Hetal Nayak
FACULTY, MD, RYT 200 YA, PHD SCHOLAR WITH SVYASAHetal completed medical school at the age of 23, with residency in Anesthesia. After working in New York, she moved to San Antonio in 2004 and took a break from practicing medicine after her 2nd daughter was born.
Her yoga journey began practicing Pilates for a year, then reading yoga books, given by her in-laws. Her practice continued with these books and teaching children at the the Hindu Temple of San Antonio. Her interest deepened as she looked for a teacher and found Dr. Sreedhara Akkihebalu, whom she practiced Iyengar style with for almost 2 years.
A friend invited her to practice at Yoga Shala where she took her first Ashtanga class with Lisa Long and was thrilled. She jumped into a teacher training with Rossella Rossi within 10 days of taking her first class. Studying the Yoga Sutras was a life changing experience and from that point on, yoga became her life with the asana practice and philosophical studies.
Currently Hetal is pursuing a PhD. in yoga at the SYVASA University in Bangalore, India. She has also published a study in the Journal of Yoga and Physical Therapy and for the past 6 years taught yoga to the Indian Classical Dance students at Kalalaya, School of Indian Performing Arts. She also teaches senior citizens at the community center run by the city of San Antonio and WellMed. Hetal attends workshops on yoga and philosophy and has trained teacher trainees since 2013 in anatomy, physiology of yoga and philosophy of yoga.
Hetal feels fortunate to have the opportunity to have her Ashtanga practice guided by Ana Hollis, studies with Saraswati in Mysore, India, attended a teacher training with Tim Miller and continues to attend several workshops with teachers: David Swenson, Tim Feldman and Kino Macgregor.
Hetal's other passion is cooking for family and friends, while serving the community in anyway possible.