Huma Gruaz
Hometown: Istanbul
Favorite Asana: Warrior 2
Favorite Song: Maria Maria by Carlos Santana
Spirit Animal: Dolphin
Huma discovered yoga while she was under chronic stress and was suffering from excruciation jaw pain when she was the founder/CEO of a national marketing agency. After experiencing the healing benefits of yoga, she decided to dedicate herself to yoga, spreading the gift of this practice to her students. Huma is a RYT-500 certified teacher with over 1800 hours of teaching experience and a unique background rooted in yoga therapy as well as athletics, and art. Huma graduated from Loyola Marymount University’s Yoga Therapy Program, studying with medical doctors, yoga therapists and visionary pioneers in the yoga world for four years, fulfilling the rigorous requirements to be certified by IAYT (International Association of Yoga Therapists). This first and only university-accredited program in Yoga Therapy in the United States integrates western medicine with 2000-year-old yoga tradition and has greatly influenced Huma’s teaching.Huma has also been recently certified by the Chopra Center as a teacher for Deepak Chopra’s Primordial Sound Meditation, a mantra-based meditation that has been practiced for thousands of years.Being a former competitive swimmer, Huma draws both from her experience as an athlete, her training as a yoga therapist, as well as her background as an artist to ensure her yoga classes address the physical and spiritual needs of her students. Huma’s continued studies in yoga therapy, safe alignment and her in-depth knowledge of anatomy allow her to approach her teaching with great knowledge and mindfulness. Huma is a graduate of Bryn Mawr College with a double major in Economics and Fine Arts, holds both an executive MBA from Northwestern’s Kellogg School of Management and a fine art degree from the Willem De Kooning Academy in Rotterdam, the Netherlands.
