Mira Shani started her studies of Yoga during her college days in the mid ’90s at UT Austin. It was there, in a Critical Thinking class that she was introduced to Thich Nhat Hanh’s books, bringing the thoughtful love of the Buddhist tradition to a western mind. These two explorations would form her orientation in her life and work forever.

Her first deep dive into Buddhism was at the Kopan Monastery in Nepal in 1999. Her first yoga teacher training, the following year in Detroit. Since then, she has taught yoga, meditation and Eastern philosophy and the Indo-Tibetan psychologies throughout the US and internationally, many years spending most of the calendar abroad with international seeker communities. In 2003, she co- founded the Yoga Studies Institute, an organization devoted to locating and translating ancient scriptures and ensuring their authentic transmission in the West.

Mira is an E-RYT 500 and YACEP-credentialed teacher with the Yoga Alliance, signifying that she is certified at the highest level as an expert teacher, continuing education provider, and a practitioner of Therapeutic Yoga. Mira teaches a practice informed by myriad yoga methods out of Shala, which she co-owns and operates with her partner Jarret in Durham, North Carolina.