Sylvia K. Vitazkova, PhD, CYT

Dr. Sylvia K. Vitazkova is a yoga teacher, life coach, horsewoman, and conservation biologist. Sylvia’s yoga studies began while she was an undergraduate at Cornell University, and intensified when she began to practice Ashtanga Yoga while attending Columbia University for doctoral studies in biology. Sylvia soon realized that she wanted to help others experience the consciousness and transformation that her own practice fostered in her and began to teach in 1998, subsequently studying at Atmavikasa Yoga Madira in Mysore, India, in 2002. Sylvia continues to evolve her practice by learning from senior teachers, the most influential of whom has been Barbara Benagh. Her teaching focus is on correct alignment, the joy of being fully present in one’s body, and the psychological and spiritual context within which the physical practice is embedded. Parallel to being a yoga teacher, Sylvia had a full-time career as an assistant professor of Conservation Biology, teaching undergraduate and graduate courses, including a course she created on nature and spirituality, conducting research on wildlife in the tropics, and helping create a number of conservation studies programs. Sylvia’s experience in mentoring students naturally led her to life coaching, in which she became certified through George Mason University in 2014. Sylvia now leads InBodied Living & Co with her partner, James Houston.