Heather “Radha” Carlisi
Radha began her Ashtanga practice in 1990, at the age of 20, when she was a sophomore at Pepperdine University in Malibu, CA. She wandered into a primary series class at Yoga Works, after looking up “Yoga”, in the Yellow Pages.
The teacher was renowned Ashtangi, Chuck Miller. She considers herself very blessed to have had such a profound teacher from the first day!
After that first class, she knew this practice was meant to be a lifelong one, and that it was the beginning of her journey. She even told Chuck after class, she knew she wanted to teach.
Of course he probably thought she was just being a naive twenty-year old!
Radha studied with Chuck for five years and then in 1995, she made her first trip to see Sri K. Pattabhi Jois, in Mysore, India. After meeting Guruji, she felt completely committed and devoted to the practice. He gave her the confidence to actually immerse herself and at that point she knew she wanted to teach the method as her life’s work. After the return of her first trip to Mysore, she quit her job in the Los Angeles fashion business and devoted her life solely to the study of all aspects of Ashtanga yoga. She began to study with much-respected Ashtangi Maty Ezraty, original owner of Yoga Works, who asked her to teach at the studio. Radha is deeply grateful for the knowledge she learned and shared while Yoga Works was still a grassroots studio.
Being at Yoga Works, one of the first world-famous studios, gave Radha the opportunity to take workshops with many of the world’s most prominent teachers such as Richard Freeman, Manju Jois, Tim Miller, Dena Kingsberg, Annie Pace, Dona Holleman, Gabriella Guibilaro, and many others. She continued to travel to India to study with Guruji, as well as attending all of his US tours. Guruji gave Radha a personal verbal blessing to teach in 2000 during his visit in New York City. And in 2005, after fifteen years of solid practice, Guruji gave her official authorization to teach.
In addition to studying Ashtanga Yoga, Radha has a passion for the science of Ayurveda. She has studied with Maya Tiwari, Amadea Morningstar, and at The American School of Complimentary Medicine in Los Angeles, as well as with her husband, Prem, an Ayurvedic doctor who studied with Dr. Vasant Lad. Her love for Ayurveda inspired her to really delve into nutrition and cooking, which (next to Prem) is her true love! Radha continues to study this science deeply to increase her personal knowledge. She has also been greatly influenced by the workshops she’s attended with Paul Pitchford, author of Healing with Whole Foods, of which she feels were life changing.
In 2006, she met her dearest Love and now husband, Anthony “Prem” Carlisi at a Ziggy Marley concert. That was the start of the joint teaching team of “Prem and Radha” (LOL- “Pradha” ), in Sri Lanka, and eventually led to the opening of their shala, Ashtanga Yoga Bali Research Center in Pejeng, Bali. Radha has a “daughter,” Mira, through Prem, and is now a also a “grandmother” to little Einin. :), as well as an Aunty to her first nephew, Ford.
