Facebook-f Instagram Youtube

Dana: I feel like I’m a part of something big – the Karuna family

July 15, 2019 / Karuna Family Bond
Dana: I feel like I'm a part of something big - the Karuna family

The YTT course with Karuna was one of the best things I’ve done for myself in a long time. I wasn’t sure what to expect going into it. I hoped to learn more about yoga, deepen my practice and learn the techniques to guide others through the practice, but what I left Lamu with was so much more than that.

I feel like I’m a part of something big — the Karuna family. A family of supportive, loving, compassionate unique individuals brought together by our passion for yoga and for connecting with people from all walks of life. Leyla and Payal brought us all together for a life changing journey; encouraging and guiding us through an emotionally and physically intense 21 days of yoga. They are two of the most beautiful and kind souls and have continued to inspire me every single day with their endless, unconditional love and compassion.

Since completing the course, I’ve been able to share yoga with the girls I work with in Tanzania; guiding them through asanas and meditation. There are at least two girls who come to every single practice and each time, their breath becomes longer, their minds and hearts become more open and they leave with a sense of calmness and strength.

I cannot even begin to express how grateful I am to have been a part of this transformative journey with some of the most loving people I’ve ever met. Thank you Leyla and Payal and everyone in the Karuna family for all of the love and support that I will always carry with me.

Leave a Comment

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

© 2026 – Karuna Yoga Journeys. All rights reserved.

Subscribe To Our Newsletter

Join our mailing list to receive the latest news and updates from our team.

You have Successfully Subscribed!

Scroll to Top

Benny started out practicing Hatha and Iyengar yoga from the age of 15, but only discovered Yin Yoga in 2015, finally becoming a teacher in 2017. Since then she has never looked back and continues training in and teaching this wonderful practice wherever and whenever she can. Based in Kenya, she teaches studio classes in Nairobi.

Despite her strong alignment background her classes and trainings take on a very functional approach allowing the variations is our body the freedom to move at their own pace. She believes that it is important to cultivate a sense of self-awareness with regards to our body and mind so that we may be truly in harmony with ourselves and our environment. One of her primary disciplines is the study of human anatomy as she sees it as a fundamental part of any yoga training.

As a certified yin yoga teacher, Benny’s Yin Yoga background is extensive, having trained with some of the Yin heavyweights like Paul and Suzee Grilley, Sarah Powers as well as Jo Phee and Joe Barnett which she also assists around the globe.

Jordan has been practicing yoga for over 10 years in the US, Europe and Kenya. She received certification in Baptiste Power Yoga with the Africa Yoga Project in Kenya, completed the Karuna YTT in 2018 and recently completed a course in yoga for 12-step recovery.

She teaches a range of classes in Nairobi including classes at wellness centers, classes accompanied by live musicians, private classes, charitable classes at a school for street kids and charitable trauma-informed classes at a girls’ school in the slum Kibera.

Jordan is an active volunteer in a number of yoga-based initiatives including the Africa Yoga Project, Mental 360 (NGO creating awareness of mental health issues offering counselling and yoga) and New Leaf Rehabilitation Center in Lamu (development of a yoga program for recovering addicts). She is also certified in Reiki Level I and is a beginner student of Qigong.



Since 2001, Sophie has been evolving her spiritual, emotional and physical relationship with yoga — a practice which has emerged as her primary source of grounding, connection and healing. Her training includes a 200 hour YTT in Costa Rica with Sonic Yoga (2014), a 200 hour YTT in France with Liquid Flow Yoga (2017), and trauma-sensitive yoga trainings with The Minded Institute, Off the Mat (Hala Kouri) and OMPowerment. In 2016, Sophie developed Healing and Resilience Through Yoga (Hart Yoga), a yoga-based psycho-social treatment approach currently being implemented with survivors of human trafficking across Africa and USA. https://movewithhart.org/

Sophie is grateful to the core teachers who shaped the contours of her practice and, most importantly, showed her the boundless generosity of spirit, especially Dana Flynn (her first teacher – what a gift), Simon Park, Gopi Kinnicutt, Jodi Boone and Barbara Verrochi. For inspiration, acceptance and support she is forever indebted to her sister-teachers in Uganda: Leyla Ahmet Meredith, Payal Gori, and Angela Inglish-Gill. Sophie’s teaching style uses fluid movement, consistent breath, and creative sequencing to gently challenge practitioners of all levels