Studying mindfulness awakens us not just to our internal world but also to our neighbors, friends, family, and the many peoples inhabiting the globe. Mindfulness unites us, bringing us one step closer to peace. ~Karen Lei
Teaching and training in this yoga in nature endeavor, founder Karen Le’s mission is to plant seeds of mindfulness throughout the world. Raised in Hawaii, she returned to Oahu after teaching throughout Southeast Asia but left her American corporate law position, feeling a different calling. Today, Karen seeks discovery of global unpaved paths while exploring diverse cultural perspectives.
Graduate of the University of Hawaii's Law School and Political Science Master’s Program, Karen has a professional background in non-profit community development, social justice policy, and progressive alternative teaching methods.
Karen serves as Executive Director for Athena Medical Foundation, a non-profit 501c3 organization that offers Mindfulness Based Stress Reduction (MBSR) courses as integrated medicine for low-income patients of Athena Medical clinics.
With the true explorer’s heart and wisdom seeker’s aspiration, Karen completed two graduate summers in Rome, a semester in Puerto Rico, and an international law program in Singapore. Desiring to obtain a strong education from the source, Karen shouldered her backpack to pursue yoga training in India and meditation training in the Dalai Lama’s hometown. Her need for authenticity in all things instilled resourcefulness as she explored and learned while traveling to more than fifty countries.
Baptized Catholic, Karen would grow into a Buddhist and believer in openness to all things scientific, philosophic, and spiritual in experience. As an avid practitioner of meditation and Buddhist dharma, from both a secular and a spiritual level, she passionately believes these beliefs hold the ability, beyond just good health, to increase happiness, mental well-being, and compassion. So too she believes these practices hold the solution to many, if not all, individual and social issues, hoping people of different faiths also find these universal principles and practices useful in life.
In meditation and the Buddhist dharma way, Karen hopes to increase peace internally and in the world. Believing passionately these practices and philosophies for living provide lasting happiness and well-being, she wants to be part of the paradigm shift away from a life constricted by our harmful thoughts. Having felt and seen daily this shift within herself, Karen desires nothing more than to share this change to help others.
Graduate of the University of Hawaii's Law School and Political Science Master’s Program, Karen has a professional background in non-profit community development, social justice policy, and progressive alternative teaching methods.
Karen serves as Executive Director for Athena Medical Foundation, a non-profit 501c3 organization that offers Mindfulness Based Stress Reduction (MBSR) courses as integrated medicine for low-income patients of Athena Medical clinics.
With the true explorer’s heart and wisdom seeker’s aspiration, Karen completed two graduate summers in Rome, a semester in Puerto Rico, and an international law program in Singapore. Desiring to obtain a strong education from the source, Karen shouldered her backpack to pursue yoga training in India and meditation training in the Dalai Lama’s hometown. Her need for authenticity in all things instilled resourcefulness as she explored and learned while traveling to more than fifty countries.
Baptized Catholic, Karen would grow into a Buddhist and believer in openness to all things scientific, philosophic, and spiritual in experience. As an avid practitioner of meditation and Buddhist dharma, from both a secular and a spiritual level, she passionately believes these beliefs hold the ability, beyond just good health, to increase happiness, mental well-being, and compassion. So too she believes these practices hold the solution to many, if not all, individual and social issues, hoping people of different faiths also find these universal principles and practices useful in life.
In meditation and the Buddhist dharma way, Karen hopes to increase peace internally and in the world. Believing passionately these practices and philosophies for living provide lasting happiness and well-being, she wants to be part of the paradigm shift away from a life constricted by our harmful thoughts. Having felt and seen daily this shift within herself, Karen desires nothing more than to share this change to help others.
Yoga Posture studies & specializations
Aryan Yoga Center, Dharmasala India
Honoring this tradition, Karen ventured to the foothills of the Himalayas where she received her RYT 200 Ashtanga and Hatha teaching certification from the Aryan Yoga & Reiki Centre in McLeod Ganj, India, home to the current exiled Dalai Lama and Tibetan government.
Continuing training, Karen completed Advanced Ashtanga training with David Swenson, the leading modern authority in Ashtanga, who trained for decades under Pahtabi Jois, founder of Ashtanga yoga, which is the original codified yoga posture system as we know today.
Karen focuses on teaching mediation and dharma from a secular perspective, allowing individuals to embrace and explore their spirituality. In keeping with this focus, she returned to the US and expanded her education, obtaining a Mindfulness Mediation (MBSR) certification from the University of California San Diego
Karen also received training in Indian and Tibetan Ayurvedic healing, which concentrates on seeing the food you eat as medicine.
Karen received meditation training in Zen Mindfulness from Tibetan monks in the Himalayas. While studying meditation in the Tibetan region of India, she began exploring deeply the Buddhist traditions of mindfulness, insight, and analytical meditation: a linage of practices now being adopted by the West in all areas from modern psychology, to medicine, to training in government.
Honoring this tradition, Karen ventured to the foothills of the Himalayas where she received her RYT 200 Ashtanga and Hatha teaching certification from the Aryan Yoga & Reiki Centre in McLeod Ganj, India, home to the current exiled Dalai Lama and Tibetan government.
Continuing training, Karen completed Advanced Ashtanga training with David Swenson, the leading modern authority in Ashtanga, who trained for decades under Pahtabi Jois, founder of Ashtanga yoga, which is the original codified yoga posture system as we know today.
Karen focuses on teaching mediation and dharma from a secular perspective, allowing individuals to embrace and explore their spirituality. In keeping with this focus, she returned to the US and expanded her education, obtaining a Mindfulness Mediation (MBSR) certification from the University of California San Diego
Karen also received training in Indian and Tibetan Ayurvedic healing, which concentrates on seeing the food you eat as medicine.
Karen received meditation training in Zen Mindfulness from Tibetan monks in the Himalayas. While studying meditation in the Tibetan region of India, she began exploring deeply the Buddhist traditions of mindfulness, insight, and analytical meditation: a linage of practices now being adopted by the West in all areas from modern psychology, to medicine, to training in government.
Learn more about Karen's authentic yoga training.
My Missions
The Yoga Bridge to Mindfulness Meditation | Dharma
With Karen's dedication for wanting to make a difference within communities and for art and ease in life, and her varying love of so many of life's beautiful ways to increase those things, she has realized her dream of creating her comfortable niche within yoga and non-profit community development work. Having lived and traveled within 4 continents of Europe, Asia, and North and South America, she carries the diversity of those art, engineering and cultural influences to every step, breath and vision in her day.
She is a lover of wisdom and philosophy, animals and rugged nature, a devoted academic, and one very open to spirituality. An island girl at heart with a global mindset, she believes in the religion of kindness, and adheres to the ideals that Zen teaches; that only compassion, kindness and our connections with each other will lead us to lasting happiness in our own lives. Karen studied law not to execute it in job but rather to use it as a means to contribute to a meaningful difference in the world; to deal with with policy and social justice issues for those that need help with resources most. She wanted to study law to navigate the law for herself and others, and at times to help effect changes within laws. Through yoga and social activism, she feels incredibly blessed to be able to answer to her higher calling, to devote her life to the development of greater consciousness and compassion for herself and others...to spread ease, tranquility and... shanti~
After her advance level training in mindfulness meditation at the University of California San Diego is completed and her work teaching the curriculum in schools/hospitals lends to furtherance, she hopes to build this endeavor into a non profit after school children's program incorporating mindfulness teachings of yoga, meditation, and fun with nature and animals.... All with the goals of cultivating higher consciousness and compassion in the we we all deal with life and one another. Yoga in its true form, after all...is the bridge towards these higher aims.
She is a lover of wisdom and philosophy, animals and rugged nature, a devoted academic, and one very open to spirituality. An island girl at heart with a global mindset, she believes in the religion of kindness, and adheres to the ideals that Zen teaches; that only compassion, kindness and our connections with each other will lead us to lasting happiness in our own lives. Karen studied law not to execute it in job but rather to use it as a means to contribute to a meaningful difference in the world; to deal with with policy and social justice issues for those that need help with resources most. She wanted to study law to navigate the law for herself and others, and at times to help effect changes within laws. Through yoga and social activism, she feels incredibly blessed to be able to answer to her higher calling, to devote her life to the development of greater consciousness and compassion for herself and others...to spread ease, tranquility and... shanti~
After her advance level training in mindfulness meditation at the University of California San Diego is completed and her work teaching the curriculum in schools/hospitals lends to furtherance, she hopes to build this endeavor into a non profit after school children's program incorporating mindfulness teachings of yoga, meditation, and fun with nature and animals.... All with the goals of cultivating higher consciousness and compassion in the we we all deal with life and one another. Yoga in its true form, after all...is the bridge towards these higher aims.
The Bodhi Tree that the Buddha was deemed to have gained enlightenment under.
Sleeping under The Tree of Enlightenment – What Good Karma!
While visiting Bodgaya, India, the home of the Bodhi Tree where the Buddha sat for a long long time and gained enlightenment, Karen stumbled upon the most blessed of luck. The tree grows on the temple grounds, which are open to public visits in the day time but only open to monks at night. She and her cousin met a monk during a visit, who invited them to sleep overnight in a mosquito net right next to the sacred Bodhi tree. Each time she woke in the middle of the night, she saw monks still sitting upright in meditation. The next she was given several dried leaves from this blessed tree to take home.
Fun fact: February 15th is Nirvana Day - the day the Buddha gained enlightenment - and Karen's birthday 😊
While visiting Bodgaya, India, the home of the Bodhi Tree where the Buddha sat for a long long time and gained enlightenment, Karen stumbled upon the most blessed of luck. The tree grows on the temple grounds, which are open to public visits in the day time but only open to monks at night. She and her cousin met a monk during a visit, who invited them to sleep overnight in a mosquito net right next to the sacred Bodhi tree. Each time she woke in the middle of the night, she saw monks still sitting upright in meditation. The next she was given several dried leaves from this blessed tree to take home.
Fun fact: February 15th is Nirvana Day - the day the Buddha gained enlightenment - and Karen's birthday 😊
FOUNDER: (classes are taught by various instructors all trained under our style, our mindful purpose and mission)
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