Lalita Salas

Lalita knew very early on that she had a passion for teaching and initially studied to become an elementary school teacher in her native Argentina. Parental influence directed her to another path, and she became a pharmacist. This gave her knowledge of traditional medicine and chemistry; however, her love of teaching and spirituality kept pulling her in a different direction. She turned to yoga and moved away from traditional pharmacology to what she called the “pharmacy of the kitchen,” and the power of food as medicine.

In 1991 she came to the west coast of Puerto Rico with her husband who had accepted a professorship at Mayaguez University. Lalita had become a certified yoga instructor at Kripalu in 1984, and continued teaching yoga in Rincon, Puerto Rico. There she met a woman who taught yoga at the Ann Wigmore Natural Health Institute.

Experiences, community, history, and purpose all converged to bring Lalita and Ann Wigmore together on July 4, 1991 when Lalita came to the AWNHI to fill in for the injured yoga teacher. As Lalita tells it, “Ann Wigmore was the first person I met when I arrived and I felt such emotion. It was like my heart was leaping inside of me.” This meeting was to lead to an extraordinary connection between them. Lalita had found her mentor and her mission. Ann Wigmore had found her successors. Lalita and Leola Brooks would become the keepers of the living foods legacy.

When she is not teaching at the Institute, Lalita travels throughout the United States, South America, and Europe teaching and sharing the wisdom and embrace of the Living Foods Lifestyle^®. Thousands of students have been touched by her broad knowledge, immeasurable kindness and boundless love. Lalita knows the Universe continues to “weave the threads” of her life.

Kaelash Neels

Kaelash Neels, Senior LFL Educator, was born in Germany in 1977 into a family that practiced yoga as a way of life. His very first job was working on a sprout farm. Gentle, healthy living was natural for him from the beginning so it was not surprising that he found his way to the Ann Wigmore Institute. In 1999, he began working there in the green house. Soon his talent as a teacher shone through and he began teaching the sprouting and planting classes and then all the food preparation classes. Today he is one of the core teachers of the Living Foods Lifestyle^®. He is known for his depth of knowledge, passion for teaching, and dedication to his students. He is able to take difficult topics and make them easy to understand. His presentations are interwoven with true-life stories and humor.

While living in California, Kaelash earned a degree in Somatic Psychology from Sonoma State University. He is also a gifted Certified Yoga Teacher and Yoga Therapist, and Feldenkrais Practitioner. From 2015 to the present he teaches in the Yoga Therapy Training at Kripalu, MA.

Since 2005, Kaelash serves as the secretary on the board of directors of the Ann Wigmore Natural Health Institute in Puerto Rico. Furthermore, he is the author of the 3-DVD set Learn to Heal Yourself from Pain through Yoga Therapy and the Feldenkrais Method^® of Somatic Education.

Practicing yoga and meditation, living in the tropics by the ocean, windsurfing, surfing, playing the guitar, and family bring added joy to his life every day.

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