About the Instructors
Marita Gardner-Anopol, E-CYT
Director, Senior Teacher
Founder, teacher and New York transplant Marita Gardner-Anopol, is perhaps her best advertisement for the wonders of this ancient art. The youthful-looking yogini credits her daily yoga practice with her vibrant health and unflagging energy as she approaches her sixth decade. “Yoga has given me balance. With consistent practice, you live in the moment
and when you live in the present moment you are timeless".
A veteran yoga guru since 1978, she established “Yoga 4 Kids” in 1995 to bring this ancient art to children. Her “Yoga 4 Kids”
program was featured in TIME magazine in 2001 and she was cited as a pioneer of
yoga for young people.
She designed and instituted the Yoga curriculum at Lone Star College and manages the accredited Yoga teacher training certification program at the 200/500-hour level. In addition, she created “Yoga in School” for classroom management, for Continuing Education.
Through her teaching she developed "Yoga 4 Kids in the Rainforest." A fun, healthy, interactive board game for the entire family. Click here learn about the game.
She also produced the first yoga DVD for tweens, “Yoga 4 Kids”.
Please visit “In The News” on the HOME page to view the KPRC-2 News Segment that aired in Houston on NBC.
Michele Waring, CYT
Prenatal Teacher
Michele first discovered yoga in 1998 through Houston Community College and has been studying yoga ever since. While maintaining a full-time career as a Technical Writer Michele has spent years behind a desk, sitting at a computer. Eventually they took their toll. After numerous doctors’ visits including a couple of general practitioners, a neurologist, an orthopedic surgeon, as well as a couple of chiropractors, various diagnoses were given along with pain killers and muscle relaxants. Some helped alleviate the pain, but nothing taught her how to manage it or prevent it before it became inflamed, except Yoga.
Over the years Michele’s practice has evolved from once a week into a daily practice. She has studied with Marita, at the Kingwood Yoga & Wellness Center since 2003 and completed her yoga teaching certification at the 500-hour level in 2010 through Kingwood Yoga.
The Queen of therapeutic yoga for neck and shoulders, Michele is currently pregnant and teaches Prenatal yoga.
Chris Lane, RYT
Vinyasa Teacher
Chris received his teaching certification through the Marianne Wells Yoga Alliance School in Samasati, Costa Rica.
His devotion to the yogic path began with his study of meditation and dharma as a student of Resident Lama Tenzin Deshek of Losel Mairti in Birmingham, Alabama, and has deepened with Master Jian Xiao, Vice Abbot of the Chung Tai Zen Center of Houston. Chris’ study of meditation naturally brought him to yoga and it was under the instruction of his teacher and mentor, Marita Gardner-Anopol, that he found peace, clarity and purpose. His life was transformed and his enthusiasm and understanding of yoga blossomed.
His hatha background includes a strong foundation in Iyengar, Vinyasa, and Kundalini yoga. Chris draws on the experience of a strong daily yoga practice, intuition, training, and the wisdom of his mentors to guide his teaching.
Chris holds a Bachelor of Science in Education and Language Arts and a Master of Arts in English.
He is a passionate teacher who is wholly devoted to sharing the yogic way of life with compassion, respect, and commitment to his students.
Venkata K. Ponnanganti, Ph.D., E-CYT
Meditation Teacher
Venkata was a Professor of Psychology and Director of the Institute for Yoga & Consciousness at Andhra University in South India, until he immigrated to the US in May 2006, to join his children.
By virtue of his training, his approach to yoga has been secular and psychological. He believes that yoga is a self-regulation strategy, which deals with body, mind and behavior in a synergistic way. The way of life/values and the set of practices prescribed by yoga for the regulation of the body-mind complex are universal in scope and nature, whether or not one subscribes to its world views. He acknowledges that yoga opened a new vista in his life by providing a means to approach, and to come to terms with the complexities of the mind-body processes on the one hand, and living in the world of the other, through the cultivation of awareness, control and acceptance. He believes that meditation enabled him to progressively develop an attitude of witness to life.
Dr. Ponnaganti is a faculty member at Kingwood Yoga in Texas.