Elena Brower

This former textile designer was playing hooky from her freelance design job when, on a whim, decided to check out a yoga class. Minutes after walking through the door, she knew she had found both a new home and her life’s work.

After studying Om, Vinyasa, Yin and Kundalini yoga, she earned certification in the practice of Anusara and founded her own yoga studio, the Manhattan-based Virayoga. Today, the 41-year-old New York native inspires students the world over by teaching personal empowerment and communal appreciation through yoga.

“To help other people and receive help from other people is nothing but beneficial,” she says.

Brower writes for the Huffington Post and The Daily Love as well as her own blog and is working on two books: one about her journey to find better health through food, yoga, personal style and home design; and a photography-based yoga workbook for practitioners and teachers.

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