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Tara Mitra - Personal Biography

Tara has been a dedicated practitioner of yoga for over 16 years. She has been blessed to practice and apprentice under some of the most dedicated teachers in the world, studying yoga with Johnny Smith, Tim Miller (completing both his primary and intermediate series trainings), R. Sharath Jois and R. Saraswathi Jois; pranayama with Sri O.P. Tiwari; philosophy with Professor Nagaraja Rao; and Vedic chanting with Vigneshwar Bhat.

Tara has apprenticed with only certified teachers over the years and with R. Saraswathi Jois for the last three and a half years in her very busy Mysore shala where she assisted over 200 students each month for 9 months of the year. Tara is also a dedicated student of Traditional Yoga Therapy, currently studying under one of T. Krishnamacharya's longest standing students in Chennai. Her interest in yoga therapy is a focus to bridge the gap between Ashtanga as it was taught 30 years ago and now. She has helped many students return to health through yoga therapy.

She is known for her love of chanting and is a longtime Vipassana meditator. Both R. Saraswathi Jois (KPJAYI authorized) and her Yoga Therapy teacher, R. Lakshmi, have given her their blessings to share the teachings as taught to her through parampara. Tara's curiosity and love for understanding the mind and body led her to study psychology (since 1993) and nutrition (since 1999).

Tara has recently spent 5 years living in Mysore, India in order to seek and learn pure knowledge directly from the source. During those years she also studied Classical Carnatic music with two of Mysore's greatest teachers and Ayurveda with Dr. R. Padmini. Tara believes that to be a good teacher, one needs to be a good student. Therefore, she continually expands her knowledge on the subjects of yoga, health, nutrition and healing through sound and other methods. She teaches in a traditional yet playful manner incorporating the teachings of her teachers.

Tara believes that all lives are equal. She loves and feeds the local street dogs in Mysore and anywhere she travels. She and her husband, Dr. Rob Lamport, actively initiate environmental projects, may it be cleaning up beaches or Mysore neighborhoods, planting trees, or removing plastic straws from the local coconut stand.