, Shakti Kriya, Krishna Kriya, Sahaj Samadhi meditation, Mantra meditation, Psychic Development technique, Sudarshan Chakra Kriya, of which she regularly practices Sudarshan Kriya, maha mantra meditation and Psychic Dev.
In addition to her rich and varied experience as Yoga Teacher, Sandra is also an artist, interior designer and Vastu Advisor (Vedic architecture and yoga of design). She has completed professional training in classical Interior Design, Vastu and sacred geometry. You can find more information on: www.vastuhealingarts.com and Laxmi design.
She was initiated in the following techniques: Sudarshan Kriya, Shakti Kriya, Krishna Kriya, Sahaj Samadhi meditation, Mantra meditation, Psychic Development technique, Sudarshan Chakra Kriya, of which she regularly practices Sudarshan Kriya, maha mantra meditation and Psychic Dev.
In addition to her rich and varied experience as Yoga Teacher, Sandra is also an artist, interior designer and Vastu Advisor (Vedic architecture and yoga of design). She has completed professional training in classical Interior Design, Vastu and sacred geometry. You can find more information on: www.vastuhealingarts.com and Laxmi design.
Over the years, she has had various personal yoga practice experiences, many yoga courses and educations, various community experiences, has been teaching regular yoga classes since 2007, organized quite a lot events, workshops and courses for various yoga teachers and organizations from Croatia and abroad through her service in yoga center. She inspired many to take the path of yoga and become teachers. In addition to caring for others, she personally led a large number of workshops, courses, master classes, retreats and morning cycles, which she started in Croatia in 2009. She trained more than 30 generations of teachers in Croatia through basic and advanced training and inspired and helped many certified Dharma yoga teachers from Croatia on their way to New York.
Sandra is very specific in her yoga teaching and respects her teachers by passing on the knowledge as she received it. Otherwise, she is an artistic soul who loves esoteric topics, art and design.
Finally, it might also be worth mentioning that in her youth, Sandra was very active in sports – from age 12 she trained in Riffle Shooting and competed as a member of the Croatian Junior National Team. She later continued practicing for her own pleasure. One can say that there are some similarities between yoga and shooting, as they both require great discipline, peace of mind and focus.
Sandra is very specific in her yoga teaching and respects her teachers by passing on the knowledge as she received it. Otherwise, she is an artistic soul who loves esoteric topics, art and design.
Finally, it might also be worth mentioning that in her youth, Sandra was very active in sports – from age 12 she trained in Riffle Shooting and competed as a member of the Croatian Junior National Team. She later continued practicing for her own pleasure. One can say that there are some similarities between yoga and shooting, as they both require great discipline, peace of mind and focus.
Official Education Certification:
* E-RYT 200h Power Vinyasa Yoga, Nava School-Zagreb (2007);
* E-RYT 500h Dharma Mittra Yoga, New York - Dharma II & III (2011);
* E-RYT 800h Dharma Mittra Yoga, New York - Dharma IV/ Master level, Yoga nidra, Psychic Development Technique (2015);
* E-RYT 1000h Dharma Mittra Yoga, New York - Dharma Charging Practice & Pranayama (2020).
Yoga teaching history:
2008-2009 Nava Yoga Center Zagreb, yoga teacher
2009 Apolon center, yoga teacher
2009-2018 Divya Yoga Center & School, co-founder/co-owner/yoga teacher
2011 until today Dharma Yoga Zagreb, founder
2018-2019 DharmaWay Yoga Centar & Yoga Academy Zagreb, co-founder/co-owner/yoga teacher
2019 until today "House of Dharma" Dharma Yoga Center Zagreb & Zagreb School of Yoga Science, founder/owner/yoga teacher
* E-RYT 200h Power Vinyasa Yoga, Nava School-Zagreb (2007);
* E-RYT 500h Dharma Mittra Yoga, New York - Dharma II & III (2011);
* E-RYT 800h Dharma Mittra Yoga, New York - Dharma IV/ Master level, Yoga nidra, Psychic Development Technique (2015);
* E-RYT 1000h Dharma Mittra Yoga, New York - Dharma Charging Practice & Pranayama (2020).
Yoga teaching history:
2008-2009 Nava Yoga Center Zagreb, yoga teacher
2009 Apolon center, yoga teacher
2009-2018 Divya Yoga Center & School, co-founder/co-owner/yoga teacher
2011 until today Dharma Yoga Zagreb, founder
2018-2019 DharmaWay Yoga Centar & Yoga Academy Zagreb, co-founder/co-owner/yoga teacher
2019 until today "House of Dharma" Dharma Yoga Center Zagreb & Zagreb School of Yoga Science, founder/owner/yoga teacher
